i 


THE 


PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  HISTOEY 


THE    POPES    OF    ROME, 


FROM  THE  EARLIEST  PERIOD  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME : 


INCLUDING 

THE  HISTOEY 

OF 

SAINTS,  MARTYRS,  FATHERS  OF  THE  CHURCH, 

RELIGIOUS  ORDERS,  CARDINALS,  INQUISITIONS,  SCHISMS, 
AND  THE  GREAT  REFORMERS. 

V' 

By  LOUIS  MARIE  DE  CORMENIN. 

TRAKSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH. 

VOL.  L 


PHILADELPHIA: 

JAMES    M.CAMPBELL. 


1 


1847. 

M.    W.    DODD, 

PUBLISHER    AND   BOOKSELLER, 

BRICK  CIIIRCH  CHAPEL,  OPPOSITE  CITY  HALL, 

NEW    YORK. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1846,  by 

JAMES  M.  CAMPBELL, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  of  the  Eastern  District 

of  Pennsylvania. 


Printed  by  King  &  Baird. 


TRANSLATOR'S   PREFACE. 


The  want  of  a  history  of  the  popes  of  Rome,  at  once  complete,  concise,  and  written  in  a 
popular  style,  has  long  been  felt  as  a  desideratum  in  our  language.  That  void  is  supplied 
in  the  following  work.  At  this  juncture,  when  the  struggle  of  the  church  of  Rome  for  future 
power,  has  been  transferred  from  the  shores  of  Europe  to  our  own  land,  it  seemed  desirable 
that  such  a  book  should  be  placed  within  the  reach  of  all. 

This  work  opens  to  our  view  a  clear  exposition  of  the  public  history  and  private  practices 
of  the  men,  who,  from  the  position  of  simple  pastors  of  a  single  church,  advanced  their  au- 
thority, step  by  step,  until  they  became  not  only  the  ecclesiastical,  but  in  fact  the  temporal 
lords  of  Christendom.  It  treats  with  comprehensive  minuteness  of  their  onward  march  to 
greatness  from  their  first  usurpations  over  the  surrounding  churches,  until,  in  the  zenith  of 
their  pride  and  power,  they  trampled  emperors  and  kings  beneath  their  feet,  absolved  nations 
from  their  allegiance,  took  away  and  bestowed  kingdoms,  and  parcelled  out  a  world  to  whom 
they  would.  The  craft  of  the  first  Leo — the  steady  perseverance  of  the  early  popes  in  their 
settled  policy  of  aggrandizement — the  bold  daring  of  Hildebrand,  the  monk  of  Cluny,  the 
master  spirit  of  his  age — the  public  infamy  and  private  debaucheries  of  Borgia — the  reckless 
audacity  of  the  Farnese,  and  the  voluptuous  licentiousness  and  philosophical  atheism  of  the 
tenth  Leo,  are  pamted  by  a  master's  hand.  The  actors  in  the  scenes  recounted,  live  and 
move  and  have  a  being,  as  they  pass  in  review  before  us. 

A  short  but  spirited  review  of  the  political  condition  of  the  world  until  Christianity  was 
placed  on  the  throne  of  the  Roman  empire,  with  the  various  heresies  that  have  occurred, 
with  their  leading  doctrines  and  principal  actors,  are  set  forth  with  great  clearness  and  com- 
prehensiveness. In  a  word,  the  reader  of  this  work  will  find  himself,  at  the  close  of  its 
perusal,  acquainted  with  all  the  leading  facts  connected  with  the  history  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  the  accompanying  political  history  of  the  world. 

Coming  from  the  pen  of  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  one  who  is  enabled  to  see  that  good  may 
be  found  out  of  the  pale  of  his  own  church,  it  maybe  read  without  the  suspicion  of  its  truth, 
naturally  attendant  on  such  a  production  from  the  pen  of  one  of  adverse  faith.  The  vices  of 
the  men  who  claim  to  be  the  vicars  of  Christ  on  earth  are  not  slurred  over ;  the  horrors  at- 
tendant on  religious  bigotry  and  fanaticism  in  the  persecution,  torture  and  murder  of  fellow 
men,  are  truthfully  portrayed ;  and  the  claim  for  the  popes  to  infallibility  best  exposed  by 
the  record  of  their  ambition,  avarice,  public  dishonesty  and  private  turpitude. 

All  are  not  portrayed  as  base ;  for  in  the  long  catalogue  of  the  rulers  of  the  church  of 
Rome,  it  would  indeed  be  strange,  if  there  were  not  found,  as  there  are,  men  endued  with 
noble  natures,  lofty  aspirations,  and  generous  desires  for  the  benefit  of  their  fellows  :  these 
shine  forth  as  brilliant  lights  in  the  surrounding  darkness. 

The  strong  republican  feelings  of  the  author  have  led  him  to  watch  with  a  close  and  critical 
eye  all  movements  having  a  tendency  to  the  concentration  of  power,  either  in  church  or  state, 
in  the  hands  of  a  single  individual,  and  will  meet  with  a  ready  response  in  the  only  large  ana 
powerful  nation  of  the  world  in  which  civil  and  religious  freedom  may  be  truly  said  to  exist 
in  a  pure  form. 

His  views,  however,  on  any  subject  treated  of,  and  more  especially  concerning  the  so- 
called  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  are  not,  of  course,  endorsed  by  the  translator. 
It  was  his  aim  to  set  his  author  down  as  he  found  him,  and  nothing  more.  One  word  of  ex- 
planation may  be  necessary.  Whenever  the  words  "priest"  and  "priesthood"  occur  they 
refer  exclusively  to  the  ministry  of  the  Roman  church,  as  do  the  words  "church"  and  "reh- 
gion"  to  that  church  and  its  tenets. 

That  some  portions  of  the  work  are  calculated  to  excite  disgust  in  the  minds  of  the  readers 
can  readily  be  understood.  In  dealing  however  with  impurity  we  cannot  avoid  bringing 
many  things  to  light  which  a  fastidious  taste  will  deprecate.  The  horrid  corruptions  of  the 
Roman  church  would  however  never  be  known  unless  the  tinsel  covering  which  gilds  it  is 
removed,  and  the  putrid  mass  of  corruption  lying  beneath  the  veil  of  its  infallibility  can  never 
be  exhibited  without  the  removal  of  that  veil.  Private  vice  as  well  as  religious  corruption 
have  marked  its  progress,  and  to  expose  the  one  it  is  necessary  to  lay  bare  the  other. 

An  earnest  desire  to  place  the  history  of  this  all-a.spiring  church,  and  the  true  character  of 
its  infallible  heads,  before  his  countrymen,  as  a  beacon  and  a  warning,  led  him  to  undettake 
this  task.    Should  he  succeed  in  this,  his  object  will  be  accomplished. 


Philadelphia,  July,  1846. 


PREFACE 


The  History  of  the  Popes  is  an  immense  work,  which  embraces  within  its  scope 
the  political,  moral,  and  religious  revolutions  of  the  world.  It  runs  through  a  long 
series  of  ages,  during  which  the  bishops  of  Rome,  whose  mission  was  to  announce  to 
men  a  divine  religion,  have  forgotten  it  in  their  pride  of  power,  have  outraged  the 
morality  of  Christ,  and  become  the  scourge  of  the  human  race. 

Formerly  the  thunders  laimched  from  the  Vatican  by  sacrilegious  priests,  overthrew 
kingdoms,  and  covered  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa,  with  butcheries,  wars  and  conflagra- 
tions. But  the  times  are  changed ;  religious  passions  are  softened ;  philosophy  has 
overthrown  absolute  thrones,  and  broken  down  the  colossal  power  of  the  popes. 

A  brief  analysis  of  these  epochs  precedes  our  history,  and  offers  a  frightful  picture 
of  monstrous  debaucheries,  bloody  wars,  memorable  schisms,  and  revolutions.  It 
prepares,  by  its  wonderful  recital,  for  the  long  succession  of  pontiffs  and  kings  cele- 
brated for  their  crimes,  or  illustrious  for  their  exploits. 

In  the  past  ages  the  History  of  the  Popes  introduces  us  to  the  butcheries  of  the 
inquisition,  which  we  now  hope  will  receive  the  honours  of  excommunication  from 
posterity. 


(4^ 


/,;/*  cnHiffwr  K  Jl'Oui^an  Fhjuid  ' 


^'abas  l^isKoy  nl  3lcru&alnu 


^ 


/  p  ,.♦.  if 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


The  wisdom  of  nations  has  caused  blind  fa- 
*  naticism  to  disappear ;  reason  and  tolerance 
have  replaced  the  religious  passions  which 
drove  men  to  the  most  horrible  extremes,  and 
caused  them  to  resemble  tigers,  gorged  with 
blood,  rather  than  human  beings. 

The  pride  of  the  popes,  and  their  insatiable 
ambition,  found  in  absolute  monarchs  power- 
ful and  frecjuently  docile  auxiliaries,  in  impo- 
sing upon  the  people  their  execrable  wishes,  in 
overwhelming  the  weak,  in  aggrandizing  their 
estates,  and  at  length  in  reaching  so  great  a 
height  of  audacity,  that  they  called  themselves 
the  representatives  of  God  upon  earth,  and 
arrogated  the  right  of  giving  away  kingdoms, 
deposing  princes,  and  dividing  the  world. 

The  shades  of  ignorance  then  obscured  the 
mind  ;  the  people,  stupified  in  a  frightful 
slavery,  rent  each  other  like  wild  beasts,  in 
order  to  please  their  tyrants,  and  subserve 
their  ill-reg-ulated  passions.  Ages  of  misfor- 
tune, massacres,  incendiarism  and  famine  ! 

Abusing  the  credulity  of  the  people,  kings 
destroyed  empires  in  their  senseless  sway,  and 
made  a  desert  alike  of  the  city  and  the  country. 

The  popes,  more  loose  and  savage  than  the 
tyrants  of  ancient  Rome  and  Byzantium,  seated 
upon  the  pontifical  chair,  crowned  with  a  triple 
diadem  of  pride,  h}'pocrisy  and  fanaticism — 
surrounded  by  assassins,  poisoners,  and  cour- 
tiers— surrendered  themselves  to  all  kinds  of 
debauchery,  and  insulted  the  public  misfor- 
tunes. 

But  the  darkness  is  dissipated ;  murder,  as- 
sassination, misery,  and  devastation,  have 
given  place  to  truth, — eternal  truth,  which  the 
policy  and  the  cruelty  of  kings  had  buried  un- 
der the  rubbish  of  empires  ! 

History — great  and  magnificent  lesson  !  it 
wanders  through  the  past  when  the  pitiless 
barbarity  of  priests,  aided  by  the  ignorance  of 
men,  overwhelmed  the  world  ;  when  the  in- 
habitants of  the  countt;y',  naked  and  ragged, 
caused  horror  in  the  brigands  themselves, 
who  found  nothing  left  to  pillage  but  dead 
bodies.  It  recalls  the  epochs  of  disaster,  con- 
fusion and  solitude,  when  the  smallest  farm 
houses  among  English,  French  and  Romans, 
were  armed  against  the  wretches  hi  the  pay 
of  kii;2^s  and  nobles,  who  were  greedy  for 
thi'ir  pivy;  all  were  bent  on  pillaging  the 
labourer  and  massacreing  the  people  :  and,  as- 
tonishing and  horrible  to  relate,  the  very 
animals,  accustomed  to  the  sound  of  the  toc- 
sin, a  signal  of  the  arrival  of  the  soldiery,  ran 
without  gTiides  to  their  hiding-places. 


Nations  will  learn  to  judge  of  emperors  and 
kings,  inflexible  and  inexorable  despots,  who 
drove  on  millions  of  men  to  cruel  wars,  in 
order  to  sustain  the  most  unjust  pretensions, 
augment  the  number  of  their  slaves,  increase 
their  wealth,  satisfy  the  unbridled  luxury  of 
their  courtiers,  satiate  the  avidity  of  their 
mistresses,  or  perhaps  occupy  the  unquiet 
and  restless  spirit  of  a  king  devoured  with 
ennui. 

The  people  will  learn  gi-eat  truths  from  his- 
tory ;  they  will  learn  by  what  bold  impiety, 
what  sacrilegious  deeds,  popes  and  kings  have 
been  the  causes  of  the  greatest  misfortunes 
to  Europe,  during  two  thousand  years  of  ty- 
ramiy  and  fanaticism. 

During  the  reign  of  Tiberius  appeared  a 
man,  the  son  of  Mary,  called  Christ.  The  na- 
tions Avere  plunged  in  ignorance ;  the  law  of 
Moses  was  obscured  by  hiunan  traditions;  the 
morals  of  the  Israelites,  and  of  those  of  other 
people,  were  in  a  like  degree  of  corruption. 
This  man,  all  extraordinary,  all  divine,  did 
not  content  himself  with  mourning  over  the 
human  race.  He  preached,  he  dogiriatized, 
he  taught  a  code  of  severe  morahty,  opposed 
to  the  corrapt  maxims  of  the  age. 

His  disciples,  chosen  from  among  the  peo- 
ple, taught,  as  they  had  learned  from  their 
divine  Master,  sage  precepts,  a  holyand  rigid 
morality,  a  mysterious  doctrine,  and  incom- 
prehensible dogmas.  The  disciples  of  Christ 
did  not  employ  force  to  cause  men  to  receive 
their  precepts;  on  the  contrary,  they  were 
persecuted  in  all  ways,  and  their  preaching, 
aided  by  their  example,  made  the  most  rapid 
progress. 

They  persecuted  the  man  of  God.  They 
pursued  him  with  a  fury  equal  to  the  zeal 
with  which  he  bore  witness  against  vice  ;  and 
he  terminatt'd  his  divine  mission  by  an  in- 
famous punislunent. 

The  first  Christians  were  distinguished  by 
the  names  of  brethren, — holy,  faiihful ;  they 
were  humble,  obscure,  and  poor,  working  with 
their  own  hands  for  their  subsistence.  They 
spread  themselves  secretlj^  in  peace;  some 
went  to  Rome,  mixed  up  among  the  Jews,  to 
whom  the  Romans  permitted  the  exercise  of 
their  worship  in  their  synaa'Pirue._ 

It  was  towards  the  year  60  of  our  era,  that 
the  Christians  commenced  separating  them- 
selves from  the  Jewish  communion.  They 
separated  themselves  on  account  of  the  vio- 
lent quarrels  among  the  sjTiagogues  scattered 
through  Rome,  Greece,  Egjpt  and  Asia ;  they 


6 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


were  accused  of  atheism  by  their  Jewish 
brethren,  and  excommunicated  three  times  on 
the  Sabbath  day. 

Many  churches  were  formed,  and  the  sepa- 
ration became  complete  between  the  Jews 
and  Christians.  The  Romans  had  an  equal 
contempt  for  both.  This  people,  the  most 
tolerant  on  the  earth,  permited  their  extrava- 
gance so  long  as  they  did  not  interfere  with 
the  order  of  things  established  by  law ;  but 
when  these  obscure  sectarians  became  perse- 
cutors— when  they  spat  upon  the  images  of  the 
gods — when  they  overthrew  their  statues, 
then  the  prefect  of  Rome  gave  them  up  to 
the  axe  of  the  victors. 

In  the  first  age  the  apostles  and  their  suc- 
cessors concealed  themselves  in  the  catacombs 
of  Rome,  wandering  about  in  villages  and 
caverns.  The  popes  had  not  yet  an  episcopal 
throne;  they  did  not  step  upon  the  heads  of 
kings  ;  they  did  not  yet  overthrow  empires. 

The  alms  of  the  Neophytes  rendered  the 
place  of  bishops  in  the  great  cities  very  lu- 
crative ;  their  credit  extended  itself,  because 
of  their  wealth  ;  their  insolence  and  audacity 
increased  in  a  like  proportion,  and  their  for- 
midable power  raised  itself  by  ^  deception  of 
the  people. 

When  the  churches  received  a  form,  they 
recognized  five  orders ;  the  superintendents 
of  souls,  the  bishops ;  the  elders  of  the  so- 
ciety, who  were  the  priests ;  the  servants  or 
deacons  ;  the  initiated  or  believers,  who  par- 
took of  the  love  feasts ;  the  cathechumens, 
who  were  awaiting  baptism  :  all  these  dress- 
ed like  the  rest  of  mankind,  nor  were  they 
constrained  to  preserve  celibacy. 

Becoming  more  numerou  s,  they  raised  them- 
selves up  against  the  Roman  empire,  and 
forced  the  magistrates  to  act  with  severity 
aguinst  a  sect  which  troubled  the  public 
order.  They  did  not  punish  the  Jews,  wdio 
were  separated  from  the  Christians,  and  who 
shut  themselves  up  in  their  synagogues ;  they 
permitted  to  them  the  exercise  of  their  reli- 
gion, as  that  of  all  other  worships. 

But  the  Christians,  declaring  themselves 
enemies  of  all  other  religions,  and  especially 
of  that  of  the  empire,  were  many  times 
punished  by  its  laws.  From  this  crowd  of 
martyrs  have  the  priests  of  Rome  filled  their 
legends.  Historians  affirm  that  few  Chris- 
tians perished  as  martyrs ;  no  one  was  perse- 
cuted for  his  religious  belief,  but  for  acts  for- 
bidden by  all  laws. 

Councils  even  were  tolerated  ;  they  recount 
five  in  the  first  century,  six  in  the  second, 
and  thirty  in  the  third.  The  emperors  beheld 
with  contempt,  sometimes  with  indignation, 
the  progress  of  this  new  religion,  which  was 
elevating  its  worship  on  the  ruin  of  the  gods 
of  the  empire. 

Diocletian,  who  passes  for  a  persecutor, 
was,  during  more,  than  eighteen  years,  the 
avowed  protector  of  the  Christians  ]  they  oc- 
cupied important  places  about  his  person  ;  he 
even  married  a  Christian,  and  permitted  them 
in  Nicomedia,  his  residence,  to  build  a  superb 
church  opposite  to  his  palace.     Galerius  con- 


vinced Diocletian  that  this  sect,  which  he 
protected,  was  intoxicated  with  fanaticism 
and  fury. 

The  emperor  published  an  edict  for  the 
destruction  of  the  church  in  Nicomedia ;  a 
fanatic  tore  it  to  pieces.  Information  was  laid 
and  proof  found  of  a  wide-spread  conspiracy, 
which  extended  itself  from  one  extremity  of 
the  empire  to  the  other.  Antioch,  Jerusalem, 
Cffisarea  and  Alexandria,  were  filled  with  these 
intolerant  innovators.  The  hearth  of  this  fire 
was  in  Italy,  Rome,  Africa  and  Asia  Minor. 
More  than  two  hundred  thousand  of  the  con- 
spirators were  condemned  to  death. 

We  arrive  at  the  epoch  when  Constantinf 
placed  Christianity  upon  the  throne.  From 
thence  we  see  Christians,  animated  by  a 
furious  zeal,  persecuting  without  pity,  fan- 
ning the  most  extravagant  quarrels,  and  con- 
straining pagans,  by  fire  and  sword,  to  em- 
brace Christianity. 

Constantius  Chlorus  had  a  Christian  concu- 
bine, the  mother  of  Constantine,  and  known 
as  Saint  Helena.  Csesar  Constantius  Chlorus 
died  at  York  in  England,  at  a  time  when  the 
children,  whom  he  had  by  the  daughter  of 
Maximilian  Hercules,  his  legitimate  wife, 
could  make  no  pretensions  to  the  empire. 
Constantine,  the  son  of  his  concubine,  was 
chosen  emperor  by  six  thousand  German, 
Gallician,  and  British  soldiers.  This  election, 
made  by  the  soldiery,  without  the  consent  of 
the  senate  and  Roman  people,  was  ratified  by 
his  victory  over  Maxentius.  chosen  emperor 
at  Rome, — and  Constantine  mounted  a  throne 
soiled  with  murders. 

An  execrable  parricide,  he  put  to  death  the 
two  Licinii,  the  husband  and  son  of  his  sister  ; 
he  did  not  even  spare  his  own  children,  and 
the  empress  Fausta  the  wife  of  this  monster, 
was  strangled  by  his  orders  in  a  bath.  He 
then  consulted  the  pontiffs  of  the  empire,  to 
know  what  sacrifices  he  should  offer  to  the 
gods  in  order  to  make  expiation  for  his  crime. 
The  sacrificing  priests  refused  his  offerings, 
and  he  was  repulsed  with  horror  by  the  high 
priest,  who  exclaimed,  "  Far  from  hence  be 
parricides,  whom  the  gods  never  pardon." 
After  this  a  priest  promised  him  pardon  for 
his  crimes,  if  he  should  become  purified  in 
the  water  of  baptism,  and  the  emperor  became 
a  Christian. 

He  then  left  Rome,  and  founded  his  new 
Capitol  of  Constantinople.  During  his  reign 
the  ministers  of  the  Christian  religion  com- 
menced showing  their  ambition,  which  had 
been  concealed  during  three  centuries.  As- 
sured of  impunity,  they  cast  the  wife  of 
Maxentius  into  the  Orontes,  murdered  his  re- 
latives, massacred  the  magistrates  in  Egypt 
and  Palestine,  drew  from  their  retreat  the 
widow  and  daughter  of  Diocletian,  and  thSew 
them  into  the  sea. 

Constantine  assembles  the  council  of  Nice, 
exiles  Arius,  recallshim,  banishes  A  thanasius, 
and  dies  in  the  arms  of  Eusebius,  the  chief 
of  the  Arians,  having  been  baptized  on  the 
bed  of  death,  in  order  to  escape  the  torments 
of  hell. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Constans,  the  son  and  successor  of  Cou- 
tantine,  imitates  all  his  barbarity ;  like  him, 
he  assembles  councils,  which  proscribe  and 
anathematise.  Athanasius  sustains  his  par- 
ty in  Europe  and  Asia  by  combined  skill  and 
force:  the  Arians  overwhelm  him.  Exiles,  pri- 
sons, tumults  and  assassinations,  sis;nalizc  the 
termhiation  of  the  abominable  life  of  Constans. 

Jovien  and  Valentiiuan  guarantee  entire 
liberty  of  conscience.  The  two  parties  ex- 
ercise against  each  other  hatred  and  merci- 
less rage. 

Theodosius  declares  for  the  council  of  Nice. 
The  empress  Justine,  who  reigned  in  Illyria 
and  Africa,  as  the  tutoress  of  the  young  Va- 
lentian,  proscribes  him. 

The  Goth.s,  Vandals,  Burgundians,  and 
Franks,  hurl  themselves  upon  the  provinces 
of  the  empire;  theylind  the  opinions  of  Arius 
established  in  them,  and  the  conquerors  em- 
brace the  religion  of  the  conquered. 

The  pope  Anastasius  calms,  by  his  justice 
and  his  toleration,  the  religious  quarrels  which 
separate  the  churches  of  the  East  and  the 
West ;  but  the  hatred  of  the  priests  soon  termi- 
nated, by  crime,  a  life  which  had  been  glori- 
ous for  religion,  and  dear  to  humanity. 

]\Iahomet  appeared  in  the  seventh  centu^)^ 
A  skilful  impostor,  he  founds  a  new  religion, 
and  the  greatest  empire  of  the  world.  Ban- 
ished from  Mecca,  he  re-assembles  his  dis- 
ciples, establishes  the  foundation  of  his  theo- 
gony,  and  marches  to  the  most  surprising- 
conquests. 

The  Christians  were  divided  by  gross  here- 
sies. The  Persians  made  a  terrible  war  on 
the  empire  of  the  east,  and  pursued  Jews  and 
Catholics  with  an  implacable  hatred.  All  was 
confusion  in  church  and  state. 

The  bishops  had  not  yet  arrogated  to  them- 
selves temporal  jurisdiction ;  but  the  weak- 
ness of  the  empire  of  the  west  gave  rise  to 
this  scandalous  usurpation,  which  has  covered 
Europe  with  butcheries,  disasters,  and  ruin. 

Pepin,  king  of  France,  allies  himself  in 
succession  with  popes  Zachary  and  Stephen. 
In  order  to  cloak  from  the  eyes  of  the  people 
his  usurpation  of  the  crowni  of  France,  and 
the  murder  of  his  brother,  he  surrenders  to 
the  Holy  See  the  domains  in  Romagna,  taken 
from  the  Lombards. 

Stephen  the  Third,  an  hypocritical  priest, 
does  not  delay  to  signalize  his  new  power,  by 
the  excess  of  the  most  frightful  ambition. 

Under  Stephen  the  Sixth,  fnry  is  at  its 
height.  The  clergy  are  divitled  into  factions, 
and  the  pope  is  chosen  in  the  midst  of  the 
carnage.  The  pontiff,  after  his  victory,  put 
out  the  eyes,  and  tore  out  the  tongue,  of  Con- 
stantine  the  Second,  his  predecessor. 
.  Charlemagne  invades  Lombardy;  deprives 
his  nephews  of  their  inheritance  ;  despoils  his 
brother-in-law  to  punish  him  for  having  un- 
dertaken their  defence,  carries  him  to  Lyons 
in  chains,  and  condemns  him  to  terminate 
his  days  in  prison.  Then  Leo  the  Third  placed 
a  crown  of  gold  upon  his  head,  and  a  mantle 
of  purple  on  his  shoulders.  But  the  descen- 
dants of  Charlemagne  could  not  preserve  at 


Rome  the  influence  this  usurper  had  ac- 
quired, by  granting  to  the  popes  the  knd  he 
had  taken  away  from  the  Lombards. 

Paschal  the  First,  by  a  criminal  boldness, 
put  out  the  eyes  and  cut  ofi"  the  heads,  in  the 
patriarchal  palace  of  the  Lateran,  of  Theo- 
dorus,  a  high  officer  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  of  Leo  his  son-in-law.  because  they  had 
remained  faithful  to  Lothaire.  On  the  death 
of  this  pope  the  people  endeavoured  to  prevent 
his  burial,  and  wished  to  drag  his  dead  body 
through  trie  streets  of  Rome. 

Eugenius,  his  successor,  occupies  himself 
in  transporting  from  the  sepulchres  of  Italy 
putrefied  bones,  the  frightful  vestiges  of  hu- 
man nature.  He  sent  them  into  France, 
Germany  and  England,  and  sold  them  to 
Christian  Europe. 

Leo  the  Fourth  has  the  impudence  to  assure 
the  bishops  of  immunity  for  the  most  frightful 
crimes. 

After  the  death  of  Leo.  a  woman  mounts 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  celebrating  mass,  cre- 
ating bishops,  and  giving  her  feet  to  be  kissed 
by  princes  and  people.  The  popess  Joan 
becomes  enceinte  by  a  cardinal,  and  dies 
in  the  pangs  of  child-birth,  in  the  midst  of  a 
religious  ceremony. 

In  the  ninth  century,  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  separate.  Ridiculous  differences 
cause  live  centuries  of  murders,  carnage,  and 
frightful  wars;  and  twenty-five  bloody  schisms 
in  the  west  soil  the  chair  of  Rome. 

The  Arabs  and  Turks  overwhelm  the  Greek 
and  African  churches,  and  elevate  the  JNIaho- 
medan  religion  upon  the  ruins  of  Christianitv. 

The  Roman  church  maintains  itself,  amid 
troubles,  discords  and  ruin.  During  this  qpoch 
of  anarchj-,  the  bishops  and  abbots  in  Ger- 
many became  princes,  and  the  popes  obtain 
absolute  power  in  Rome. 

Stephen  the  Seventh,  driven  on  bj- a  pitiless 
rage,  orders  the  sepulchre  of  Formosus  to  be 
despoiled,  causes  them  to  take  out  from  it 
the  dead  body.  and.  horrible  to  relate,  has  it 
brought  into  the  synod  assembled  to  degrade 
him.  Then  this  frightful  body,  covered  with 
the  pontifical  habits,  is  interrogated  in  the 
midst  of  scandalous  and  infnriate  clamour. 
'•  Why  ha.'^t  thou,  being bi.'^hcp  of  Portus,  usurp- 
ed, through  ambition,  the  universal  see  of 
Rome?''  Then  the  pope,  pushed  on  by  an  exe- 
crable barbarity,  orders  his  three  fingers  and 
head  to  be  cut  off,  and  his  dead  body  to  be 
cast  into  the  Tiber. 

Sergins  invades  tlie  pontifical  chair.  He 
leads  publicly  a  life,  soiled  with  debaucheries, 
with  the  famous  courtezan  jNIarozia.  Their  son 
becomes  pope,  under  the  name  of  John  the 
Twelfth,  and  surpasses  them  by  his  mon- 
strous crimes.  Cardinals  and  bii^hops  accused 
him  of  incest  with  his  mother — of  violating 
the  holy  virgin.* — of  adultery,  homicide,  pro- 
fanity and  blasphemy. 

Gregory  the  Fifth  cuts  off  the  feet,  hands, 

tongue  and  ears  of  John  and  Crescenlius,  and 

makes   them  walk,  thus  mutilated,  through 

the  streets  of  Rome. 

Benedict  the  Ninth  is  raised  to  the  Holy  Sec  at 


■8 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


twelve  years  of  age.  by  the  intrigues  and  gold  [ 
of  the  Count  of  Tuscanella.  He  immediately 
guvreuders  himself  to  excess  of  depravity,  and 
the  most  shameless  debaucheries.  The  Ro- 
mans, Avorn  out  by  his  outrages,  drive  him 
from  Rome,  and  name  another  pope,  Sylves- 
ter the  Third.  Benedict,  by  the  assistance  of  his 
relatives,  seats  himself  anew  in  the  Holy  See ; 
but  perceiving  himself  to  be  an  object  of 
universal  execration,  and  fearing  a  terrible 
fall,  he,  by  an  infamous  simony,  sells  the 
Holy  See,  and  consecrates  a  third  pope,  John 
the  Twentieth.  He  then  retires  into  the 
palace  of  his  father,  in  order  to  surrender 
himself  to  the  most  infamous  pleasures. 

After  having  made  this  odious  traffic,  the 
desire  of  ruling  re-enters  his  soul,  and  places 
him  a  third  time  in  this  dishonoured  chair. 
Alone,  against  the  Romans,  who  held  him  in 
horror — alone  against  the  two  other  popes, 
producing  a  triple  schism — he  proposes  to  his 
adversaries  to  divide  between  them  the  reve- 
nues of  the  church. 

These  three  anti-popes,  by  a  shameful 
traffic,  divide  into  three  parts  the  patrimony 
of  the  poor,  and  boldly  rule ;  the  one  at  Saint 
Peter's,  the  other  at  St.  Mary  Majeura,  and 
the  third  at  the  palace  of  the  Lateran;  an 
execrable  triumvirate. 

A  bold,  avaricious  and  dissolute  priest,  pur- 
chases from  the  three  popes  their  infamous 
titles  to  the  papacy,  and  succeeds  them  under 
the  name  of  Gregory  the  Sixth. 

Hildebrand,  the  monk  of  Cluny,  the  poi- 
soner of  popes,  the  most  deceitful  of  priests, 
usurps  the  pontifical  see,  under  the  name  of 
Gregory  the  Seventh.  He  launches  his  anathe- 
mas against  kings;  excites  public  wars;  fflls 
Germany  and  Italy  with  disorder,  carnage  and 
murder.  He  excommunicates  the  emperor 
of  Germany;  takes  from  him  the  title  of  king; 
frees  his  people  from  the  oath  of  obedience ; 
excites  princes  against  him.  and  at  last  re- 
duces him  to  such  a  state  of  misfortune,  that 
the  force  of  his  mind  is  shattered.  At 
length — extreme  of  pride  and  degTadation — 
the  king  sought  the  pope  "  in  the  depth  of  win- 
ter, fasting,  with  naked  feet  and  in  his  shirt, 
having  a  pair  of  scissors  and  a  hair-brush  in 
his  hand." 

Adrian,  the  son  of  an  English  friar,  causes 
the  emperor  Barbarossa  to  hold  the  stirrup  of 
his  palfrey ;  and  in  order  to  add  barbarity  to 
his  triumph,  demands  that  the  famous  Ar- 
nold of  Brescia  should  be  delivered  up  to  him 
to  be  burned  alive,  because  he  had  preached 
against  the  luxury  of  priests,  and  the  abomi- 
nations of  pontiffs. 

Alexander  pushes  still  further  than  his  pre- 
decessors his  outrages  against  kings.  The 
emperor  Frederick,  in  order  to  free  his  son 
Otho,  who  was  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of 
the  Romans,  supplicates  the  pope  to  absolve 
him  from  excommunication.  The  inflexible 
Alexander  demands  that  the  emperor  should 
come  in  person  to  ask  for  his  pardon,  in  the 

{)resence  of  the  assembled   people,  without 
lis  robes  or  his  crown,  having  the  rod  of  a 


beadle  in  his  hand,  and  that  he  should  pros- 
trate his  face  to  the  earth.  When  he  was 
extended  on  the  ground  at  the  entrance  of  the 
church,  Alexander  put  his  foot  on  his  neck 
and  trampled  on  him,  exclaiming,  "Thou  shalt 
tread  upon  the  serpent  and  the  cockatrice, 
and  shalt  crush  the  lion  and  the  dragon." 

Celestin  the  Third,  affords  a  frightful  ex- 
ample of  insatiable  avarice.  Alexander  had 
trampled  under  his  feet  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
who  demanded  the  liberation  of  his  son.  This 
new  pope,  for  money,  crowned  the  emperor 
Henry  the  Fourth,  an  execrable  monster,  who 
renewed  the  impious  sacrilege  of  Stephen  the 
the  Seventh,  by  exhuming  the  dead  body  of 
Tancred,  that  his  head  should  be  cut  of}'  by 
the  public  executioner.  He  put  out  the  eyes 
of  William,  the  young  son  of  Tancred,  after 
having  made  him  an  eunuch.  He  condemned 
the  count  Jourdan  to  an  horrible  punishment, 
having  caused  him  to  be  affixed  to  a  chain  of 
heated  iron,  and  to  be  crowned  by  a  circle  of 
hot  iron,  which  they  fastened  on  his  head. 

Innocent  the  Third  preached  the  crusades 
against  the  infidel,  and  increased  his  treasury 
from  the  riches  of  the  people.  This  crafty, 
sacrilegious  pope,  established  the  monstrous 
tribunal  of  the  inquisition.  Then  he  preached 
a  crusade  against  the  Albigenses,  and  despoil- 
ed the  estates  of  Raymond  the  Sixth,  count  of 
Toulouse.  He  sent  forth  St.  Dominick,  with 
power  to  persecute  with  fire,  sword,  and  un- 
heard-of torments,  the  unfortunate  Waldenses. 
The  crusaders  stormed  the  city  of  Beziers. 
The  frightful  Dominick,  Christ  in  one  hand 
and  a  torch  in  the  other,  creates  the  carnage, 
and  sixty  thousand  dead  bodies  were  buried 
under  the  ruins  of  that  city,  which  was  redu- 
ced to  ashes.  Toulouse,  Carcassonne,  Alby, 
Castlenaudary,  Narbonne,  Aries,  Marseilles, 
Aix,  Avignon,  were  devastated  by  the  armies 
of  the  pope. 

Gregory  the  Ninth,  in  order  to  maintain  his 
ambitious  projects  and  the  unbridled  luxury 
of  his  court,  levies  imposts  on  France,  Eng- 
land and  Germany.  He  excommunicates 
kings,  frees  people  from  their  allegiance,  and 
is  driven  from  Rome  by  his  subjects.  Ray- 
mond the  Seventh,  though  a  Catholic,  but  the 
son  of  a  heretic,  is  pursued  by  him  and  des- 
poiled of  his  estates.  The  pope  sends  a  legate 
into  France,  to  sustain  this  abominable  war 
in  Languedoc  and  Provence.  Raymond  de- 
fends himself  gallantly ;  and  the  people,  tired 
of  the  insatiable  avarice  of  Gregory  the  Ninth, 
refuse  to  pay  the  imposts,  and  force  the  pope 
to  conclude  a  peace. 

The  pontiff,  arrested  in  his  progress,  con- 
demns Raymond  to  pay  ten  thousand  marks 
of  silver  to  his  legate,  two  thousand  to  the 
abbey  of  Citeaux,  a  thousand  to  that  of  Grand 
Ligne,  and  three  hundred  to  that  of  Belle 
Pouche,  all  for  the  remission  of  his  sins,  as  the 
treaty  signed  at  the  door  of  the  cathedral  of 
Paris  witnesses. 

Innocent  the  Fourth,  in  the  midst  of  his 
crimes  performed  a  generous  action,  which  re- 
conciles humanity  to  him.   He  midertakes  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


defence  of  the  Jews  of  Germany,  whom  the 
princes  and  priests  persecuted,  in  order  to  en- 
rich themselves  with  their  spoils.  In  that  bar- 
barous ai^e,  a  false  zeal  for  relij^ion  served  as  a 
pretext  for  the  most  revolting  hijustice.  They 
invented  calumnies  ajrainst  the  Jews,  accused 
them  of  eating-  the  heart  of  a  new-born  in- 
fant at  the  passover  supper;  and,  when  they 
found  the  body  of  a  dead  man,  they  put  them 
to  the  torture,  and  conderned  them  to  perish 
by  the  most  frightful  torments. 

Urban  the  Fourth  signs  a  shameless  treaty 
with  St.  Louis  and  Charles  of  Angou,  to  enrich 
themselves  with  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and 
divide  the  estates  of  the  young  Conradin.  The 
pope  overcomes  the  scruples  of  the  king  of 
France,  and  causes  the  duke  of  Angou  to 
swear  that  he  will  abandon  to  the  Holy  See  the 
domains  to  which  he  laid  pretensions,  and 
pay  eight  thousand  ounces  of  gold  every  year. 

Clement  the  Fourth  continues  the  policy  of 
his  prL*decessor.  The  young  Conradin  returns 
to  his  estates,  and  fights  a  decisive  battle,  and 
is  made  prisoner,  together  with  Frederick  of 
Austria.  After  a  rigorous  captivity,  Charles 
of  Angou,  by  the  order  of  the  pope,  condemns 
them  to  perish  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner. 
The  young  duke  of  Austria  was  the  first  exe- 
cuted. Conradin  seized  the  head  of  his  friend, 
and  received  the  mortal  blow  holding  it  in  his 
embrace. 

Martin  the  Fourth  momits  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter,  and  makes  a  sacrilegious  agreement 
virith  Charles  of  Angou;  the  one  a  political  ty- 
rant, the  crafty  usurper  of  Sicily,  the  other  the 
consecrated  tyrant  of  Rome.  Their  cruelties 
excite  general  indignation.  A  vast  conspiracy 
is  formed ;  John  of  Procida,  a  Sicilian  gentle- 
man, is  the  soul  of  it.  He  engages  IVlichael 
Paleologus  to  join  it ;  goes  to  Spain  to  obtain 
the  aid  of  Peter  of  Arragon,  and  hastens 
through  the  cities  of  Sicily  to  excite  their 
minds  to  vengeance. 

On  the  third  day  of  Easter,  1282,  at  the 
hour  of  vespers,  is  the  signal  for  the  carnage 
given.  At  the  sound  of  the  bell,  a  cry  of  death 
resounds  through  all  the  cities  of  Sicily.  The 
French  are  massacred  in  the  churches,  in  the 
public  places,  and  in  private  houses;  every 
where  is  murder  and  vengeance.  Ten  thou- 
sand dead  bodies  are  the  trophies  of  the  Sici- 
lian vespers. 

Boniface  the  Eighth  becomes  pope,  after 
having  assassinated  his  predecessor.  He  out- 
rages the  people,  defies  kings,  pursues  with 
hatred  the  Ghibelins,  the  partizans  of  the  em- 
peror of  Germany,  invents  the  jubilee  to  draw 
the  wealth  of  the  nations  into  his  treasury, 
and  excites  so  profound  a  hatred  against  him- 
self, that  the  states  assemble  at  Paris,  by 
order  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  to  judge  the 
pope.  The  archbishop  of  Narbonne  accuses 
nim  of  being  a  simoniac,  an  assassin,  and  an 
usurer;  of  not  believing  in  the  eucharist,  nor 
the  immortality  of  the  soul;  of  employing 
force  to  cause  the  secrets  of  the  confessional 
to  be  revealed;  of  living  in  concubinage  with 
his  two  nieces,  and  of  having  children  by 
them ;  and,  last  of  all,  of  having  employed 

Vol.  I.  B 


the  riches  acquired  by  the  sale  of  indulgences 
to  pay  the  Saracens  to  invade  Sicily. 

Nogaret  and  Sciara  Colonna  are  charged  to 
carry  to  the  pope  the  order  to  appear  at  Lyons 
to  be  judged  by  a  general  council.  They  ar- 
rive, at  the  head  of  three  hundred  horsemen, 
at  the  city  of  Anagni,  the  residence  of  Boni- 
face. Meeting  with  resistance,  they  force 
an  entrance  into  the  palace,  and  present  to  the 
pope  the  accusations  against  him.  Boniface, 
transported  by  fury,  charges  Nogaret  with  in- 
juring him,  and  curses  the  king  of  France 
and  his  descendants  to  the  fourth  generation. 
Then  Sciara  Colonna  struck  him  on  the  face 
with  his  iron  gauntlet,  until  the  blood  flew. 

Clement  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the  Handsome 
•accuse  the  templars  of  enormous  crimes,  and 
condemn  them  to  the  most  frightful  punish- 
ments, in  order  to  enrich  themselves  with 
their  immense  wealth.  By  the  order  of  the 
king,  the  grand  master  of  the  Templars,  ac- 
companied by  his  knights,  is  conducted  to 
punishment,  to  be  burned  alive  in  the  pre- 
sence of  cardinals  and  priests,  who  cruelly 
contemplate  these  bloody  slakes. 

After  having  divided  with  the  king  the 
spoils  of  the  Templars,  Clement  the  Filth  es- 
tablished his  court  at  Avignon,  and  publicly 
abandoned  himself  to  the  most  depraved  de- 
bauchery, with  his  nephew  and  the  daughter 
of  the  Count  de  Foix.  He  preached  a  new 
crusade  against  the  Turks,  sold  mdulgences, 
and,  joming  ridicule  to  infamy,  gave  to  each 
crusader  the  right  of  delivering  four  souls  from 
purg-atory ;  and  the  people  have  been  scourged 
for  eighteen  hundred  years  under  the  pitiless 
rod  of  these  criminal  popes. 

Jolm  the  Twenty-second  seized  the  tiara, 
seated  himself  on  the  pontifical  throne,  and 
said,  "I  am  pope.''  In  order  to  strengthen  this 
usurpation,  he  launched  his  anathemas  against 
the  emperor  of  Germany  and  the  king  of 
France,  persecuted  sectarians,  burned  heretics, 
freed  people  from  their  allegiance,  armed 
princes,  inundated  kingdoms  with  his  monks, 
preached  new  crusades,  sold  benefices,  and 
,  drew  into  his  treasury  twenty-five  millions  of 
1  florins,  collected  from  all  parts  of  the  Christian 
,  world. 

I  Benedict  theTwelfth  stops  the  depredations, 
arrests  the  imposts  which  his  predecessor  hail 
levied  upon  the  people,  practises  a  severe 
morality,  reforms  the  morals  of  the  clergy,  and 
dies  in  the  midst  of  his  apostolical  labours. 

Clement  the  Sixth  buys  from  the  celebrated 
Joanna  of  Naples,  the  country  of  Avignon, 
promising  therefor  three  hundred  thousand 
florins  of  gold,  which  he  never  paid,  and  de- 
clares her  innocent  of  the  murder  of  Andreas, 
her  husband,  whom  she  had  caused  to  be  as- 
sassinated. 

Under  Urban  the  Sixth  commenced  the  great 
schism  which  divided  the  west;  two  popes 
were  elevated  to  the  pontifical  chair.     . 

Urban  the  Sixth  niled  at  Rome ;  Clement  the 
Seventh,  the  anti-pope,  at  Avignon.  Luring  a 
period  of  fifty  years  the  two  popes  and  their 
successors  excited  cruel  wars,  and  excommu- 
nicated each  other.     Italy,  Naples,  Hungary 


10 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


and  Spain,  espoused  the  cause  of  Urban; 
France  sustained  Clement  the  Seventh.  Every 
vsrhere  brigandage  and  cruelty  abounds,  pro- 
duced by  the  order  of  Clement,  or  the  fanati- 
cism of  Urban. 

The  unfortunate  and  guilty  Joanna  sent 
forty  thousand  ducats  to  the  pope,  in  order  to 
strengthen  her  cause.  By  way  of  thanks.  Ur- 
ban caused  her  to  be  strangled  at  the  foot  of 
the  altar.  The  pontiff  had  induced  Charles  de 
Duras,  the  adopted  son  and  heir  of  Joanna,  to 
commit  this  horrid  parricide. 

The  prince  having  refused  to  divide  with 
the  pope  the  spoils  of  Joanna,  the  fury  of 
Urban  was  turned  against  six  cardinals,  whom 
he  supposed  to  form  the  party  of  Charles. 
They  were  thrown,  laden  with  chains,  into 
offensive  dungeons;  their  eyes  were  put  out, 
the  nails  of  their  feet  and  hands  wrenched 
off,  their  teeth  broken,  their  flesh  pierced 
with  rods  of  heated  iron,  and  at  length  their 
bodies,  frightfully  mutilated,  were  tied  up  in 
sacks,  whilst  still  alive,  and  thrown  into  the  sea. 

Clement  the  Seventh  held  his  seat  at  Avig- 
non, and  levied  enormous  imposts  on  the 
church  of  France,  in  order  to  enrich  the  cardi- 
nals and  satisfy  the  unbridled*  luxury  of  his 
court.  His  conduct  was  not  at  all  inferior  to 
that  of  his  competitor  in  violence,  deceit  and 
crime. 

The  two  popes  desolated  Europe  by  their 
armies  and  those  of  their  partisans;  fury  had 
blotted  out  the  sentiments  of  humanity ;  every 
where  were  treason,  poisoning,  massacre.  An 
endeavour  was  made  to  remedy  the  public  ca- 
lamities, but  the  two  popes  opposed  all  pro- 
positions which  could  restore  peace  to  the 
church. 

The  schism  continued  under  their  succes- 
sors; the  cardinals  not  being  able  to  over- 
come the  obstinacy  of  the  two  popes,  cited 
Benedict  the  Thirteenth  and  Gregory  the  Twelfth 
to  appear  before  a  general  council,  convened  at 
Pisa ;  and,  when  they  refused  to  do  so,  the  pa- 
triarch of  Alexandria,  assisted  by  those  of  An- 
tioch  and  Jerusalem,  pronounced,  with  a  loud 
voice  in  the  church,  whose  doors  were  opened, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  multi- 
tude, the  definite  sentence  of  deposition 
against  them. 

Alexander  the  Fifth  endeavoured  to 
strengthen  the  union  of  the  church,  to  reform 
the  morals  of  the  clergy,  to  give  the  sacred 
charges  to  virtuous  men,  and  died  of  a  poi- 
soned clyster,  administered  by  the  orders  of 
the  cardinal  Baltheazar  Cossa.  This  base  as- 
sassin assembled  the  conclave,  and.  seizing 
the  pontitical  mantle,  placed  it  on  his  shoul- 
ders, exclaiming,  "I  am  the  pope." 

The  affrighted  cardinals  confirmed  the  elec- 
tion of  John  the  Twenty-third ;  but  the  deposed 
popes,  Benedict  the  Thirteenth  and  Gregory  the 
Twelfth,  revived  their  pretensions  to  the  see  of 
Rome ;  an  horrible  war,  excited  by  anathemas, 
fills  Prussia  and  Italy  with  blood;  The  empire 
has  three  emperors,  as  the  church  has  three 
popes,  or  rather  the  church  and  the  empire 
have  no  heads. 

A  general  council  assembles,  and  proceeds 


to  the  deposition  of  Pope  Jolm  the  Twenty- 
third.  The  bishops  and  cardinals  accuse  him 
of  murders,  incest,  poisoning  and  sodomy;  of 
having  seduced  and  carried  on  a  sacrilegious 
intercourse  with  three  hundred  religious  wo- 
men; of  having  violated  three  sisters;  and  of 
having  confined  a  whole  family,  in  order  to 
abuse  the  mother,  son  and  father. 

Martin  the  Fifth  burned  alive  Jolin  Huss  and 
Jerome  of  Prague,  the  leaders  of  a  new  sect, 
which  preached  ag'ainst  the  disorders  of  the 
priests  and  the  ambition  of  the  pontiffs,  and 
led  men  back  to  sentiments  of  humanity.  He 
then  organizes  a  crusade  against  Bohemia; 
but  the  inhabitants  of  this  wild  country,  ex- 
alted by  generous  principles  of  liberty,  con- 
tend with  courage  against  fanaticism.  Em- 
bassadors are  sent  to  Prague,  with  proposals 
for  peace,  and  the  Bohemians  reply,  "that  a 
free  people  have  no  need  of  a  king." 

The  legates  of  the  pope  and  the  emperor 
command  in  person  the  armies  sent  against 
the  Bohemians,  to  prevent  their  communing  in 
the  two  kinds,  bread  and  wine.  Frightful 
madness.  For  a  subject  so  trifling  Germany 
is  given  up  to  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war ;  but 
the  cause  of  the  people  is  triumphant.  The 
troops  of  the  emperor  are  defeated  in  many 
engagements,  and  the  amiy  of  the  legates  is 
cut  to  pieces. 

Eugenius  the  Fourth  mounts  the  Holy  See ; 
he  confirms  as  legate  in  Germany  Julian  Caesar, 
in  order  to  exercise  cruel  persecutions  against 
the  Hussites.  During  his  reign  an  important 
act  transpires;  a  struggle  takes  place  between 
the  powers  of  the  church;  the  council  of  Basle 
endeavours  to  bring  under  subjection  the 
power  of  the  popes,  and  the  pope  declares 
that  his  see  is  beyond  the  reach  of  councils. 
The  fathers  make  a  terrible  decree,  declare 
Eugenius  the  Fourth  a  profanator,  incorrigi- 
ble, and  a  scandal  to  the  church,  and  depose 
him  from  the  papacy. 

Felix  the  Fifth  is  nominated  as  pope,  and 
Eugenius  becomes  the  anti-pope.  The  councils 
of  Florence  and  Basle  excommunicate  each. 
Depositions,  violence,  cruelty  succeed.  Vit- 
teleschi.  archbishop  of  Florence,  is  assassi- 
nated by  the  orders  of  Eugenius;  divided 
kingdoms  take  the  part  of  one  or  the  other, 
and  a  schism  is  renewed  which  lasts  until  the 
death  of  Eugenius  the  Fourth. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  the  Fifth, 
took  place  the  celebrated  capture  of  Constan- 
tinople by  the  Turks;  the  pontiff,  solicited  by 
the  Grecian  embassadors  to  grant  them  suc- 
cours of  men  and  money,  harshly  refused,  and 
we  must  attribute  the  loss  of  this  powerful 
city  to  the  perfidy  of  the  Roman  court,  which 
sacrificed  the  rampart  of  Christianity,  and 
basely  betrayed  a  people  whom  they  should 
have  succoured. 

The  merits  and  the  piety  of  Calixtus  the 
Third,  elevate  him  to  the  pontifical  throne, 
which  he  honours  by  his  genius. 

Sextus  the  Fourth  employs  all  his  care  and 
solicitude  in  increasing  his  wealth.  He  aug- 
ments the  imposts,  invents  new  charges,  and 
sells  them  at  auction  to  satisfy  the  avarice  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


11 


Peter  Riere,  of  Savana,  and  of  his  brother  Je- 
rome, -whom  he  had  created  cardinals,  and 
who  ministered  to  his  horrid  pleasures. 

This  shameless  pope  established  at  Rome 
a  brothel,  the  courtezans  of  which  paid  him  a 
golden  Julius  weekly.  This  revenue  amount- 
ed to  twenty  thousand  ducats  a  year.  An  exe- 
crable act  committed  by  him  is  alone  suffi- 
cient to  render  his  memory  for  ever  odious. 
The  family  of  the  cardinal  of  Saint  Lucia 
having  presented  to  him  a  petition,  that  he 
(the  cardinal)  should  be  permitted  to  commit 
sodomy  during  the  three  warmest  months  of 
the  year,  he  wrote  at  the  bottom  of  the  peti- 
tion, •'  Let  it  be  as  desired." 

He  then  formed  a  conspiracy  against  LaU' 


and  continued  his  incest  with  the  most  beau- 
tiful, whom  they  call  Rosa  Vanozza. 

She  bore  him  five  children,  one  of  whom 
was  the  famous  Ca?sar  Borgia,  who  would  have 
surpassed  the  crimes  of  his  father,  if  the  devil 
himself  could  have  equalled  them. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Innocent,  assassins 
and  bandits  had  so  increased  in  number,  that 
the  cardinals,  before  entering  the  conclave, 
fortified  their  dwellings  with  musketry,  and 
pointed  cannon  along  the  streets.  Rome  was 
become  a  public  market,  where  all  holy 
charges  were  for  sale ;  Roderick  Borgia  pub- 
licly bought  the  sulFrages  of  twenty-two  car- 
dinals, and  was  proclaimed  pope. 

Armed  with  the  sacerdotal  power,  his  exe- 


rent  and  Julian  de  Medicis,  sends  Raphael  crable  vices  daily  increased;  he  delivered 
Riere  to  Florence,  and  during  a  solemn  mass,  '  himself  up  to  the  most  monstrous  incest,  and 
and  whilst  the  cardinal  wa"s  elevating  the  horrible  to  relate,  the  two  brothers,  Francis 
host,  the  conspirators  stabbed  Julian  de  Me-  '  and  Caesar,  mingled  their  infamous  pleasures 
dicis.  Laurent  courageously  defends  himself,  '  with  their  father's  ui  the  embraces  of  their 
and,  although  wounded,  gains  the  sacristy,    sister  Lucretia. 

The  people  "precipitate  themselves  upon  the  j  The  immoderate  ambition  of  the  pope  knew 
conspirators,  disarm  them,  and  hang  them  from  no  bounds ;  all  laws,  human  and  divine,  were 
the  windows  of  the  church,  as  well  as  Salviato,  trampled  under  feet.  He  forms  alliances  and 
archbishop  of  Pisa,  in  his  sacerdotal  robes.        breaks  them ;  he  preaches  crusades,  levies  im- 

Innocent  the  Eighth  succeeds  Sextus.  His  posts  in  Christian  kingdoms,  inundates  Eu- 
election  cost  him  more  than  all  the  treasures  rope  wdthhis  legions  of  monks,  enriches  him- 
oftheHolySee;  the  resources  were  exhausted,  self  with  the  wealth  they  carry  to  him,  and 
but  the  genius  of  the  pope  remained.  He  ap-  calls  Bajazet  into  Italy  to  oppose  the  king  of 
pointed  lifty-two  venders  of  bulls,  whom  he  France.  Later,  his  policy  causes  him  to  seek 
charged  to  squeeze  the  people,  and  joined  to  the  aid  of  Charles ;  and,  protected  by  the 
them  twenty-six  secretaries,  who  each  lodged  French,  he  undertakes  the  rum  of  the  petty 
with  him  two  thousand  five  hundred  marks  sovereigns  of  Romagna.  He  puts  some  to 
of  gold.  His  private  life  was  deiiled  by  the  death  by  the  dagger,  others  by  poison,  fills  all 
vilest  scandals.  Educated  at  the  court  of  king  minds  with  dread,  and  prepares  for  Ceesar  Bor- 
Alphonso.  of  Sicilv,  he  had  contracted  the  gia  the  absolute  dominion  of  Italy, 
frightful  Vice  of  s'odomy.  His  remarkable  His  insatiable  avarice  invented  the  most 
beauty  had  procured  him  admission  into  the  sacrilegious  means  of  enriching  itself;  he  sold 
family  of  Phillip,  cardinal  of  Bolonga,  as  the  the  sacred  charges,  the  altars,  even  Christ 
minister  to  his  monstrous  pleasures.  On  the  himself,  and  then  took  them  back  again  to 
death  of  his  protector  he  became  the  minion  sell  again  the  second  time.  He  nominated 
of  Paul  the  Second,  and  of  Sextus,  who  ele-  the  cardinal  of  Modena  as  distributor  of  his 
vated  him  to  the  cardinalship.  graces  and  dispensations;  in  the  name  of  this 

The  grand  master  of  Rhodes  delivered  to    minister  of  iniquity  he  sold  honors,  dignities, 
Pope  Innocent  the  young  prince  Zizimus,  to    marriages,  divorces;  and  as  the  simony  of  the 

Erotect  him  from  the  pursuit  of  his  brother  cardinal  did  not  bring  in  sums  sufficiently 
ajazet.  The  sultan  of  Eiiypt  sends  embas-  large  to  sustain  the  extravagance  of  the  family 
sadors  to  offer  to  the  pope  four  humlred  thou-  of  Alexander,  he  administered  to  him  the  fatal 
sand  ducats  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem  in  ex-  poison  of  the  Borgias,  to  obtain  lor  himself 
change  for  prince  Zizimus,  whom  he  wishes  the  immense  riches  which  he  had  amassed, 
to  place  at  the  head  of  iiis  troops,  in  order  to  {  He  made  promotions  to  cardinalships.  re- 
march  against  Constantinople,  and  engages  to  ceiving  pa\-ment  therefor;  then  declaring  the 
restore  that  city  to  the  Christians;  but  the  !  Holy  See  the  heir  of  the  property  of  prelates, 
sultan  Bajazet  bid  higher,  and  the  pontiff  re-  j  he  poisoned  them,  in  order  to  enrich  himselt 
tained  Zizimus  a  prisoner  in  his  states.  with  their  spoils.     All  these  crimes  still  did 

We  enter  nov/  upon  the  reign  of  a  pope  !  not  afford  him  sufficient  money,  and  he  puD 


who,  by  the  admission  of  all  historians,  is  the 
most  dreadful  of  all  men  who  have  alfrighted 
the  world.  A  depravity  hitherto  unknown, 
an  insatiable  cupidity,  an  unbridled  ambition, 
a  cnielty  more  than  barbarous — such  were  the 
horrid  qualities  of  Roderick  Borgia,  chosen 
pope,  by  the  title  of  Alexander  the  Sixth.  His 
passions  were  so  unbridled  that,  having  be- 
come enamoured  of  a  widow  who  had  two 
daugliters,  not  content  with  the  mother,  he 
bent  the  daughters  also  to  his  desires;  he 
caused  one  of  them  to  be  placed  in  a  convent. 


lished  that  the  Turks  were  about  to  waue  war 
again.st  Christianity,  and  under  the  veil  of  re- 
ligion he  extorted  sums  so  enormous,  that 
they  surpass  belief.  At  last  Alexander  the 
Sixth,  soiled  with  murders,  debaucheries  and 
monstrous  incests,  having  invited  to  sup  two 
cardinals,  whose  heirs  he  wished  to  become, 
took  the  poison  destined  for  them,  and  ren- 
dered up  his  execrable  soul  to  the  devil. 

The  people,  tired  of  the  insupportable  yoke 
of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  and  mined  by  the 
insatiable  avidity  of  the  priests,  commenced 


12 


HISTORY    OF    THE   POPES. 


waking  from  the  lethargic  sleep  into  which 
they  had  been  plunged.  Luther,  a  monk  of 
the  order  of  the  Augustines,  sallies  from  his 
retreat,  rises  against  Leo  the  Tenth  and  the 
indulgences,  draws  people  and  rulers  to  his 
new  doctrine,  strengthens  it  with  all  the  power 
of  his  genius,  and  .snatches  from  the  tyranny 
of  the  popes  the  half  of  Europe. 

Clement  the  Seventh,  by  his  perfidy,  excites 
the  wrath  of  the  emperor,  Charles  the  Fifth. 
Rome  is  delivered  up  to  pillage  during  two  en- 
tire months ;  houses  are  sacked,  females  vio- 
lated. The  army  of  the  Catholic  king  commit- 
ted more  atrocities  than  pagan  tyrants  had  in- 
vented against  the  Christians  during  three  hun- 
dred years.  The  unfortunate  Romans  were 
suspended  by  the  feet,  burned,  beaten  with 
leathern  straps  in  order  to  compel  them  to 
pay  ransoms ;  in  fine,  they  were  exposed  to  the 
most  frightful  punisliments,  in  order  to  expiate 
the  crimes  of  their  pontiif. 

Catholics  and  Protestants  cover  Germany 
with  embarrassments,  murders  and  ruin. 

The  mass  is  judicially  abolished  at  Stras- 
burg. 

Paul  the  Third  had  obtained  a  cardinal's  hat 
by  surrendering  Julius  Farnese  to  the  mon- 
ster Alexander  the  Sixth ;  became  pope — he 
poisoned  his  mother,  in  order  to  enrich  him- 
self as  her  heir,  and  joining  a  double  incest 
to  a  second  parricide,  he  put  to  death  one  of 
his  sisters  through  jealousy  of  her  other  lovers, 
and  poisoned  Bosa  Sforza,  the  husband  of  his 
daughter  Constance,  whom  he  had  corrupted. 
He  launches  anathemas  against  the  unfor- 
tunate Lutherans.  His  nephews  became  the 
executioners  of  his  cruelties,  and  they  boasted 
publicly  of  having  caused  rivers  of  blood  to 
flow,  in  which  their  horses  could  swim.  Dur- 
ing their  butcheries  the  pope  was  plunged  in 
his  monstrous  debaucheries  with  his  daughter 
Constance. 

During  his  reign  Ignatius  Loyola  founds  the 
order  of  the  Jesuits. 

Calvin,  sublime  spirit,  causes  his  powerful 
voice  to  be  heard,  and  continues  the  progress 
of  the  religious  reformation. 

Julius  the  Third  fulminates  his  anathemas 
against  the  Lutherans,  and  puts  them  to  death 
in  the  most  crael  manner.  Joining  depravity 
to  cruelty,  he  elevates  to  the  cardinalate  a 
young  lad  employed  about  his  palace  m  the 
double  capacity  of  keeper  of  the  monkeys  and 
minion  to  the  pope. 

Paul  the  Fourth  excites  the  fury  of  the  king 
of  France  against  the  Protestants,  forms  an 
execrable  leagxie  for  their  destruction,  and 
fills  all  Europe  with  his  ravages.  At  his  death 
the  Roman  people,  freed  from  his  frightful 
yoke,  force  the  dungeons  of  the  inquisition,  set 
fire  to  the  prisons,  knock  down  the  statue  of  the 
pope,  break  off  the  head  and  the  right  hand, 
drag  them  during  three  days  through  the 
streets  of  Rome,  and  cast  them  into  the  Tiber. 
Pius  the  Fourth  terminates  the  Council  of 
Trent,  and  this  great  event  does  not  produce 
any  sensation  among  the  people.  This  pontiff, 
desirous  of  arresting  the  downfall  of  the  Holy 
See,  excites  the  fanaticism  of  Charles  the  Ninth 


and  Phillip  of  Spain,  and  these  two  princes 
meet  at  Bayonne  to  devise  means  to  extermi- 
nate the  Calvinists. 

The  beginning  of  the  pontificate  of  Gregory 
the  Thirteenth  was  signalized  by  the  most  hor- 
rible of  all  crimes,  the  massacre  of  Saint  Bar- 
tholomew, an  execrable  plot,  brought  about  by 
the  counsels  of  Spain  and  the  suggestions  of 
Pius  the  Fourth.  Persecutions,  butcheries,  and 
wars  had  increased  astonishingly  the  number 
of  Calvanists ;  Catharine  de  Medicis,  that  cruel 
and  infamous  Jezebel,  not  being  able  to  ex- 
terminate them  by  force,  had  recourse  to  per- 
fidy. Charles  the  Ninth,  accustomed  to  cru- 
elty, and  furiously  violent,  adopted  the  crimi- 
nal desires  of  his  mother,  and  a  general  mas- 
sacre of  the  Protestants  was  decreed. 

At  midnight,  on  the  eve  of  Saint  Bartholo- 
mew, the  clock  of  the  palace  gives  the  sig- 
nal; the  tocsin  is  rung  at  St.  Gennain's,  and 
at  its  doleful  sound,  soldiers  surround  the 
dwellings  of  the  Protestants,  and  kill  in  their 
beds  children  and  old  men.  They  seize  the 
females,  and  after  having  violated  them,  open 
their  wombs  and  draw  out  half  formed  chil- 
dren, tear  out  their  hearts,  and  with  savage  fe- 
rocity rend  them  with  their  teeth  and  devour 
them. 

A  thing  almost  incredible,  so  horrible  is  the 
action,  occurred  :  this  Charles  the  Ninth — this 
king,  to  be  execrated  to  all  ages,  armed  with 
an  arquebuss,  fired  from  one  of  the  windows 
of  the  Louvre  upon  the  unfortunate  who  saved 
themselves  by  swimming  the  river.  One  win- 
dow still  remains,  an  imperishable  monument 
of  the  barbarity  of  kings.  Gregory  the  Thir- 
teenth addressed  his  felicitations  to  Charles 
on  the  remarkable  success  of  the  enterprise. 
On  the  death  of  the  pope,  the  cardinal  of 
Montalto  entered  the  conclave,  old,  broken 
down,  and  supported  upon  a  crutch.  The  am- 
bition of  the  cardinals  concentrated  their  suf- 
frages upon  this  old  man,  who  appeared  so 
nigh  to  death.  They  summed  up  the  votes, 
and  scarcely  had  half  of  them  voted,  when, 
without  waiting  for  the  conclusion,  Montalto 
cast  his  crutch  into  the  midst  of  the  hall,  drew 
himself  up  to  his  full  height,  and  thundered 
forth  the  Te  Deum  with  a  voice  so  loud  and 
clear,  that  the  vault  of  the  chapel  resounded 
with  it. 

He  becomes  pope,  under  the  name  of  Sex- 
tus  the  Fifth.  Hypocritical  and  inflexible,  he 
allies  himself  secretly  with  queen  Elizabeth, 
and  launches  anathemas  against  her  king- 
dom; he  then  excommunicates  the  king  of 
Navarre  and  the  prince  of  Conde,  in  order  to 
revive  in  France  the  forms  of  fanaticism. 

Clement  the  Seventh  renews  the  proud 
scenes  of  his  predecessors ;  he  wishes  to  com- 
pel Henry  the  Fourth  to  come  to  him  in  person, 
with  naked  feet,  in  order  to  undergo  a  proper 
discipline,  and  to  learn  that  he  held  his  crowir 
as  a  gift  from  the  pope.  But  embassadors  were 
received  in  his  stead,  and  this  humiliating  ce- 
remony took  place  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter's, 
at  Rome,  in  the  presence  of  the  people. 
I  Gregory  the  Fifteenth  excites  Louis  the 
I  Thirteenth  to  persecute  the  Protestants.    He 


HISTORY    OF    THE    TOPES. 


13 


renews  the  war  in  Bohemia;  and  not  being 
able  to  corrupt  the  people  of  Geneva,  orders 
the  duke  of  Savoy  to  destroy  them. 

Under  Urban  the  Eighth,  the  celebrated 
Galileo,  that  old  man  who  had  passed  seventy 
years  in  the  study  of  the  secrets  of  nature,  is 
brought  before  the  inquisition,  condemned, 
cast  into  prison,  and  forced  to  retract  this  great 
truth,  ''  that  the  earth  moves  around  the  sun." 

Clement  the  Ninth,  of  a  lofty  soul  and  pro- 
dieious  knowledge,  encourages  the  arts,  re- 
compenses  savans,  and  surrounds  the  pontih- 
cai  throne  with  all  the  lustre  of  the  age.  He  di- 
minishes the  impo.«ts,  employs  his  treasures 
in  succouring  the  Venetians  and  the  Isle  of 
Candia  against  the  intidels ;  he  suppresses  the 
religious  orders  which  pressed  heavily  on  the 
people,  and  who,  under  the  guise  of  piety, 
abandoned  themselves  to  idleness  and  de- 
bauchery. 

By  his  eloquence  and  moderation  he  ap- 
peased the  interminable  quarrels  of  the  Jan- 
senists  and  INlollenists.  and  arrested  the  ill- 
regulated  ambition  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth, 
who  was  desolating  Europe  by  his  destructive 
wars.  The  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits  give  up 
to  the  Turks  the  Isle  oi'  Candia ;  this  gene- 
rous pope,  struck  to  the  heart  by  the  treason 
of  these  unworthy  priests,  launches  an  ana- 
thema upon  them,  and  dies,  after  a  reign  of 
three  years.  The  Holy  See  has  never  been 
occupied  by  a  more  virtuous  man  than  Clem- 
ent the  Ninth;  his  memory  shouJd  be  dear  to 
Christianity,  and  the  mind  reposes  in  contem- 
plating it  from  the  long  catalogue  of  crimes 
which  the  history  of  the  popes  offers  to  us. 

Under  Innocent  the  Eleventh,  the  persecu- 
tions against  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  re- 
commence; churches  are  demolished,  cities 
destroyed,  eighteen  thousand  Frenchmen  are 
put  to  death,  and  the  Protestants  driven  from 
the  kingdom. 

Innocent  the  Eleventh,  as  Gregory  the  Thir- 
teenth, had  done  on  the  occasion  of  Saint  Bar- 
tholomew, addresses  his  congratulations  to 
the  king  of  France,  and  commands  public  re- 
joicings to  be  made  in  his  honour  at  Rome. 

The  reign  of  Clement  the  Eleventh  is  agi- 
tated by  religious  quarrels.  The  Jesuits  in  Chi- 
na are  accused  of  oflering  there  the  same  wor- 
ship to  Confucius  as  to  Jesus  Christ.  The  pope 
sends  the  cardinal  Journon  to  Pekin.  charged 
to  reform  this  culpable  idolatry.  Tliis  virtu- 
ous prelate  dies,  a  victim  to  his  zeal,  in  the 
midst  of  the  cruel  persecutions  which  the  Je- 
suits e.vcite  against  him. 

This  terrible  congregation,  encouraged  by 
the  pope,  extends  its  odious  power  over  king- 
doms, and  inspires  terror  among  all  people. 

Clement  the  Eleventh  publishe."  the  famous 
bull  Unigenitu^,  which  excites  general  indig- 
nation, and  continues  religious  quarrels  up  to 
his  death. 

Benedict  the  Thirteenth  wishes  to  renew  the 
scandal  occasioned  by  this  bull  of  disorder; 
but  philosophy  now  commences  to  make  pro- 
gress, and  his  pretensions,  which  at  other 
times  would  have  caused  torrents  of  blood  to 
flow,  only  excited  contempt. 


Themoderationof  Benedict  the  Fourteenth  re- 
pairs the  evils  occasioned  by  his  predecessors. 
He  terminates  the  religious  quarrels,  repulses 
the  Jesuits,  moderates  the  bull  UiiigemlKs,  and 
puts  an  end  to  the  troubles  which  were  af- 
liicting  France.  This  pope,  one  of  the  lumi- 
naries of  the  church,  carries  into  the  chair  of 
the  pontilis  a  spirit  of  toleration,  wliich  ex- 
tends a  salutary  influence  every  where.  The 
religion  ot-Christ  is  no  longer  imposed  on  the 
world  by  persecution  and  fanaticism.  Benedict 
exhibits,  in  the  high  functions  of  the  priest- 
hood, an  enlightened  mind,  great  maturity  of 
judgTiient,  a  profound  wisdom  which  no  pas- 
sions trouble,  a  perfect  disuiterestedness,  and 
an  extreme  love  of  justice. 

He  reforms  the  morals  of  the  clergy,  sup- 
presses orders  of  monks  who  were  odious  to 
all,  employs  his  treasures  in  founding  hos- 
pitals, establishing  public  schools,  and  reward- 
ing magniticently  the  arts.  He  calls  upon  all 
to  profit  by  the  advantages  of  science,  and  to 
come  forth  from  the  shades  of  ignorance. 

Clement  the  Thirteenth  imitates  neither 
the  virtues  nor  the  moderation  of  his  prede- 
cessor; he  openly  protects  the  Jesuits,  launch- 
es forth  anathemas,  and  prepares  the  ruin  of 
the  Holy  See. 

The  excesses  of  the  Jesuits  had  tired  out 
the  people,  their  crimes  and  their  ambition 
affrighted  kings,  universal  hatred  demands 
their  expulsion;  they  are  driven  from  France. 
They  are  banished  from  the  states  of  the  king 
of  Spain  in  Europe,  Asia  and  America;  driven 
from  the  two  Sicilies,  Parma  and  Malta.  The 
order  is  extenninated  in  almost  all  the  coun- 
tries which  had  been  the  theatre  of  its  power, 
in  the  Philippines,  Peru,  JMexico,  Paraguay 
and  Brazil. 

France  bestows  upon  the  pope  Avignon  and 
the  county  of  Venaissin,  as  an  appurtenance 
to  his  crown.  The  king  of  Naples,  on  the  other 
hand,  seized  upon  the  cities  of  Benevento  and 
Ponte  Corvo. 

The  famous  bull  in  Ccena  Domini,  a  monu- 
ment of  madness  and  pride,  which  the  popes 
yearly  fulminated  from  Rome  since  the  time 
of  Paul  the  Third,  is  proscribed.  The  pontifical 
darkness  commences  to  be  dissipated;  princes 
and  people  no  longer  prostrate  them.--elves  at 
the  feet  of  the  servant  of  servants  of  God. 

Clement  the  Thirteenth  sees  the  colossal 
power  of  Rome  falling  to  pieces,  and  dies  of 
chagrin  in  not  being  able  to  retard  its  fall. 

Clement  the  Fourteenth  causes  philosophy 
to  mount  the  seat  of  the  popes.  For  a  short 
period  he  retains  the  pontilical  power  of  the 
Holy  See ;  his  character  and  moderation  re- 
storing to  him  the  power  which  the  absurd 
fanaticism  of  his  predecessors  had  alienated. 

Portugal  broke  with  the  See  of  Rome,  and 
wished  to  have  a  patriarch  of  her  own.  The 
courts  of  France,  Spain  and  Naples  were  in- 
dignant at  the  ridiculous  excommunication  of 
the  duke  of  Parma,  by  the  Holy  See.  Venice 
reformed,  without  the  assent  of  the  pope,  the 
religious  communities  which  impoverished 
the  nation. 

Poland  wishes  to  diminish  the  authority  of 


14 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


the  Holy  See.  Even  Rome  permits  its  indig- 
nation to  shine  forth,  and  appears  to  have  for- 
gotten that  she  had  been  mistress  of  the  world. 
Clement,  by  skilful  policy,  and  consummate 
wisdom  and  prudence,  arrests  this  movement 


The  conclave  assembles  at  Venice.  After 
an  hundred  and  four  days  of  intrigue,  the 
Benedictine  Chiaramonti  was  chosen  pope, 
under  the  name  of  Pius  the  Seventh. 

The  pontiff  forms  an  alliance  with  the  re- 


but the  priests,  the  enemies  of  toleration,  did    public,  and  signs  the  famous  concordat 


not  pardon  the  pontiff,  and  he  died  of  poison. 
Then  liberty,  that  rock  of  reason,  imparted 
its  sublime  light  to  all  minds ;  men  commenced 
to  break  the  dark  chains  of  superstition.  An 
universal  disquiet  manifested  itself  in  the 
masses,  a  happy  presage  of  moral  revolutions. 
Pius  the  Sixth  wishes  to  sejze  upon  the  won- 
derful power  of  the  pontiffs  of  Rome,  and 
pursues  the  execrable  policy  of  his  predeces- 
sors. 

The  emperor  of  Austria.  Joseph  the  Second, 
stops  the  increase  of  convents,  which  threat- 
ened to  overrun  his  kingdom,  suppresses  bi- 
shoprics, forms  seminaries,  and  protects  his 
states  against  the  rule  of  the  Holy  See. 

The  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  prepares  the 
same  reforms;  dissolves  the  convents,  abo- 
lishes the  authority  of  the  nuncios,  and  pro- 
hibits his  priests  from  appeali*ig  to  Rome  for 
judgment. 

At  Naples,  a  philosophical  minister  takes 
from  the  avarice  of  the  pope  indulgences,  the 
collection  of  beneiices,  his  nomination  to  va- 
cancies. He  refuses  the  tribute  of  a  hackney, 
richly  caparisoned,  shod  with  silver,  and  car- 
rving  a  purse  of  six  thousalid  ducats — a  dis- 
graceful tribute,  which  the  nation  paid  to  the 
pontiff. 

The  sovereign  approves  the  policy  of  his 
minister,  prohibits  the  introduction  of  bulls 
into  his  states,  orders  the  bishops  to  give  up 
the  dispensations  they  had  purchased  at 
Rome,  takes  away  from  the  pope  the  power 
of  nominating  bishops  for  the  Two  Sicilies, 
and  drives  the  internuncio  from  his  kingdom. 
The  French  Revolution  is  at  hand.  The 
States  General,  at  Versailles,  ordain  reforms 
in  the  clergy,  abolish  the  monastic  vows,  and 
proclaim  liberty  of  conscience. 

The  pope  excites  bloody  troubles  in  Avig- 
non, in  order  to  reattach  it  to  the  Holy  See. 
His  pretensions  are  repulsed  by  the  National 
Assembly,  which  solemnly  pronounces  the 
reunion  of  this  city  to  France. 

Italy  is  conquered  by  the  French  armies. 
Pius  the  Sixth,  a  coward  and  a  hypocrite,  begs 
for  the  alliance  of  the  republic.  But  the  justice 
of  a  great  nation  is  inflexible.  The  assassi- 
nation of  general  Dupont  demands  great  repa- 
ration. The  pontiff  is  carried  from  Rome, 
conducted  to  the  fortress  of  Valence,  and  ter- 
minates his  debased  career  by  cowardice  and 
perfidy. 


A  new  era  commences  for  France  ;  the  re- 
public gives  place  to  the  empire,  and  Napoleon 
mounts  the  throne.  The  pope  is  forced  to  go 
to  Paris,  in  order  to  consecrate  the  emperor, 
and  augment  the  magnificence  of  this  impos- 
ing ceremony.  The  weakness  of  character  of 
Pius  the  Seventh,  delivers  him  up  defenceless 
to  the  plots  which  the  hatred  of  the  clergy 
contrive  with  the  enemies  of  the  emperor. 
Napoleon,  indignant  at  the  machination  di- 
rected against  his  power  by  the  counsellors 
of  the  pope,  makes  a  decree,  which  changes 
the  government  of  Rome,  declares  the  reunion 
of  the  estates  of  the  church  to  the  empire, 
and  the  sovereig-n  pontiffs  deprived  of  tem- 
poral authority. 

The  ancient  boldness  of  the  clergy  has  sur- 
vived revolutions;  Pius  the  Seventh  essays  the 
thunder  of  the  Vatican.  The  bull  of  excom- 
munication is  affixed  during  the  night  in  the 
streets  of  Rome ;  it  calls  the  people  to  revolt, 
excites  them  to  carnage,  and  designates  the 
French  for  public  vengeance.  But  Rome,  de- 
livered from  the  sacerdotal  yoke,  is  deaf  to 
the  appeal  of  fanaticism. 

Wars  succeed  in  Europe,  kingdoms  are  con- 
quered, old  governments  overthrown,  and  Na- 
poleon at  length  falls  beneath  the  blows  of 
the  kings  whom  he  has  crowned.  His  catas- 
trophe changes  the  destinies  of  nations,  and 
restores  to  the  pope  the  inheritance  of  St. 
Peter. 

Pius  the  Seventh  makes  a  triumphal  entree 
into  Rome,  and  at  length  dies,  surrounded  by 
cardinals,  in  the  pomp  and  magnificence  of 
power. 

Since  him,  three  popes  have  occupied  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter,  but  their  silent  passage 
marks  no  place  in  the  history  of  nations. 

The  proud  pontiffs,  who  launched  anathe- 
mas on  kingdoms,  gave  or  took  away  empires, 
extended  over  the  people  the  yoke  of  fanati- 
cism and  terror,  now,  protected  by  Austria, 
protected  by  the  oppressors  of  the  people, 
basely  seek  the  protection  of  kings,  in  order 
to  trample  upon  the  Romans,  and  maintain 
upon  their  head  the  pontifical  tiara. 

People  of  Italy,  arise  from  your  lethargic 
slumber — contemplate  the  capitol — recall  the 
remembrance  of  ancient  Rome  and  her  glori- 
ous destiny!  Let  but  your  legions  arouse,  and 
the  shades  of  the  great  will  march  at  their 
head  to  conquer  in  the  name  of  liberty. 


PREFACE. 

The  entire  want  of  truthful  historians — and  the  multitude  of  apochryphal 
books,  both  in  Greek  and  Latin — are  an  impediment  to  our  own  judgment 
of  the  first  ages  of  Christianity. 

We  are  but  faithful  translators  of  the  opinions  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church,  religiously  pursuing  the  order  of  transactions,  and  the  obscure 
style  of  their  writings. 

But,  after  we  have  passed  through  this  epoch  of  darkness,  we  shall  unrol 
a  long  series  of  extraordinary  events  and  horrible  crimes,  worthy  of  fixing 
attention  upon  the  marvellous  history  of  the  Pontiffs  of  Rome. 


HISTORY    or     THE    POPES. 


THE    FIRST    CENTURY. 


SAINT  PETER,  THE  FIRST  BISHOP  OF  ROME. 

[A.  D.  1. — Tiberius,  Claudius,  Caligula  and  Nero,  Emperors.] 

The  birth  of  Christ — St.  Peter,  chief  of  the  Apostles,  and  first  Bishop  of  Rome — He  becomes 
the  disciple  of  Christ — Miraculous  draught  of  Fishes — He  walks  on  the  Sea — Character  of  St. 
Peter — Punishment  of  Annanias  and  Sapphira — He  founds  the  Church  at  Antioch — St.  Peter 
never  at  Rome — False  Lc"^ends — Impiety  of  Simon  Magus — Pretended  contest  beticeen  him 
and  St.  Peter — He  is  carried  off  by  the  Devil — Council  of  Jerusalem — Error  of  St.  Peter — 
He  is  reprimanded  by  St.  Paul — His  Travels — Martyrdom  of  St.  Peter  established  by  false  tra- 
ditions— The  sect  of  the  Nicolaites,  and  their  infamous  habits'. 


Christ  was  bom  in  a  little  city  of  Judea ; 
poor  and  deserted,  a  stable  was  his  dwelling, 
a  manger  his  cradle. 

The  child  grew  in  knowledge  :  the  divine 
wisdom  of  his  preaching  extended  his  name 
through  Judea,  and  Jesus  became  the  apostle 
of  the  people.  An  innumerable  multitude 
listened  to  the  eternal  truths  he  taught,  and 
were  converted  to  the  new  doctrine. 

The  princes  of  Judea  pursued  with  fury 
this  glorious  apostle,  who  elevated  himself 
against  the  vices  and  corruptions  of  the  age, 
against  the  pride  of  the  great,  the  debauche- 
ries and  luxury  of  the  priests.  The  man  of 
God  was  seized  by  their  fierce  satellites,  con- 
demned to  humiliating  punishments,  and  fixed 
to  the  cross  as  an  infamous  criminal. 

But  his  precepts,  preserved  by  his  disciples, 
have  traversed  ages  and  revolutions  ;  his  sub- 
lime morality  has  spread  itself  through  the 
inii verse,  and  Christ  has  become  the  God  of 
nations. 

The  tir.'it  of  the  apostles  of  Jesus  was  Simon 
Peter,  and  with  him  commences  the  succes- 
sion of  tlie  liishops  of  Rome. 

Simon  was  born  in  Hethsaida,  a  small  town 
of  Gallilee,  upon  the  bank  of  lake  Genesaret. 
A  fisherman  by  occupation,  the  products  of 
his  labour  supported  his  family.  He  had  a 
brother  named  Andrew,  who,  being  a  disciple 


of  John  the  Baptist,  had  heard  fiom  his  mas- 
ter an  eulogium  on  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He 
learned  from  him  that  this  extraordinary  man 
was  the  Messiah,  predicted  by  the  prophets 
-and  so  long  waited  for  by  the  Jewish  nation. 
Andrew  communicated  this  great  news  to 
Simon  his  brother,  and  went  with  him  to 
Jesus;  and  Christ,  regarding  Simon,  gave  to 
him  the  sirname  of  Peter,  which  in  the  Syriac 
signifies  a  stone  or  rock.  The  two  brothers 
passed  the  rest  of  the  day  with  the  Saviour, 
and  became  his  disciples.  It  is  thought  they 
were  with  him  at  the  wedding  at  Cana. 

Some  months  after,  Jesns,  returjiing  from 
Jerusalem,  encount(>red  them  on  the  borders 
of  lake  Genesaret,  where  they  were  mending 
their  nets.  He  entered  into  their  boat,  and  told 
Simon  to  cast  their  nets  into  the  sea.  Simon  ob- 
served that  they  had  laboured  unsuccessfully 
all  night;  but.  nevertheless,  he  did  as  he  was 
ordered,  and  their  nets  were  filled  with  so  great 
a  quantity  of  fish,  that  two  boats  were  loaded 
with  them.  Simon,  whom  we  shall  call  Peter, 
surprised  at  this  miracle,  cast  himself  at  the 
feet  of  the  Messiah,  begiiing  him  to  depart 
from  him,  for  he  was  a  sinner.  His  humility 
the  more  endeared  him  to  Jesus,  mIio  g-ave 
him  the  first  place  among  his  disciples. 

One  day,  when  the  apostles  were  traversing 
the  lake  of  Tiberias,  they  saw  Jesiis,  whom 

15 


16 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


thej'  had  left  upon  the  bank,  walking  to  them 
on  the  waves.  Surprised  at  this  prodigy,  they 
took  him  for  a  phantom,  and  Peter  cried  out, 
"  Lord,  if  it  is  you,  command  that  I  shall  come 
to  you,  walking  upon  the  water.  Christ  replied, 
"Come."  '  At  this  Peter  jumped  from  the 
bark,  and  walked  upon  the  water  as  it  had 
been  land.  But  his  faith  not  being  strong 
enough;  he  commenced  sinking,  and  would 
have  been  drowned,  if  he  had  not  called  to 
his  Master.  The  Saviour,  taking  him  by  the 
hand,  said  to  him,  "  Man  of  little  faith,  why 
ha.st  thou  doubted  1" 

St.  Peter  afterwards  displayed  the  most  ar- 
dent zeal  for  his  INIaster.  Jesus  seeing  that 
many  of  his  disciples,  rebuffed  by  the  severity 
of  his  morality,  had  abandoned  him,  address- 
ed himself  to  the  twelve  apostles,  "  and  you, 
why  do  you  not  also  leave  me  ?"  Peter  re- 
plied in  the  name  of  all,  "  Whither  should 
we  go  Lord  ?  you  have  the  words  of  eternal 
life  ;  we  believe  and  know  that  you  are  the 
Messiah,  the  Son  of  God."  On  another  occa- 
sion, Jesus  demanding  from  his  apostles, 
whom  they  believed  him  to.be,  Peter  was  the 
first  to  r-jply  ;  "  You  are  the  Word,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God."  The  Saviour  said  to  him, 
"  You  are  most  happy,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  for 
flesh  and  blood  have  not  revealed  this  unto 
you,  but  my  Father,  who  is  in  heaven.  And 
I  say  unto  you,  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this 
rock  will  I  build  my  church ;  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it ;  and  I  will 
give  to  you  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven ;  and  all  that  you  shall  loose  upon 
earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven,  and  all  that 
yon  shall  bind  upon  earth  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven."  This  reply  of  Jesus  to  St.  Peter 
has  given  rise  to  three  difficulties,  concern- 
ing which  theologians  have  for  a  long  time 
disputed. 

The  first  is  founded  on  these  words  :  "  Thou 
art  Peter  and  on  this  rock  will  I  build  my 
church." 

The  second  arises  from  the  promise  of  the 
Saviour,-  in  which,  in  speaking  of  his  church, 
he  says,  '•  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it."  The  Catholics  afhrm  that  these 
words  give  to  the  pope  the  privilege  of  infal- 
libility. The  Protestants,  on  the  other  hand, 
maintain,  that  a  church,  which  always  chooses 
its  chief  from  among  men  subject  to  error  and 
falsehood,  cannot  claim  for  its  pontiff  the  di- 
vine wisdom,  which  is  never  deceived. 

The  third  arises  out  of  the  power  which  the 
priests  claim  for  themselves  of  absolving  sin- 
ners. The  Protestants  recog-nize  none  but 
God  alone  as  having  power  to  absolve  men  of 
their  sins,  and  regard  as  an  intolerable  abuse 
the  indulgences  granted  by  the  bishops  of 
Rome. 

After  the  glorious  confession  of  faith  made 
by  St.  Peter,  and  the  sublime  promises  made 
to  his  apostles,  Jesus  foretold  to  his  disciples 
that  he  was  about  to  sufler  death  at  Jerusa- 
lem. Peter  represented  to  him  that  the  Son 
of  God  could  not  die,  and  the  Lord  called  him 
satan,  imposed  silence  upon  him,  and  made 
him  walk  behind  the  apostles.     This  mortifi- 


cation was  the  only  punishment  inflicted  on 
him,  and  it  caused  him  to  lose  none  of  the 
favour  of  his  master,  who  chose  him  to  be  a 
witness  of  his  transliguration. 

On  the  eve  of  the  day  on  which  Jesus  was 
about  to  suffer  death,  Peter  and  Jolm  prepared 
the  supper.  The  Saviour,  being  about  to  wash 
the  feet  of  his  disciples,  the  chief  of  the  apos- 
tles refused  to  submit  to  this  act  of  humility 
on  the  part  of  his  Master ;  but  his  resistance 
ceased,  as  soon  as  the  Messiah  declared  to 
him  that  he  could  not  have  a  part  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  unless  he  submitted  to  this 
ablution.  Then  Peter  presented  to  Jesus  not 
only  his  feet,  but  also  his  hands  and  his  head. 

During  this  last  supper,  the  Saviour  said  to 
Peter,  that  the  devil  had  demanded  leave  to 
try  him,  but  that  he  prayed  his  Father  that 
his  faith  should  not  fail  him.  The  supper 
finished,  Jesus  went  forth,  and  Peter  asked 
him  whither  he  was  going.  "I  go,"  said  the 
Lord  to  him,  "  whither  you  cannot  follow  me." 
but  Peter  replied,  "  Lord  I  am  ready  to  go 
with  you  to  prison,  or  to  death  itself." 

A  generous  resolve,  in  which  he  did  not  per- 
severe long ;  for  though  he  had  the  courage 
to  cut  off  the  ear  of  Malchus,  a  servant  of  the 
high  priest  Caiphas,  he  had  the  cowardice  to 
deny  his  Master  three  times  before  a  servant 
maid,  who  asked  him  if  he  was  not  also  one 
of  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  He  at  once  effaced 
this  mark  of  his  weakness  by  the  sincerity  of 
his  repentance,  and  by  the  abundance  of  his 
tears,  and  became  from  thenceforth  the  most 
zealous  preacher  of  the  Christian  faith. 

The  members  of  the  new  church  having 
then  but  one  heart  and  one  soul,  all  their  goods 
were  in  common.  Those  who  possessed  lands 
or  houses  sold  them,  and  brought  the  money 
to  the  apostles  for  distribution  to  the  poor.  It 
happened  that  a  man  named  Annanias,  in  con- 
cert with  Sapphira,  his  wife,  having  sold  an 
inheritance,  retained  a  part  of  the  price,  and 
brought  the  rest  to  the  apostles.  But  Peter, 
enlightened  by  the  divine  Spirit,  reproached 
them  for  their  fault,  and  they  fell  dead  at  his 
feet. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  decide  upon  the  year 
in  which  the  church  of  Antioch  was  founded  ; 
nevertheless  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  St. 
Peter  took  up  his  residence  in  that  city,  of 
which  he  has  always  been  considered  the  lirst 
bishop. 

After  having  preached  some  time  at  An- 
tioch he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  at  the  period 
at  which  the  famine  foretold  by  the  prophet 
Agabus,  was  beginning  to  atflict  the  country. 
Then  Herod  Agrippa,  wishing  to  conciliate  the 
affection  of  the  Jews,  by  affecting  a  great  zeal 
for  the  law,  excited  aguinst  the  church  a  per- 
secution more  terrible  than  that  which  follow- 
ed the  martyrdom  of  Stephen. 

St.  James,  brother  of  John  the  Evangelist, 
was  one  of  the  first  victims.  Peter  himself 
was  cast  into  prison  and  condemned  to  death  ; 
but  an  angel  of  the  Lord  opened  the  gates  of 
his  prison,  broke  his  chains,  and  set  him  at 
liberty.  From  that  time  to  the  council  of 
Jerusalem,  a  period  of  about  seven  years,  the 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


17 


Scriptures  are  entirely  silent  in  regard  to  the 
actions  of  St.  Peter.  It  is  most  likely  he  was 
employed  in  revisiting  the  churches  he  had 
founded  in  Asia,  and  confirming  the  faithful  in 
the  faith. 

It  is  supposed  that  he  then  came  to  Rome, 
to  combat  idolatry  •  and  the  orthodox  place  the 
time  of  his  first  journey  towards  the  end  of  the 
forty-eighth  year  of  Jesus  Christ.  Others  i\x 
this  celebrated  time  during  the  first  year  of  the 
emperor  Claudius,  or  at  the  commencement  of 
the  reigTi  of  Nero.  Before  discussing  the  time 
of  its  occuring-  it  would  be  best  to  prove  the 
actual  fact  of  tne  journey.  There  is  no  men- 
tion of  it  in  the  New  Testament ;  and  if  it  is 
alleged  that  the  early  writings  are  cited  against 
the  Protestants  on  this  subject,  they  will  reply 
that  it  is  not  the  first  error  they  have  autho- 
rized. In  fine,  the  disagreements  which  we 
find  in  the  chronology  of  different  authors, 
who  have  spoken  of  this  journey,  cause  great 
doubts  in  relation  to  it. 

We  are  compelled  to  admit  the  force  of  rea- 
soning of  the  Protestants,  who  steadily  deny 
the  existence  of  the  journey  of  St.  Peter  to 
Rome.  They  deny  also  to  the  pope  a  primacy 
over  his  colleagues,  and  fortify  their  position 
by  these  words  of  Jesus  to  his  apostles :  '■  He 
who  would  be  first  among  you,  let  him  be  the 
last.  Nations  have  princes  who  rule  them, 
but  it  shall  not  be  so  with  you."' 

When  one  shall  undertake  to  prove  that 
St.  Peter  was  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and 
that  he  had  authority  over  all  the  church,  the 
Protestants  have  a  right  to  •  demand  that  it 
should  be  demonstrated,  that  he  established 
the  exercise  of  his  jurisdiction  at  Rome,  and 
that  the  popes  have  succeeded  to  all  his 
privileges,  how  far  soever  they  may  have 
departed  from  the  sublime  precepts  of  the 
evangelist. 

Besides,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  last 
chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  from 
all  the  Epistles  of  Saint  Paul,  we  must  be- 
lieve that  he  came  into  the  capital  of  the 
empire  before  St.  Peter;  but  the  pontiffs 
have  a  great  interest  in  maintaining  the  con- 
trary, and  persuading  the  world  that  they 
are  the  heirs  general  of  St.  Peter  and  his  im- 
mediate successors.  They  have  even  dared 
to  affirm  that  the  papal  seat  of  this  apostle 
was  of  wood,  and  they  expose  it  to  view  in 
a  church  to  the  veneration  of  the  people ;  a 
I'alsity  not  worthy  of  being  refuted.  Let  us, 
however,  now  glance  through  the  opinions  of 
sacred  authors  in  relation  to  this  pretended 
journey  of  St.  Peter  to  Rome. 

According  to  their  legends  there  was,  in 
the  cajjital  of  the  empire,  a  celebrated  impos- 
ter  called  Simon  the  Magician,  who  dared 
to  announce  himself  as  the  eternal  father. 
In  T\  re  he  had  procured  a  prostitute  named 
Helen;i,  whom  he  proclaimed  as  the  thought 
or  word  which  the  rebellious  angels  had  re- 
tained upon  earth,  causing  her  to  pass  from 
one  body  to  another  of  various  females.  He 
assured  the  world  that  she  was  the  famous 
Helen  of  Troy,  and  that  those  who  believetl  in 
her  would  obtain  salvation.    He  maintained, 

Vol.  I.  C 


with  matchless  impudence,  at  Jerasalem,  that 
he  was  the  son  of  God ;  at  Samaria,  that  he 
was  the  Father,  and  among  other  nations,  that 
he  was  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Such  was  the  doctrine,  as  ridiculous  as 
impious,  of  Simon  the  Magician.  Tradition 
assures  us  that  this  imposter  came  to  Rome 
during  the  rei<^n  of  the  emperor  Claudius; 
and  Justin  Martyr,  in  his  second  apology, 
reproaches  the  Romans  with  having  adored 
him  as  a  god,  and  raised  a  statue  to  him 
with  this  inscription :  "  To  Simon,  the  Holy 
God."  Baronius  observes,  that  during  the 
reigir  of  Gregory  the  Thirteenth,  there  M'as 
found  in  an  island  of  the  Tiber,  a  stone  on 
which  was  engraved  this  inscription,  '•  To  Si- 
mon, Holy  God."  There  is  little  question  that 
the  ancient  Romans  raised  a  statue  to  a  god 
whom  they  named  indifferently,  sometimes 
Saucus,  or  Sangus,  Fidius  and  Semo.  Justin, 
deceived  by  the  early  Christians,  may  have 
imagined  that  this  statue  was  erected  in  honor 
of  Simon  the  Magician.  This  conjecture  has 
to  our  mind  the  force  of  proof,  and  destroys 
entirely  the  fable  of  the  contest  between  St. 
Peter  and  Simon. 

The  Legends  of  the  Saints  affirm  that  the 
apostle  went  to  Jentsalem  to  combat  the  ma- 
gician, and  that  having  convinced  him  of  false- 
hood in  the  presence  of  the  people  and  the 
emperor  Nero,  he  commanded  an  angel  to 
strike  him,  and  that  the  impostor  perished 
miserably.  Others  say,  that  Simon  vaunted 
himself  on  having  performed  more  miracles 
than  St.  Peter,  and  that  he  raised  himself  in 
the  air,  borne  up  by  the  devil ;  but  that  the  true 
apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  having  prayed,  in- 
voked the  name  of  Jesus;  and  that  the  de- 
mons, frightened,  dropped  the  magician, 
whose  legs  were  broken  by  the  fall.  If  this 
fable  had  any  foundation,  and  the  Romans 
had  seen  Simon  perish  at  the  prayer  of  the 
apostle,  would  they  not  rather  have  erected 
a  statue  to  him  than  to  the  magician.  Thus 
the  proof  which  is  dra^^^l  from  this  supposed 
performance,  entirely  destroys  it.  Besides, 
the  contradictions  ^^hich  are  to  be  found  in 
the  different  authors  upon  whom  reliance  is 
placed  to  sustain  it,  proves  that  tliis  journey 
is  a  pious  fraud. 

The  first  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  is  dated  from 
Babylon,  which  has  led  some  visionary  to 
declare  that  he  gave  this  name  to  the  capital 
of  the  empire.  A  short  time  after  the  apostle 
wrote  his  first  epistle,  the  emperor  Claudius 
drove  the  Jews  from  Rome,  because  they 
excited  violent  seditions  on  account  of  the 
doctrines  of  Christ.  It  is  supposed  that  the 
edict  of  the  empeior  obliged  Peter  to  return 
to  Judea;  for  he  was  at  Jerusalem  when  St. 
Paul,  deputed  by  the  church  of  Antioch.  came 
thither  with  Barnabas  and  Titus  to  con.^ult 
the  apostles  and  elders.  Some  converted 
Jews  maintained  the  necessity  of  circumci- 
sion in  order  to  salvation.  They  had  been 
reduced  by  Cerinthns,  a  false  brother  and  false 
apostle,  who,  through  blind  zeal,  excited  re- 
liirious  quarrels,  and  desired  to  exact  from  the 
faithful  all   the  obser\'ances  of  the  jNIosaic 


18 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


law.  The  apostles  resolved  to  assemble,  in 
order  to  deliberate  concerning  it-  and  they 
formed  the  first  Christian  assembly,  which 
madje  statutes  to  aid  the  scruples  of  weak 
consciences. 

Not  only  did  the  apostles  and  priests  take 
part  in  the  council,  but  the  mere  faithful 
voted,  and  the  question  was  decided  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem. 
This  usage  is  now  abolished,  and  the  pontiffs 
of  Rome  order  the  people  to  follow  blindly 
the  decrees  which  are  prescribed  for  them. 

St.  Paul  and  St.  Barnabas  returned  to  An- 
tioch,  Avhere  Peter  joined  them  soon  after.  He 
conformed  to  the  decree  of  the  council  of 
Jerusalem,  living  as  the  Gentile  converts,  with- 
out regarding  the  distinctions  prescribed  by 
the  law.  This  apostle  was  so  little  infalli- 
ble, that  some  Jewish  Christians  having  come 
there  from  Jerusalem,  he  separated  himself 
from  the  Gentiles,  and  no  more  ate  with  them; 
which  induces  us  to  suppose  that  the  ob- 
servance of  the  law  was  necessary,  at  least 
for  the  Jews.  ''He  destroyed  to  some  extent 
that  which  he  himself  had  built  up  in  the 
council  of  Jerusalem,  and  overthrew  the  dis- 
cipline which  he  had  established."  But  St. 
Paul  set  him  right,  and  resisted  him,  as  he 
wrote  to  the  Galatians  he  had  done. 

St.  Peter  received  this  remonstrance  with 
admirable  mildness  and  humility.  He  did 
not  pride  himself  upon  his  primacy ;  he  did 
not  consider  that  St.  Paul  had  persecuted  the 
church;  was  his  inferior,  and  younger  than 
himself  in  the  apostolate.  He  yielded  to  the 
remonstrance  addressed  to  him,  and  changed 
his  sentiments,  or  rather  his  conduct.  This 
first  pontiff  did  not  arrogate  to  himself  the 
right  of  imposing  his  will  upon  the  faithful, 
and  of  constraining  the  church  to  submit  to 
his  decisions. 

Having  given  a  recital  of  the  actions  of  St. 
Peter,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  we  will 
relate  the  different  traditions  which  exist 
concerning  this  apostle.  Lactanus  pretends 
that  he  made  a  second  journey  to  Rome, 
twenty-five  years  after  the  passion  of  the 
Saviour ;  it  is  this  which  has  given  rise  to  the 
error  of  the  twenty-five  years  in  his  pontifi- 
cate. He  adds,  that  he  made  a  last  journey 
to  Jerusalem  towards  the  year  62,  in  order  to 
nominate  a  successor  to  St.  James  the  Less, 
who  was  the  first  bishop  of  that  city;  ana 
that  he  returned  from  thence  to  Rome,  where 
he  continued  to  preach  with  success.  We 
know,  however,  nothing  positive  in  relation  to 
this  first  chief  of  the  church,  from  the  year 
51  to  the  time  of  his  death,  a  period  of  fifteen 
years.  The  orthodox  pretend  that  he  re- 
ceived the  crown  of  martyrdom  as  Christ  had 
predicted,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  his  blood 
was  shed  at  Rome,  despite  the  assertions  of 
Baronius,  Fleury,  anJ  others.     Baillet  affirms 


that  the  two  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  were 
martyrized  on  the  same  day,  and  conducted 
to  the  prison  of  Maraertin,  -which  was  at  the 
foot  of  the  capitol.  But,  according  to  the 
view  of  a  Benedictine,  who  resided  a  long  time 
in  the  capitol  of  the  Christian  world,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  place  still  designated  under 
this  name  resembles  very  little  a  prison,  and 
is  opposite  to  one  or  two  ancient  sewers, 
through  which  the  filth  of  the  city  was  dis- 
charged. The  general  opinion  in  regard  to 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Peter  is,  that  he  was 
crucified,  head  downwards.  They  fix  the  pe- 
riod of  his  death  in  the  year  66.  St,  Aug-us- 
tin  says  that  this  apostle  went  to  his  punish- 
ment, exhibiting  great  marks  of  weakness. 

The  second  epistle  which  he  wrote  before 
his  death,  presents  the  same  uncertainty  as 
his  first  letter  from  Babylon.  We  are  even 
ig-norant  of  the  year  in  which  this  preciousj 
treasure  was  entrusted  to  the  church.  It  is 
addressed  to  the  faithful  dispersed  throughout 
Asia,  Pontus,  Cappadocia  and  the  neighbour- 
ing provinces.  It  recommends  to  them  to 
follow  the  morality  of  the  prophets  and  apos- 
tles, to  preserve  themselves  from  false  priests 
who  deny  Jesus  Christ,  blaspheme  the  Di- 
vinity, and  abandon  themselves  to  the  most 
infamous  debaucheries.  The  apostle  thus  de- 
signates the  Nicholaites,  who  took  their  name 
from  Nicholas,  one  of  the  seven  first  deacons 
of  Jerusalem,  the  chief  of  a  sect  in  Avhich  the 
men  despise  marriage,  and  deliver  themselves 
up  to  the  most  mostrous  acts  of  sodomy. 

These  heritics  ate  without  scruple  the  food 
oflered  to  idols ;  they  maintained  that  Christ 
was  not  the  Son  of  God  the  Father :  that  the 
Creator  had  committed  the  chief  power  to  the 
goddess  Barbelo,  who  inhabited  a  heaven 
eight  times  higher  than  the  Christian  heaven. 
They  pretended  that  she  gave  birth  to  the 
God  Jaldabaoth  or  Sabaoth,  who  inhabited  the 
seventh  heaven,  and  who  cried  out  to  the  in- 
ferior gods,  "  I  am  the  first  and  the  last,  and 
there  exists  no  other  ruler  besides  me." 
They  published  books,  and  pretended  reve- 
lations under  the  name  of  Jaldabaoth;  and 
assigned  barbarous  titles  to  a  multitude  of 
princes  and  powers,  whom  they  located  in 
every  heaven. 

These  fanatics  considered  the  divine  acts 
and  persons,  the  Trinitj^,  the  Virgin,  original 
siuj  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  and  even  the 
dogmas  of  religion,  as  mysteries,  of  which 
they  gave  explanations,  frequently  ridiculous, 
and  sometimes  sublime. 

To  the  thinking  man  and  the  philosopher, 
the  existence  of  the  Nicolaites,  in  the  first  ages 
of  Christianity,  is  an  irrefragable  proof  that 
the  Catholic  religion  has  not  been  established 
in  an  immutable  manner  by  its  author,  and 
that  it  must  undergo  an  organization  which 
requires  many  ages  to  accomplish. 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


19 


ST.  LINUS,  THE  SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  67. — Nero,  Galea,  Vitellius,  and  Otho,  Emperors. J 


There  is  nothing  positive  in  the  first  ages 
concerning  the  pontifical  see.  The  chronolo- 
gy of  authors  is  full  of  astonishing  variations, 
and  there  is  no  uniformity  among  them  in 
relation  to  the  order  of  succession  of  the  first 
bishops  of  Rome  The  wisest  part  is  to  follow 
the  opinions  which  make  St.  Linus  the  succes- 
sor of  the  apostle  Peter,  in  the  government 
of  the  church. 

If  we  can  believe  the  pontifical  books,  St. 
Linus  was  of  Tuscan  origin,  and  his  father 
was  named  Hereulan.  He  was  invested  with 
the  apostolical  ministry  at  the  same  period  as 
St.  Peter,  which  is  an  irrefutable  truth,  that 
this  apostle  was  not  the  sole  bishop  of  Rome, 
and  could  not  pretend  to  the  title  of  universal 
bishop.  Other  historians  affirm  that  St.  Linus, 
Anaclet  and  Clement,  were  all  three  charged 
•with  the  government  of  the  faithful,  and  that 
St.  Peter  had  fixed  upon  Clement  for  his  suc- 
cessor, in  preference  to  Linus  and  Anaclet ;  but 
Clement,  who  was  without  ambition,  fearing 
lest  the  faithful,  who  had  been  under  the 
charge  of  his  colleagues,  would  not  submit  to 
his  authority,  modestly  drew  back.  Anaclet 
followed  his  example,  and  Linus  found  himself 
alone  in  the  aovernment  of  the  church,  after 
the  death  of  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul. 

There  is  no  agreement  as  to  the  duration  of 
the  pontificate  of  St.  Linus,  and  all  his  actions 
are  buried  in  obscurity.  He  died  towards  the 
year  67,  and  was  the  first  bishop  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  in  the  opinion  of  the  ancients,  who 
fi.xed  the  duration  of  his  reign  at  eleven  years, 
nine  months  and  five  days ;  but  in  this  first  age 
of  the  church,  every  thing  is  uncertain. 

As  long  as  St.  Linus  laboiired  for  the  increase 
of  the  faith,  religion  enjoyed  great  tranquillity. 
During  his  pontificate,  a  law  was  passed  pro- 
hibiting females  from  appearing  in  the  con- 
gregations without  having  the  head  veiled. 
We  must  accord  him  honour  for  this  rule, 
which  modesty  has  perpetuated. 

At  this  period  Christians  were  not  allowed 
to  assemble  in  churches  for  the  e.vercise  of 
their  reliirion.  A  most  common  opinion  is 
that  St.  Linus  received  the  crown  of  martyr- 
dom towards  the  close  of  the  year  78,  the  du- 
ration of  his  episcopate  only  counting  from  the 
death  of  St.  Peter.  BaiHet  avows  that  this 
opinion  hasdifiiculties.  and  that  St.  Linus  did 
not  survive  Peter  but  a  year  or  two,  or  that 
he  even  died  before  that  apostle.  Father 
Page  believes  that  he  perished  in  the  fright- 
ful persecution  of  Nero,  and  that  he  was  con- 
demned to  death  by  the  consul  Saturnin.  after 
having  delivered  his  daughter,  who  was  pos- 
sessed of  a  devil. 

We  should  observe  in  the  midst  of  these 
contradictions,  that  Linus  has  only  been  hon- 
oured in  the  church  as  a  martyr  since  the 
ninth  century,  and  that  before  this  epoch  St. 
Tflcsphore  was  ri'^nirded  as  the  first  saint 
who  perished  by  the  sword. 


Writers  differ  as  to  the  order  of  succession 
to  St.  Linus.  Some  say  that  St.  CJet  succeeded 
him.  Others,  that  it  was  Clement  who  became 
the  immediate  successor  of  St.  Peter.  All  those 
variations  cast  great  obscurity  over  history, 
and  hinder  us  from  arriving  at  the  tnith. 

Two  works.  Avritten  in  Greek,  on  the  mar- 
tyrdoms of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  for  the 
edification  of  the  eastern  churches,  are  attri- 
buted to  him.  But  scholars  know  that  these 
books,  which  are  full  of  gross  errors  and  ridi- 
culous fables,  are  not  the  productions  of  this 
bishop.  Platinus  affirms  with  a  singular  good 
^aith,  that  Linus  wrote  a  life  of  St.  Peter,  in 
which  he  speaks  of  the  combat  of  this  apostle 
with  Simon  the  Magician. 

Some  years  before  the  death  of  St.  Linus, 
Jerusalem  was  taken  by  Titus.  This  unfor- 
tunate city,  delivered  over  to  the  fury  of  re- 
ligious wars,  overrun  by  bands  of  fanatics, 
who  murdered  old  men,  violated  females  and 
delivered  themselves  up  to  the  most  fright- 
ful crimes,  filled  the  measure  of  its  disor- 
ders by  revolting  against  the  Roman  em- 
pire. Titus  marched  at  the  head  of  his  troops 
to  conquer  the  rebels.  He  invaded  Pales- 
tine, attacked  Jersusalem,  rendered  himself 
successively  master  of  the  first  and  second 
walls  which  surrounded  the  city ;  but  at  the 
last  he  met  with  so  desperate  a  resistance, 
that  he  was  obliged,  after  having  tried  seven 
assaults,  to  undertake  a  regular  siege.  AU 
communication  between  the  city  and  coun- 
try was  intercepted.  Soon  provisions  failed 
and  famine  began ;.  but  the  hatred  which  the 
Jews  entertained  for  the  Romans  was  so 
great,  that  they  resisted  the  horrors  of  famine, 
and  sustained  themselves  with  the  flesh  of 
horses  and  dogs;  when  this  failed,  they  seized 
upon  every  thing.  They  ate  straw,  hay, 
even  the  leather  of  their  saddles.  They  even 
devoured  dead  bodies.  It  is  related  that  dur- 
ing the  seige,  a  noble  woman  named  Mary, 
the  daughter  of  Eleazar,  not  being  able  to  re- 
sist the  tortures  of  famine,  roasted  her  own 
child ;  she  had  eaten  the  half  of  it,  when  a 
band  of  soldiers  attracted  by  the  smell,  en- 
tered her  house,  and  threatened  her  with 
death  if  she  did  not  deliver  to  them  the  food 
.«hc  had  concealed.  This  unfortunate  mother 
then  opened  the  door  of  an  apartment  where 
were  the  remains  of  this  horrible  repast,  and 
said  to  them  :  '•  Lo.  I  have  preserved  for  you 
the  best  part,  take  it,"  and  immediately  fell 
dead. 

The  Romans  now  made  a  new  assault,  and 
carried  the  third  wall.  All  the  inhabitants  were 
put  to  the  sword,  the  temple  destroyed,  the  city 
entirely  razed,  and,  according  to  the  usage  of 
the  Romans,  the  ploughshare  was  passed  over 
it.  Titus  left  but  a  span  of  the  western  wall, 
and  the  towers Hippiqus.  Phazael  and  ^Nlariara- 
ne,  that  they  might  serve  to  transmit  to  future 
generations  the  recollection  of  his  victories. 


20 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


SAINT  CLET,  THE  THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  79. — Vespasian,  Titus,  and  Domitian,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  St.  Clct — Actions  attributed  to  him — Falsehood  of  the  priests,  in  the  falsification  of  the 
texts  of  the  Evangelist — St.  Luke  married — Death  of  St.  Clet — Fcdsc  decretals. 


The  succession  of  St.  Clet  or  Anaclet  is  very  1 
uncertain.     Some  authors  place  this  pontiff 
after  St.  Clement,  but  this  is  not  the  best  es- 
tablished opinion.     He  was  an  Italian ;  his  , 
father's  name  Emilianus ;  he  came  to  Rome 
during  the  reign  of  Nero.     The  apostles  con- . 
verted  him  to  the  Christian  faith,  and  soon  ' 
took  him  out  of  the  ranks  of  the  disciples  to 
associate  him  Avith  them  in  the  holy  minis- 
try.    Some  fix  the  duration  of  his  episcopate 
at    twelve  years  and  some  months.     Father  | 
Pagi,  following  the  pontifical  of  Damasus,  af- 
firms that  he  only  governed  the  church  of  ' 
Rome  six  years. 

The  actions  of  this  bishop  are  concealed  in 
profound  obscurity ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  of 
his  holiness,  and  his  zeal  for  the  propagation 
of  Christianity.  They  attribute  to  him  the  ordi- 
nation of  twenty-five  priests,  and  the  division 
of  Rome  into  parishes,  (that  is,  of  the  houses 
in  which  the  faithful  assembled  to  celebrate 
divine  worship.)  The  Chronicle  adds,  that  he 
established  seven  deaconates.  The  pontifical 
of  Damasus  furnishes  us  with  these  particu- 
lars, and  insinuates  that  the  church  of  Rome 
had  been  carried  on  ujd  to  this  time  by  bishops 
and  priests,  without  deacons.  St.  Luke,  the 
author  of  an  evangelical  book  and  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  lived  at  this  epoch,  and  his  wri- , 


tings  teach  us,  was  married.  But  the  bishops 
of  Rome  have  falsified  the  text  of  Scripture, 
in  order  to  destroy  an  authority  so  imposing, 
in  favor  of  the  marriage  of  priests. 

Though  the  church  honours  St.  Clet  as  a  mar- 
tyr, it  is  nevertheless  probable  that  he  died  in 
peace  towards  the  year  90  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Seven  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  this 
bishop,  a  knave  advised  them  to  attribute  to 
him  the  decretals  which  we  yet  possess. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  apostle  St. 
John  was,  according  to  the  sacred  chronolo- 
gists,  cast  into  a  cauldron  of  boiling  oil  by 
order  of  the  cruel  Domitian.  They  gravely 
relate  that  God,  not  having  destined  John  to 
a  martyr's  death,  he  came  forth  from  the 
cauldron  without  being  in  the  least  injured. 
Nevertheless  this  miracle  did  not  put  an  end 
to  the  persecutions  of  Domitian,  and  the  apos- 
tle was  exiled  to  the  isle  of  Patmos,  one  of 
the  Sporades  of  the  Archipelago,  where  he 
composed  his  Apocalypse  or  prophetic  docu- 
ments, which  he  addressed  to  the  seven  prin- 
cipal churches. 

After  the  death  of  Domitian,  John  obtained 
permission  to  return  to  Ephesus,  where  he 
wrote  his  Epistles  and  his  Evangelist,  which 
fonn  the  last  part  of  the  sacred  writings  re- 
cognized by  the  councils. 


SAINT  CLEMENT  THE  FIRST,  FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  91. — Domitian,  Nerva,  and  Trajan,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  St.  Clement — Visions  of  Hermas — Popes  Zozimus  and  Jerome  contradictory  in  relation 
to  the  martyrdom  of  Clement — His  principles  in  the  desert — Apochryphal  books. 


Clement  was  a  Roman ;  his  father,  whose 
name  was  Faustus,  inhabited  the  Celian  quar- 
ter. Some  authors  call  him  a  relative  of  the 
Caesars.  This  error  is  founded  on  the  re- 
semblance between  his  name  and  that  of  the 
consul  S.  Flavins  Clement,  nephew  of  the  em- 
peror Vespasian,  who  was  put  to  death  by  the 
orders  of  his  cousin  Domitian.  The  pontiff 
called  himself  a  child  of  Jacob,  which  in- 
duces us  to  suppose  he  was  a  Jew  rather  than 
a  Gentile. 

The  life  of  Clement  is  found  in  the  so-called 
constitutions  of  the  apostles;  but  these  works 
are  not  authentic,  although  they  contain  some 
truths  which  are  imbibed  from  the  tradition  of 
the  first  ages.  They  attribute  to  this  pope  the 
appointment  of  seven  notaries,  directed  to 
write  the  acts  of  the  martyrs. 

The  emperor  Domitian  having  determined 


to  declare  war  against  the  Christian  religion, 
Hermas  was  advised  of  it  in  several  visions, 
whose  recital  is  found  in  the  book  of  the  pas- 
tor, and  he  received  an  order  to  give  informa- 
tion to  the  pope,  in  order  that  he  might  advise 
the  other  churches,  and  fore-strengthen  them 
against  the  tempest.  Clement  continued  to 
govern  the  church  during  the  persecution,  and 
lived  into  the  third  year  of  Trajan's  reign, 
which  is  the  100th  year  of  Jesus  Christ.  Ru- 
fin  and  pope  Zozimus  bestow  on  him  the 
title  of  martyr,  and  the  church  in  its  canons 
places  him  among  the  number  of  saints  who 
have  shed  their  blood  in  its  behalf.  But  Euse- 
bius  and  Jerome  induce  us  to  suppose  that 
he  died  in  peace. 

St.  Ireneus,  towards  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century,  in  an  enumeration  of  the  first  popes, 
also  recognizes  Telesphorus  as  the  first  pope 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


21 


who  had  been  crowned  with  glorious  martyr- 
dom. 

An  ancient  history,  whose  correctness  how- 
ever is  very  doubtful,  relates  that  St.  Clement 
was  banished  by  Trajan  into  the  Chersonesus, 
beyond  the  Eu\ine  sea,  and  that  by  means  of 
his  prayers  he  caused  a  fountain  to  How  out 
of  a  rock,  which  furnished  water  to  the  other 
confessors.  He  remained  about  a  year  in  the 
desert,  and  converted  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country.  After  this  Trajan  sent  thither  an 
officer,  by  whose  orders  Clement  was  cast  into 
the  sea  with  an  anchor  attached  to  his  neck. 
The  next  day  the  waters  retired  more  than  a 
league  from  the  shore,  and  discovered  to  the 
faithful  a  temple  of  marble,  under  which  they 
built  the  tomb  of  the  martyr  j  and  every  year 
the  miracle  is  renewed  on  the  day  of  the  fes- 
tival of  the  saint.  This  extraordinary  legend 
has  been  adopted  by  Platinus  and  father  Pagi. 

The  great  reputation  of  Saint  Clement  has 
caused  them  to  attribute  to  him  all  the  wri- 
tings which  are  esteemed  the  most  ancient, 
after  the  canonical  Scriptures,  and  which  have 
no  certain  author.  They  still  produce  in  his 
name  five  pontifical  letters  ;  the  first  two  are 
addressed  to  James  the  brother  of  Christ ;  the 
third  to  all  the  bishops,  priests  and  faithful ; 
the  fourth  to  Julius  and  Julianus;  and  the  fifth 
to  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem.  But  all  are 
aprochryphal,  as  well  as  the  canons  of  the 
apostles  and  the  apostolic  constitutions,  which 
are  a  collection  of  all  the  discipline  of  the 
church.  He  passes  also  for  the  author  of  the 
recognitions  which  contain  a  pretended  his- 
tory of  his  life ;  the  author  recounts  many 
jomeys  of  St.  Peter,  and  relates  at  length  his 
dispute  with  Simon  the  Magician.  This  work 
is  also  called  the  Itinerares  of  St.  Peter. 

During  the  reign  of  Clement  died  the  vene- 
rable BarnabaSj  an  apostle  of  the  second  order, 
and  author  of  a  very  singular  doctrine  which 
he  divides  into  two  parts.    The  first  was  di- 


rected against  the  Jews ;  the  second  contains 
the  prophecies  which  appear  to  be  drawn  froiiL 
the  Indian  doctrine  of  the  metempsychosis, 
which  had  been  carried  into  Greece  by  the 
Pythagorians. 

St.  Barnabas  explains,  by  moral  allegories, 
the  prohibitions  of  the  Jewish  law  with  re- 
gard to  the  animals  called  impure.  "The 
hog,"  says  he,  "designates  the  voluptuous 
and  ungrateful,  who  are  not  grateful  to  their 
masters  but  in  their  need ;  birds  of  prey  are 
the  powerful,  who  live  without  labour  at  the 
expense  of  the  people ;  the  fish  which  remain 
at  the  bottom  of  the  water,  figure  impenitent 
sinners ;  the  hare  and  the  weasel  are  sj-mbols 
of  impurities ;  the  animals  which  ruminate, 
and  which  we  are  permitted  to  eat,  represent 
the  just,  who  meditate  upon  the  precepts  which 
God  gives  them ;  their  cloven  foot  teaches  us 
that  whilst  travelling  through  this  world  they 
wait  for  a  future  life." 

In  speaking  of  Genesis  he  affirms  "  that  the 
six  days  of  the  creation  represent  as  many 
periods  of  a  thousand  years ;  and  that  at  the 
seventh  period,  which  is  figured  by  the  Sab- 
bath, Christ  will  come  to  judge  the  living  and 
the  dead,  and  time  shall  be  accomplished. 
Then  (adds  he)  the  sun.  the  moon  and  the 
stars,  shall  be  destroyed,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  eighth  day  will  be  the  aurora  of  a 
new  creation." 

In  speaking  of  the  future  ages  of  the  church 
he  makes  this  singular  prophecy:  "It  shall 
enter  upon  an  oblique  path,  the  road  of  eter- 
nal death  and  punishment ;  the  vices  which 
lose  souls  shall  appear;  idolatry,  audacity, 
pride,  hypocrisy,  duplicity  of  heart,  adaitery, 
incest,  apostasy,  magic,  avarice,  murder,  shall 
be  the  portion  of  its  ministers ;  they  will  be- 
come the  corrupters  of  the  works  of  God.  the 
adorers  of  the  rich,  the  oppressors  of  the  poor." 
They  attribute  to  St.  Barnabas  the  foundation 
of  the  church  at  Milan. 


22 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


POLITICAL  IIISTOEY  OF  THE  FIRST  CENTURY. 

The  Emperor  Tiberius — His  hypocrisy — The  vices  of  Caligula — He  names  his  horse  as  Consul- 
Violence  of  Itis  passion  for  Cesonia — He  is  assassinated  by  Cassias — The  Emperor  Claudius — 
His  faults — He  is  poisoned  by  Agrippina — Infamous  Excesses  of  Nero — He  puts  to  death  his 
mother  and  his  preceptor  Seneca — He  viarries  a  man — Delivers  himself  up  in  open  da.y  and 
before  his  Court  to  the  most  shameless  debauchery — His  cruel  persecution  of  the  CJuistians — 
He  drives  his  chariot  through  Itis  garden  by  the  light  of  human  torches — The  burning  of 
Rome — Death  of  Nero — Character  of  Galba — He  is  massacred — Otho  seduces  the  people  by  his 
liberality  and  mounts  the  throne — His  abandoned  morals — Vitellius — His  cruelty  and  glut- 
tony— Vespasian  declared  Emperor — His  good  qualities — His  defects — The  Emperor  Titus — 
The  vices  of  Domitian — His  cruelty — A  new  persecution  against  the  Christians — New  tor- 
tures— Good  qualities  of  Nerva — His  liberality  to  the  poor — He  sells  his  palace  in  order  not  to 
be  a  charge  on  the  people. 


Tiberius  reigned  at  Rome  when  the  church 
was  sprinkled  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
is  pretended  that  after  having  taken  cogni- 
zance of  the  proceedings  against  Christ,  the 
emperor  proposed  to  the  senate  to  receive 
him  into  the  number  of  their  gods. 

This  prince,  endowed  with  extreme  dissimu- 
lation, understood  j^erfectly  the  art  of  govern- 
ing men,  and  by  his  art  he  extended  his  sway 
over  Rome  and  the  empire  ;  he  knew  how  to 
accustom  his  subjects  to  slavery,  and  received 
from  them  eulogiums  on  his  mildujess,  whilst 
he  was  exercising  his  tyramry  and  his  despo- 
tism with  the  greatest  violence,  but  always 
under  the  appearance  of  justice. 

The  infamous  CaligTila  succeeded  Tiberius. 
This  prince,  in  order  to  insult  the  senate,  wish- 
ed to  bestow  the  honours  of  the  consulate  on 
his  horse.  He  built  a  temple  which  he  so- 
lemnly dedicated,  and  in  which  he  immolated 
peacocks,  Numidian  fowls,  and  birds  of  rarest 
plumage.  His  cruelty  was  even  greater  than 
his  other  vices.  In  the  Caesars  of  the  em- 
peror Julian,  he  is  treated  of  as  a  ferocious 
beast.  This  monster  had  compassed  the  death 
of  Tiberius,  pushed  on  by  ambition  and  a 
desire  to  reign,  in  order  that  he  might  plunge 
with  impunity  into  the  most  horrible  excesses. 
Cruel  eveh  in  the  arms  of  his  mistresses,  he 
threatened  Cesonia,  whilst  in  the  midst  of  the 
excess  of  his  lust,  "to  employ  tortures  to  ex- 
tract from  her  by  what  artifices  she  made  him 
love  her  with  so  much  ardour." 

CaligTila  united  in  his  own  person  the  vices 
of  all  men,  and  had  no  virtues ;  but  it  is  more 
easy  to  imagine  the  horrors  of  such  a  reigii 
than  to  describe  them.  At  length  he  was 
killed  by  Cassius,  surnamed  Chersees,  the 
captain  of  his  guard,  and  chief  of  a  conspiracy 
against  his  life.  The  entire  people  rejoiced 
in  the  death  of  the  emperor,  and  gave  evi- 
dence thereof  by  fetes  and  rejoicings.  This 
prince  had  been  so  basely  servile  towards 
Tiberius,  and  so  cruel  to  those  who  had  given 
him  the  crown,  that  the  citizens  said  of  him, 
'•  No  one  could  make  a  better  slave  and  more 
treacherous  master."  It  would  have  been 
very  stupid  to  have  shed  tears  for  one  who 
paid  fifty  thousand  crowns  to  a  coachman  as 
a  new-year's  gift,  and  condemned  an  inno- 
cent man  to  pay  a  like   sum.     He   was  so 


shameless  as  to  mourn  that  his  reign  had  not 
been  signalized  by  some  horrible  calamity, 
as  an  earthquake,  a  famine  or  a  pestilence, 
and  he  dared  to  say,  "  I  wish  the  Roman  peo- 
ple had  but  one  head,  that  I  might  cut  it  off  at 
a  blow," — an  execrable  thought,  which  kmgs 
alone  are  capable  of  forming. 

The  emperor  Claudius,  the  successor  of 
Caligula,  was  irresolute,  credulous,  timid  and 
cruel.  He  loved  without  restraint  wine  and 
women,  and  when  intoxicated,  surrendered 
without  reflection  and  judgment  every  thing 
that  his  courtezans  demanded  of  him.  His 
memory  was  treacherous,  his  mind  weak,  and 
his  heart  so  base  that  he  suffered  CaligTila  to 
spit  upon  and  horsewhip  him.  He  massa- 
cred his  friends,  domestics  and  relatives,  and 
became  the  slave  of  his  freedmen  and  mis- 
tresses. At  length  Agrippina  poisoned  him, 
and  he  died  on  the  13th  of  October,  Aiuio 
Domini  55. 

Nero  having  come  to  the  throne,  improved 
upon  his  vices,  and  committed  the  greatest 
crimes  without  any  sense  of  shame.  We 
cannot  read  his  history  without  being  struck 
with  horror.  He  bathed  his  hands  in  the 
blood  of  all  persons  of  distinction,  and  put  to 
death  Agrippina  his  mother,  and  Seneca  his 
preceptor.  Incestuous  and  pederast,  he  mar- 
ried a  man,  and  had  the  shamlessness  to  com- 
mit in  open  day,  and  before  all  his  court,  ac- 
tions which  the  obscurity  of  the  night  conceals 
in  legitimate  marriages.  In  order  to  enjoy 
the  frightful  spectacle  of  the  burning  of  the 
ancient  city  of  the  Dardanians,  he  spread  his 
cohorts  of  slaves,  armed  with  torches,  through 
all  the  streets  of  the  city,  with  orders  to  tire  it 
in  every  quarter.  During  this  frightful  incen- 
diarism, Nero,  crowned  with  flowers,  and  sur- 
rounded by  courtezans,  sung  to  the  accompa- 
niment of  his  own  lyre  the  verses  of  Virgil  on 
the  burning  of  Troy.  The  flames  devoured 
the  ten  quarters  of  the  capital  of  the  world, 
and  only  left  in  the  suburbs  some  houses  half 
burned.  This  fire  took  place  on  the  19lh  of 
July,  in  the  year  64  of  our  era. 

In  order  to  cast  off  on  the  innocent  the  pub- 
lic hatred  which  rested  on  him,  Nero  accused 
the  Christians  with  being  the  authors  of  the 
conflagration,  they  having  become  odious  as 
the  professors  of  a  new  religion.     They  ar- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


23 


rested  some  of  the  faithful,  whom  they  accused 
of  many  crimes  without  examining  the  truth, 
and  the  judges  condemned  them  to  death,  not 
as  incendiaries,  but  as  the  enemies  of  the 
human  race.  They  joined  cruel  insults  to 
their  punishment ;  they  covered  them  with 
the  skins  of  beasts,  that  they  might  be  torn  to 
pieces  by  dogs;  they  were  hung  on  crosses,  or 
affixed  to  stakes,  which  pierced  their  necks, 
and  in  this  position  they  clothed  them  in  gar- 
ments covered  with  pitch  or  other  combustible 
matter,  which  they  set  on  fire,  in  order  that 
the  victims  should  serve  as  burning  torches  to 
give  light  by  night.  Nero  made  an  exhibition 
in  his  gardens,  through  which  he  himself  drove 
a  chariot  by  the  lights  of  these  human  torches. 

Historians  speak  indignantly  of  the  cruelty 
of  this  prince,  who  sacrificed  thousands  of  men 
to  his  execrable  tyranny.  It  was  the  first  per- 
secution of  the  church  by  the  emperors.  In 
the  end,  the  Christians  regarded  it  as  honour- 
able, saying  with  Tertullian,  '-What  has  Nero 
ever  condemned  that  was  not  good  ]"  His 
atrocities  at  length  excited  a  general  revolt ; 
the  people  penetrated  into  the  palace  of  the 
Caesars,  demanding  with  loud  cries  the  death 
of  the  tyrant.  Then  Nero,  despairing  of  escap- 
ing from  his  enemies,  and  fearing  a  cruel  end, 
ordered  one  of  his  slaves  to  pierce  him  with 
his  sword. 

On  the  death  of  this  monster,  Galba,  who 
had  taken  up  arms  on  the  news  of  the  revolt 
of  Vindex  in  Gaul,  was  elevated  to  the  throne. 
This  prince,  broken  down  with  age,  as  weak 
in  mind  as  in  body,  abandoned  the  govern- 
ment of  the  empire  to  his  freedmen.  which 
caused  Tacitus  to  say  that  his  reign  was  pre- 
carious. His  great  age  and  his  infirmities 
prevented  him  from  exercising  the  functions 
of  supreme  chief  of  the  state,  and  he  resolved 
to  adopt  the  young  Piso,  more  illustrious 
even  for  his  virtues  and  misfortunes  than  his 
birth.  But  Otho,  who  had  so  disgraced  him- 
self by  permitting  Poppea  his  wife  to  become 
the  mistress  of  Nero,  laid  claims  to  the  honour 
of  the  adoption.  He  gained  the  army  by  his 
liberality,  and  putting  himself  at  the  head  of 
his  partisans,  stormed  the  palace  of  Galba, 
massacred  the  unfortunate  old  man,  and 
caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  emperor. 
This  infamous  usurper  was  a  voluptuary,  pro- 
digal, weak,  effeminate,  and  was  cherishixl 
only  by  the  wicked  on  account  of  the  simi- 
larity of  his  morals  to  those  of  Nero. 

At  the  last,  however,  Otho  effaced  the  pre- 

i'udices  disadvantageous  to  his  courage,  which 
is  conduct  had  produced,  by  a  glorious  end, 
which  a  poet  has  placed  above  that  of  Cato. 

Vitellius,  though  altogether  incapable  of 
reigning,  was  named  emperor  by  the  amiy 
of  Germany,  which  conducted  him  in  triumph 
to  Kome.  Tliis  prince  aliandoned  himst-lf  to 
every  vice,  but  especially  to  those  of  intempe- 
rance antl  cruelty.  In  a  repast  given  to  him  by 
his  brother,  two  thousand  of  tlie  mo.st  exqui- 
site fish,  and  seven  thousand  of  the  rarest 
birds,  wore  served  up.  The  roads  between 
the  two  seas  were  continually  traversed  by 
his  purveyors.     In  order  to  attain  to  fortune 


or  honours,  it  was  only  necessary  to  discover 
the  means  of  appeasing  his  appetite,  which 
was  not  only  insatiable  but  disgusting.  At  the 
sacrifices  he  seized  upon  the  half-cooked  en- 
trails of  tlie  victims;  and  in  his  journeys  he 
devoured  all  the  broken  and  half-eaten  food 
which  he  found  in  the  taverns.  Insensible 
and  cruel,  he  shed  blood  for  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  it  flow;  and  put  to  death,  under  various 
pretexts,  the  old  companions  of  his  studies. 
What  must  have  been  the  frightful  state  of 
Rome  and  of  the  empire,  after  having  suffered 
in  the  same  year  from  the  tyranny  of  Otho 
and  the  cruelty  of  Vitellius  ? 

Vespasian,  whom  Nero  had  sent  into  Pales- 
tine to  quell  the  rebellious  Jews,  having 
learned  that  the  empire  was  torn  to  pieces  in 
the  west  by  a  civil  war,  resolved  to  avail  him- 
self thereof  to  seize  the  government.  He 
united  his  legions  to  those  of  IMucianus,  and 
drove  Vitellius  from  Rome.  Becoming  master 
of  the  empire,  he  re-established  military  dis- 
cipline, which  the  civil  wars  and  the  debauch- 
eries of  the  emperors  had  dreadfully  corrupted, 
and  applied  himself  Avith  equal  zeal  to  reform 
the  laws  of  the  state.  Vespasian  was  the 
enemy  of  courtiers,  loved  the  truth,  and  had 
no  secret  enmities.  Naturally  kind,  he  de- 
tested the  cruelty  of  his  predecessors ;  but  his 
good  qualities  were  tarnished  by  liis  passion 
for  women,  which  led  him  to  commit  acts  of 
violence  ;  and  by  his  sordid  avarice,  which 
caused  him  to  sell  justice. 

Titus,  his  son,  succeeded  him,  and  was  the 
best  of  princes.  He  is  called  '•  the  delight 
of  the  human  race."  If  in  the  course  of  the 
day  he  had  found  no  occasion  of  doing  good, 
he  is  related  to  have  said  mournfully  these 
beautiful  words,  worthy  of  the  greatest  men 
of  the  republic:  "I  have  lost  a  day."  He 
was  the  enemy  of  vengeance^  and  showed 
himself  as  virtuous,  as  those  who  preceded 
him  were  cruel  and  corrupt.  When  he  died 
the  Romans  said  of  him,  "that  he  ought 
never  to  have  lived  at  all,  or  to  have  lived 
for  ever." 

Domitian,  the  son  of  Vespasian  and  brother 
of  Titus,  inherited  his  sceptre  but  not  his  vir- 
tues )  for  Providence  rarely  gives  good  kings, 
as  if  to  indicate  to  nations  that  the  supreme 
power  ought  never  to  be  entrusted  to  the 
hands  of  a  single  man.  History  teaches  us 
that  Domitian  was  proud,  vain,  presumptuous, 
avaricious,  prodigal  and  cruel.  He  excited  a 
long  and  inhuman  persecution  ag-ainst  the 
church,  in  which  a  great  number  of  Christians 
were  put  to  death;  others  were  bani.shed  into 
the  island  of  Patmos,  where  St.  John  wrote 
his  Visions  or  his  Apocalypse.  This  cruel 
emperor  took  great  pleasure  in  causing  men 
to  be  devoured  by  dogs.  Every  day  almost 
some  senators  were  put  to  death;  and  the 
hands  of  tho  brave  men  who  had  refused  to 
aid  him  in  the  civil  wars,  or  who  had  followed 
him  with  a  bad  grace,  were  cut  off  by  his 
orders.  At  last,  by  a  new  method  of  torture, 
of  which  we  have  no  knowledixe,  he  caused 
his  friends  to  be  burned  in  the  part  which 
\vas  ofl^ered  to  Pollio. 


24 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Petronius  Secundusand  Parthcnius,  leaders 
of  the  guard,  assassinated  Domitiaii;  and  de- 
clared Marcus  Cocceius  Nerva  emperor.  This 
prince  was  benevolent,  generous,  modest  and 
sincere.  Martial,  in  the  Caesars  of  Julian,  pro- 
iiomices  him  the  mildest  of  sovereigns;  and 
Silenus  has  nothing  with  which  to  reproach 
him.  Appolonius,  attached  to  his  court,  bears 
witness,  m  Pliilostatus,  that  he  never  saw  him 
abandon  himself  to  pleasure ;  and  according 
to  Xiphilin,  this  emperor  said  of  himself, 
"  that  he  did  not  find  himself,  on  a  self-exami- 
nation, culpable  of  any  thing  which  would 
prevent  him  from  living  in  repose  and  safety, 
if  he  quitted  the  empire."  He  restored  to 
the  citizens  of  Rome  all  the  wealth  which 


he  found  in  his  palace,  and  which  Domitian 
had  taken  from  them.  He  gave  a  million 
crowns  of  gold  to  poor  citizens,  and  trusted 
the  distribution  of  it  to  the  senators.  At  a 
time  when  the  public  misfortunes  called  for 
sacrifices,  he  sold  his  furniture,  garments,  ves- 
sels of  gold  and  silver,  his  palace,  and  all  that 
he  regarded  as  superfluous,  in  order  that  he 
should  not  be  a  charge  to  the  nation.  In  grate- 
ful return  the  people  bestowed  upon  him  great 
honours,  and  wished  to  erect  statues  to  him ; 
but  he  refused,  from  an  admirable  sentiment 
of  modesty.  He  died,  according  to  Aurelius 
Victor,  at  the  age  of  63,  after  a  reign  of  sixteen 
months. 


ANACLET,  THE  FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  103.— Trajan,  Emperor.] 

Different  opinions  regarding  Popes  Clct  and  Anaclet — He  forbids  the  priests  to  wear  their  beard, 
and'their  hair — Uncertain  period  of  his  death. 


Many  authors  suppose  St.  Clet  and  St.  Ana- 
clet to  have  been  two  different  popes,  who 
have  found  a  place  in  the  calendar  as  martyrs. 
They  rest  this  upon  the  opinion  of  the  Greeks, 
who  have  always  preserved  the  name  of  Ana- 
clet or  Anenclet,  whilst  the  Latins  have  kept 
that  of  Clet.  Other  historian.?,  on  the  con- 
trary, give  two  names  to  one  and  the  same 
pope.  But  as  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  the 
truth  with  positive  certainty,  in  this  case,  we 
wall  shun  discussion,  and  follow  the  usually 
received  opinion. 

Anaclet  was  a  Greek,  born  at  Athens,  the 
son  of  a  man  named  Antiochus.  We  are  ig- 
norant of  the  time  at  which  he  came  to  Rome, 
and  of  the  precise  period  with  which  he  was 
charged  with  the  government  of  the  church. 
Baronius  assures  us  that  it  was  on  the  3d  of 
April,  in  the  year  103.  This  pontiff  prohibited 
ecclesiastics  from  wearing  their  beard  and 
their  hair;  he  ordained  that  bishops  should 
not  be  consecrated  but  by  three  other  prelates; 
that  they  should  invest  candidates  for  the  sa- 
cred orders  with  them  in  public ;  that  all  the 
faithful  should  partake  of  the  eucharistic 
bread  after  its  consecration;  and  that  those 
\vho  should  refuse  to  receive  the  communion 


should  be  obliged  to  leave  the  Christian  as- 
semblies :  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  guarantee 
the  authenticity  of  these  various  rules. 

Three  decretals  are  produced  in  the  name 
of  St.  Anaclet,  which  are  evidently  supposi- 
titiou.s,  as  are  all  those  attributed  to  his  suc- 
cessors up  to  the  time  of  Siricus.  Different 
writers  have  demonstrated  this  falsity,  and 
Father  Pagi  has  supported  their  reasoning 
with  much  force  and  ability.  The  author  of 
this  hj'pothesis,  who  is  concealed  under  the 
name  of  Isidore  Mercator,  or  Le  Marchand, 
remains  unknown.  We  only  know  that  Ri- 
caud.  Bishop  of  Mayence,  was  the  first  who 
brought  this  work  from  Spain,  and  that  he 
made  it  public  towards  the  end  of  the  eighth, 
or  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century. 

The  pontifical  writings  assure  us  that  St. 
Anaclet  governed  the  church  of  Rome  for  nine 
years,  and  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  on  the 
13th  of  July,  Anno  Domino  112,  in  the  third 
year  of  the  reign  of  Trajan.  Father  Pagi  is 
of  a  contrary  opinion ;  he  makes  him  die  in 
the  year  95,  during  the  reign  of  the  cruel 
Domitian.  This  opinion  appears  to  us  as  badly 
founded  as  the  others. 


SAINT  EVARISTUS,  THE  SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  112. — Trajan  and  Adrian,  Emperors.] 
The  hirth  of  Evaristus — Obscurity  of  the  Martyrological  documents — False  decretals. 


According  to  the  pontifical  writings,  Eva- 
ristus was  a  Greek  by  birth;  his  father,  named 
Judah,  was  a  Jew,  and  originally  from  the  city 
of  Bethlehem. 

Many  ancient  writers  make  mention  of  this 


bishop,  and  infonn  us  that  he  succeeded  St. 
Anaclet ;  but  they  cite  nothing  particular  of 
the  functions  of  his  ministry.  It  is  believed 
that  this  pontiff  established  the  ecclesiastical 
division  of  the  city  of  Rome,  by  dividing  it 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


25 


into  quarters,  and  distributing  titles  and  pa- 
rishes. It  was  probably  a  now  distribution, 
which  the  increase  of  tlie  faithful  rendered 
necessary.  He  performed  tliree  ordinations, 
and  conferred  the  order  of  the  priesthood  on 
six  persons,  the  episcopate  on  five,  and  the 
diaconate  on  two.  Very  uncertain  traditions 
attribute  to  liim  the  establislmieut  of  new  in- 
stitutions, which  were  not,  however,  intro- 
duced into  the  church  until  succeeding  ages. 

According  to  clironology,  Saint  Evaristus 
died  during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Adrian, 
Aiuio  Domini  121.  According  to  the  martyro- 
logists  he  governed  the  church  of  Rome 
nine  years  and  three  months.  The  chronicle 
of  Eusebius  allows  him  but  nine  years  of 
episcopacy. 

Following  the  opinion  which  has  confounded 
St.  Clet  and  St.  Anaclet,  the  pontifical  writings 
fix  the  death  of  St.  Evaristus  in  the  year  109; 
but  it  has  not  been  proved  that  he  suffered  as 
a  martyr,  though  the  church  honours  him  as 
such. 

The  priests  attribute  to  him  two  decretals 
vrliich  are  not  his  work,  and  they  deduce  from 


this  bishop  the  custom  of  dedicating  or  con- 
secrating churches,  a  custom  imitated  from 
the  pagans,  and  which  had  only  of  late  been 
introduced  into  the  Christian  religion. 

Durhig  the  pontificate  of  Evaristus  a  new 
sect  arose,  which  recogniized  as  its  chief  a 
priest  named  Basilides.  This  heretic  taught 
that  God  the  Father  existed  alone;  that  he  %; 
had  produced  the  spirit,  which  in  its  turn  had 
created  the  word;  that  this  latter  had  engen- 
dered providence,  from  whence  proceed  wis- 
dom and  power,  from  whom  the  forces,  princes 
and  angels  issued :  and  that  linally  these  last 
had  fonned  the  world  and  the  tlii-ee  hundred 
and  sixty-five  heavens,  from  whence  came 
the  days  of  the  solar  year.  He  maintained 
that  these  angels,  having  subdued  the  work 
of  their  hands,  God  the  Father,  or  the  su- 
preme Sovereign,  had  sent  his  first-bom  to 
deliver  the  world;  and  that  the  Spirit  was  in- 
carnate mider  the  human  form.  Basilides  af- 
firmed that  Christ,  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  cross, 
had  miraculously  taken  the  form  of  Simon, 
the  Cyrenian,  whom  the  Jews  had  crucified 
in  his  stead. 


ALEXANDER  THE  FIRST,  SEVENTH  TOPE. 

[A.  D.  121. — Adrian,  Emperor.] 

Elevation  of  Alexander  to  the  Epi<^copatc — The  Fathers  of  the  Church  and  St.  Ireneiis  differ  as 
to  the  martyrdom  of  this  Pontiff — The  priests  attribute  to  him  the  institution  of  holy  ivater, 
in  imitation  of  the  lustral  icater  of  the  Pas^ans — Trickery  of  the  Popes — The  relics  of  Alex- 
ander the  First  would  form  an  hundred  bodies,  of  natural  size — False  decretals. 


We  w411  follow,  during  these  obscure  times, 
the  same  chronology  as  the  Cardinal  Baronius, 
and  place  the  elevation  of  Alexander  to  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter,  towards  the  year  121,  and 
in  the  second  of  the  reign  of  Adrian.  He  was 
a  Roman;  his  father's  name  was  Alexander. 
During  his  pontificate  the  emperor  put  an  end 
to  the  persecution  which  Trajan  had  excited 
against  the  church,  and  the  Christians  com- 
menced to  breathe  freely. 

We  know  nothing  particularly  of  the  life  or 
death  of  this  pontiff.  The  acts  in  which  are 
found  related  the  captivity  and  martyrdom  of 
Alexander,  appear  tons  too  suspicious  to  merit 
the  confidence  which  should  be  reposed  in 
original  and  authentic  documents.  VVe  sup- 
pose, with  St.  Ireneus,  that  he  died  in  peace, 
though  the  church  places  him  in  the  number 
of  her  martyrs,  and  grants  to  him  the  honours 
of  canonization. 

The  institution  of  holy  water  is  attributed 
to  this  father,  as  well  as  that  of  bread  with- 
out leaven  for  the  communion,  and  that  of 
the  admixture  of  water  with  wine  in  the  cha- 
lice for  the  celebration  of  the  mass.  Platinus 
and  Father  Pagi  have  been  simple  enough  to 
adopt  this  fabulous  tradition.  The  Cardinal 
Baronius  confidently  asserts  that  the  institu- 
tion of  holy  water  does  not  belong  to  Alexan- 
der the  First,  and  the  reason  which  he  gives  is 

Vol.  I.  D 


curious.  According  to  him,  an  invention  so 
sacred  could  only  come  from  the  apostles, 
and  he  wishes  that  we  should  accord  to  them 
the  honour  of  it.  The  Protestants  pretend,  Avith 
more  reason,  that  the  holy  water  is  but  an 
imitation  of  the  lustral  water,  which  the 
church  has  borrowed  from  the  pagans,  as  weU 
as  many  other  of  their  ceremonies. 

The  epoch  of  the  death  of  Alexander  is 
placed  towards  the  year  132.  Many  cities  of 
Italy,  France  and  Germany,  preserve  the  re- 
mains of  this  pontiff;  but  if  all  these  bones 
were  gathered  together,  one  hundred  bodies 
of  natural  size  might  be  formed  from  them. 

At  the  same  time,  and  during  the  reign  of 
the  emperor  Adrian,  took  place  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem.  Fifty  fortresses  were  level- 
ed to  the  ground,  nine  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  villages  were  given  to  the  flames,  and 
more  than  a  million  of  Jews  were  put  to  death 
or  reduced  to  slavery. 

As  the  Christians  were  no  less  odious  to  the 
Romans  than  the  other  Jewish  sects,  Adrian 
destroyed  the  holy  sepulchre.  He  rais(xl  on 
the  very  spot  on  whicli  Christ  had  expired  a 
statue  of  Venus  Callipyga;  and  transformed 
the  grotto  in  which  Jesus  had  been  born  into 
a  temple,  which  he  dedicated  to  the  beautiful 
Adonis. 


26 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


SIXTUS  THE  rmST,  EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.   132. — Adrian  and  Antoninus,  Emperors. J 

Birth  of  Sixtiis  the  First — Uncertainty  as  to  the  duration  of  his  pontificate — Fables  as  to  the  insti- 
tution of  Lcntj  and  several  religious  practices. 


After  the  death,  of  Alexander,  the  See  of 
Rome  remained  vacant  for  twenty-five  days. 
Sixtus  was  chosen  by  the  faithful  to  exercise 
the  functions  of  the  episcopate.  He  was  a 
Roman,  the  son  of  a  man  named  Helvidius, 
according  to  some,  or,  if  we  believe  the  ponti- 
fical writings,  of  Pastor.  Baronius  supposes 
that  the  father  of  Sixtus  was  probably  Junius 
Pastor,  of  whom  a  pagan  author  makes  men- 
tion. 

We  know  of  none  of  the  acts  of  this  bishop. 
The  learned  are  not  agreed  concerning  either 
the  beginning  or  the  end  of  his  pontificate. 
He  governed  the  church  of  Rome  for  ten  years 
according  to  some,  a  few  months  less  accord- 
ing to  others,  who  rely  on  the  authority  of 
Eusebius.  Sixtus,  despite  the  uncertainty  of 
his  very  existence,  has  been  placed  in  the  list 
of  martyrs,  and  the  epoch  of  his  death  is  fixed 
towards  the  year  142. 

Sacred  historians  attribute  to  him  the  insti- 
tution of  Lent,  and  pretend  that  he  commanded 
the  priests  to  make  use  of  a  linen  communion 
cloth,  on  which  was  placed  the  body  of  Jesus 
Christ.  They  add,  with  equally  little  founda- 
tion for  their  story,  that  he  introduced  the 
custom  of  singing  the  "Holy  of  holies."  and 
prohibited  the  laity  from  touching  the  holy 
vessels.  Though  these  things  are  said  on  the 
authority  of  the  pontifical  writings,  it  is  im- 
possible, in  the  opinion  of  those  who  wish  to 


judge  dispassionately,  to  pass  them  off"  as  the 
doings  of  this  holy  father. 

The  two  decretals  which  appear  in  the 
name  of  this  pope,  are  evidently  fables,  as 
Marin  and  Baluze  have  proved.  The  title  of 
one  of  these  decretals  is  too  proud  for  the 
times  of  the  primitive  church :  "  Sixtus,  Uni- 
versal Bishop  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  to  all 
Bishops,  health,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
Father  Pagi  himself  is  convinced  that  this 
title  was  unknown  to  the  pontitTs  of  the  first 
ages. 

The  Catholics  have  mvolved  themselves  in 
this  error,  in  their  contest  with  the  Protest- 
ants, who  refuse  to  yield  to  the  pope  the  title 
of  universal  bishop,  as  unworthy  of  a  bishop 
who  assumes  the  title  of  servant  of  the  ser- 
vants of  God.  The  place  of  bishop  of  Rome 
was  then  regarded  as  a  post  which  could  sa- 
tisfy neither  the  ambition  nor  the  passions  of 
priests,  and  those  only  were  elevated  to  this 
dignity  who  joined  holiness  of  morals  to  con- 
tempt of  death. 

The  church  pretends  to  have  preserved  the 
mortal  remains  of  St.  Sixtus,  but  we  ought 
not  to  yield  any  credence  to  these  uncertain 
traditions.  We  also  refuse  credit  to  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  relics  Avhich  Clement  the 
Tenth  sent  to  Cardinal  de  Retz,  to  be  placed 
in  deposit  in  the  Abbey  of  St.  Michael  in  Lor- 
raine. 


SAINT  TELESPHORUS,  THE  NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  142. — Antoninus,  Emperor.] 

Birth  of  Telesphorus — New  fable  on  the  institution  of  Lent — On  the  Midnight  Mass — Death 

of  the  Pope. 


Telesphorus  was  a  Greek  by  birth,  and  had 
teen  reared  in  the  cloisters  from  his  earliest 
youth,  which  is  all  we  know  of  this  bishop. 

According  to  a  glossary  inserted  in  some 
editions  of  the  Chronicles  of  Eusebius,  it  is 
said  that  the  church  is  indebted  to  this  holy 
father  for  the  institution  of  Lent.  The  priests, 
who  wish  to  derive  from  the  apostles  the  pre- 
sent usages  of  the  church,  tell  us  that  Teles- 
phorus only  re-established  it.  Cardinal  Baro- 
nius boasts  that  he  has  demonstrated  this 
pretended  truth,  but  the  reasons  which  he 
adduces  are  very  weak.  Others  affirm  that  this 
pontiff  Avas  neither  the  restorer  nor  the  insti- 
tutor  of  it,  and  that  he  only  established  the 
seventh  week,  which  we  call  Quinquagesima. 
We  will  demonstrate,  that  this  ceremony  was 


not  in  use  in  the  church  until  five  hundred 
years  after  the  death  of  this  holy  father.  The 
church  also  attributes  to  him  the  institution 
of  the  midnight  mass  at  Christmas.  Platinus 
and  some  historians  have  transmitted  to  us 
this  fable. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  St.  Telesphorus 
suffered  martyrdom  in  the  year  134.  and  seve- 
ral authors  assure  us  of  the  fact;  but  there  is 
no  agreement  as  to  the  year  in  which  this 
event  is  said  to  have  occin-red.  Legends  fix 
the  martyrdom  of  Symphorosa  and  her  seven 
sons  during  the  pontificate  of  Telesphorus. 

According  to  the  versions  of  the  fathers, 
the  emperor  Adrian,  having  built  a  splendid 
palace  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  wished  to 
dedicate  it  to  the  proper  deities,  with  religious 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


27 


ceremonies,  and  addressed  himself  to  the 
pagan  priests;  they  refused  to  obey  him  urdess 
a  Christian  widow,  who  hved  in  tlie  neighbour- 
hood, should  be  surrendered  to  them.  They 
add,  that  Adrian  acceded  to  their  demand,  and 
that  Symphorosa  was  seized,  with  her  seven 
children,  who  were  attached  to  stakes  around 
the  temple  of  Hercules,  whilst  the  mother 
herself  had  her  ilesh  torn  from  her  by  red-hot 


pmcers,  by  four  executioners,  who  demanded, 
at  each  new  torment,  if  she  would  consent  to 
sacrifice  to  the  false  gods.  It  is  dillicult  for 
us  to  reconcile  this  act  of  cruel  fanaticism 
with  the  tolerance  the  Romans  always  dis- 
played for  the  religion  of  others;  and  we  are 
obliged  to  doubt  this  legend,  as  well  as  the 
acts  of  the  martyrs  during  the  llrst  ages  of  the 
church. 


SAINT  HYGINUS,  THE  TENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  154. — Antoninus,  Emperor.] 

Character  of  St.  Hyginus — Rules  attributed  to  him — Falsehoods  of  the  priests,  in  relation  to  this 
new  martyr — He  introduces  godfathers  and  godmothers  in  baptism — Apochryphai  writings. 


HvGiNUs  was  an  Athenian,  and  the  son  of  a 
philosopher  whose  name  history  has  not  pre- 
served. Authors  speak  of  him  as  a  holy  man, 
who  preferred  a  retreat  and  obscurity  in  the 
forest  to  the  splendour  of  the  palace.  Never- 
theless he  made  a  great  many  rules  for  the 
order  and  distinction  of  raiiks  among  the  Ro- 
man clergy.  Authors  liberally  bestow  upon 
him  the  quality  of  a  martyr,  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  he  shed  his  blood  for  his  religion;  and 
ancient  writers  have  either  not  known  of  it 
or  not  spoken  of  it. 

The  usage  of  having  godfathers  and  god- 
mothers at  the  baptism  of  children,  is  derived 
from  St.  Hyginus,  as  well  as  that  of  consecrating 
churches.  Authors  assure  us  that  he  wrote 
a  treatise  on  God,  and  the  incarnation  of  his 
Son ;  but  this  work  is  apochryphai,  as  well  as 
the  two  decretals  which  pass  under  his  name ; 
the  first  is  addressed  to  all  the  faithful,  the 
second  to  the  Athenians.     Cardinal  Baronius 


places  the  death  of  this  holy  father  Anno  Do- 
mini 158,  and  in  the  nineteenth  of  the  reign  of 
Antoninus. 

Alexandria  was  always  the  brilliant  hearth- 
stone of  the  lights  which  illuminated  the 
Christian  world,  and  the  seat  of  the  heresies 
which  desolated  the  church.  During  the  pon- 
tificate of  St.  Hyginus  the  subversive  ideas  of 
the  philosophers  of  Alexandria  took  a  decided 
character,  and  were  propagated  in  other 
churches  by  the  preachings  of  the  Gnostics. 
These  heretics  followed  the  errors  of  Epipha- 
ims,  the  disciple  of  Basilides  and  son  of 
Carpocras,  who  defined  the  reign  of  God  as 
the  reigii  of  commonalty  and  equality,  affirm- 
ing that  commonalty  w-as  a  natural  and  divine 
law,  and  that  property  in  goods  and  the  dis- 
tinction of  marriage  were  the  greatest  curses 
of  humanity.  After  his  death  Epiphanus 
was  honoured  as  a  god  m  the  island  of  Cepha- 
lonia. 


SAINT  PIUS  THE  FIRST,  ELEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  158. — Antoninus  Pius,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  (Elivs  Verus,  Emperors.] 

Contradiction  among  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  in  relation  to  the  order  of  succession  of  Pope 
Pius  the  First— His  birth— The  Roman  Blartyrology  makes  him  a  martyr— Decretals  attributed 
to  him. 


The  fathers  of  the  church  are  not  agreed 
as  to  the  order  of  succession  of  Pius  the  First. 
Some  place  him  nextafter  Anicet,  and  Jerome 
favours  this  opinion,  counting  Anicet,  howev- 
er, as  the  tenth  pope  after  St.  Peter.  The  same 
order  is  found  in  some  old  chronicles;  but  the 
opinion  which  gives  the  first  rank  to  Pius,  is 
generally  adopted.  It  is  founded  on  the  au- 
thority of  Ilegesippus,  St.  Ireneus,  Tertullian, 
Eusebius,  the  two  Nicephori — in  fine,  on  the 
unanimous  agreement  of  the  Greeks  and  La- 
tins. We  ought  to  adhere  to  the  opinion  of 
Hegesippus  and  St. Ireneus,  who  were  the  co- 
temporaries  of  Pius  the  First. 


He  was  an  Italian,  born  in  the  city  of  Aqui- 
leia,  and  the  son  of  a  man  named  Rufinus. 
There  is  no  doubt  he  lived  a  holy  life,  and 
laboured  zealously  for  the  increase  of  Cluis- 
tianity;  but  his  particular  actions  are  un- 
known. He  held  the  See  of  Rome  for  ten 
years,  up  to  the  year  167,  and  the  tenth  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  emperors  INTarcus  Aurelius 
and  O^lius  Verus.  The  Roman  martyrology 
numbers  him  among  the  martyrs,  and  Baro- 
nius supports  this  opinion  by  reasons  destitute 
of  truth.  The  ancient  writers  who  speak  of 
this  bishop,  make  no  mention  of  his  career 
having  been  terminated   by  violence,  from 


28 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


whence  we  are  led  to  suppose  he  died  peace- 
fully. 

Gratian  speaks  of  several  decrees  published 
in  the  name  of  Pius  the  First,  the  falsity  of 
which  it  is  easy  to  detect.  Fabulous  tradi- 
tions add,  that  Hermes  or  Hermas,  the  same 
of  whom  we  have  spoken  under  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Clement,  was  a  brother  of  Pius  the 
First,  and  the  author  of  a  book  which  he 
wrote  by  command  of  an  angel,  who  appeared 


to  him  in  the  form  of  a  shepherd.  This  Her- 
mas  was  a  visionary,  who,  in  his  book  of  the 
Pastor,  relates  ridiculous  histories,  and  stu- 
pidly invented  fables. 

We  must  also  pass  by  two  decretals  in  the 
name  of  Pius  the  First,  which  are  evidently 
false;  the  one  addressed  to  all  the  faithful, 
the  other  to  the  Christians  of  Italy.  These 
pieces  are  unworthy  of  the  holy  bishop  to 
whom  they  have  been  attributed. 


ANICET,  THE  TWELFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  167. — Marcus  Aurelius  and  CElius  Verus,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Anicet — Dispute  between  the  Pope  and  St.  Policarp — Heresies  of  Balsilides  and  Car- 
pocras — They  allow  all  pleasures — The  martyrdom  of  Anicet  controverted — The  martyrs  of 
Lyons  and  Vienna. 


The  learned  have  made  many  researches, 
in  order  to  learn  the  beginning,  the  duration, 
and  the  end  of  the  pontificate  of  this  bishop. 
We  are  nevertheless  compelled  to  avow  that 
we  know  nothing  positive  of  Anicet.  We  only 
know  that  he  was  originally  from  a  small  town 
in  Syria,  and  that  his  father's  name  was  John. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  pontificate,  he 
was  visited  by  St.  Polycarp,  the  bishop  of 
Smyrna,  and  the  disciple  of  St.  Jolm  the  Evan- 
gelist. They  talked  over  many  questions  of 
discipline,  on  which  they  agreed.  But  it  was 
not  so  on  a  point  of  less  importance.  Policarp, 
following  the  custom  of  the  Asiatics,  establish- 
ed by  the  example  of  the  evangelists,  St.  John 
and  St.  Philip,  celebrated  the  festival  of  East- 
er, as  did  the  Jews,  on  the  fortieth  day  suc- 
ceeding the  first  moon  of  the  year.  But  Ani- 
cet, attached  to  the  traditions  of  his  church, 
did  not  celebrate  it  until  the  Sunday  following 
the  fortieth  day.  The  tranquillity  which  the 
church  then  enjoyed,  permitted  the  bishop  to 
extend  his  authority  over  the  faithful,  and  Ani- 
cet wished  to  compel  all  Christians  to  follow 
this  practice.  This  was  the  first  violation  of 
the  usages  established  by  the  apo.stles. 

Nevertheless,  the  bishop  of  Smyrna  resisted 
the  pontiff,  and  preserved  the  privileges  of  his 
see.  The  holy  father  was  obliged  to  yield  j 
and  they  agreed  to  follow  the  usages  estab- 
lished in  the  two  churches  :  an  evident  proof 
that  it  was  then  understood,  that  difference  of 
opinion,  in  regard  to  exterior  ceremonies,  should 
not  difiturb  the  quietude  of  conscience,nor  serve 
as  a  pretext  to  attack  a  received  doctrine. 

St.  Polycarp  affirmed,  that  the  discipline  of 
the  church  should  not  be  arbitrary ;  that  is,  that 
nations  should  be  permitted  to  serve  God,  in 
accordance  with  such  rites  as  they  thought  to 
be  most  agreeable  to  the  majesty  of  the  Su- 
preme Being.  They  appear  to  have  been  con- 
vinced of  this  truth,  in  the  early  ages  of  Chris- 
tianity; and  they  shunned  breaking  the 
bonds  of  charity  in  relation  to  subjects  which 
did  not  render  any  one  criminal  in  the  sight 
of  God. 


The  pontificate  of  Anicet  has  been  rendered 
illustrious,  in  ecclesiastical  history,  by  the  mon- 
strous heresies  against  which  he  was  called  to 
contend.  The  doctrines  of  Basilides  and  Car- 
pocras,  the  chiefs  of  the  Gnostics,  commenced, 
despite  their  extravag^ance,  to  make  headway. 
These  heretics  maintained,  that  we  could 
abandon  ourselves  to  every  pleasure ;  that 
women  ought  to  be  in  common ;  that  there  was 
no  resurrection  of  the  body ;  and  that  Christ 
was  but  a  phantom.  They  pennitted  sacrifices 
to  idols,  and  the  denial  of  the  Christian  faith 
in  times  of  persecution.  Such  a  doctrine  gave 
room  for  an  exercise  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  who  wished  to  preserve  his 
flock  from  the  contagion  of  these  heresies. 
The  individual  actions  of  this  pontiff  are  un- 
known to  us. 

His  death  is  said  to  have  occurred  Anno  Do- 
mini 1 75 ;  but  he  did  not  suffer  martyrdom, 
although  Baronius  assures  us  he  did,  and  cites 
an  extremely  curious  story  in  regard  to  his  re- 
lics. Anicet  was  the  first  pope  who  com- 
manded the  priests  to  shave  their  heads  in  the 
form  of  a  crown.  During  the  latter  years  of 
his  pontificate,  there  took  place  in  Gaul  a  vio- 
lent persecution  against  the  Christians. 

Attala,  Biblis,  St.  Pothinus,  St.  Blandinus,  St. 
Epiphodus,  St.  Alexander,  St.  Symphorien, 
and  some  others,  who  have  been  called  the 
martyrs  of  Vienna  and  Lyons,  perished  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  dreadful  tortures.  We  have 
still  a  letter,  addressed  by  the  faithful  in  those 
provinces  to  their  brethren  in  Phrygia  and 
Asia,  which  runs  thus : 

"  Peace  be  unto  you,  and  thanks  to  our  Lord. 
The  animosity  of  the  pagans  against  us  is  so 
great,  that  we  have  been  driven  from  our 
homes,  the  baths,  and  the  public  places.  The 
weakest  among  us  have  saved  themselves — 
the  boldest  have  been  led  before  the  tribunals 
and  magistrates,  who  have  publicly  examined 
them.  Several  slaves  have  been  produced  as 
false  witnesses  against  us,  who  have  testified 
that  we  practise  the  festival  of  Thyestos  and 
the  marriage  of  (Edippus :  that  is,  that  we 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


29 


abandon  ourselves  to  incest,  and  eat  human 
flesh.  These  accusations  have  exasperated 
the  people  against  us  ;  and  the  cries  of  death, 
from  an  enraged  crowd,  have  become  the  sig- 
nal for  punishment.  The  deacon  Sanctus,  who 
was  the  first  tortured,  sustained  the  violence 
of  his  punislunent,  and  avowed  himself  a 
Christian.  In  his  rage  the  judge,  who  inter- 
rogated him,  caused  them  to  apply  plates  of 
heated  brass  to  all  parts  of  his  body.  His  legs 
and  arms  were  crisped  up,  and  the  martyr  no 
longer  preserved  the  human  form.  The  next 
day,  as  he  was  still  alive,  in  order  to  conquer 
Ids  firmness  by  the  intolerance  of  his  suffer- 
ings, they  renewed  the  same  torture,  and  the 
executioners  applied  the  hot  plates  of  brass 
upon  the  gaping  wounds  of  the  deacon.  But 
suddenly  the  deformed  body  was  miraculous- 
ly restored — his  wounds  healed — the  bones 


which  had  been  broken  were  marvelously  re- 
united, and  the  martyr  retook  hi* original  form. 
Then  the  executioners,  seized  with  fright,  sus- 
pended the  punislunent;  and  reconducted  him 
to  prison,  near  to  the  venerable  Polhinus, 
bishop  of  Lyons. 

Maturus,  Blandinus,  and  Attalas  were,  in 
their  turn,  led  before  the  judge ;  and,  on  their 
refusal  to  sacrifice  to  idols,  they  were  led  to 
the  amphitheatre,  where  they  were  tortured 
with  extraordinary  cruelty.  At  length  the 
pagans,  seeing  that  torments,  far  from  chang- 
ing our  belief,  increased  the  number  of  Chris- 
tian worshippers,  ordered  a  general  massa- 
cre of  the  faithful  who  were  in  the  prisons. 
Epiphodus  was  decapitated  ;  Alexander  cru- 
cified" Symphorien  had  his  throat  cut.  All 
the  dead  bodies  were  placed  on  one  funeral 
pile,  and  the  ashes  cast  into  the  Rhone."' 


SOTER,  THE  THIRTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  175. — Marcus  Aurelius,  Emperor.] 

The  birth  of  Soter — Uncertainty  as  to  the  dilation  of  his  pontificate — Thousjits  on  the  charity 
of  the  Protestants  towards  the  poor — Scandalous  riches  of  the  priests — Their  sordid  avarice 
— Sect  of  the  Montanists — Female  priestesses — St.  Jerome  a  calumniator — Death  of  Soter. 


According  to  the  pontifical  writings.  Bish- 
op Soter  was  born  in  Fondi,  and  was  the  son 
of  Concordius.  The  learned  are  not  agreed 
upon  the  commencement,  or  the  duration  of 
his  pontificate;  they  only  praise  thetharity 
of  the  holy  father,  and  say  that  he  did  not 
suffer  the  pious  custom,  established  by  the 
first  bishops  of  Rome  of  making  collection 
for  the  wants  of  the  poor,  to  be  abolished. 
The  avarice  of  the  clergy  has  drawn  these 
severe  reflections  from  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished writers  of  the  last  century:  -'The 
custom  of  distributing  alms  to  the  poor  is 
still  preserved  among  the  Protestants,  and 
is  abolished  in  the  Catholic  church.  The 
presents  made  to  churches  are  no  longer,  as 
in  the  early  ages,  employed  to  succour  those 
in  need ;  the  priests  regard  themselves  as  the 
first  poor,  and  absorb  immense  revenues.  A 
revolting  abuse,  which  should  be  repressed 
with  severity." 

Soter  had  to  contend  against  the  IMontanLsts 
or  Cataphrygians,  whose  heresy  made  pro- 
gress during  his  pontificate.  Montanus  was 
a  Phrygian  or  Mysian  by  birth,  and  chief  of 
this  sect;  he  proclaimed  himself  inspired  by 
the  spirit  of  God,  fell  frequently  into  exsta- 
cies,  and  prophesied.  Priscilla  and  Maxi- 
rnilla,  women  of  remarkable  beauty,  became 
his  di.'^ciples,  and  accompanied  him  in  all  his 
journeys— for,  in  the  sect  of  the  JNIontanists 


women  administered  the  sacraments,  and 
preached  in  the  churches. 

They  condemned  second  marriages,  admit- 
ted a  distinction  of  food,  and  had  three  fasts, 
which  they  kept  very  rigorously.  But  as  if 
all  these  accusations  were  not  sulTicient  to 
render  Montanus  and  his  sectaries  odious, 
Jerome  has  calumniated  them  in  supposing 
that  they  adored  but  a  single  person  in  the 
divinity;  for  it  is  a  habit  of  theologians  to 
magnify  the  faults  of  an  adversary  at  the  ex- 
pense of  truth,  in  order  to  overwhelm  him. 

The  Martyrologists  indicate  the  feast  of 
Soter  as  that  of  a  martyr,  the  22d  April,  179, 
and  their  opinion  has  been  followed  by  Baro- 
nius.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  this  pope 
shed  his  blood  for  his  religion,  or  that  he  died 
in  prison,  or  that  he  even  suffered  punishment 
for  the  cause  of  Christ. 

He  ordered  that  priests  should  celebrate 
mass  fasting,  and  prohibited  religious  women 
from  touching  the  sacred  vessels,  or  approach- 
ing the  altar  whilst  the  priest  was  celebrating 
the  holy  mysteries;  but  afi  these  rules  ap- 
pear to  be  fabulous.  A  law  is  also  attributed 
to  him,  prohibiting  a  woman  from  being  re- 
cognized as  a  legitimate  wife  until  after  the 
priest  blessed  llie  marriage.  Two  epistles 
and  some  decretals,  which  are  given  to  the 
world  under  his  name,  pass,  in  the  opiifion  of 
all  the  learned,  for  supposititious  works. 


30 


HISTOKY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ELEUTHERUS,  THE  FOUHTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  179. — Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Commodus,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Eleutherus — He  is  accused  of  having  joined  the  heresy  of  the  Montanists — They  adore 
thirty  gods — Deliver  themselves  itp  to  monstrous  debaucheries — Knavery  of  sacred  historians 
— Falsehood  as  to  the  martyrdom  of  Eleutherus. 


St.  Eleutherus  was  a  Greek  by  birth,  and 
originally  from  Epims.  Nicopolis  was  his 
country,  and  his  father's  name  Abundantius. 
At  the  commencement  of  his  pontificate,  he 
received  the  celebrated  deputation  from  the 
martyrs  of  Lyons,  on  the  subject  of  the  Mon- 
tanists, Avho  were  exciting  great  troubles 
among  the  faithful  of  Asia,  and  which  threat- 
ened even  to  invade  Gaul.  St.  Ireneus,  Avho 
had  been  chosen  bishop  of  Lyons  after  the 
death  of  St.  Photinus,  was  charged  with  the 
letters  addressed  to  the  pontitT,  in  order  to  en- 
gage him  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  new 
heresy  of  the  Montanists. 

Some  authors  believe  that  Eleutherus  was 
himself  led  away  by  the  Montanists,  who  af- 
fected a  great  exterior  piety ;  but  the  holy 
father  soon  found  full  occupation  in  the 
bosom  of  his  own  church.  Blastus  and  Flo- 
rinus,  apostate  priests,  who  had  been  deposed 
for  their  errors,  raised  themselves  up  against 
the  received  doctrine,  and  jiropagated  the 
heresy  of  the  Valentinians,  whose  chief,  Va- 
lentin, professed  the  Platonic  philosophy. 

This  heretic  and  his  followers  received  the 
words  of  Scripture  in  a  figurative  sense,  and 
condemned  the  holy  books.  They  worship- 
ped three  eons,  whom  they  regarded  as  gods, 
born  one  after  another.  They  permitted  the 
greatest  impurities,  and  maintained  that  no  one 
could  attain  to  perfection  until  ho  had  loved  a 
woman. 

About  the  same  time  the  king  Lucius,  who 
reigned  in  some  part  of  Great  Britain,  sent  an 
embassy  to  St.  Eleutherus  to  demand  from 
him  the  means  of  becoming  a  Christian. 
Fleurent  and  some  authors  have  adopted  this 
story  as  true,  rejecting  only  the  fabulous  cir- 
cumstances of  the  conversion  of  Lucius.  But 
truthful  historians  have  shown  that  Gregory 
was  the  first  pontiff  A^ho  was  occupied  in  the 
conversion  of  the  English.  It  is  possible  that 
there  were  then  Christians  in  Great  Britain,  but 
it  is  false  that  Eleutherus  sent  thither  preach- 
ers at  the  request  of  the  king  of  that  coimtry. 
The  holy  father  combatted  the  opinions  of 
Tatien,  who  insisted  on  abstinence  from  cer- 
tain food,  and  commanded  the  faithful  to  eat 
the  flesh  of  all  animals.  Since  then,  they 
have  reformed  this  as  well  as  many  other 
things  in  the  system  of  the  first  Christians, 
and  even  in  that  of  the  apostles. 

Eleutherus,  after  having  governed  his 
church  with  great  prudence  for  fifteen  years 
and  twenty-three  days,  died  in  peace,  in  the 
year  194,  and  was  buried  in  the  Vatican,  if 
we  are  to  believe  the  pontifical  of  Damasus. 
The  Modern  Martyrology  and  the  Roman 
Breviary  accord  to  him  the  quality  of  a  mar- 
tyr, and  indicate  the  day  of  his  fete  in  the 
offices  of  the  church. 


His  body  is  preserved  in  the  Vatican,  where 
great  solemnities  are  celebrated  in  his  honour. 
The  city  of  Nozesalso  claims  to  poss'ess  the 
body  of  this  bishop.  This,  however,  is  not 
the  first  example  of  the  rascality  of  the  priests, 
who  have  multiplied  relics,  in  order  to  extort 
offerings  from  the  faithful. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Eleutherus.  St. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  wrote  the  Stromates, 
or  titles  of  Christian  Philosophy.  One  of  the 
most  remarkable  passages  in  his  work  is  that 
which  treats  of  marriage.  St.  Clement  thus 
speaks  of  the  diflerent  opinions  of  the  philo- 
sophers: "  Democritus  and  Epicurus  regarded 
marriage  as  the  principal  source  of  our  mis- 
fortunes; the  Stoics  regarded  it  as  an  indif- 
ferent act ;  and  the  Peripatetics  as  the  least  of 
all  evils.  But  all  these  philosophers  could 
not  properly  judge  of  it,  being  addicted  to  the 
infamous  practice  of  sodomy. 

"  In  the  Christian  religion,  marriage  is  a 
moral  institution  ;  the  natural  formation  of  the 
body  demands  it ;  and  the  Creator  has  said^ 
'  increase  and  multiply.'  Besides,  is  not  the 
power  of  engendering  beings,  who  shall  suc- 
ceed us  in  the  long  series  of  ages,  the  greatest 
perfection  to  which  man  can  attain'?  Mar- 
riage is^ie  gei-m  of  a  family,  the  corner-stone 
of  the  social  edifice ;  and  the  Christian  priests 
should  be  the  first  to  set  an  example,  by  con- 
tracting holy  unions. 

''The  Nicolaites,  the  disciples  of  Carpo- 
cratus  and  of  his  son  Epiphanus,  taught  pro- 
miscuous concubinage,  and  rendered  them- 
selves gTiilty  of  a  great  crime  in  so  doing  in 
the  sight  of  God ;  nevertheless,  they  are  less 
culpable  than  the  Marcionites,  who,  falling 
into  a  contrary  excess,  renounce  the  delights 
of  a  married  life,  in  order  not  to  increase  the 
number  of  the  sons  of  humanity. 

"  I  blame  Tatien,  Avho  pretends  that  com- 
merce with  females  diverts  us  from  prayer; 
and  I  condemn  equally  Julius  Capien,  who, 
from  hatred  to  generation,  declares  that  Christ 
had  only  the  appearance  of  the  virile  parts  in 
the  human  body. 

"  All  these  heretics  are  equally  condemned 
by  those  who  maintain,  Avith  reason,  that  men 
ought  to  use  the  liberty  Avhich  God  has  given 
them  in  taking  a  Avife.  Some  pretend  that  all 
the  pleasures,  even  the  sin  against  nature,  are 
permitted  to  the  faithful ;  others,  differing  from 
these,  push  conscience  so  far,  as  to  regard  as 
sacrilegious  every  union  of  the  flesh,  and  con- 
demn even  their  own  origin.  These  sense- 
less creatures  Avish  to  imitate  Christ,  forgetful 
that  Jesus  Avas  not  an  ordinary  man,  and  ob- 
stinately refuse  to  follow  the  example  of  the 
apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Philip,  Avho  Avere 
married,  and  had  each  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren." 


HISTORY   OF    THE   POPES. 


ai 


SAINT  VICTOR,  THE  FIFTEENTH  TOPE. 

[A.  D.  194. — Pertinax  and  Severus,  Emperors.] 

Dates  become  more  certain — Election  of  St.  Victor — Heresy  of  Theodotus — Heresy  of  Albion — 
The  Pontiff  approves  of  the  schism  of  Montanus — He  favours  the  female  Montaaists — Proud 
conduct  oj^Victor — He  is  rebuked  by  St.  Ireneus,  who  refuses  to  obey  him. 


Victor  was  an  African  by  birth,  the  son  of 
one  Felix.  The  apostate  Theodotus  having 
returned  into  the  bosom  of  the  church,  be- 
came the  chief  of  a  new  sect,  which  caused 
great  scandal  at  the  commencement  of  this 
pontificate.  His  doctrine  taught  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  hmnan,  and  his  disciples  published 
abroad  that  bishop  Victor  thought  with  them. 

The  pontiff  soon  put  an  end  to  this  calumny, 
by  excommunicating  Theodotus,  with  Arte- 
man,  his  disciple,  who  formed  then  a  new 
sect.  He  condemned  at  the  same  time  the 
old  errors  of  Albion  and  some  other  heretics, 
who  appeared  desirous  of  reviving  them, 
through  the  means  of  the  peace  which  the 
church  then  enjoyed. 

But  as  infallibility  was  not  then  established, 
Victor  allowed  himself  to  be  seduced  by  the 
Montanists.  TertuUian,  who  had  declared 
in  favour  of  these  innovators,  assures  us  that 
the  bishop  of  Rome  approved  of  the  prophe- 
cies of  ]\Iontamis  and  of  the  two  women, 
Maximilla  and  Priscilla,  who  followed  him. 

Another  heresy  soon  after  broke  out  in  the 
clmrch.  Praxeas,  who  had  aided  in  the  pro- 
scription of  the  prophecies  of  Montanus,  in- 
vented patripassianism,  which  destroyed  the 
distinctions  of  the  persons  of  the  Deity.  Vic- 
tor attacked  this  new  schism,  and  held  a  coun- 


cil at  Rome,  which  condemned  Praxeas,  who 
acknowledged  his  error. 

About  the  same  tune,  took  place  the  cele- 
brated struggle  in  relation  to  the  festival  of 
Easter.  Up  to  this  time,  the  difference  of 
opinion  and  usage  on  this  point  of  discipline, 
had  not  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  Christian 
churches.  Victor  unjustly  claiming  a  right 
of  superiority  over  his  brethren,  wrote  to  all 
the  churches  of  Asia  vehement  letters,  threat- 
ening them  Avith  excommunication  if  they  did 
not  adopt  his  opinions. 

This  conduct  of  the  holy  father  discon- 
tented a  great  number  of  bishops ;  even  those 
who  opposed  the  opinions  of  the  Asiatics,  re- 
fused to  adhere  to  the  opinions  of  the  pope, 
and  as  they  had  sufficient  power  to  tell  the 
pastor  of  Rome  what  they  thought  of  his  pre- 
tensions, they  reprimanded  him  in  sharp  and 
energetic  terms.  St.  Ireneus  also  censured 
him  in  a  letter,  which  he  wrote  in  the  name 
of  the  Christians  of  Gaul. 

St.  Victor  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  re- 
monstrances and  censures  of  the  bishops  of 
the  west.  He  lived  some  years  after;  the  pon- 
tifical writings  assure  us  that  he  terminated  his 
life  by  martyrdom,  towards  the  year  202 ;  but 
the  martyrologies,  in  the  name  of  St.  Jerome, 
only  bestow  on  him  the  title  of  confessor. 


POLITICAL  IIISTOM  OF  THE  SECOIN^D  CENTURY. 

Tlie  Emperor  Trajan — His  good  qualities  and  vices — His  death — Adrian — His  extraordinary 
liberality — His  cruelties — He  puts  to  death  six  hundred  thousand  Jews — Antoninus,  called  the 
Pious — He  permits  the  licentiousness  of  his  wife — Antoninus  the  philosopher  succeeds  him — 
Scandcdous  debaucheries  of  Faustina — His  death — Poisoned  by  his  son — Character  of  Commo- 
dus — His  shamclcssness — 7/;.s  incests — He  is  poisoned  by  3Iarcia,  and  strangled  by  an  athlete 
— Pertinax  succeeds  hitn — The  soldiery  assassinate  him,  and  put  up  the  empire  at  auction. 


Ulpius  Traj.vn,  by  birth  a  Spaniard,  had 
been  adopted  by  Cocceius  Nerva,  whom  he 
succeeded.  This  prince  was  of  a  handsome 
form,  with  a  just,  sage,  moderate  and  prudent 
mind,  and  understood  the  art  of  ruling  in 
times  of  peace.  It  was  on  this  account  that 
the  senate  eulogized  his  mildness,  his  libe- 
rality, his  magnificence,  and  his  love  for  the 
republic.  In  imitation  of  Nen-a,  he  swore  that 
no  good  man  should  be  killed  or  covered  with 
ignominy  by  his  orders.  In  giving  a  poi^nard 
to  Sabuiauus,  chief  of  his  gtiard,  he  said  to 
him,  •■  If  my  orders  s^re  just,  emi)loy  this  in 
my  service  ;  if  unjust,  direct  it  against  me.'' 

He  gained  two  siimal  victories  over  the  Da- 


cians,  reduced  their  country  to  the  condition 
of  a  Roman  province,  drove  Chosroes  king  of 
Parthia  from  Araienia,  tamed  the  Jews,  con- 
quered Assyria,  and  wished  to  pursue  his 
career  of  conquest  to  the  Indies,  when  he 
died  at  Sclinus  in  Sdicia.  A  magnificent  co- 
lumn was  erected  over  his  tomb,  which  is 
every  where  knownr  as  the  column  of  Trajan. 
This  prince  was  endowed  ■with  the  best  cjuali- 
ties;  but  it  is  pretended  he  was  addicted  to 
wine  and  debauchery,  and  was  superstitious, 
which  is  dauijerous  in  a  sovereign,  for  super- 
stition has  always  caused  great  disorders  in  a 
state. 

During  his  reiffn  the  Christians  underwent  a 


32 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


violent  persecution.  Pliny  the  Younger,  then 
governor  of  Bithynia,  obliged  by  the  duties  of 
his  ofhce  to  persecute  the  new  religion,  wrote 
to  the  emperor,  representing  to  him,  that  the 
Christians  were  accused  of  atrocious  crimes, 
of  which  they  were  innocent.  He  also  de- 
manded from  him,  in  what  manner  he  should 
behave  towards  men  whom  the  edicts  of  the 
prince  condemned  as  culpable.  Trajan  re- 
plied, that  he  need  make  no  inquiries,  for  if 
they  were  accused  of  being  Christians,  and 
convicted  of  it,  it  was  right  to  punish  them. 

The  crime  of  acting  against  the  ordinances 
of  the  state,  was  made  a  pretext  for  this  pro- 
ceeding, the  pretence  being  that  the  emperor 
had  prohibited  the  assemblies,  and  that  the 
Christians  had  violated  the  laws. 

After  the  death  of  Trajan,  Adrian,  surnamed 
Elius,  the  son  of  one  of  his  relatives,  obtained 
the  empire  through  the  artifices  of  Plotina, 
whom  he  espoused  in  gratitude  therefor.  At 
the  commencement  of  his  reign,  he  burned  the 
obligations  of  the  people  due  to  the  imperial 
treasury,  to  the  amount  of  twenty-two  millions 
five  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  gold .  He  visit- 
ed the  most  beautiful  provinaes  of  the  empire, 
and  built  in  Great  Britain  a  wall  twenty-five 
thousand  paces  in  length,  with  fortresses,  to 
strengthen  the  Roman  garrisons  against  the 
inhabitants  of  the  island  whom  they  could  not 
entirely  conquer.  Then  changing  his  conduct, 
he  retired  to  his  palace  on  the  Tiber,  to  aban- 
don himself  to  voluptuousness,  and  put  to 
death  a  great  number  of  citizens  by  the  sword 
or  poison. 

This  prince  had  great  virtues,  as  well  as 
great  vices.  He  was  liberal  and  laborious, 
and  maintained  order  and  discipline.  He 
aided  the  people,  applied  himself  laboriously 
to  the  administration  of  justice,  and  punished 
severely  those  who  did  not  faithfully  fulfil 
their  duties.  He  composed  several  works  in 
verse  and  prose,  and  we  have  still  some  frag- 
ments of  his  Latin  poetry  and  Greek  verses  in 
the  anthology.  There  is  also  in  the  Commen- 
taries of  Sparticus,  an  epitaph  which  this  em- 
peror composed  in  memory  of  a  hunting  horse, 
to  which  he  was  much  attached. 

But  Adrian  was  cruel,  envious,  jealous  of 
those  who  excelled  in  the  arts,  shameless, 
superstitious,  and  addicted  to  magic.  Despite 
his  vices,  divine  honours  were  rendered  him 
by  a  decree  of  the  senate. 

"  He  put  an  end  to  the  wars  which  had  been 
commenced  ;  conquered  the  Jews,  a  nation 
always  obstinate,  massacred  six  hundred 
thousand,  and  prohibited  the  rest  from  re- 
turning to  their  country,  and  they  were  con- 
strained to  purchase  with  money  the  sad 
privilege  of  returning  for  one  day  in  each  year 
to  weep  over  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem. 

Titus  Fulvius  Antoninus,  called  the  Pious, 
succeeded  Adrian,  whose  daughter  he  had 
espoused,  and  for  whom  he  showed  a  weak 
compliance.  This  prince  was  remarkably 
handsome,  sober,  liberal,  with  a  judicious 
mind  and  elevated  sentiments.  He  governed 
the  empire  with  so  much  wisdom,  that  his 
reputation    spread    through    all    the  world. 


Kings  ought  to  engrave  in  letters  of  gold  on  their 
palaces  his  beautiful  maxim  :  "  It  is  better  to 
save  a  single  "citizeUj  than  kill  a  thousand 
enemies." 

Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  called  the  Phi- 
losopher, was  the  son  of  Antoninus  Verus, 
whom  Adrian  caused  Antoninus  Pious  to 
adopt,  and  whom  he  succeeded.  He  had  es- 
poused Faustina,  the  daughter  of  his  prede- 
cessor, whose  adulteries  caused  great  scandal 
in  the  empire. 

Antoninus  triumphed  over  the  Parthians, 
conquered  Avidius  Cassius  who  had  rebelled 
in  the  east — subjugated  the  Marcomans  and 
the  Quadi — established  at  Athens  professors 
to  teach  the  sciences — broke  down  the  Scy- 
thians, and  performed  great  actions.  He  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  government,  Lucius 
Antoninus  Verus,  who  had  married  Lucillahis 
daughter.  This  coadjutor  in  the  empire,  very 
difi'erent  from  Marcus  Aurelius,  abandoned 
himself  to  pleasure  and  debaucherj^.  Histo- 
rians regard  it  as  extraordinary,  that  in  a  gov- 
ernment divided  between  two  princes,  whose 
inclinations  were  so  opposite  to  each  other, 
that  ambition  and  jealousy  had  not  broken  oft' 
their  intimacy ;  but  it  must  be  attributed  to 
the  merit  of  Antoninus,  Avho  by  his  virtues 
compelled  his  son-in-law  to  have  some  gxiard 
over  his  conduct.  Verus  died  before  his 
father-in-law ;  supposed  to  have  been  poison- 
ed by  Faustina. 

During  the  reigii  of  these  two  princes  the 
church  underwent  a  fourth  persecution,  in 
which  many  of  the  faithful  suffered  martyr- 
dom, among  whom  were  the  martyrs  of  Lyons, 
who  are  as  famous  in  ecclesiastical  history  as 
in  our  legends.  Some  years  after  the  death 
of  Verus,  Antoninus  was  himself  poisoned  by 
his  physicians,  who  executed  the  orders  of 
Commodus  his  son. 

Lucius  Commodus  Antoninus  occupied  the 
throne  after  this  parricide.  Historians  teach 
us,  that  he  was  the  handsomest  and  most 
cruel  of  all  men.  He  had  a  well-proportioned 
body,  advantagous  height,  a  grand  and  im- 
posing air,  eyes  pleasant  and  full  of  spirit. 
The  Romans  said  he  was  the  son  of  Faustina 
and  a  gladiator. 

This  monster  concealed,  under  this  seducing 
exterior,  the  most  frightful  cruelty.  At  the 
age  of  twelve,  he  caused  the  master  of  the 
public  baths,  to  be  cast  into  a  heated  fur- 
nace, because  he  had  made  the  water  loo 
warm.  Become  emperor,  he  ordered  them 
to  render  him  divine  honours  while  still  alive. 
His  palaces  contained  three  hundred  boys  and 
three  hundred  yomrg  girls,  destined  to  gratify 
his  passions. 

During  his  reign  the  Moors,  the  Dacians, 
the  Pannonians,  the  Germans,  and  the  in- 
habitants of  Great  Britain,  were  conquered 
by  his  generals  ;  and  whilst  the  people  were 
cutting  throats  for  the  glory  of  the  sovereign, 
he  himself  was  improving  on  the  cruelties  of 
Domitian  and  Caligula,  and  surpassing  Nero 
in  infamous  debauchery. 

The  most  faithful  ministers  of  the  last  reign 
were  massacred  by  his  orders,  and  the  mos* 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


33 


venerable  senators  became  his  victims.  He 
condemned  an  unfortunate  man,  who  was  ac- 
cused of  having  read  the  life  of  Caligula, 
■written  by  Suetonius,  to  be  thrown  to  wild 
beasts  in  the  circus.  In  his  walks,  when  he 
met  very  corpulent  citizens,  he  caused  them 
to  be  split  in  the  middle  by  a  single  blow, 
and  delighted  in  seeing  their  entrails  escape 
through  the  passing  wound.  This  caused  a 
writer  of  much  celebrity  to  say,  that  the 
monks  of  our  day,  so  gross  and  fat,  could  not 
escape  death  under  such  a  peril,  unless  they 
observed  more  rigorously  the  fasts  prescribed 
by  their  rules. 

This  cruel  emperor  spared  neither  his  wife 
Crispina,  nor  his  sister  Lucilla.  The  Chris- 
tians alone  enjoyed  repose  during  his  reign. 
Gifted  with  herculean  strength,  he  combatted 
himself  in  the  amphitheatre  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-live  times;  carried  off'  from  his 
combats  a  thousand  trophies,  and  boasted  that 
he  had  slain  twelve  thousand  men  with  his 
right  hand.  At  length,  after  a  reign  much  too 
long,  jSIarcia,  his  favourite  concubine,  gave 
him  a  poisoned  drink ;  and,  as  he  ejected  the 
poison  he  had  taken,  she  caused  him  to  be 
strangled  by  an  athlete  named  Narcissus. 

After  the  death  of  the  infamous  Commodus, 
the  senate  chose,  as  the  man  most  worthy  of 
the  empire,  Publius  Helvius  Pertinax,  who 
was  spnuig  from  a  plebeian  origin.  The  new 
emperor  supported  the  privileges  of  the  se- 
nate, punished  informers,  proscribed  the  buf- 
foons of  Commodus,  and  made  useful  regula- 
tions for  the  good  of  the  citizens.  But  wishing 
to  retain  the  troops  in  their  duty,  and  remedy 
the  disorders  of  the  camp,  he  was  assassi- 
nated by  his  soldiers.  These  wretches  cut 
off  his  head ;  and  having  carried  it  through 


the  camp,  mounted  the  ramparts,  crying  out 
that  the  empire  was  for  sale. 

Sulpicianus,  the  father-in-law  of  Pertinax, 
wished  to  buy  it ;  but  P.  Diduis  Julian,  who 
was  richer,  offered  more,  and  promised  six 
hundred  crowns  to  each  soldier;  but  he  could 
not  pay  them.  Severus  having  then  pene- 
trated into  Italy,  at  the  head  of  the  army  of 
Hungary,  the  senate  declared  Julian  a  parri- 
cide and  usurper,  and  caused  him  to  be  put 
to  death. 

The  extinction  of  the  family  of  the  Anto- 
niaes,  in  the  person  of  Commodus,  brought 
upon  the  empire  similar  troubles  to  those 
Avhich  were  before  occasioned  by  the  fall  of 
the  family  of  the  Csesars,  in  the  person  of  the 
infamous  Nero.  From  that  time,  a  frightful 
military  despotism  ensued.  The  norauiation 
of  the  eniperors  appertained  exclusively  to  the 
soldiery  of  the  pra;torian  guard,  who  made  or 
unmade  the  elections  according  to  their  ca- 
price or  interest. 

Later,  the  legions  claimed,  in  their  turn,  the 
right  of  proclaiming  emperors,  and  revolted 
against  the  PraBtorians.  Yet  the  empire  was 
still  in  all  its  force ;  wise  laws,  moderate  im- 
posts, a  certain  degree  of  political  liberty,  an 
unlimited  civil  liberty,  a  vigorous  population, 
rich  provinces,  flourishing  and  magnificent 
cities,  a  very  active  internal  and  external 
commerce,  were  the  important  advantages 
which  the  citizens  of  Rome  then  enjoyed,  and 
which  soon  disappeared  before  the  frightful 
despotism  of  the  sword.  The  senate  lost  all 
influence  in  the  state,  and  rude  soldiers  be- 
came the  dispensers  of  the  imperial  crown ; 
on  all  sides  sprung  up  civil  wars,  invasions  of 
barbarians  and  famines,  which  were  the  bane- 
ful presages  of  the  ruin  of  the  Romans. 


THE    THIRD    CENTURY. 


ZEPHYRINUS,  THE  SIXTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  203. — Septi.mus  Severus,  Caracalla,  Marcian  and  Heliogobalus,  Emperors.] 

The  Bishops  of  Rome  usurp  despotic  authority  over  the  other  Churches — Birth  of  Zcphyrimts — 
Ridiculous  f Me  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  form  of  a  dove — The  Pope  becomes  a  heretic — New 
persecution — Cowardice  of  the  Pontiff — He  excommunicates  the  Montanists — His  lenity  to- 
wards adulteresses. 


It  is  a  generally  admitted  truth,  that  the 
best  and  wisest  laws  are  corrupted,  whenever 
they  grant  too  much  power  to  a  sinu:le  indi- 
viilual;  and  the  institution  of  the  e])i.scopate 
offers  us  a  striking  proof  of  it.  The  high  dig- 
nity of  pontiff  changed  the  spirit  of  those  who 
were  clothed  with  it,  inspired  them  with  pride, 
and  so  flattered  their  ambition,  that  they  re- 
garded themselves  as  superior  to  other  minis- 
ters of  religion.  Above  all,  we  remark  this 
change  at  Rome,  as  if  this  mistress  of  the 
world  could  not  suffer  within  her  bosom  but 
princes  and  kings. 

Vol.  I.  E 


The  bishops  of  the  holy  city  commence<l, 
towards  the  close  of  the  second  century,  to 
claim  for  themselves  a  jurisdiction  over  other 
churches,  which  they  had  not  received  from 
the  apo.stles;  and  in  the  third  had  already 
abandoned  the  precepts  of  humility  taught 
by  Christ.  The  first  was  the  golden  age  of 
the  church,  if  we  may  borrow  the  expression 
from  Cardinal  Lorraine ;  but  in  proportion  as 
we  are  removed  from  the  apostolic  times, 
has  corruption  increased,  and  the  despotism 
of  the  clergy  weighed  down  the  people.  Vic- 
tor had  prepared  the  way  for  the  dominion  of 


34 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


the  pontiff,  and  his  successors  did  not  neglect 
on  any  occasion  to  extend  their  power. 

Zephyrinus,  who  governed  the  church  of 
Rome  after  St.  Victor.  Avas  a  Roman,  and  the 
son  of  Abundius.  His  election  is  attributed 
to  the  miraculous  appearance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  form  of  a  dove. 

Some  historians  affirm,  that  the  holy  father 
fell  a  victim  to  the  art?  of  the  Montanists.  and 
that  Praxeas  undeceived  him,  before  he  fell 
himself  into  the  same  error.  During  the  pon- 
tificate of  Zephyrinus,  the  persecutions  were 
redoubled  by  order  of  the  emperor  Severus, 
and  the  bishop  of  Rome  abandoned  his  flock 
in  order  to  avoid  martyrdom.  When  the 
calm  succeeded  the  tempest,  the  pontiff  re- 
appeared, and  in  order  to  cause  his  cowardice 
to  be  forgotten,  persecuted  the  heretics.  He 
excommunicated  the  Montanists,  and  among 
them  TertuUian,  who  had  joined  the  party  of 
these  innovators. 

The  fall  of  this  great  man  deeply  afflicted 
the  faithful,  who  attributed  his  apostacy  to 
the  bad  treatment  he  suffered,  and  the  envy 
of  the  ecclesiastics.  The  excommunication 
of  the  pope  excited  generarindignation ;  and 
the  evil  reputation  which  his  clergy  had  ac- 
quired, brought  upon  him  universal  blame. 

At  the  same  time  Origen,  banished  for  his 
Christianity,  came  to  the  capitol  of  the  em- 
pire to  see  Zephyrinus,  by  whom  he  w^as  fa- 
vourably received.  Authors  preserve  the  most 
profound  silence  in  relation  to  the  actions  of 
this  holy  bishop ;  they  say,  nevertheless,  that 
he  received  kindly  adulteresses  who  repented 
of  their  shi ;  and  accuse  him  of  relaxation  of 
discipline,  in  treating  mildly  culpable  females, 
whilst  he  closed  the  doors  of  the  church  to 
idolators  and  homicides. 

We  cannot  ascertain  wdth  any  certainty  the 
day  nor  even  the  year  of  the  death  of  Zephy- 
rinus ;  and  although  the  church  decrees  to 
him  the  honours  of  martyrdom,  there  is  rea- 


sonable doubt  whether  he  shed  his  blood  for 
the  Christian  faith.  The  pontifical  books  have 
ffxed  the  time  of  his  death  about  the  year 
221.  He  was  interred  in  the  cemetery  of 
Callistus  in  the  Appian  Way. 

As  we  have  already  spoken  of  Origen,  it 
becomes  useful  to  know  more  of  this  new 
chief  of  heresies,  whose  sect  increased  greatly 
towards  the  end  of  the  century.  He  had  been 
educated  by  the  care  of  a  rich  Christian  lady, 
whom  he  afterwards  left,  in  order  to  live  in 
the  most  absolute  solitude  and  most  rigorous 
fasting,  drinking  nothing  but  water,  and  eating 
only  vegetables.  He  pushed  his  fanaticism  to 
such  an  extent,  as  to  mutilate  his  privy  parts, 
an  operation  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the 
church.  "In  spite  of  this  great  fault  ^adde 
the  pious  legendary)  he  was  ordained  bishop 
by  Alexander,  primate  of  Jerusalem,  on  ac- 
count of  his  eloquence  and  his  great  learning, 
which  made  him  one  of  the  great  luminaries 
of  the  church." 

The  doctrines  of  Origen  were,  however, 
very  singular.  He  maintained,  that  in  the 
beginning  of  the  creation  God  had  created  a 
great  number  of  spirits,  equal  in  power,  dif- 
ferent in  essence,  and  that  the  great  number 
of  them  had  sinned.  That  in  order  to  punish 
them  for  their  fall.  God  had  enclosed  them  in 
bodies  of  divers  forms,  and  that  then  these 
spirits  became  souls,  angels,  stars,  animals, 
or  men.  As  a  consequence  of  this  first  idea, 
he  maintained  that  souls  were  material ;  that 
angels  were  subject  to  good  or  evil .  He  main- 
tained that  the  happy  could  still  sin  in  heaven, 
and  that  the  demons  were  not  perpetual  ene- 
mies of  God.  "But  this  conversion  of  the 
spirit  of  evil,  (adds  Origen,)  will  not  happen 
until  after  a  long  series  of  ages,  and  when  a 
considerable  number  of  worlds  shall  have  suc- 
ceeded ours;  for  time  never  has  been,  nor 
never  will  be  without  a  world,  for  God  cannot 
rest  idle." 


CALLISTUS  THE  FIKST,  THE  SEVENTEENTH  POrE. 

[A.  D.  221. — Heliogoealus  and  Alexander  Severus,  Emperors.] 

State  of  the  Church — Cemetery  of  Callistus — General  depository  for  the  relics  of  all  Christianity 
Indulgence  of  the  Pope  for  depraved  Priests — His  death. 


Callistus,  or  Callixtus,  w-as  a  Roman,  and 
the  son  of  Domitian ;  he  was  elevated  to  the 
Holy  See,  and  took  great  pains  to  profit  by  the 
cahn  which  the  clergy  enjoyed  during  the 
reign  of  Heliogobalus,  a  prince  entirely  occu- 
pied by  his  debaucheries.  The  death  of  this 
emperor  yet  more  augmented  the  tranquillity 
of  the  church,  and  the  faithful  began  to  enjoy 
the  public  exercise  of  their  religion  under  Alex- 
ander Severus.  This  prince  openly  favoured 
the  Christians,  loved  their  discipline,  and 
gloried  in  following  most  of  their  maxims.  A 
pagan  author  relates  a  discussion  which  took 
place  between  the  priests  and  the  tavern 


keepers  of  the  city  of  Rome,  on  the  subject 
of  a  spot  on  which  the  last  wished  to  hold 
their  revels,  and  which  the  Christians  had 
selected  to  hold  their  religious  meetings.  The 
emperor  adjudged  it  to  the  priests,  although 
they  had  trespassed  on  the  public  property, 
and  permitted  Callistus  to  build  a  temple  in 
the  same  place.  Traditions  add,  that  it  was 
dedicated  to  the  Holy  Virgin ;  which  is  not 
presumable,  as  the  custom  of  religious  dedi- 
cations had  not  then  been  established. 

The  most  remarkable  work  attributed  to 
this  pontiff,  is  the  famous  cemetery  which 
bears    his   name,   and   which   is   frequently 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


35 


spoken  of  in  the  martyrologies  and  the  le- 
gends ;  it  is,  beyond  all  contradiction,  the 
most  extensive  and  renowned  of  all  the  ce- 
meteries of  Rome ;  and  the  priests  affirm  that 
there  are  interred  in  it,  sixty-fonr  thousand 
martyrs  and  forty-six  popes.  It  was  in  ex- 
istence before  the  reiim  of  the  holy  father, 
but  the  name  of  Callistus  has  been  given 
to  it,  because  he  increased  it  in  size,  and 
was  himself  interred  in  it.  Other  traditions, 
on  the  contrary,  say.  that  Cliristians  and  pa- 
gans were  buried  together  in  it,  and  that  the 
church  had  no  separate  cemetery  until  to- 
wards the  filth  century. 

The  actions  of  Callistus  remain  in  the  most 
profound  oblivion,  and  the  fast  of  Ember 
week  has  been  falsely  attributed  to  him,  a 
usage  of  which  no  trace  can  be  found  before 
the  pontificate  of- Leo,  who  lived  towards  the 
close  of  the  fifth  century. 

The  holy  father  prohibited  the  reception  of 
accusations  against  the  clergy,  made  by  per- 
sons of  bad  character,  or  enemies  of  the 
accused  ;  a  wise  precaution  which  was  never- 
theless rejected  by  the  inquisitors  of  the  faith 
Avhen  they  pursued  the  unfortunate  heretics. 
The  pontilf  regarded  as  heretical,  such  of  the 
faithful  as  maintained  that  priests  could  no 
more  exercise  their  pastoral  duties,  after  they 
had  fallen  into  certain  crimes,  and  after  they 
had  repented  of  them.  These  rigid  princi- 
ples were  repressed  by  Callistus,  who  foresaw 
that  the  ecclesiastics  of  all  ages  would  have 
need  of  the  indulgence  of  the  church. 

The  acts  of  the  martyrs  teach  us,  that  after 
having  been  a  long  time  in  prison,  Callistus 
was  thrown  from  a  window  into  a  very  deep 
well,  and  that  the  faithful  obtained  permis- 
sion to  carry  away  his  body,  which  Avas  buried 
in  the  cemetery  of  Calepodus,  in  the  Aurelian 
Way.  It  is  supposed,  but  wrongfully,  that  he 
died  in  226,  after  having  governed  the  church 
five  years  and  a  month  j  for  nothing  is  less 
authentic  than  the  martyrdom  of  this  pontiff. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  proved  that  there  was 
no  persecution  during  the  reign  of  the  empe- 
ror Alexander,  and  that  this  monarch  protect- 
ed Callistus,  and  granted  him  authority  to 
found  the  first  Christian  church  which  was 
built  in  Rome. 

Alexander  was  a  Syrian  by  birth,  and  the 
surname  of  the  Arch  Syiiagogueist,  which  the 
Romans  gave  him,  .attests  that  he  protected 
all  Jewish  sects,  and  especially  the  Naza- 
renps.    Origen  afiirms,   that    Mammea,   his 


mother,  was  a  Christian,  and  that  she  passed 
her  days  in  receivnig  instructions  in  the  truths 
announced  by  the  apostles.  Thus  the  authors 
of  the  martyrology,  not  being  able  to  establish, 
in  an  incontestible  manner,  the  martyrdom 
of  Callistus,  pretend  that  the  prefect  of  Rome 
had  persecuted  him  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  empeior.  But  in  order  to  demonstrate 
the  falsity  of  this  allegation,  it  is  enough  to 
relate,  that  this  magistrate,  by  name  Ulpian, 
was  a  model  of  equity :  and  moreover,  an 
action  of  this  kind  could  not  have  been  con- 
cealed a  long  time,  since  Alexander  had  pro- 
hibited, by  an  edict,  governors  of  provinces, 
and  other  officers  of  the  empire,  from  exer- 
cising any  act  of  violence  against  his  subjects 
on  account  of  their  religion,  no  matter  what 
might  be  the  rank,  fortune,  or  belief  of  the 
accused.  Thus  it  appears  there  were  no  mar- 
tyrdoms during  this  reign ;  but  on  the  contrary, 
the  sectarians  of  the  new  religion  were  pro- 
tected in  high  places. 

Already  had  the  Christian  ideas,  taught 
through  numerous  writings  and  spread  by  the 
indefatigable  zeal  of  the  fathers,  penetrated 
into  pagan  society.  Many  of  the  rich  citizens 
of  the  empire  admitted  some  of  the  new  dog- 
mas, and  had  a  great  veneration  for  the  mi- 
nisters of  its  worship.  A  great  man  named 
Ambroisus,  of  a  consular  family,  is  particu- 
larly cited,  who  protected  publicly  at  Alexan- 
dria, Christian  literature,  and  who  maintained 
at  his  OUT!  expense  a  considerable  number  of 
writers,  who  were  occupied  in  transcribing 
the  works  of  the  ecclesiastics.  Origen  alone 
had  seven  notaries,  who  wrote  at  his  dicta- 
tion ;  twenty  librarians  made  fair  copies  of 
his  works,  and  female  calligraphers  then 
transcribed  them  for  the  other  churches. 

Those  were  called  notaries,  who  possessed 
the  art  of  writing  abridged  notes ;  each  sign 
represented  a  word,  in  order  that  they  might 
follow  with  facility  an  animated  discourse. 
They  were  entrusted  with  the  charge  of  re- 
ducing to  writing  depositions  of  witnesses, 
judicial  proceedings  and  the  deliberations  of 
the  senate,  as  in  our  day  stenographers  are 
charged  with  the  task  of  reproducing  all  the 
words  spoken  in  a  discourse,  even  the  accla- 
mations and  interruptions.  Those  were  called 
librarians,  or  antiquarians,  who  transcribed  in 
elegant  characters,  and  for  the  common  use, 
the  notes  and  discourses  preserved  by  the  no- 
taries. 


36 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


URBAN  THE  FIRST,  THE  EIGHTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  226. — Alexander  Severus,  Emperor.] 

Uncertainty  as  to  the  pontificate  of  Urban — Piety  of  the  emperor — He  wishes  to  receive  Jesus 
Christ  into  the  number  of  gods  of  the  empire — The  Pope,  in  contempt,  spits  upon  a  statue  of 
Mars — His  death — He  augments  the  revenues  of  the  clergy — Wealth  of  the  bishops. 


Urban  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son 
of  one  of  the  first  men  of  the  city,  named 
Pontianus.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  com- 
mencement, termination,  or  duration  of  his 
pontificate. 

Whilst  he  governed  the  church  of  Rome, 
the  Christians  were  not  persecuted.  Alexan- 
der Severus,  who  then  reigned,  so  far  from 
being  hostile  to  them,  favoured  them  tinder 
all  circumstances,  and  was  governed  entirely 
by  the  advice  of  his  mother  Mammea,  who 
was  a  Christian.  He  placed  the  image  of 
Christ  in  his  library,  among  the  great  men 
whom  he  venerated,  and  even  thought  of 
placing  him  among  the  gods  of  the  empire. 
Urban,  profiting  by  the  favourable  dispositions 
of  this  prince,  made  a  large  number  of  con- 
versions, and  extended  Christianity  even  into 
the  dwelling  of  the  emperor.  In  the  mean- 
time another  Urban,  who  was  the  prefect  of 
Rome,  and  a  sworn  enemy  to  the  Christian 
name,  cited  the  holy  father  before  his  tribunal 
and  ordered  him  to  burn  incense  to  Mars.  The 
pontiff",  having  been  led  before  the  idol,  dashed 
the  censer  to  pieces  in  contempt,  and  spat 
upon  the  god.  The  prefect  condemned,  at 
once,  the  holy  bishop  to  die  under  the  tor- 
ture.    Urban  was  led  to  prison,  with  several 


of  the  faithful,  and  they  died  in  martyrdom. 
But  the  writings  from  which  we  have  drawn 
this  life  of  the  holy  father,  are  pronounced 
false,  and  place  his  death  in  the  year  233, 
which  was  the  tenth  of  the  reign  of  Alexan- 
der Severus.  He  was  interred  in  the  Ceme- 
tery of  Pretextatus,  in  the  Appian  Way. 

Authors  say,  that  this  bishop  introduced 
into  the  church  the  use  of  precious  vessels ; 
if  this  be  so,  it  places  his  conduct  in  strong 
contrast  with  that  of  Alexander  Severus,  who 
wanted  neither  gold  nor  silver  in  the  temples 
of  the  idols,  and  said  with  reason,  "that  gold 
could  not  be  of  any  advantage  to  religion." 

The  origin  of  the  temporalities  in  churches 
is  deduced  from  this  bishop  ;  it  is  added  that 
he  appropriated  to  the  wants  of  the  clergy 
the  goods  and  lands  which  Christians  offered 
to  him,  and  that  he  divided  the  revenues  pro- 
portionably  to  the  labours  of  the  ministers  of 
religion.  But  now,  the  usage  is  much  changed ! 
the  priests  who  perform  their  duty  the  most 
carefully,  are  the  worst  paid  •  those  who  have 
charge  of  a  numerous  parish,  receive  a  mode- 
rate recompense ;  whilst  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops are  the  possessors  of  immense  wealth, 
which  is  daily  accumulating. 


PONTIANUS,  THE  NINETEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  233. — Alexander  Severus  and  Maximin,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Pontianus — He  is  exiled  to  Sardinia — His  abdication — He  dies  under  blows  from  a 

club. 


Authors  who  speak  of  Pontianus,  teach  us 
that  he  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of 
Calpurnius.  He  governed  his  church  tran- 
quilly for  some  months  ;  but  then  he  was  trou- 
bled in  the  functions  of  his  ministry  by  the 
enemies  of  Christianity,  and  was  banished  to 
Sardinia.  This  unhealthy  country,  covered 
with  marshes,  was  chosen  as  a  place  of  ban- 
ishment for  those  whom  they  wished  to  put  to 
death.  Before  his  departure,  the  holy  father, 
unwilling  to  leave  his  church  without  a  head, 
and  in  order  that  the  faithful  at  Rome  might 
choose  another  bishop,  solemnly  abdicated  the 
pontificate. 

The  emperor  Alexander  Severus  had  con- 
demned Pontianus  to  exile,  not  on  account  of 
his  religion — for  this  prince  was  no  persecu- 
tor— but  because  he  had  permitted  himself  to 
listen  to  the  artifices  and  calumnies  of  the  ene- 


mies of  Pontianus,  who  accused  him  of  a  desire 
to  disturb  the  empire.  This  bishop  governed 
the  church  of  Rome  some  months,  and  when 
Maximin  excited  a  new  persecution  against  the 
Christians,  St.  Pontianus  was  brought  back 
from  Sardinia,  in  order  to  receive  the  crown  of 
martyrdom,  and  expired  under  the  scourge, 
towards  the  year  237. 

The  chroniclers  relate  a  wonderful  story,  re- 
ceived from  the  sacred  historians,  and  which 
shows  the  charlatanism  of  the  priests  in  the 
very  first  ages  of  Christianity.  According  to 
them,  there  existed  in  Cappadocia  a  woman 
possessed  of  a  devil,  who  counterfeited  the 
part  of  a  prophetess.  She  seduced,  by  false 
miracles,  many  of  the  faithful,  who  regarded 
her  as  a  saint.  A  priest  named  Rusticus,  and 
a  deacon,  were  even  carried  away  by  her  de- 
lusions.   She  had  the  boldness  to  baptize,  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


37 


administer  the  Eucharist,  with  the  same  cere- 
monies which  were  observed  in  the  church. 
But  a  man  of  great  piety,  publicly  maintained 
that  this  woman  was  possessed  of  a  devil,  and 
by  his  prayers  drove  from  her  the  demon  As- 
taroth,  who  escaped,  vomiting  fire  upon  the 
assembled  people. 

The  death  of  the  celebrated  TertuUian, 
priest  of  Carthage,  and  the  worthy  rival  of 


Origen,  is  fLxed  at  about  this  period.  He  was, 
like  his  contemporarj-  a  heretic,  and  became 
one  of  the  most  ardent  propagators  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Montanists.  His  numerous  wri- 
tings attest  the  extent  of  his  information,  and 
the  profundity  of  his  knowledge.  On  this 
subject  we  will  remark,  that  the  fathers  of 
the  church  have  almost  all  of  them  been  he- 
retics. 


ANTEROS,  THE  TWENTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  237.— Maximin,  Emperor.] 

Election  of  Anteros — His  death — Supposititious  writings — Avarice  and  ambition  of  the  prelates 

of  our  age. 


When  Pontianus  abdicated  the  episcopate, 
the  faithful  at  Rome  had  so  profound  a  respect, 
and  so  great  an  attachment  for  him,  that  they 
refused  to  choose  another  bishop  during  his 
life.  But  after  his  death  they  proceeded  to 
an  election,  and  chose  Anteros,  a  Greek  by 
birth,  and  the  son  of  a  man  named  Romulus. 

Whilst  he  was  occupied  with  the  care  of 
his  flock,  the  persecution,  which  was  con- 
tinued with  fury,  did  not  spare  him ;  and  it  is 
believed  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  in  the 
year  238,  after  having  governed  the  Holy  See 
during  a  single  month  only. 

The  letters  attributed  to  him,  were  never 
written  by  him ;  and  we  can  place  no  conii- 
dence  in  liistorians,  who  affirni  that  permis- 
sion was  given  by  him  to  bishops,  to  take 
other  sees,  not  for  their  own  advantage,  but 
from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  or  the  ad- 
vancement of  religion;  for,  at  this  period, 
these  prelates  would  not  have  recourse  to  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  to  authorize  these  arrange- 
ments, since  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pontiffs 
was  confined  within  the  bounds  of  their  dio- 
cese. Nevertheless,  we  ought  to  know  that 
this  usage,  then  unknown  to  the  faithful,  has 
been  scandalously  introduced  into  the  church. 
Most  prelates  do  not  seek  new  bishoprics 
with  a  view  to  the  advancement  of  religion, 
which  is  the  last  thing  in  their  thoughts. 


They  do  not  inquire  how  many  souls  are  to  be 
conducted  into  the  way  of  safety ;  but  they 
know  how  much  revenue  a  bishopric  can 
yield — how  many  domestics,  horses,  or  equi- 
pages they  will  be  enabled  to  keep;  and,  by 
this  insatiable  avarice,  they  show  themselves 
unworthy  of  the  majesty  and  sanctity  of  the 
episcopate. 

.  Julius  the  African,  published  then  his  uni- 
versal history,  which  commenced  with  the 
origin  of  the  world,  and  terminated  with  the 
fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  Heliogobalus.  This 
historian,  who  was  the  most  learned  genealo- 
gist of  his  time,  tells  us  that  he  has  endea- 
voured to  reconcile  the  two  contradictory  ge- 
nealogies of  Jesus  Christ,  given  by  the  evan- 
gelists St.  Luke  and  St.  Matthew ;  and  that  he 
had  even  made  a  journey  to  Palestine,  in  order 
to  consult  the  Jews,  who  pretended  to  be  of 
the  family  of  Christ ;  but  that  they  could 
show  nothing  which  attested  the  origin  of  Je- 
sus. This  same  father,  whose  orthodoxy  has 
been  recognized  by  the  church,  affirms  that 
the  greatest  part  of  the  Bible  is  apochr\7)hal ; 
and  cites,  among  others,  the  history  of  Su- 
sanna, and  that  of  Bel  and  the  dragon  ;  which, 
he  affirms,  he  could  not  find  in  the  Jewish 
annals,  anterior  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  the  rain  of  Judea. 


FABIANUS,  THE  TWENTY-FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  238. — Maximin,  Philip  Gordien,  and  Decius,  Emperors.] 

Wonderful  election  of  Fabianus — New  story  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  for 7n  of  a  white  dove — 
Seventh  persecution  of  the  church — Death  of  Fabianus. 


Some  days  after  the  death  of  St.  Anteros, 
Fabianus,  who  was  a  Roman  or  Italian  by  birth, 
and  the  son  of  Fabius,  was  chosen  pope,  in  a 
singular  manner,  if  we  can  believe  Eusebius, 
and  the  authors  who  have  followed  his  ac- 
count. They  say  that  Fabianus  had  returned  to 


Rome  from  the  country,  in  order  to  be  pre- 
sent at  the  elevation  of  the  new  pontitT.  The 
faithful  had  assembled  in  a  church,  for  the 
purpose  of  the  election  ;  and  several  persons 
of  consideration  were  proposed,  without  any 
thought  of  Fabianus,  though  he  was  present. 


38 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


Of  a  sudden,  a  white  dove  descended  from 
above,  and  alighted  on  his  head.  Then  the 
faithful,  recalling  to  their  recollection  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  had  manifested  itself,  in  a  like  fonn, 
at  the  baptism  of  Jesus  Cluist,  exclaimed  that 
God  had  exhibited  to  them  his  will.  Imme- 
diately Fabianus  was  proclaimed  pope,  and 
conducted  to  the  Episcopal  See,  without  other 
fonnality  than  the  imposition  of  hands.  At  this  • 
time,  the  custom  of  prostrating  themselves 
before  the  pontiff  of  Rome,  immediately  on 
his  election,  nor  of  kissing  his  feet,  had  not 
been  adopted. 

According  to  some  traditions,  the  holy  fa- 
ther introduced  the  use  of  renewing  the  holy 
oil  every  year,  on  Holy  Thursday,  and  of  burn- 
ing in  the  church  that  of  the  preceding  year. 
But  antiquity  has  preserved  nothing  import- 
ant, nor  certain,  of  the  actions  of  Fabianus,  nor 
of  the  rules  which  he  introduced  for  the  go- 
vernment of  his  charge.  He  excommunicated 
Privatus,  bishop  of  Lambesa,  a  man  of  scan- 
dalous conduct,  and  pernicious  doctrine,  who 
had  been  already  condemned,  in  Africa,  by  a 
council  of  ninety  bishops.     We  are  ignorant 


of  the  dogmas  which  the  heresy  of  Privatus 
taught,  nor  of  the  men  who  were  drawn  in  by 
him ;  and  it  would  be  desirable  were  we  ig- 
norant of  most  of  the  schisms  which  have 
overwhelmed  the  churches. 

According  to  the  history  of  Eusebius,  the 
emperor  Phillip  and  his  son  were  Christians  j 
and  the  acts  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Pontianus, 
affirm  that  the  bishop  Fabianus  baptized  these 
two  princes.  But  it  is  not  likely  that  the  sol- 
diers, the  grandees,  and  the  people,  would 
have  suffered  the  rule  of  Pliillip,  if  he  had 
embraced  Christianity.  Besides,  the  senate, 
composed  of  the  sworn  enemies  of  the  new 
religion,  would  not  have  placed  him  in  the 
number  of  the  gods  of  the  empire. 

After  the  death  of  these  two  princes,  De- 
cius,  who  succeeded  them,  troubled  the  church 
with  a  furious  persecution,  which  is  enume- 
rated as  the  seventh.  Many  of  the  faithful, 
with  the  pontiff  at  their  head,  received  the 
crown  of  martyrdom ;  but  a  very  large  num- 
ber apostatized.  Authors  place  the  death  of 
Fabianus  in  253 ;  but  chronologj',  more  correct, 
fixes  it  in  the  year  250. 


[A.  D.  250.]— VACANCY  IN  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

The  persecution  continues— The  great  Cyprian  bishop  of  Carthage  flies  disgracefully— St.  Gre- 
gory Thaumaturgus  abandons  his  flock — A  Christian  miracle,  in  imitation  of  paganism. 


Platinus  is  deceived  in  his  chronology, 
when  he  says  that  the  Episcopal  See  remained 
vacant  only  six  days  after  the  martyrdom  of 
St.  Fabianus.  Historians  are  agreed,  that  before 
choosing  another  pontiff,  they  waited  until  the 
violence  of  the  persecution  had  passed  away ; 
and  this  opinion  is  the  better  founded,  since 
a  large  number  of  the  ecclesiastics  of  Rome, 
and  of  the  neighbouring  bishops,  were  either 
prisoners,  or  had  been  driven  away,  or  were 
lying  in  concealment.  Thus  the  Holy  See  was 
not  occupied  for  several  years,  and  the  clergy 
took  charge  of  the  church. 

The  persecution  continuing  to  make  great 
ravages,  both  in  the  eastern  and  western 
churches,  the  great  Cj^prian,  bishop  of  Car- 
thage, was  obliged,  as  he  bears  witness  in  his 
letters,  to  abandon  his  diocese,  by  the  order 
of  God.  He  was  proscribed,  and  his  goods 
confiscated.  St.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  bishop 
of  Neocesarea,  in  Pontus,  also  took  flight,  and 
escaped,  with  his  deacon,  to  a  desert  hill. 


The  persecutors  pursued  the  two  priests,  and 
having  discovered  the  place  of  their  retreat, 
surrounded  the  mountain.  Some  guarded 
the  passages  from  the  valley — others  sought 
them  through  the  caves  with  wdiich  it  abound- 
ed. Gregory  told  his  deacon  to  unite  with 
him  in  prayer,  and  to  put  his  trust  in  God.  He 
himself  commenced  praying,  standing  upright, 
with  his  arms  extended,  looking  steadfastly 
to  heaven.  The  pagans,  after  having  searched 
all  the  most  secret  places,  returned  to  the 
valley,  convinced  that  they  had  only  found 
two  trees,  near  each  other. 

This  astonishing  metamorphosis  affrighted 
the  shepherd,  who  had  served  as  a  guide  to 
the  enemies  of  Gregory.  During  the  night  he 
returned  to  the  mountain,  and  perceived  the 
bishop  and  his  deacon,  motionless,  in  prayer, 
on  the  same  spot  where  the  persecutors  had 
seen  the  two  trees.  He  at  once  prostrated  him- 
self at  their  feet,  and  demanded  to  be  bap- 
tized. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


39 


SAINT  CORNELIUS  THE  FIRST,  TWENTY-SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  252. — Decius,  Gallus,  and  Volusian,  Emperors.] 

NOVATIAN,   FUIST  ANTI-POPE. 

The  emperor  Decius,  hostile  to  the  Christians — Election  of  Cornelius — The  people  then  ratify 
the  election  of  the  popes — Schism  of  Novation — Quarrel  between  the  pope  and  anti-pope — No- 
vatian  consecrated  bishop  of  Rome,  in  the  midst  of  a  debauch — Schism  of  Fortunatus,  in  Af- 
rica— Crimes  of  the  priests — Theij  riolnlc  the  holy  virgins — The  persecution  continues — Bishop 
Cornelius  exiled — His  martyrdom  a  falsehood. 


It  is  not  surprising,  that  the  Holy  See  re- 
mained vacant  during  a  year  and  a  half,  and 
that  the  clergy  did  not  choose  another  pontifl'; 
for  the  emperor  Decius  would  have  preferred 
a  revolt  in  the  state,  to  the  election  of  a  bishop 
of  Rome,  who  was  capable  of  sustaining  the 
Christian  religion. 

The  priest  Cornelius,  a  Roman  by  birth,  and 
the  son  of  Castinus,  was  not  elevated  to  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter,  until  a  short  time  before 
the  death  of  that  prince. 

CorneHus  was  of  virgin  purity,  and  of  re- 
markable modesty  and  lirmness.  After  hav- 
ing passed  through  all  the  degrees  of  the  ecle- 
siastical  offices,  he  had  neither  intrigued  for — 
as  so  many  other  popes  have  done — nor  even 
desired  the  Episcopate.  He  was  chosen,  as 
the  most  worthy,  by  sixteen  bishops,  who 
were  by  chance  in  the  city.  All  the  clergy 
bore  witness  to  his  merit,  and  the  people  who 
were  present,  consented  to  his  ordination. 

During  these  disastrous  times,  he  had  a  dan- 
gerous persecution  to  sustain,  whilst  the  Epis- 
copate had  already  become  the  object  of  am- 
bition to  the  clergy.  Novatian,  a  priest  of  the 
Roman  church,  jealous  of   the  elevation  of 


"I  will  tell  you,  how  Novatian,  that  won- 
derful man,  burning  for  a  long  time,  with  the 
desire  of  being  a  bishop,  concealed  his  ill- 
regulated  ambition,  under  the  veil  of  sanc- 
tity, from  the  confessors,  whom  he  had  en- 
gTiged  in  his  interests.  But,  having  discovered 
his  artifices,  deceit,  falsehood,  and  perjury, 
they  have  renounced  his  friendship,  returned 
to  the  church,  and  have  publicly  proclaimed, 
in  the  presence  of  bishops,  priests,  and  many 
of  the  laity,  the  wickedness  wliich  he  con- 
cealed, under  a  show  of  false  humility.  They 
have  mourned  over  the  misfortune  into  whicxi 
they  fell,  of  being  separated  from  the  faithful — 
of  having  been  deceived  by  the  falsehoods  of 
this  imposter. 

"We  have  seen,  my  very  dear  brother,  a 
wonderful  change  take  place  in  his  conduct. 
This  priest,  who  afhrmed,  with  execrable 
oaths,  that  he  had  no  ambition,  has  become 
of  a  sudden,  a  bishop.  This  doctor — this  de- 
fender of  the  discipline  of  the  church — A^ish- 
ing  to  usurp  the  episcopate,  to  which  Cod  had 
not  called  him,  associated  with  himself  two 
abandoned  men :  sent  them  into  a  corner  of 
Italy,  to  deceive  three  very  simple  and  very 


Cornelius,  declared  against  him.  He  affected  ignorant  bishops;  beseeching  them  to  come 
great  severity  of  morals,  and  complained  that,  to  Rome,  for  the  purpose  of  appeasing,  with 
at  Rome,  apostates  were  received  to  penitence  the  aid  of  other  prelates,  a  ditliculty  which 
with  too  much  readiness.  A  portion  of  the  had  occurred  there.  When  they  had  arrived, 
members  of  the  clergy,  who  were  still  prison-  he  caused  them  to  be  shut  up,  with  wretches 
ers,  allowed  themselves  to  be  seduced  by  this  like  himself,  unto  the  tenth  hour  of  the  day; 
apparent  zeal  for  discipline.  Novatus,  a  schis-  and  having  made  them  drink  to  excess,  he 
matic  of  Africa,  aided  his  plans,  and  the  two  constrained  them  to  consecrate  him  bishop,  by 
spread  abroad  calumnies  against  pope  Corne-  a  vain  and  imaginary  imposition  ot  hands.  It  is 
lius.  They  accused  him  of  having  joined  in  from  this  lie  draws  all  the  right  which  he  has, 
the  communion  with  bishops,  who  had  .s;icri-  however  unjustly,  to  the  episcopal  dignity."' 
ficed  to  idols,  and  of  having  abjured  between  Novatian,  nevertheless,  maintained  his  au- 
tlie  hands  of  the  magistrate,  in  order  to  avoid  thority,  against  that  of  Cornelius,  and  drew 
persecution.  j  from  him  a  large  part  of  his  flock.    In  the  let- 

Novatian,  in  separating  from  the  commu-  i  ters,  which  he  wrote  after  his  ordination,  the 
nion  of  Conielius,  drew  off  many  confessors,  anti-pope  did  not  evince  any  respect  for  the 
and  a  large  number  of  the  faithful  into  his  i  holy  father;  and  his  testimony  was  authorized 
schism.  He  became  the  chief  of  those  who  i  by  that  of  the  confessors  who  had  declared 
called  themselves //te;;u?-c,  because  they  main-  i  for  him. 

tained,  that  those  who  hatl  fallen  away  during  !  Some  time  after,  Fortunatus,  who  had  been 
persecution.  couUl  no  more  hope  for  safety,  ,  driven  from  the  church,  was  ordained  bishop 
nor  obtain  pardon  for  their  faults.  A  council  l  of  Carthaa:(>.  by  som<!  schismatic  prelates,  in 
of  sixty  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  having  order  to  dispute  that  })lace  with  St.  Cvprian. 
assembled  at  Rome,  to  try  this  question.  Nova-  The  usurper  sent  to  Rome  to  demand  com- 
tian  was  condemned,  and  excommunicated.    ,  munion  with  the  holy  father.     Felicissimus, 

Cornelius  wrote  to  Fabiu.s,bishopofAntioch,  his  deputy,  presented  himself  at  the  g.ites  of 
to  apprise  him  of  the  result  of  this  comicil.  the  church,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  furious 
He  speaks  with  bitterness  of  tire  si)irit  and  heretics,  who  pretended  to  recopiiize  Fortuna- 
morals  of  his  opponents.  Behold  the  portrait  tusas  bishop  of  Carthage.  But  the  pope  would 
which  he  drew.  not  hear  them.  He  drove  them  from  the  church 


40 


HISTORY    OF    THE   POPES. 


with  sacerdotal  rigour,  and  treated  them  as  he  | 
would  have  desired  to  do  to  Novatian.  The  i 
faithful  approved  of  the  conduct  of  the  father,  | 
toward  Felicissimus,  who  had  been  lawfully 
condemned,  of  having  appropriated,  to  his  own 
use,  money  which  he  had  on  deposit — of  hav- 
ing corrupted  virgins,  and  committed  adultery. 

The  persecution,  which  had  relented  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  reign  of  Decius,  recom- 
menced with  more  fury,  on  account  of  a  vio- 
lent pestilence,  which  extended  over  several 
provinces  of  the  empire.  The  emperor  Gallus, 
and  his  son,  Volusian,  had  recourse  to  their 
idols,  and  sent  edicts  into  all  the  provinces,  to 
order  sacrifices.  But  the  Christians  refused 
to  take  part  in  those  superstitions,  and  they 
were  blamed,  as  the  cause  of  the  public  mis- 
fortunes, which  were  reg-arded  as  the  effect 
of  the  anger  of  the  gods. 

Cornelius  was  the  first,  at  Rome,  who,  dur- 
ing this  persecution,  confessed  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  was  sent  into  exile,  by  order 
of  the  emperor  Gallus,  to  Centum  Celloe,  now 
called  Civita  Vecchia,  a  very  pleasant  place, 
forty-five  miles  from  Rome. 

In  spite  of  the  honours  which  the  church 
decrees  him,  we  must  presume  that  his  death 
was  natural,  and  that  it  happened  in  25.3.  St. 
Jerome,  following  the  erroneous  testimony  of 
ancient  traditions,  affirms  that  the  pontiff  shed 
his  blood  in  Rome ;  and  that  he  was  beheaded, 
after  having  governed  the  church  for  one  year 
and  some  months. 

Decius  had  impressed  so  profound  a  terror 
on  the  new  Christians,  that  a  great  number 
abandoned  the  empire,  to  take  refuge  in  the 
deserts  of  Egypt.  During  these  migrations, 
many  died  of  hunger  and  thirst ;  some  were 
devoured  by  lions  and  tigers ;  others,  after  hav- 
ing passed  the  mountains  of  Arabia,  fell  into 
the  power  of  the  Nomade  hordes.  Those  who 
were  happy  enough  to  escape  all  these  dan- 


gers, peopled  the  solitude  of  the  Thebais,  and 
became  Eremites. 

The  legends  relate  a  very  curious  history 
of  the  first  of  the  Anchorites  of  the  lower 
Thebais :  "  A  young  Christian,  of  Alexandria, 
named  Paul,'"'  says  the  legendary,  "the  heir  ot 
a  rich  patrimony,  profoundly  versed  in  Gre- 
cian and  Egyptian  literature,  had  retired  to 
one  of  his  estates,  in  order  to  live  far  from  the 
world,  with  his  brother-in-law.  and  a  young 
sister,  for  whom  he  had  conceived  a  violent 
passion.  But  one  day  his  brother-in-law.  hav- 
ing detected  him  in  incest,  threatened  to  sur- 
render him  to  the  commissioners  of  the  em- 
peror. 

"Aff"righted  by  the  threat,  Paul  fled  to  the 
solitude  of  the  mountains,  where  he  recover- 
ed, little  by  little,  tranquillity  of  mind.  His 
tears  having  softened  the  justice  of  God,  he 
had  a  dream,  in  which  an  angel  appeared  to 
him,  who  promised  him  pardon  for  his  crime, 
on  condition  he  would  pass  his  life  in  solitude. 

"The  next  day,  on  awakening,  Paul  decided 
to  follow  the  divine  inspiration.  He  climbed  a 
hill,  which  he  found  in  his  path ;  arrived  at 
the  top,  he  perceived  a  great  cavern,  closed 
by  a  stone ;  he  penetrated  it  from  curiosity, 
and  found  in  the  interior  a  spacious  saloon, 
open  to  the  day,  and  shaded  by  a  venerable 
palm  tree,  which  extended  its  protecting 
branches  over  all  the  grotto.  A  limpid  foun- 
tain bubbled  forth  from  the  foot  of  a  rock, 
and  having  flowed  some  paces  onward,  lost 
itself  in  a  mazy  winding,  formed  by  trwo 
blocks  of  granite.  Paul  chose  this  place  for 
his  retreat,  and  lived  there  ninety  years,  al- 
though he  was  already  thirty-three  at  the  time 
of  his  flight  from  Alexandria." 

The  founding  of  the  church  of  Toulouse, 
by  St.  Saturninus,  and  that  of  Paris,  by  St. 
Denis,  are  both  recorded  as  occurring  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  pontificate  of  Cornelius. 


LUCIUS,  THE  TWENTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  253. — Sallus,  Volusian,  and  Emilian,  Emperors.] 
Eulogium  (yii  Lucius — He  is  exiled — Return  to  Rome — Uncertainty  as  to  his  martyrdom. 


Lucius,  the  successor  of  Cornelius,  was  a 
Roman,  and  the  son  of  Porphyry.  He  had  ac- 
companied the  late  pontiff  into  exile  ;  and 
after  his  death  was  adjudged,  by  the  faithful, 
the  most  competent  to  fill  his  place.  But  the 
holy  father  did  not  long  exercise  the  duties  of 
his  charge,  being  banished  from  Rome  by  the 
persecutors.  He  was,  however,  recalled  from 
exile,  and  permitted  to  return  to  his  church, 
which  he  governed  for  five  months.  We  are 
not  satisfied  that  Lucius  sufiered  martjadomj 
and  historians  are  in  the  same  doubt  as  to  the 
duration  of  his  pontificate ;  but  they  are  agreed 
that  he  died  in  the  same  year  as  that  of  his 
election,  which  was  in  253. 

Cj-prian  had  been  bishop  of  Carthage  only 


a  few  years,  and  his  Avritings  had  already 
made  him  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  church  in 
Africa.  Previously  to  his  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, he  had  taught  rhetoric,  and  acquired 
great  wealth.  Not  only  did  he  distribute  all 
his  goods  among  the  poor,  but  he  dedicated 
his  life  entirely  to  his  new  belief.  St.  C}-prian 
is  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  morals,  which  is 
extrem'ely  rigorous  in  regard  to  ecclesiastical 
discipline;  which  shows  that  the  clergy  had, 
some  of  them,  already  become  tainted  by  im- 
morality. 

j      The  bishop  Eiicratius  having  consulted  him, 
I  in  order  to  know  if  he  should  refuse  the  com- 
munion to   a  play  actor,  who  continued  the 
I  practise  of  his  art,  although  he  had  embraced 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


41 


Christianity,  '•'  Drive  this  actor  from  the  tem- 
ple of  God,"  rephed  the  holy  man,  "the  di- 
vine law  prohibits  men  from  clothing  them- 
selves in  the  garments  of  females,  and  imitat- 
ing their  steps  and  gestures*.  This  impious  per- 
son must  cease  to  play  the  part  of  courtezans, 
and  shameless  queens  upon  the  stage,  or  re- 
main separate  from  the  communion  of  the 
faithful.  If  he  pleads  his  jjoverty,  as  his  ex- 
cuse, the  church  will  grant  him  aid,  as  she 
does  to  her  other  children,  provided  he  will 
be  content  with  a  frugal  support,  and  not  pre- 


*  The  female  parts  were  performed,  on  the  Roman 
stage,  by  lads,  or  etTeminate  looking  men.  Women  did 
not  appear  on  it. 


tend  that  we  owe  him  a  reward  for  drawing 
back  from  a  sin,  which  is  his  affair,  not  ours." 
Another  story,  still  more  curious,  is  related 
in  regard  to  St.  Cyprian.  A  bishop,  named 
Pompcenus,  had  consulted  with  him  by  letter, 
whether  he  should  bestow  the  communion  on 
holy  females,  who,  having  taken  the  vow  of 
virginity,  pretended  to  exercise  themselves  in 
conquering  the  spirit  of  evil,  by  sharing  their 
beds  with  young  priests  and  deacons.  C}-prian 
replied,  that  if  they  had,  in  truth,  preserved 
their  virginity,  he  should  not  refuse  them 
communion ;  but,  that  it  would  be  better  that 
they  should  not  in  future  renew  so  dangerous 
a  proof,  in  order  to  shun  scandal. 


STEPHEN  THE  FIRST,  TWENTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  253. — Valerian  Gallienus,  Emperor.J 

Birth  of  Stephen — Faults  of  the  pope — He  unjustly  protects  tioo  bishops,  accused  of  great 
crimes — His  ambition — St.  Cyprian  assembles  a  council,  and  condemns  the  pope — Boldness  of 
Stephen — Firmilian  publicli)  reproaches  him  tvith  crimes — St.  Cyprian  brings  atrocious  accu- 
sations against  the  pontiff — Fables  inregard  to  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen — Despotism  of  the  pope. 


Stephen  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the 
son  of  a  priest,  named  Julius.  He  was  chosen 
bishop,  in  recompense  for  the  services  he  had 
rendered  the  church. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  pontificate,  he  per- 
mitted himself  to  be  seduced  by  two  bishops 
of  Spain,  who,  after  having  been  legitimately 
deposed,  came  to  supplicate  the  holy  father 
to  re-establish  them.  Those  prelates,  by  name, 
Basilicus,  bishop  of  Leon  and  Astorga,  and 
Martial,  bishop  of  Merida,  had  been  convicted 
of  being  libellatici — that  is  of  having  been  of 
the  number  of  those  who  had  not  sacrificed 
to  idols,  but  who  had  given  or  received  letters 
of  abjuration — in  order  to  save  their  lives,  li- 
berty, or  property.  They  were,  besides,  ac- 
cused of  enomnous  crimes,  which  rendered 
them  unw^orthy  of  the  episcopate,  and  had  ob- 
liged the  bishops  of  Spain  to  give  them  suc- 
cessors. 

Stephen  listened  favourably  to  their  com- 
plaints, because  they  favoured  the  increase 
of  his  authority  ;  and  without  even  e.xamining 
into  the  truth  of  the  charges,  he  re-established 
those  two  prelates  in  their  churches.  The 
clergy  of  Spain  scandalized  at  the  conduct  of 
the  pontiff,  sent  deputies  to  the  bishojisof  Af- 
rica, imploring  their  aid  against  the  disasters 
with  which  the  ambitionof  the  holy  father 
threaten<'d  their  province.  Cyprian  immedi- 
ati'ly  assembled  a  council  of  twenty-ei^ht  pre- 
lates, who  confirmed  the  deposition  of  Basili- 
cus and  Martial.  He  then  sent  to  Rome  two 
priests,  to  inform  the  pope  of  the  decision  of 
the  African  church.  But,  St.  Stephen  would 
neither  see  them,  nor  speak  with  them  ;  and 
prohibited  the  faithful  from  receiving  them, 
and  extending  towards  them  the  rites  of  hos- 
pitality. His  wrath  carried  him  to  still  further 

Vol.  I.  F 


excess.  He  excluded  from  his  communion 
the  bishops  of  Africa ;  and  he  wrote  to  them 
in  a  manner  so  arrogant,  that  his  pride  excited 
the  indignation  of  the  Orientals. 

Firmilianus,  bishop  of  Cesarea,  addressed  a 
long  letter  to  St.  Cyprian,  in  which  he  testified 
the  great  esteem,  and  profound  affection,  he 
entertained  for  him  ;  at  the  same  time  he  ex- 
hibited his  indignation  against  the  pope,  and 
spoke  of  him  in  the  followmg  words  : 

"  Can  we  believe,  that  this  man  has  a  soul, 
and  a  body  ?  Apparently,  his  body  is  crooked, 
and  his  mind  disordered.  He  does  not  fear  to 
speak  of  his  brother  Cyprian  as  a  false  Christ, 
a  false  prophet,  a  fraudulent  workman  ;  and, 
in  order,  not  to  be  understood  as  speaking  from 
himself,  he  has  the  audacity  to  reproach  liim, 
in  the  name  of  others." 

This  letter  appears,  to  Pamelius,  to  be  so 
violent,  that  he  avows  he  would  not  have  in- 
serted it  in  his  edition,  if  Morel  and  Tume- 
bius  had  not  related  it  before  he  did.  Fleury 
has  not  dared  to  translate  it.  He,  also,  passes 
by  in  silence,  the  atrocious  accusations  which 
St.  Cyprian  hurled  against  the  pontiff,  re- 
proaching him  with  b^>ing  '■'arrogant,  obsti- 
nate— the  enemy  of  Christians,  the  defender 
of  heretics,  and  with  preferring  human  tradi- 
tions to  divine  inspiration." 

Thus,  even  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity, 
holy  men  mingled,  in  their  disputes,  that 
sharpness  and  bitterness,  which  Ave  always 
see  in  religious  contests.  But  then  the  unen- 
lightened people,  embraced  with  furv,  the 
opinions  of  their  bishops,  and  thousands  per- 
ished, to  maintain  the  errors  of  miserable 
priests. 

The  varying  opinions  of  historians,  as  to 
the  death  of  pope  Stephen,  do  not  permit  us  to 


42 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


arrive  at  tlie  truth.  An  ancient  pontifical  re- 
lates that  he  was  condemned  to  banishment, 
as  well  as  St.  Cyprian,  and  St.  Denis,  of  Alex- 
andria. And  that,  afterwards,  having  returned 
to  his  church,  he  was  arrested,  and  thrown 
into  prison  with  two  other  bishops,  nine  priests, 
and  three  deacons.  It  is  added,  that  he  ob- 
tained from  the  magistrates  permission  to  as- 
semble in  his  prison,  the  principal  ecclesias- 
tics, and,  with  their  consent,  placed  the  sa- 
cred vessels,  and  the  treasure  of  the  church, 
in  the  hands  of  his  deacon,  Sixtus,  whom  he 
designated  as  his  successor.  He  was  then  be- 
headed on  the  public  square. 

The  acts  of  the  martyrs,  according  to  Bail- 
let,  are  still  less  authentic  than  this  pontifical. 
They  relate  that  the  holy  father  was  taken, 
on  the  second  day  of  August,  before  the  em- 
peror Valerian,  who  condemned  him  to  be  de- 
voured in  the  circus,  by  wild  beasts.  But  the 
sudden,  and  miraculous  fall  of  a  temple  of 
Mars,  having  put  to  flight  the  guards,  who  ac- 
companied him,  the  pontiff  was  enabled  to 
escape  into  a  neighbouring  cemetry.  Believ- 
ing himself  safe  from  their  pursuit,  he  com- 
menced offering  divine  sacrifices,  when  the 
soldiers  found  him,  and  cut  off  his  head,  upon 


the  altar.  Father  Pagi  has  followed  these 
acts.  We  adopt,  as  more  truthful,  the  opin- 
ions of  the  learned,  who  assure  us  that  St, 
Stephen  died  in  prison,  in  the  fourth  year  of 
his  pontificate,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year  257. 

His  doctrine  on  baptism  is  very  curious. 
He  affirmed,  that  this  regenerative  sacrament, 
environed  the  soul  of  the  Neophytes,  and  en- 
tered into  them  in  two  forms  •  strengthening 
himself  with  these  words  of  John  the  Baptist : 
"He  who  shall  come  after  me,  shall  baptize 
you  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire." 

He  cites  then,  as  an  irrefragable  proof  of 
the  orthodoxy  of  his  doctrine,  the  example  of 
the  centurion  Cornelius,  M'ho  received  the 
Holy  Spirit  before  he  did  the  re-invigorating 
water,  and  that  of  the  apostles,  who,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  baptized  with  water  long  be- 
fore they  had  received  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  fine, 
he  demonstrates,  by  passages  from  the  Evan- 
gelists, that  this  sacrament  has  a  multiplied 
form  ;  a  doctrine  entirely  opposed  to  the  de- 
cisions of  GGCumenical  councils,  and  which 
would  be  sufficient  to  cause  us  to  regard  him 
as  an  heretic,  if  the  church  had  not  canon- 
ized him. 


SIXTUS  THE  SECOND,  TWENTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  257. — Valerian  Gallienus,  Emperor.] 

Eulogiwn  on  Sixtus — His  Election — He  puts  an  end  to  the  ridictdous  quarrels  about  baptism — 
Heresy  of  Sabcllius — The  persecution  continues — Death  of  the  pope. 


SiXTDSj  whom  some  authors  call  Xystus, 
and  whom  they  consequently  make  the  last 
of  that  name,  was  an  Athenian  by  birth.  He 
had  exercised,  with  much  charity,  zeal,  and 
fidelity,  the  duties  of  a  deacon,  under  Etienne ; 
and  when  that  pope  was  arrested,  he  asked 
permission  to  follow  him  to  prison.  After 
that,  he  became  the  g-uardian  and  depository 
of  the  vases,  furniture,  and  all  the  money  of 
the  church.  After  the  death  of  Stephen,  he 
was  elevated  to  the  episcopal  dignity. 

The  fatal  question  of  the  baptism  of  here- 
tics, continued  to  divide  the  faithful,  after 
having  scandalously  separated  St.  Cyprian  and 
St.  Stephen.  But  "Sixtus,  less  violent,  or  less 
ambitious  than  his  predecessor,  terminated 
this  ridiculous  quarrel,  by  yielding  to  the 
bishops  of  Africa.  Hence,  St.  Ponce,  deacon 
of  Carthage,  calls  him  in  his  works,  a  good 
and  pacific  prelate. 

Dennis,  of  Alexandria,  advised  pope  Sixtus, 
by  letter,  of  an  heresy  which  was  beginning 
to  appear.  He  wrote  to  him:  "There  has 
broken  out  at  Ptolemaides,  in  Penasopolis,  a 
doctrine,  truly  impious,  containing  many  blas- 
phemies against  God  the  Father.  It  teaches 
us  not  to  call  Jesus  Christ  his  only  Son ;  and 
not  to  recognize  the  Holy  Spirit." 

The  chief  of  this  sect,  named  Sabelliiis, 
taught  that  the  persons  of  the  Trinity  were 


but  three  names ;  and  that  there  was  but  one 
person  in  the  Godhead,  called  in  heaven  God 
the  Father ;  on  earth,  Jesus  Christ ;  and  in 
the  creatures,  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  that  the 
Father,  under  the  notion  of  the  Son,  had  been 
born  of  the  virgin,  and  suffered  death. 

Several  bishops,  having  partaken  of  the  sen- 
timents of  Sabellius,  propagated  them  in  their 
dioceses.  This  heresy  was  similar  to  that  of 
Praxeas,  and  the  Patropassians,  who  denied 
the  Trinity,  and  the  real  distinction  of  the  di- 
vine personages.  It  was  transmitted  to  Sabel- 
lius, by  Noetus,  his  master,  and  extended  into 
all  the  provinces,  to  Rome  even,  and  into  Me- 
sopotamia, where  it  found  numerous  partizans. 

The  violence  of  the  persecution  increased 
during  the  consulate  of  Memmius  Fuscus  and 
Pomponius,  when  the  emperor  Valerien,  oc- 
cupied in  the  East,  by  the  war  against  the 
Persians,  had  left  the  government  of  Rome  to 
Marcian,  the  declared  foe  of  the  religion. 
This  latter,  in  the  absence  of  the  sovereign, 
gave  orders  to  the  senate,  to  pursue  the  Chris- 
tians, and  condemn  to  punishment  the  bi- 
shops, priests,  and  deacons ;  to  punish  senators 
and  Roman  knights,  by  taking  from  them  their 
rank,  and  property,  and  to  put  them  to  death, 
if  they  persisted  in  their  professions  of  Chris- 
tianity. He  made,  besides,  two  other  edicts  : 
one  against    women  of  quality,   whom  he 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


43 


threatened  with  exile )  the  other,  against  the 
Cfflsareans,  or  freedmen  of  Caesar,  whom  he 
declared  confiscated  as  slaves  to  the  prince, 
if  they  did  not  return  to  the  religion  of  the 
empire. 

Pope  Sixtus  was  one  of  the  first  victims  of 
this  cruel  persecution.  He  was  seized,  with 
a  part  of  his  clergy,  whilst  praying,  at  the  ce- 
metery of  Callistus,  and  conducted  to  torture. 
St.  Laurence,  the  principal  deacon  of  the  Ro- 
man church,  followed  him  in  tears,  and  said 
to  him:  '-Whence  go  you,  father,  without 
your  son  1  You  are  not  accustomed  to  ofi'er 
sacrifice  without  the  minister.  How  have  I 
displeased  you  ?  Prove  if  I  am  worthy  of  the 
choice  you  have  made,  in  confiding  to  me  the 
dispensation  of  the  blocd  of  our  Lord.''  Six- 
tus replied  to  him  :  '•  I  do  not  leave  you,  my 
son.  A  greater  contest  is  prepared  for  you. 
You  will  follow  me  in  three  days." 

The  martyrdom  of  St.  Saturninus,  and  St. 
Denis,  are  placed  in  the  reign  of  Valerian. 
Saturninus,  says  the  legend,  had  established 
his  church  at  the  capitol,  at  Toulouse,  near 
to  a  temple  dedicated  to  Jupiter,  and  cele- 
brated throughout  all  Gaul,  for  its  oracle.  But 
after  the  arrival  of  the  holy  man,  the  demons 
ceased  to  speak,  the  reputation  of  the  idol  re- 
ceived a  great  shock,  and  the  oiferings  were 
very  much  dimhnshed.  Then  the  pagan  priests 
proposed  to  Saturninus  to  build  him  a  splen- 
did temple,  without  the  city.  Upon  his  re- 
fusal, they  resolved  to  rid  themselves  of  this 
pious  bishop,  by  violence.  On  the  day  of  a 
great  festival,  when  the  people  had  assembled 


for  a  solemn  sacrifice,  they  saw  Saturninus  go- 
ing towards  his  churcn  :  •■  Behold,"  they  cried, 
"the  enemy  of  the  gods,  and  tne  chauipion 
of  this  new  religion  !  Behold  him,  who  draws 
the  anger  of  Jupiter  upon  us  !  Shall  he  sac- 
rifice, or  shall  he  die  V 

Immediately  the  fanatical  people  seized  on 
the  holy  bishop  •  they  dragged  him  to  the 
temple,  forced  lum  to  kneel  before  the  statue 
of  tfie  god,  and  presented  incense  to  him,  to 
burn  in  honour  of  Jupiter.  But,  instead  of 
obeying  them,  the  martyr  spat  upon  the  idol. 
The  pagan  priests,  bound  him  by  the  feet  to 
the  tail  of  a  savage  bull,  destined  for  the  sac- 
rifice. The  animal,  excited  by  the  cries  of 
the  multitude,  broke  away  with  a  bound,  ran 
about  the  city,  precipitated  himself  into  the 
country,  dragging  in  his  course  the  corpse  of 
Saturninus.  At  length,  the  cords  breaking, 
some  bloody  frag-ments  were  left  upon  the 
ground,  and  were  collected  together  by  a  poor 
female,  who  secretly  buried  them. 

The  legends  of  the  saints,  are  filled  with 
acts  so  singular  and  marvellous,  that  the 
strongest  faith  cannot  admit  theirauthcnticity. 
Serious  minds  regard  the  martyrdom  of  Sa- 
turninus as  a  fable,  invented  by  the  priests ; 
and  we  shall  place  in  the  same  rank,  the  be- 
heading of  St.  Denis,  who,  according  to  our 
martyrology,  was  decapitated  with  Eleu- 
therus  and  Rusticus,  on  iVIount  Montmartre, 
took  up  his  head  after  the  execution,  and  car- 
ried it  during  a  journey  of  more  than  a  league, 
even  to  the  chapel,  which,  at  this  very  day, 
bears  the  name  of  this  illustrious  martyr. 


[A.  D.  258.]— VACANCY  IN  THE  HOLY  SEE. 
MARTYRDOM  OF  SMNT  LAWRENCE. 


After  the  martyrdom  of  Sixtus  the  Second, 
the  See  of  Rome  remained  vacant  for  a  year ; 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Lawrence,  is  the  only 
remarkable  event  which  occurred  in  this  in- 
terregnum. 

The  holy  deacon,  on  the  day  of  the  pon- 
tiffs death,  distributed  among  the  poor,  the 
wealth  of  the  church,  not  even  excepting  the 
vases  used  in  the  celebration  of  the  Eucha- 
rist, which  he  sold  to  prevent  them  from  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  the  pagans.  The  report 
of  these  great  alms,  excited  the  cupidity  of 
Cornelius  Sajcularis,  the  prefect  of  Rome,  who 
supposed  that  the  Christians  had  immense 
treasures  in  reserve  ]  and  in  order  to  obtain 
them,  he  arrested  Lawrence,  who  had  them 
in  his  charge,  as  the  deacon  of  the  Roman 
church.  The  holy  priest  was  led  before  the 
tribunal,  and  Cornelius  interrogatetl  him  in 
these  words:  '-We  are  assured,  that  in  your 
ceremonies,  tlie  ministers  oirer  the  libations  in 
vessels  of  goKl,  and  catch  the  blood  of  the 
victim  in  cups  of  silver;  that  in  order  to 
lighten  up  your  nocturnal  sacrifices,  you  have 


chandeliers  of  gold,  in  which  you  place  can- 
dles, made  of  wax  and  perfumes ;  we  know 
that  to  supply  these  offerings,  the  brethren 
.sell  their  inheritances,  and  frequently  reduce 
their  children  to  poverty.  Bring  to  the  light 
of  day,  these  concealed  treasures  ;  the  prince 
has  need  of  them  to  maintain  his  troojis,  and 
you  ought,  according  to  your  own  doctrine,  to 
render  unto  Ca>sar  the  things  which  are 
Cajsar's.  I  do  not  su])pose  your  god  coins 
money;  he  brought  none  when  he  came  into 
the  world,  he  brought  oidy  words;  render  up, 
therefore,  your  money,  and  be  rich  in  words." 

St.  Lawrence  re])lied,  firmly  to  the  judge: 
'•'  I  own  that  our  church  is  rich,  and  that  the 
emperor  has  not  so  great  treasures.  Since 
you  demand  it,  you  shall  see  our  most  pre- 
cious goods;  yield  me  only  a  few  days  to 
place  all  things  in  order,  to  make  straight  the 
state  of  our  wealth,  and  prepare  the  calcula- 
tions." 

The  prefect,  trusting  in  this  promise,  and 
hoping  to  enrich  himself  from  the  treasures 
of  the  church,  granted  him  thiee  da}  s.     St. 


44 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES, 


Lawrence,  traversed  the  whole  city,  in  order 
to  find  every  where  the  poor,  whom  the 
church  maintained,  the  lame,  the  nifirm,  the 
mutilated ;  he  assembled  them,  wrote  down 
their  names,  and  on  the  third  day,  having 
ranged  them  in  the  square  before  the  church, 
sought  out  the  prefect:  "Come  contemplate 
the  "treasures  of  our  God  ;  you  will  see  a  great 
court,  full  of  vases  of  gold,  and  all  our  weahh 
heaped  up  under  the  galleries." 

When  Cornelius,  perceived  this  troop  of 
poverty-stricken  wretches,  who  begged  alms 
from  him,  he  turned  towards  Lawrence,  with 
treatening  eyes.  "  False  priest  (said  he)  you 
shall  be  punished  for  your  temerity  !" 

'■'■  Why  are  you  offended,  my  lord  V  replied 
the  holy  man ;  the  gold  which  you  desire  so 
ardently,  is  a  vile  metal,  drawn  from  the 
earth,  and  which  excites  us  to  the  commis- 
sion of  all  crimes.  The  true  gold  is  the  light 
of  which  these  poor  ones  are  disciples ;  the 
great  ones  of  the  earth  are  poor,  truly  misera- 
ble and  contemptible.  Behold  the  treasures 
which  I  promised  you ;  behold  these  virgins 
and  widows,  who  form  the  crown  of  the 
church.  Avail  yourself  of  4hese  riches  for 
Rome,  for  the  emperor,  and  for  yourself." 
The  prefect,  in  a  transport  of  rage,  exclaimed, 
'■'■  Wretch  !  do  you  dare  to  despise  the  laws  of 
the  emperor,  because  you  do  not  fear  death — 
but  the  vengeance  will  be  terrible  !" 

Then  he  ordered  the  executioners  to  bring 
a  bed  of  iron,  under  which  were  placed,  half- 
extinguished  coals,  in  order  to  burn  the  mar- 
tyr more  slowly;  they  despoiled  Lawrence 
of  his  garments,  and  fixed  him  on  the  gridiron. 
The  resignation,  and  the  courage  he  evinced, 
during  this  horrible  punishment,  converted 
several  pagans,  and  among  them  persons  of 
high  distinction.  The  poet  Prudentius  re- 
lated, that  the  Neophytes,  or  newly-baptized 
Christians,  affirmed,  that  his  face  was  sur- 


rounded by  an  extraordinary  brilliancy,  and 
that  a  sweet  odour  exhaled  from  his  consum- 
ing bones;  he  adds,  also,  that  the  infidels, 
and  the  impious,  did  not  perceive  the  light  or 
the  odour.  We  must  regard  this,  as  a  poetic 
ornament.  It  may  be,  that  in  the  midst  of 
his  frightful  torments,  the  blessed  martyr  did 
not  cease  to  sing  the  praises  of  the  Most  High, 
and  encouraged  the  faithful,  to  confess  with 
him  the  holy  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ.  When 
he  was  calcined  on  one  side,  he  said  to  the 
prefect,  in  order  to  sport  with  his  cruelty,  as 
he  had  before  done  with  his  avarice  :  "  Agent 
of  the  devil,  cause  them  to  turn  my  body  on 
the  other  side."  When  it  was  done,  he  had 
the  stoical  courage  to  say  to  him :  "  As  I  am 
now  cooked,  you  can  eat  me." 

After  the  death  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  perse- 
cution increased,  and  very  many  were  mar- 
tyred throughout  the  empire.  It  carried  off 
St.  Cyprien,  bishop  of  Carthage,  and  many 
very  distinguished  of  the  faithful.  But  his- 
tory throws  no  light  on  the  combats  which 
the  clergy  of  Rome,  had  to  maintain  in  this 
time  of  difficulty,  and  we  are  even  ignorant 
of  the  state  of  ecclesiastical  discipline, 

Nevertheless,  the  legends  relate  at  length 
the  martyrdom  of  twelve  Christians  of  Utica, 
who  were  cast  into  a  bed  of  quick  lime,  and 
whose  relics,  the  faithful  afterwards  col- 
lected ;  as  the  bodies  formed  a  substance 
mixed  with  the  lime,  they  enclosed,  sa\  s  the 
historian,  this  compact  mass  in  an  immense 
coffin,  which  was  placed  in  the  principal 
church. 

According  to  the  same  chronicles,  Theo- 
genes,  bishop  of  Hippona,  was  decapitated 
without  the  walls  of  the  city,  and  three  noble 
females.  Maxima,  Donatilla  and  Secunda, 
having  refused  to  sacrifice  to  idols,  were  first 
violated  by  the  executioner,  and  then  be- 
headed. 


DENIS,  THE  TWENTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[Gallienus  and  Claudian,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Denis— His  humanity — He  ransoms  Christians  taken  prisoners  by  the  Barbarians — 
Pursues  the  ambitious  projects  of  his  predecessors — Errors  of  the  Millcnarians — Heresy  of 
Paul  of  Samosata — Zenobia,  queen  of  Palmyra — Excommunication  of  Paul — Death  of  the  pope. 


Denis,  was  a  Greek,  and  of  a  birth  so  ob- 
scure, that  nothing  is  known  of  his  family.  In 
his  early  youth,  he  entered  upon  a  cloistered 
life,  and  afterwards,  was  made  a  priest  of  the 
church  of  Rome,  by  St.  Stephen.  He  had 
adopted  the  opinions  of  his  bishop  in  relation 
to  the  baptism  of  heretics,  but  it  appears,  that 
he  did  not  conduct  himself  with  the  same 
violence  in  this  quarrel. 

The  emperor  Valerian,  having  been  van- 
quished, and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Persians, 
Gallienus,  his  son  and  successor,  took  the  reins 
of  government.  The  inaptitude  of  this  new 
prince,  exposed  the  provinces  of  the  empire 


to  the  ravages  of  the  barbarians.  The  city 
of  Caesarea,  in  Cappadociawas  ruined,  sacked, 
and  its  citizens  carried  into  slavery.  As  soon 
as  Denis  was  informed  of  this  disaster,  he 
hastened  not  only  to  write  to  this  afflicted 
church,  but  to  send  money  into  Cappadocia 
by  safe  hands,  to  ransom  the  Christian  cap- 
tives from  the  barbarians;  and  he  did  not 
cease  his  charity,  from  the  recollection  of  the 
old  contest  of  Firmilian,  with  his  predecessor. 
Pope  Stephen. 

St.  Athanasius,  whose  testimony  is  of  great 
weight,  relates  several  honourable  acts  of  this 
pontiff",  whom  he  regarded  as  among  the  an- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


4b 


cienl  fathers,  who  were  the  most  capable  of 
informing  us  of  the  doctrine  of  the  church, 
and  of  establishing  rules  for  the  government 
of  general  councils. 

Some  years  after,  the  faithful  in  Egypt  car- 
ried tlu'ir  complaints  to  Rome  against  Denis^ 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  wIkjhi  they  accused  ot 
advocating  impious  maxims,  in  the  books 
which  he  wrote  against  the  Sabellians.  in  or- 
der to  establish  the  distinction  in  the  divine 
persons.  This  accusation  was  frivolous,  but 
the  pope  making  use  of  it,  in  order  to  extend 
his  power  over  the  churches,  and  follow  up 
the  system  of  Stephen,  consented  to  give 
judgment.  He  was  somewhat  guarded,  how- 
ever, in  his  measures,  and  not  wishing  to 
decide  of  his  own  authority  in  the  matter, 
assembled  a  council,  which  disapproved  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  and 
ordered  that  prelate  to  submit  to  the  Holy  See, 
and  to  go  to  Rome,  to  clear  up  the  points  which 
liad  been  condemned. 

The  error  of  the  Millenarians,  had  been  for 
a  long  time  established  in  Egypt,  and  threat- 
ened to  overrun  the  west.  The  principal 
author  of  this  sect.  Bishop  Nepos,  rendering 
too  judaically  the  text  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
maintained  that  Jesus  Christ  would  reign  on 
earth  for  a  thousand  years,  and  that  the  saints 
would  enjoy  in  heaven,  all  the  pleasures  of 
the  senses.  Nepos  founded  his  opinions  upon 
the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  and  drew  after 
him  a  great  number  of  the  faithful ;  history 
does  not  apprise  us  of  the  steps  taken  by 
Denis,  the  bishop  of  Rome,  to  put  a  stop  to 
this  heresy. 

Soon  after,  the  doctrines  of  Paul  of  Samo- 
sata,  bishop  of  Antioch,  excited  a  violent  con- 
troversy in  the  church.  Zenobia,  queen  of 
Palmyra,  a  princess  of  ability  beyond  her 
sex,  wishing  to  know  the  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion,  addressed  herself  to  bishop 
Paul,  in  order  to  be  instructed  in  its  myste- 
ries. But  this  prelate  had  singular  opinions 
for  the  age.  He  called  Christ  a  man,  and  not 
a  God.  He  taught  the  people  the  sublime 
morality  of  the  evangelists,  and  neglected  to 
instmct  them  in  the  dogmas  of  religion.  The 
bishops  of  the  east,  scandalized  at  his  con- 


duct, assembled  at  Antioch,  and  pursued  him 
as  "a  wolf,  which  ravaged  the  Hock  of  the 
Lord."  The  council,  animated  by  the  fana- 
tical zeal  which  has  always  distinguished 
ecclesiastical  assemblies,  proceeded  to  judge 
Paul  of  Samosata.  By  his  elocjuence,  the 
philosophical  priest  prevailed  on  them  to  sus- 
pend the  condemnation,  which  they  were  on 
the  point  of  pronouncing  against  him  and  his 
doctrine.  Finally,  it  was  perceived,  that  Paul 
had  used  dissimulation,  and  that  he  had  cor- 
rected neither  his  sentiments  nor  his  morals. 

They  then  assembled  anew,  to  the  number 
of  seventy,  and  condemned  him  for  having 
trilled  with  their  credulity,  and  the  pacific  in- 
tentions of  Firmilian,  who  had  presided  over 
the  first  synod. 

Paul,  convinced  of  error  of  doctrine,  and 
looseness  of  morals,  was  deposed  and  excom- 
municated by  the  council. 

Pope  Denis  died  on  the  26th  of  December, 
in  the  year  269,  during  the  reign  of  the  empe- 
ror Claudius  the  Second  and  Paternus,  after 
filling  the  episcopal  chair  for  ten  years  and 
some  months.  He  was  interred  in  the  ceme- 
tery of  Callistus. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Denis,  the  philoso- 
pher Plotinus,  celebrated  for  his  great  learn- 
ing, flourished  at  Rome.  This  extraordinary 
man  had  not  only  drawn  among  his  disciples 
a  great  number  reared  in  the  doctrines  of 
paganism,  but  he  even  led  off  the  sectarians 
of  the  new  religion,  and  caused  the  churches 
of  the  Christians  to  be  deserted,  whenever  he 
delivered  his  public  instruction. 

He  pretended,  like  Socrates,  to  have  a  fami- 
liar demon  ;  and  affirmed,  that  by  the  light  of 
reason  alone,  one  could  elevate  himself  as 
high  as  the  sovereign  God ;  who  had,  accord- 
ing to  him,  neither  form  nor  essence,  and  was 
indefinable  by  human  words.  He  combatted 
all  the  Christian  sects,  and  especially  the 
Gnostics,  who  believed  in  spirits  or  secon- 
dary demons,  among  whom  fig-ured  Christ. 

Historians  relate,  that  just  before  he  died, 
Plotinus,  turning  to  his  disciples,  said  to  them: 
''T  go  to  reunite  that  of  the  divine,  which  ex- 
isted in  me,  to  that  of  the  divine  which  exists 
in  the  universe." 


FELIX  THE  FIRST,  THE  TWENTY-SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  270. — Claudius  the  Second,  and  Aurelian,  Emperors.] 

Elcvntion  of  Felix — Paul  of  Samosata  resists  the  decree  of  the  council — He  is  driven  from  his 

See — Death  of  the  pope. 


Fki.ix  was  a  Roman,  and  the  son  of  Con- 
stantius.  He  succeeded  Denis,  on  the  last  day 
of  the  year  269.  We  know  of  none  of  the 
actions  of  his  life,  until  his  arrival  at  the  pon- 
tificate. On  mounting  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
he  found  the  church  tranquil  without,  but  torn 
within  by  the  heresy  of  Paul  of  Samosata,  of 
H-hom  we  have  spoken,  in  the  history  of  the 


preceding  reign.  This  bishop,  supported  by 
the  favour  of  the  idolatrous  magistrates,  and 
the  credit  which  he  had  at  Antioch,  refused 
to  submit  to  the  decree  of  the  council,  which, 
having  condemned  and  deposed  him,  had 
named  to  fill  his  place  Domnus,  the  son  of 
Demetrius.  Paul,  refusing  to  quit  the  epis- 
copal  residence,    recourse   was   had   to   the 


46 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


authority  of  the  emperor  Aurelian,  ^Yho  judged 
the  aiFair  with  great  justice.  The  prince  de- 
cided, that  the  possession  of  the  episcopal 
palace  pertained  to  those  who  entertained 
relations  with  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and  the 
other  prelates  of  Italy,  and  that  pope  Felix, 
having  refused  to  hold  communion  wdth  Paul 


of  Samosata,  he  should  consequently  be  driven 
from  his  See. 

Felix  died,  according  to  general  belief,  on 
the  22d  of  December,  in  the  year  274,  having 
governed  the  church  five  years.  He  was  in- 
terred in  the  cemetery  of  Callistus. 


EUTYCHIANUS,  THE  TWENTY-EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  275. — AuRELiAN,  Tacitus,  Florian,  Proeus  and  Carus,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Eutychian — Numerous  fables  in  regard  to  him — Heresy  of  31anes — Curious  history, 
and  extravagant  quarrels — Death  of  the  pope. 


After  the  death  of  Felix  the  First,  the 
clergy,  and  the  faithful  people  of  Rome,  chose 
Eutychianus  to  govern  the  church.  The  city 
of  Luna,  in  Tuscany,  was  the  country  of  the 
pontiff,  and  his  father  was  named  Marinus. 
History  teaches  us  nothing  positive  of  the  ac- 
tions of  his  life  ■  nevertheless,  we  might  fonn 
volumes,  were  we  to  believe  the  fables  which 
•are  related  of  the  holy  father,  and  of  which 
all  the  pontifical  writings  could  not  guarantee 
the  authenticity. 

During  his  reign  sprung  up  the  famous 
heresy  of  JManes;  but  without  entering  into 
the  details  of  the  life  of  this  wretch,  we  will 
content  ourselves  with  explaining  his  extra- 
vagant doctrine.  He  maintained,  that  there 
existed  in  the  universe  two  principles,  contra- 
ry to  and  co-eternal  wath  each  other;  God 
and  matter,  light  and  darkness;  the  author 
of  good,  and  the  author  of  evil ;  the  one  the 
author  of  the  New  Testatament.  the  other 
of  the  Bible.  He  rejected  the  holy  evange- 
lists, and  called  himself  the  spirit,  sent  by 
Jesus  Christ.  He  affirmed  that  the  Saviour 
had  only  the  appearance  of  humanity,  and 
had  not  suffered  in  reality.  According  to 
him,  good  and  evil  were  substances.  He  re- 
garded the  earth,  flesh,  magistrates,  kings  and 
sin,  as  the  creation  of  the  evil  principle.  He 
denied  that  the  actions  of  men  were  free, 
prohibited  marriage,  and  blamed  the  people 
who  made  war.  He  forbade  his  disciples  to 
eat  flesh  or  eggs,  or  to  drink  milk,  or  wine, 
which  he  called  the  gall  of  the  devil. 

The  Manicheans  administered  the  eucha- 
rist  in  one  kind,  and  profaned  it  by  mingling 
with  it  human  seed.  They  pretended  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  Sun,  and  that  he  revealed 
bis  divinity  by  plunging  the  earth  into  dark- 
ness, on  the  day  of  his  death.  They  reg-arded 
the  moon  as  the  abode  of  the  Trinity,  and 
the  air  as  a  river,  on  which  the  souls  of  the 
dead  were  wafted  to  eternal  light.  They 
did  not  believe  in  a  general  resurrection,  and 
maintained  that  the  souls  of  those  they  called 
followers,  passed  into  the  souls  of  the  chosen, 
and  returned  to  God,  after  having  been  purified ; 
that  the  souls  of  the  wicked  were  enclosed  in 
the  bodies  of  beasts,  in  plants  and  trees ;  and 
they  regarded  labourers  as  homicides. 


This  doctrine  extended  itself  into  all  the 
provinces  of  the  empire,  and  lasted  several 
years;  perchance  it  would  not  have  made  so 
great  progress,  but  for  its  wildness  and  extra- 
vagance, for  the  nature  of  men  leads  them 
to  follow  after  things  which  are  the  most  sin- 
gular, and  least  reasonable.  The  followers 
of  Manes  announced,  that  they  did  not  wish 
to  imitate  the  Catholics ;  that  the}"  employed 
not  persecution,  but  simple  reason,  to  free 
men  from  error,  and  lead  them  to  God.  Their 
teachers  were  powerful  in  argument,  and  their 
mild  and  insinuating  manners  insensibly  at- 
tracted men  to  their  ideas.  We  translate  one 
of  their  dialogues  in  the  style  of  the  period. 

"A  Catholic  was  complaining  of  the  flies,  and 
said  to  a  INIanichean,  that  he  coixkl  not  endure 
these  insects,  and  that  God  should  destroy 
them.  The  Manichean  demanded  of  him 
'Who  made  them?'  The  Catholic  in  his 
wrath  dared  not  reply  that  it  was  God.  The 
Manichean — •  If  it  is  not  God,  who  then  has 
made  them?'  'I  believe  it  is  the  devil.'  'If 
the  devil  made  the  flies,  as  your  good  sense 
causes  you  to  declare,  who  made  the  bees'?' 
The  other  dared  not  say,  that  God  had  made 
the  bee  and  not  the  fly.  From  the  bee,  the 
other  led  him  on  to  the  grasshopper,  the  lizard, 
a  bird,  a  sheep,  an  ox,  an  elephant,  and  at  last 
to  man ;  and  finally,  persuaded  him  that  God 
had  not  made  man." 

History  does  not  teach  us  what  measures 
Eutychian  took  to  check  this  heresy.  The 
ISlartyrology  only  tells  us,  that  the  holy  father 
ordered  the  priests  to  consecrate  upon  the 
altar  figs,  apples  and  grapes,  in  order  to  over- 
throw the  doctrine  of  Manes,  who  prohibited 
from  eating  fruits.  He  ordered,  also,  that  the 
bodies  of  martyrs  should  be  enveloped  in 
purple,  and  he  himself  performed  this  last 
duty  to  three  hundred  and  forty  martyrs ;  but 
the  sacred  historians  leave  us  in  ignorance 
in  what  persecution  the  church  lost  so  great 
a  number  of  the  faithful.  At  length  the  pon- 
tiff" Eutychianus  went  to  receive  the  fruit  of 
his  labours,  on  the  8th  of  December,  in  the 
year  283. 

Orosus  and  Sozomenes  have  left  us  a  pic- 
ture descriptive  of  the  misfortunes  of  the  em- 
pire,   during  these   last   pontificates.     "TVia 


■The 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


47 


armies,  said  they,  disposed  at  their  will,  of 
the  sui^reme  power.  Their  leaders  by  turns 
seized  the  power,  and  the  infamous  Cyriatles, 
a  Persian  by  birth,  was  the  chief  of  these 
thirty  tyrants,  who  ruled  the  world  for  a  pe- 
riod of  several  years. 

'■  During  their  execrable  rule,  evils  of  all 
kind  weighed  down  the  empire ;  Britain  was 
conquered  by  the  Caledonians  and  Saxons; 
Gaul,  by  the  Franks,  the  Germans  and  the 
Burgunclians ;  Italy,  by  the  Germans,  the 
Suevi,  the  Marcomans  and  the  Quadi ;  Media, 
Macedonia  and  Thrace,  by  the  Goths,  the 
Heruli,  and  the  Sarmatians ;  the  Persians  over- 


ran, even  to  the  very  borders  of  Syria ;  civil 
war,  famine,  and  pestilence,  rviined  cities  and 
destroyed  populations,  which  had  escaped  the 
sword  of  the  barbarians)  towns  were  over- 
thrown by  earthquakes,  which  lasted  several 
daj'S ;  the  sea  flowed  up  from  its  bed,  and  in- 
undated entire  provinces;  in  Nubia,  in  Achaia, 
and  at  Rome,  the  earth  opened,  and  swallow- 
ed up  fields  and  houses." 

Thus,  add  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  did 
God  commence  to  show  forth  his  vengeance 
against  the  persecutors  of  his  church,  which 
increased  in  fecundity  through  the  blood  of 
its  glorious  martyrs. 


CAIUS,  THE  TWENTY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  283. — Carus,  Carinus,  Numerian  and  Diocletian,  Emperors 

Election  of  Cams — Cruelty  of  Maximian — Martyrdom  of  the  Theban  legion — Remonstrances  of 
tlie  soldiers — Cowardly  flight  of  the  pope — Extravagant  rules — Death  of  Caius. 


If  the  ancient  pontificals  are  to  be  credited, 
Caius  was  a  Dalmatian,  and  a  relative  of  the 
emperor  Diocletian.  During  the  early  period 
of  his  reign,  the  church  enjoyed  an  apparent 
tranquillity,  and  the  emperors  gave  no  formal 
order  to  persecute  the  Christians.  There 
were,  nevertheless,  executions — and  the  pon- 
tificate of  Caius  was  rendered  illustrious, 
through  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Maurice,  and 
of  the  celebrated  Theban  legion. 

Maximian,  on  whom  the  emperor  had  be- 
stowed the  title  of  Cajsar,  had  passed  over 
into  Gaul  to  combat  the  factions  of  Amandus, 
Elienus,  and  the  Bagaudi.  After  having  con- 
quered his  enemies,  the  Caesar  brought  from 
the  east  a  legion  called  the  Theban,  com- 
posed of  Christians,  whom  he  wished  to 
employ,  together  with  his  other  soldiers,  in 

fiersecuting  the  faithful ;  but  the  legion  re- 
used to  march,  and  formed  its  camp  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  now  called  the  great  St. 
Bernard.  Maximian,  irritated  at  this  disobe- 
dience, demanded  troops  from  the  emperor  to 
conquer  the  rebels.  Diocletian  sent  reinforce- 
ments to  him,  ordering  him  to  decimate  the 
soldiers,  and  to  reiterate  his  commands  for  the 
persecution  of  the  Christians.  The  Thebans 
declared  that  they  persevered  in  their  resolu- 
tion: then  Maximian  commanded  them  to  be 
decimated  a  second  time,  and  that  the  survi- 
vors should  obey.  This  second  execution  did 
not  (juell  their  courage. 

These  soldiers  of  Christ  were  commanded 
by  three  principal  oihcers— Maurice,  Kuxperus 
and  Candidus,  who  exhorted  them  to  die  for 
their  religion,  and  recalled  to  their  recollec- 
tion the  example  of  their  comrades,  whom 
martyrdom  had  already  conducted  to  heaven. 
Still  they  wished  to  avert  the  wrath  of  the 
tyrant,  and  addressed  to  him  a  remonstrance, 
full  of  nobleness  and  firmness. 

"We  are  your  soldiers,  my  lord,  but  we 


freely  confess  that  we  are  the  servants  of 
God ;  we  owe  to  our  prince  duty  in  war,  to 
God  our  innocence ;  we  receive  from  you  pay, 
He  has  given  us  life  ;  we  cannot  obey  you  and 
renounce  God  our  creator,  our  master  and 
yours.  If  you  ask  of  us  nothing  injurious, 
we  will  obey  your  orders  as  we  have  done  to 
this  time ;  otherwise,  we  shall  obey  Him 
rather  than  you.  We  offer  the  services  of 
our  arms  against  your  enemies,  but  we  do  not 
believe  we  are  permitted  to  bathe  them  in  the 
blood  of  the  innocent.  We  took  an  oath  to 
God,  before  we  did  to  you,  and  you  can  have 
no  confidence  in  the  second,  if  we  violate  the 
first.  You  command  us  to  seek  out  Chris- 
tians, in  order  to  punish  them  ;  you  have  no 
need  of  seeking  others,  behold  we  are  such. 
We  confess  God  the  Father,  author  of  all 
things,  and  Jesus  Christ  his  Son.  We  have 
seen  you  put  to  death  our  companions  without 
mourning,  and  we  have  rejoiced  that  they 
have  been  honoured  in  sulferiiig  for  their 
God.  Despair  has  not  driven  us  to  revolt ;  we 
have  arms  in  our  hands,  but  we  have  not 
used  them,  because,  we  prefer  to  die  inno- 
cent, rather  than  live  culpable." 

Maximian,  not  being  able  to  conquer  a 
courage  so  heroic,  ordered  his  officers  to  put 
them  all  to  death ;  troops  were  marched  to 
surround  them,  and  cut  them  in  pieces:  but 
instead  of  offering  the  least  resistance,  these 
unfortunate  soldiers  laid  down  their  arms,  and 
offered  their  necks  to  their  persecutors.  The 
earth  was  inundated  by  str(>ains  of  Mood.  Six 
thousand  men,  the  usual  number  of  a  legion, 
were  put  to  death  by  the  orders  of  the  tyrant. 
During  the  persecution  which  Diocletian  then 
caused  the  church  to  undergo,  the  pontiff 
Caius  had  the  prudence  to  save  himself  by 
fhght. 

Some  authors  attribute  to  him  extravagant 
rules.     According  to  them,  he  ordained  that 


48 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


a  pagan  or  a  heretic  should  not  accuse  a 
Christian ;  but  such  a  decree  would  have  been 
the  signal  of  revolt  against  the  secular  power, 
and  we  cannot  admit  that  Caius  had  the  rash- 
ness to  wish  to  brave  the  legitimate  authority 


of  the  pagan  magistrates,  or  that  he  ordained  [  metery  of  Callistus. 


a  rule  which  he  had  no  power  to  cause  to  be 
obeyed. 

He  died  on  the  24th  of  April,  in  the  year 
296;  after  having  occupied  the  Episcopal  See 
for  twelve  years.     He  was  interred  in  the  ce- 


MARCELLINUS,  THE  THIRTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  296. — Diocletian  and  Maximian,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Mar  cdlinus— Persecution  ly  Diocletian— Refections  on  the  priests  of  the  nineteenth 
century— Horrible  torments  and  sufferings  of  martyrs— the  pope  abjures  Christianity— His 
death. 


Marcellinus  was  a  Roman,  and  the  son 
of  Projectus  j  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  Caius 
during  the  reign  of  Diocletian.  Some  years 
after  his  exaltation,  the  emperor  excited  the 
most  cruel  persecution  against  the  Christians, 
which  had  occurred  since  the  apostles'  times. 
It  broke  out  in  the  year  303,  and  all  the  pro- 
vinces of  the  empire  were  inundated  with 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs. 

We  give  a  passage  from  Eusebius,  to  put 
the  reader  in  possession  of  the  situation  of  the 
church, before thispersecution.  -'The doctrine 
of  Christ  was  held  in  great  esteem  and  respect 
among  the  Greeks  and  barbarians,"  wrote 
the  holy  bishop ;  '■  the  church  enjoyed  the  free 
exercise  of  its  worship  ;  the  emperors  bore  a 
lively  affection  to  the  Clnistians,  and  entrust- 
ed them  with  the  government  of  provinces, 
without  compelling  them  to  sacrifice  to  idols; 
they  were  to  be  found  in  the  courts  of  princes, 
and  were  permitted  to  practise,  together  with 
their  wives,  children  and  slaves,  the  duties  of 
their  religion. 

"  Dorotheus,  one  of  the  most  renowned 
Christians,  had  been  honoured  with  the  friend- 
ship of  the  sovereign ;  an  enlightened  magis- 
trate, and  skillful  governor  of  a  province,  he 
had  evinced  for  the  emperors,  great  proofs  of 
his  fidelity  and  zeal.  The  illustrious  Gorgonus, 
and  with  him  all  those  who  had  imitated  their 
zeal  for  religion,  partook  of  his  power  and 
credit.  The  bishops  were  honoured  and  che- 
rished by  the  people,  and  the  governors  of 
the  provinces.  Multitudes  of  pagans  came 
daily  to  make  a  profession  of  faith;  churches 
were  erected  in  every  city ;  the  people  ren- 
dered to  God  solemn  acts  of  thanks,  and  the 
temples  were  not  large  enough  to  contain  the 
faithful. 

•'  But  too  great  liberty  caused  a  relaxation 
of  discipline,  and  the  war  commenced  with 
outrageous  lang-uage;  the  bishops,  animated 
the  one  against  the  other,  excited  quarrels  and 
disorders;  at  length,  when  falsehood  and  de- 
ceit were  carried  to  the  utmost  excess.  Divine 
justice  lifted  its  arm  to  punish,  and  permitted 
that  the  faithful,  who  had  entered  upon  the 
profession  of  arms,  should  be  the  first  to  be 
persecuted.  Still  they  remained  in  a  culpa- 
ble insensibility;  instead  of  appeasing  the 
anger  of  God,  they  added  crimes  to  crimes ; 


the  priests  despising  the  holy  rules  of  piety, 
contended  and  quarrelled  among  themselves, 
fomented  enmities  and  hatred,  disputed  for 
the  first  place  as  in  secular  aflhirs ." 

Such  was  the  corruption  of  the  ecclesiastics 
towards  the  end  of  the  third  century.  Since 
that  period,  the  derelictions  of  the  clergy 
have  increased ;  the  priests  show  themselves 
always  the  same — always  avaricious,  ambi- 
tious, debauchees,  proud,  vindictive — always 
enemies  of  repose  and  of  true  piety — always 
dissimulators.  Such  at  least  was  the  opinion 
of  Platinus;  and  that  which  we  see  in  our 
own  day,  should  convince  us  of  the  truth  of 
these  accusations. 

Nevertheless,  there  were  still  found  holy 
souls,  who  imitated  the  heroic  example  of  the 
Theban  soldiers.  Many  faithful  gloried  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  and  terminated  their  lives  by 
a  sad  martyrdom.  Diocletian,  the  persecu- 
tor, declared  in  his  edicts  that  the  execution- 
ers were  permitted  to  invent  new  tortures  for 
the  Christians  :  they  were  beaten  with  heavy 
clubs,  with  pliant  sticks,  with  scourges,  with 
leathern  lashes,  and  with  cords;  they  were 
bound  with  their  hands  fastened  to  posts,  or 
quartered  by  machines;  then  they  rent  them 
with  iron  hooks,  and  tore  off  their  flesh  from 
their  thighs,  their  bellies  and  their  cheeks; 
some  were  suspended  by  one  hand,  othefs 
were  bound  to  columns,  so  that  their  feet 
1  could  not  touch  the  earth,  in  order  that  the 
weight  of  the  body  should  pull  upon  their 
bonds  and  augment  their  sufferings ;  in  this 
state  they  underwent  the  interrogatories  of 
the  governor,  and  remained  in  torture  for  en- 
tire days.  When  the  judge  passed  on  to  other 
patients,  he  left  officers  to  watch  for  those, 
who,  yielding  to  the  power  of  their  torments, 
would  consent  to  deny  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
when  they  were  foiled  in  their  efibrt,  the  exe- 
cutioner mercilessly  tightened  the  bonds  until 
the  martyrs  were  ready  to  die,  when  they 
loosened  them  from  the  posts,  and  dragged 
them  to  the  earth,  in  order  to  revive  them  for 
new  punishments. 

The  pope  Marcellinus,  during  this  unfortu- 
nate period,  solemnly  abjured  the  Christian 
religion ;  authors  affirm,  that  according  to  the 
most  authentic  testimony,  he  offered  incense 
to  idols  in  the  temples  of  Isis  and  Vesta,  in 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


49 


the  presence  of  many  of  the  faithful;  in  order 
to  iathice  them  to  imitate  the  example  of 
cowardice  which  he  set  them.  They  add, 
that  afterwards  a  council,  assembled  at  Sien- 
na to  judge  the  pope,  dared  not  condemn 
him.     The  bishops,  who  were  at  the  sjTiod, 


said  to  him,  '-condemn  yourself  by  your  own 
mouth,  but  you  will  not  be  excommunicated 
by  our  judgment."  Marcellinus  died  on  the 
24th  of' October  304,  after  having  held  the 
Holy  See  for  eight  years  and  three  months. 
He  was  interred  in  the  cemetery  of  Priscilla. 


POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

Septimus  Scvcrus — Puts  to  death  senators — His  vices  and  virtues — Debaucheries  of  his  wife — 
Caracalla — Shamelessness  of  Julia  his  mother — Espouses  her — Kills  his  brother — Buries  alive 
four  vestal  virgins — Macrimts  a  debauched  prince — Heliogobalus — Human  sacrifices — Incest 
with  his  mother— Marcus  Aurelius—Assassinaied,  because  of  his  vvtves~Maximin~His  gluttony 
— His  cruelty — His  prodigious  strength — The  three  Gordians — Philip  usurps  the  empire — 
Dccius — Gallus — Aurelian — Valerian  falls  into  the  power  of  the  king  of  Persia — Gallienus — 
7/i.s  defects — Claudius  catiscs  them  to  render  divine  honours  to  Gullioius — Aurelian — He  is 
assassinated — Tacitus — His  virtues — His  generosity — Assassinated  by  the  soldiers — Florian, 
his  brother — Seizes  on  the  empire — Is  slain  by  the  soldiery — Probus  chosen,  emperor — Assassi- 
nated by  the  soldiers — Carinus — Numerian — Arrius — Apcr  massacres  Numerian — Diocletian 
puts  Aper  to  death — His  cruelty — His  avarice — His  passion  for  building — Maximian  Hercules^ 
associated  in  the  empire — He  violates  young  females — His  vices — Opinion  upon  absolute 
monarchies. 


Septimus  Severus,  after  having  been  de- 
clared emperor  by  the  army  of  Pannonia, 
combatted  those  who  made  pretensions  to  the 
empire,  and  massacred  forty  senators,  who 
had  supported  Albinus  his  rival.  After  that, 
he  was  occupied  by  the  war  ag-ainst  the  Par- 
thians.  He  travelled  over  different  provinces 
of  the  empire,  and  caused  an  entrenchment 
of  a  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  paces 
in  length  to  be  constructed  in  England.  He 
died  at  York,  in  the  year  212.  Shortly  before 
his  death,  he  called  to  him  his  two  sous,  Bas- 
tianus  and  Geta,  and  said  to  them,  as  his 
last  paternal  advice:  ''My  children,  remain 
united,  live  well  together,  and  do  not  trouble 
yourselves  beyond  that."  This  prince  had 
great  virtues ;  he  was  fond  of  philosophy  and 
belles  letters;  he  did  not  pardon  the  least 
faults,  and  his  severity  retained  his  officers 
in  their  duty.  He  was  humane  and  generous, 
but  was  too  indulgent  towards  his  wife,  of 
whose  debaucheries  he  was  not  igiiorant,  and 
who  had  even  conspired  against  his  life. 

Septimus  Severus  left  his  empire  to  his  son 
Antoninus  Bastianus,  surnamed  Caracalla,  be- 
cause he  wore  a  long  robe,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  Gauls.  This  prince,  in  the  early  part 
of  his  reign,  having  accidentally  encountered 
the  empress,  his  mother,  clothed  in  a  loose 
costume,  and  with  her  bosom  bare,  cried  out 
in  an  amorous  transport,  "  I  would,  if  I  were 
permitted."  The  shameless  princess  replied, 
"  You  can,  my  son,  if  you  will;  for  there  ex- 
ists no  law  for  emperors  and  kings." 

Of  a  base  and  furious  character.  Caracalla 
had  already  drawn  the  sword  to  slay  his 
father;  afterwards  he  assassinated  his  brother 
Geta.  who  reigned  conjointly  with  him  ;  and 
caused  four  vestal  Anrgins  to  be  buried  alive, 
in  order  to  amuse  himself  with  this  frightful 
punishment.  The  memory  of  Alexander  was 
Vol.  I.  G 


so  dear  to  him,  that  he  threatened  the  most 
severe  punishments  against  philosophers,  who 
adopted  the  sentiments  of  Aristotle;  and  he 
wished  to  burn  all  the  works  of  that  historian, 
because  he  was  suspected  of  having  aided  to 
poison  that  conqueror.  One  day,  he  informed 
the  senate  that  the  soul  of  Alexander  had 
entered  into  his  own  body,  and  ordered  his 
courtiers  to  call  him  the  conqueror  of  Darius. 
During  his  reign,  he  put  to  death  twenty 
thousand  persons  in  punishments,  and  laid 
enoi-mous  imposts  on  all  the  provinces  of  the 
empire.  He  was  slain,  after  a  reign  of  six 
years  and  two  months. 

On  the  death  of  Caracalla,  Opiluis  JNIacri- 
nus,  a  man  of  verj- obscure  birth,  seized  upon 
the  empire  ;  but  his  debaucheries  having  ren- 
dered him  odious  to  the  army,  he  \\-as  slain, 
after  a  reign  of  one  year  and  two  months. 

Marcus  Antoninus  Varius  Heliogobalus,  the 
son  of  Caracalla  and  Julia,  succeeded  Macri- 
nus.  This  prince  was  another  Sardanapalus. 
Like  him,  a  priest  of  the  sun.  he  sacrificed  to 
his  idol  the  handsomest  children  in  Italy.  He 
was  killed  by  his  soldiers,  in  the  year  222; 
and  his  mother,  who  had  become  the  wife  of 
this  monster,  was  put  to  death  at  the  same 
time. 

Marcus  Aurelius  Septimus  Alexander  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  was  friendly  to  the  Chris- 
tians. He  drove  from  his  court  flatterers  and 
buffoons;  and  not  being  willing,  tliat  justice 
should  be  venal,  he  prohibited  the  judges 
from  receiving  presents.  Maximin,  one  of 
his  principal  officers,  excited  some  legions  to 
revolt,  and  killed  this  virtuous  prince. 

Cains  Julius  Verus  IMaximin,  after  this 
murder,  seized  upon  the  empire.  He  was 
more  than  eight  feet  in  height,  and  so  large, 
that  the  bracelet  of  his  wife  served  for  a 
thumb-ring  for  him.     His  strength  was  extnu 


50 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ordinary,  and  no  horse  could  run  so  fast.  In  ] 
his  gluttonous  appetite,  he  ate  sixty  pounds 
of  meat,  and  drank  twenty-four  measures  of 
wine,  in  a  day.  The  senators,  fearing  to  be- 
come the  victims  of  his  cruehy,  declared  him 
an  enemy  of  the  republic ;  and  he  was  put  to 
death — together  with  his  son,  whom  he  had 
associated  with  him  in  the  empire — by  the 
soldiery. 
•  The  oldest  of  the  three  Gordians  was  de- 
clared emperor  by  the  army,  which  he  com- 
manded in  the  name  of  the  senate.  His  son, 
Gordian  the  Second,  having  been  conquered 
and  slain  in  battle  with  the  enemies  of  the 
empire,  he  strangled  himself  through  despair. 
The  young  Gordian,  son  of  Gordian  the  Second, 
was  chosen  in  his  place.  This  prince  had  the 
qualities,  of  both  mind  and  body,  necessary  for 
a  good  governor.  He  gained  great  victories, 
which  appeared  to  presage  a  happy  reign  j 
but  he  encountered  a  traitor  in  his  army  who 
bIbv/  liim,  in  order  to  seize  upon  the  empire. 
The  .senate  did  not  wish  to  recognize  Phi- 
lip as  emperor,  nevertheless,  it  confii-med  his 
election,  in  order  to  avoid  a  revolt  of  the  le- 
gions. 

Decius,  in  his  turn  seduced  the  soldiers,  who 
massacred  Philip  in  his  camp  at  Verona. 

Messius  Quintus  Trajanus  Decius,  after 
having  conquered  Philip,  was  chosen  emperor 
by  the  suffrages  of  the  ai-my.  His  reign  was 
signalized  by  a  violent  persecution,  which  he 
excited  against  the  Christians. 

Trebonianus  Gallus  marched  against  him, 
at  the  head  of  his  legions,  and  having  sur- 
prised him  in  an  ambuscade,  pursued  him 
into  the  marshes,  where  Decius  perished, 
without  their  being  able  to  recover  his  body. 
Gallus  then  entered  into  a  disgraceful  alli- 
ance with  the  Goths,  and  notwdthstanding  his 
cowardice,  he  was  saluted  as  emperor  by  a 
legion )  but  soon  after,  the  soldiers  murdered 
him,  together  with  his  son. 

The  Scythians  and  Persians  continued  to 
make  irruptions  into  the  Roman  provinces. 
Julius  Emilianus,  alone  dared  to  encounter 
these  barbarians,  and  gained  over  them  bril- 
liant victories.  He  was  proclaimed  emperor 
by  the  soldiers,  who  massacred  him  three 
months  afterwards. 

Licinius  Valerian,  a  man  of  superior  merit 
and  great  excellence,  was  elevated  to  the  im- 
perial dignity.  His  good  qualities,  gave  pro- 
mise of  a  reigni  of  justice,  mildness  and  equity. 
Unfortunately,  he  permitted  himself  to  be 
corrupted  by  Macrian,  a  celebrated  Egyptian 
magician,  who  caused  him  to  commit  great 
faults,  and  excited  him  ag-ainst  the  Christians. 
This  same  Macrian,  repaid  his  benefits  by  the 
most  infamous  treason.  He  led  him  into  an 
ambuscade,  and  delivered  him  into  the  hands 
of  Sapor,  king  of  the  Persians.  The  emperor 
was  condemned  to  the  most  cruel  slavery. 
Historians  aflirm,  that  the  Persian  monarch, 
used  the  back  of  Valerian  as  a  stool,  when- 
ever he  wished  to  mount  his  horse.  After 
several  years  of  suffering,  the  unhappy  prince 
was  condemned  to  be  flayed,  and  buried  alive 
in  a  vat  of  salt. 


Licinius  GaUienus,  after  the  death  of  his 
father,  was  chosen  emperor.  He  was  cruel, 
cowardly  and  lu.xurious.  He  laid  pretensions 
to  the  character  of  a  man  of  learning,  and  de- 
livered speeches  and  poems.  During  his 
reign,  the  empire  was  given  up  to  pillage,  and 
his  bad  conduct  placed  the  management  of 
afi'airs  in  a  council  of  thirty  tyrants,  who  ruled 
the  state  according  to  their  caprice  and  their 
interest )  at  last  he  was  surprised,  and  put  to 
death  by  Aureolus. 

Flavins  Claudius  the  Second,  having  been 
declared  emperor  in  268,  caused  divine  ho- 
nours to  be  rendered  to  the  celebrated  GaUie- 
nus. Historians  e.xtol  this  prince  highly,  and 
maintain,  that  had  he  lived  longer,  he  would 
have  surpassed  the  Camilli  and  the  Scipios. 
He  conquered  the  Goths,  exterminated  thirty- 
two  thousand  Germans  in  a  battle  fought  in 
269;  defeated  Aureolus  near  Milan,  and  van- 
quished Zenobia,  who  had  subjugated  Egypt. 

Valerius  Aurelian,  a  man  of  obscure  birth, 
was  chosen  emperor,  after  the  death  of  Clau- 
dius the  Second.  He  was  as  successful  as 
that  prince  in  his  wars,  and  equally  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  virtues.  The  victo- 
ries which  he  gained  over  the  enemies  of  the 
empire,  procured  for  him  a  magnificent  tri- 
umph at  Rome.  He  then  passed  over  into 
Sclavonia,  with  the  intention  of  subjugating 
the  Persians,  whom  he  had  already  conquer- 
ed. Whilst  on  his  march,  Mnestheus,  his 
secretary,  whom  he  had  threatened,  on  ac- 
count of  some  indications  of  treason,  counter- 
feited his  handwriting,  and  seeking  out  some 
officers,  who  were  friendly  to  him,  showed 
them,  on  a  forged  list,  the  names  of  those 
W'hom  Aurelian  purposed  to  put  to  death,  and 
his  own  among  them,  which  he  had  placed 
there,  in  order  to  render  the  counterfeit  more 
resembling  the  truth.  On  this,  they  resolved 
to  be  before-hand  with  the  emperor,  and 
assassinated  him  in  his  camp,  between  By- 
zantium and  Heraclea.  The  historians,  Aure- 
lius  Victor  and  Eutropus,  say,  that  Aurelian 
was  cruel  and  sanguinary,  and  did  not  keep 
within  bounds,  in  the  punishments  he  in- 
flicted. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  or  Claudius  Tacitus,  was 
chosen  by  the  senate,  after  a  contest  of  six 
months,  to  succeed  Aurelian.  This  prince,  a 
man  of  letters,  vaunted  himself  on  having  for 
a  relative,  the  admirable  Aurelius  Tacitus, 
the  historian.  By  his  orders,  ten  copies  of 
the  annals  of  his  ancestor  were  transcribed 
every  year,  which  he  placed  in  the  archives. 
To  other  great  qualities,  he  added  sobriety, 
and  moderation.  Before  his  elevation  to  the 
throne,  he  was  worth  seven  million  crowns 
of  gold,  which  he  generously  distributed  to 
the  people,  and  payed  his  soldiers  with  his 
savings ;  nevertheless,  he  was  assassinated 
by  them,  they  having  killed  his  cousin,  and 
feared  they  would  be  punished  for  the  crime. 

Marcus  Aunius  Florian,  the  brother  of  Ta- 
citus, seized  the  empire  which  he  kept, 
however,  but  a  month  or  two.  He  was  con- 
quered by  Probus,  near  the  city  of  Tarsus, 
and  was  massacred  by  the  army. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


51 


Aurelius  Probus,  the  son  of  a  gardener  or 
labourer,  was  chosen  emperor  in  spite  of  him- 
self. Before  clothing  himself  with  the  impe- 
rial mantle,  he  assembled  the  legions  and 
said  to  them,  "  Soldiers,  you  know  not  what 
you  do ;  as  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  flatter 
you,  we  will  not  live  well  together."  But  the 
army  having  proclaimed  him  three  times  the 
most  worthy  of  the  crown,  he  covered  his 
shoulders  with  the  purple,  and  received  the 
oaths  of  the  legions,  as  chief  of  the  state.  In 
the  course  of  his  reign  he  defeated  four  hun- 
dred thou.-^and  Germans;  subjugated  seventy 
cities,  and  would  have  pushetl  his  conquests 
still  lurther.  if  nine  of  their  kings  had  not 
prostrated  themselves  at  his  feet  to  sue  for 
peace.  He  then  subjugated  Clavonia,  Russia, 
and  Poland,  and  passed  over  into  Thrace, 
where  he  gained  brilliant  victories,  which 
procured  for  him  the  honour  of  a  triumph. 
This  prince,  of  a  severe  disposition,  never 
allowed  his  soldiers  to  be  idle  ;  he  employed 
them  constantly  on  works  useful  for  the  safety, 
the  ornament,  or  the  advantage  of  the  province 
in  which  they  were.  The  legions,  fatigued 
by  discipline,  massacred  him,  after  a  reign  of 
six  years  and  four  months.  This  glorious  in- 
scription was  placed  on  his  tomb :  "  Here 
lies  the  emperor  Probus,  the  conqueror  of 
barbarian  nations,  the  conqueror  of  the  tyrants 
of  nations."' 

Marcus  Aurelius  Carus,  merited  the  em- 
pire, from  his  good  qualities,  and  his  great 
actions.  He  had  two  sons — Numerian,  esteem- 
ed for  his  virtues,  and  Carinus,  despised  for 
his  vices.  It  was  unfortimate  for  his  people, 
that  this  good  prince  reigned  but  two  years. 
His  death  was  so  gi'eat  a  stroke  to  Numerian, 
that  it  was  feared  he  would  lose  his  life,  from 
the  quantity  of  tears  which  he  shed.  Cari- 
nus, the  younger  of  his  sons,  was  slain  in 
Dalmatia,  in  a  battle  against  Diocletian  ;  and 
Arius  Aper,  massacred  Numerian,  in  the  hopes 
of  succeeding  him  ;  but  Diocletian  disputed 
the  power  with  this  new  pretender,  and  re- 
mained sole  master  of  the  empire. 

Aurelius  Valerius  Diocletian,  the  son  of  a 
freedman,  or  of  the  secretary  of  a  senator,  as- 
sociated with  him  in  the  government,  Marcus 
Aurelius  Valerius  Maximian,  his  intimate 
friend.  In  the  course  of  his  reign,  he  exhi- 
bited great  qualities,  as  a  soldier  and  a  states- 
man, in  successfully  defending  the  empire 
against  the  incursions  of  the  barbarians.  His 
avarice  was,  however,  excessive.  He  over- 
burthcned  the  people  with  imposts,  in  order 
to  increase  his  treasures,  and  accused  sena- 
tors of  conspiracies  against  the  state  in  order 
to  seize  upon  their  goods.  His  passion  for 
buildings,  caused  him  to  be  called,  the  mason 
of  the  empire,  and  he  compelled  the  provinces 
to  furnish  workmen  and  materials,  to  build 
his  palaces.  Abusing  the  sovereign  power, 
this  prince,  crael,  shameless,  destitute  of  faith 


and  honour,  caused  them  to  carry  off  young 
gills  and  boys,  for  his  debauches,  and  aban- 
doned himself  publicly  to  his  ill-regulated 
passions. 

The  people,  were  not  only  compelled  to  suf- 
fer from  the  tyranny  of  the  execrable  Diocle- 
tian, but  they  hacl  to  deplore  still  greater 
evils  when  he  associated  with  him  the  cruel 
Maximian  and  the  two  Caesars,  Gallerius  and 
Constantine  Chloras.  Instead  of  one  master, 
they  had  four,  who  had  each  his  court  and 
army,  which  quadrupled  dignities  and  places, 
and  consequently,  the  public  expenses.  In 
order  to  supply  this  frightful  increase  of  ex- 
penses, the  emperors  oppressed  and  massa- 
cred the  citizens,  and  ransacked  the  provinces, 
until  the  lields  and  cultivated  grounds  were 
converted  into  solitudes;  they  then  abandoned 
these  devastated  territories,  in  order  to  com- 
mit elsewhere  the  same  ravages. 

As  for  Diocletian,  that  proud  upstart,  he 
seated  himself  on  a  throne  of  massive  gold, 
shining  with  precious  stones,  and  caused  him- 
self to  be  adored  as  a  god,  as  well  as  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  empire.  In  the  official  language 
of  the  time,  the  public  orators  even  did 
honour  to  their  letters  and  decrees ;  all  that 
appertained  to  them,  partook  of  a  divine  cha- 
racter, as  well  as  their  persons.  The  exche- 
quer was,  in  sacriligeous  mockery,  called  the 
sacred  largesses  ;  and  the  apartment  in  wliich 
they  slept,  the  holy  chamber. 

This  community  of  dignity,  brought  about 
a  new  sign  of  reverence,  very  ridiculous; 
neither  acted  nor  governed,  but  in  the  name 
of  all ;  the  petitions  and  discourses  addressed 
to  them,  and  all  public  and  private  relations 
with  each  of  them  were  obliged,  necessarily, 
to  confonn  to  this  rule  of  unity.  One  was 
spoken  to  as  representing  three  others,  and 
individual  actions  \vere  no  longer  distinguish- 
ed; and  this  close  imion  which  united  them 
in  indivisible  praise,  was  rigorously  observed. 
Flattery  seized  upon  this  political  precaution, 
and  shortly  habituated  itself  to  clothe  each 
prince,  individually,  with  this  collective  im- 
portance. The  grammar  even  was  changed, 
and  they  were  taught  in  the  schools  to  say, 
"  you,"'  to  a  single  person.  As  inferiors,  seek 
always  to  exalt  themselves  by  an  imitation 
of  the  great,  this  absurdity,  became  a  general 
forni  of  distinction  and  compliment,  which, 
from  the  Latin,  has  passed  into  modern  lan- 
guages. 

Diocletian,  in  corrupting  the  manners  and 
customs,  which  are  the  basis  of  all  govern- 
ment, prepared  the  way  for  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  empire,  and  taught  nations  this  grand 
tmth,  that  monarchies  fall  under  their  own 
weight,  when  the  lights  of  reason  and  philo- 
sophy illumine  the  people,  and  teach  them 
to  know,  that  they  are  not  destined  to  be  the 
slaves  of  kings. 


62 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


THE   FOURTH  CENTURY. 
VACANCY  IN    THE    HOLY    SEE. 

[A.  D.  301. — CoNSTANTiNE  Chlorus,  Emperor.] 

Usages  introduced  in  the  first  ages — Assembly  of  the  faithful — Ceremonies  of  the  Eucharist^  and 
of  baptism — Fasts — Rigor  of  discipline — Imaginary  rights  of  the  popes — Council  of  Cirtha 
composed  of  bishops,  defiled  with  the  greatest  crinws — The  debauchery  of  St.  Boniface — Fabu- 
lous history  of  his  martyrdom — Knavery  of  the  priests. 


After  the  death  of  Marcellinus.  the  Roman 
clergy  governed  the  church  of  that  city,  for 
the  space  of  three  years. 

During  the  first  three  centuries,  religion,  op- 
pressed by  the  pagans,  made  slow  and  diffi- 
cult progress.  The  faithful  were  forced  to  as- 
semble by  night,  in  private  houses,  in  upper 
rooms,  in  the  baths,  under  porticos,  in  the  ce- 
meteries, and  even  in  the  tombs,  in  order  to 
administer  the  eucharist,  and  pray. 

But  Christians,  animated  by  a  holy  zeal, 
assembled  at  these  places,*  regardless  of  a 
shameful  and  violent  death.  The  priests  read 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  as  the  Protest- 
ants now  do.  The  people  brought  bread  and 
wine,  for  the  administration  of  the  eucharist. 
The  communion  was  distributed,  in  both  kinds, 
to  all  who  were  baptized,  and  the  ceremonies 
terminated  with  a  collection  for  the  poor  of 
the  church. 

In  the  first  century,  fountains  and  rivers 
supplied  the  baptismal  water.  Then  this  sa- 
crament was  administered  to  the  sick,  and 
children,  in  private  houses,  and  in  prisons. 
Next  they  went  further  from  apostolic  simpli- 
city j  for,  in  the  time  of  Tertullian,  infants 
were  anointed,  and  they  presented  honey  and 
milk,  making  many  signs  of  the  cross,  and  the 
baptized  were  clothed  in  a  white  gannent. 

The  communion  was  administered  indiffer- 
ently ;  either  in  the  morning,  fasting,  or  in  the 
evening,  after  supper  The  eucharist — that  is, 
the  consecrated  bread  and  wine — was  carried 
to  the  sick  and  absent.  As  for  fasts,  they 
were  discretional,  and  no  one  was  constrained 
to  observe  them. 

In  the  second  century,  the  faithful  adopted 
the  custom  of  praying  for  the  dead  )  and,  ac- 
cording to  Tertullian,  the  prayers  were  pre- 
ceded by  many  signs  of  the  cross.  In  order 
to  distinguish  themselves  from  the  pagans, 
they  also  abstained  from  eating  the  flesh  of 
ajiimals  which  had  been  strangled. 

In  the  third  century,  a  difference  arose  as 
to  the  administration  of  baptism  to  children ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  fast  of  Saturday, 
in  commemoration  of  the  burial  of  Jesus 
Christ,  was  introduced  at  Rome.  But  this  cus- 
tom was  not  approved  of  by  the  Orientals. 

Christian  worship  had  not  yet  altars.  A 
single  table  of  marble,  served  for  the  commu- 
nion of  the  faithful.  The  discipline  was,  how- 
ever, very  severe  against  those  who  had  com- 
mitted homicide,  adultery,  or  incest — or  who 
had  been  convicted  of  apostacy.     In  the  fu'st 


ages,  a  public  confession  was  exacted.  The 
Grecian,  and  Eastern  churches  had  appointed 
a  penitential  priest,  who  compelled  the  cul- 
pable to  wait  without  the  gates  of  the  churchy 
clothed  in  sackcloth,  mournmg,  and  on  their 
knees.  Fasts,  of  several  years,  were  imposed, 
according  to  the  magnitude  of  their  sins. 

Sub-deacons  were  then  established  in  the 
church ;  but  history  makes  no  mention  of  pa- 
triarchs, archbishops,  or  metropolitans.  The 
bishops  of  the  principal  sees,  unjustly  arro- 
gated to  themselves  superiority  over  those  of 
the  same  country,  and  sometimes  over  those 
of  several  provinces,  when  these  were  de- 
pendent on  the  great  cities.  The  popes,  in 
their  turn,  put  in  the  same  pretensions,  and 
the  cowardice  of  the  magistrates  has  rendered 
too  real,  their  imaginary  rights  of  jurisdiction, 
both  spiritual  and  temporal. 

The  persecution  of  Diocletian  commenced 
to  subside,  in  Italy,  soon  after  the  death  of 
pope  Marcellinus,  and  terminated  shortly  after 
in  Africa.  Then  the  bishops  of  Numidia,  as- 
sembled at  Cirtha,  to  give  a  pastor  to  that  city ; 
but  these  prelates  were  all  apostates :  some  had 
surrendered  the  holy  books  to  the  pagans — 
others  were  soiled  with  great  crimes.  They 
soon  agreed,  and  elevated  to  the  see  of  the 
capital  of  Numidia,  a  bishop,  celebrated  in 
ecclesiastical  history  for  his  debaucherj"  and 
his  incests. 

The  sacred  authors  fix  the  martyrdom  of  St. 
Boniface,  as  occurring  at  this  period.  We  give 
the  legend  :  '-'A  woman  of  illustrious  birth, 
named  Aglaa,  dwelt  in  Italy,  where  she  pos- 
sessed wealth  so  enormous,  that  she  had  three 
times  exhibited  public  games  to  the  Roman 
people.  Seventy-three  supervisors  had  charge 
of  her  estates ;  and  above  all  the  others,  she 
had  placed  a  general  supervisor,  named  Boni- 
face, her  favourite.  He  carried  on  a  criminal 
intercourse  with  his  mistress,  and  abandoned 
himself  to  all  kinds  of  debauchery.  But 
divine  grace  descended  on  his  wicked  soul, 
and  initiated  him  into  the  truths  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  Aglaa,  touched  with  repentance 
for  her  past  errors,  surrendered  herself  to  the 
most  extreme  practices  of  devotion ;  and,  as 
her  faults  were  great,  she  wished  to  keep 
fair  with  God  by  means  of  powerful  protec- 
tion. Not  finding  at  Rome  rhartyrs  sufficiently 
distinguished,  she  sent  Boniface  to  travel  in  the 
East,  to  bring  back  relics  of  illustrious  martyrs. 
"  As  soon  as  Boniface  had  arrived  at  Tarsus, 
in  Cihciaj  where  the  persecution  still  warmly 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


53 


raged,  he  hastened,  according  to  the  orders  of 
his  mistress,  to  go  to  the  public  square,  in 
order  to  see  the  martyrs  in  their  torments. 
Some  were  hung,  head  downwards,  before  a 
slow  fire  ;  others  quartered,  upon  four  stakes, 
sawn  asunder  by  the  executioners — torn  with 
hot  pincers.  Their  hands  were  cut  off,  and 
tongues  torn  out.  Others  were  fastened  to 
the  earth  by  stakes,  driven  through  the  throat, 
and  were  beaten  by  the  clubs  of  the  execu- 
tioners. Boniface  approached  these  martyrs, 
twenty  in  number,  and  exhorted  them  to  com- 
bat, as  true  champions  of  the  faith,  in  order 
to  carry  off  an  immortal  crown.  He  was  im- 
mediately arrested,  and  conducted  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  governor.  But,  far  from  re- 
tracting, he  had  the  courage  to  call  him  '  an 
infamous  wretch — a  serpent  of  darkness — a 
man  veiled  in  crime.'  Language  so  energetic, 
in  the  mouth  of  a  new  Christian,  drew  upon 
this  stranger  frightful  punishment,  and  Boni- 
face was  condemned  to  be  beheaded. 

'•'  The  next  day,  his  companions  sought  him 
through  the  city,  and  not  finding  him,  said, 
'Our  superior  is  in  a  tavern,  enjoying  himself, 
whilst  we  trouble  ourselves  with  hunting  for 
him.'  WhiLst  thus  discussing,  they  met  the 
brother  of  the  jailen  and  asked  him  if  he 
could  aid  them  in  their  search  after  a  stranger, 
but  now  arrived  from  Rome.  He  replied  to 
them :  '  Yesterday,  an  Italian  was  martyrized 
for  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  head  has  been  thrown 
into  the  arena.'  'He,  whom  we  seek,  is  a 
thick  set  man,  of  light  complexioiij  who  wears 


a  scarlet  mantel,  a  roue,  and  a  debauchee: 
who  has  nothing  in  common  with  a  martyr.' 
They  followed  him,  however,  and  the  jailer 
showed  them  the  dead  body  of  Boniface. 
Then  he  took  up  the  head  of  the  martyr,  and 
gave  it  to  them.  Then  the  month  of  the  martyr 
smiled,  through  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Then  his  friends  mourned  bitterly  over  his 
unfortunate  end,  and  carried  away  his  corpse 
with  them. 

'■'  On  the  same  daj^,  an  angel  appeared  to 
Aglaa,  and  said,  '  He  who  was  your  slave,  is 
now  our  brother.  Receive  him  as  your  lord, 
and  treat  him  with  honor,  for  all  your  sins 
will  be  remitted,  by  means  of  his  intercession.' 
Aglaa  immediately  transformed  her  palace 
into  an  oratory ;  and  shutting  herself  up  with 
holy  priests,  she  prepared,  with  prayers,  to 
receive  the  body  of  the  martyr.  When  her 
envoys  came  near  the  city,  she  walked  with 
naked  feet,  and  in  her  chemise,  before  the 
precious  relics,  which  she  deposited,  in  the 
midst  of  flowers  and  perfumes,  in  a  magnifi- 
cent tomb,  which  she  had  erected  at  fifty 
stadia  from  Rome." 

The  legend  adds,  that  the  saint  performed 
great  miracles — that  he  drove  out  devils,  and 
healed  the  sick. 

During  this  vacancy  in  the  Holy  See.  many- 
other  executions  of  the  faithful  are  related, 
which  took  place  in  Thessalonica.  Among 
others,  the  martyrdom  of  the  young  Irene, 
who  received  the  glorious  palm  upon  a  high 
mountain,  where  she  was  burned  alive. 


MARCELLUS  THE  FIRST,  THIRTY-FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  308. — Maxentius,  Emperor.] 

Election  of  Marcellus — He  excites  seditions  in  Rome — He  is  made  an  ostler,  by  order  of  Maxerif 

tins — His  death. 


After  a  vacancy  of  three  years,  the  clergy 
and  faithful  of  Rome  placed  themselves  under 
the  guidance  of  a  holy  man  named  Marcellus, 
a  Roman  by  birth. 

This  new  bishop  wished  to  avail  himself 
of  the  calm  which  religion  enjoyed,  at  the 
commencement  of  his  pontificate,  to  ordain 
rules,  and  re-establish  in  the  church  the  dis- 
cipline which  the  troubles  had  altered.  But 
his  severity  rendered  him  odious  to  the  people, 
and  caused  divisions  amoni;  the  faithful.  Dis- 
cord degenerated  into  sedition,  and  the  quar- 
rel terminated  in  murder. 

Maxentius,  seeing  that  the  Christians  were 
troubling  the  peace  of  Rome,  laid  the  cause 


of  the  disorders  on  the  pope  Marcellus,  and 
condemned  him  to  groom  post-horses  in  a  sta- 
ble, on  the  hi^h  road.  The  holy  father  perform- 
ed the  duties  of  groom  for  nine  months.  Then 
the  priests,  having  carried  him  ofi"  during  the 
nisht,  he  was  taken  to  the  house  of  a  Roman 
lady  named  Lucilla.  The  faithful  assembled 
inarms  to  defend  the  pontiff;  but  the  empe- 
ror marched  his  troops  against  the  rebels,  and 
dispersed  them ;  and  by  his  orders  the  house  of 
Lucilla  wasconverted  intoa  stable,  where  Mar- 
cellus again  performed  the  duties  of  a  irroom. 
The  holy  bishop,  worn  down  by  the  fatigues 
of  this  wretched  state,  died  after  two  years 
of  pontificate,  in  the  first  month  of  the  year  310. 


54 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


EUSEBIUS,  THE  THIRTY-SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  310. — Maxentius,  Emperor.] 

Election  of  Eusebius — His  exile — Ridiculous  story  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  found  by  the  mother 

of  Constantine. 


In  spite  of  the  divisions  which  then  reigned 
in  the  church  of  Rome,  the  clergy  and  the 
people  had  still  a  deliberative  voice  in  the 
elections.  They  chose  unanimously  Eusebius. 
a  Greek  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  a  physician. 
The  tyrant  Maxentius  banished  the  new  pon- 
tiff into  Sicily,  where  he  died  some  months 
after,  in  the  same  year  as  that  in  which  he 
was  elected,  viz.  310. 

The  priests  affirm  that,  during  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Eusebius,  Helena,  mother  of  Constan- 
tine, caused  excavations  to  be  made  at  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  that  this  princess  found  the  cross  on 
which  the  Saviour  of  the  world  had  suffered. 


But  all  serious  historians  have  refuted  this 
ridiculous  story. 

The  acts  of  the  martyrs,  during  the  first 
years  of  the  fourth  century,  are  filled  with 
miraculous  legends  of  confessors  and  saints 
who  suffered  martyrdom ;  but  the  uniformity 
of  the  narrations  deserves  attention.  There 
is  always  a  Christian  resisting  the  most  fright- 
ful punishments,  and  finishing,  by  being  be- 
headed, or  thrown  to  wild  beasts.  Then  the 
pagans  always  wish  to  annihilate  the  body, 
and  the  faithful,  always,  through  the  particu- 
lar intervention  of  God,  carry  it  ofi',  vniharmed 
by  fire  or  water,  in  order  to  make  relics  of  it. 


MELCHIADES,  THE  THIRTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  310. — Maxentius  and  Constantine,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Melchiades — Debaucheries  of  Maxentius — Hypocrisy  of  Constantine — Liberty  of 
worship — Schism  of  the  Donatists — Condemnation  of  Donatus — The  pope  is  accused  of  having 
surrendered  the  holy  books  to  pagans,  and  of  having  sacrificed  to  idols. 

The  popes  were  the  first  to  put  in  use  these 
execrable  means,  which  they  employed  in  the 
succeeding  ages,  with  audacious  tyranny. 

Constantine,  and  Licinius  his  colleague,  ap- 
proached Rome.  Maxentius,  despairing  of 
conquering  them  by  force,  notwithstanding  his 
numerous  forces,  employed  stratagem;  but 
he  fell  himself  into  the  snare  which  he  had 
laid,  and  was  drowned  in  the  Tiber.  After 
the  death  of  the  tyrant,  Constantine  entered 
the  city  in  triumph,  and  the  Christians  cele- 
brated, by  public  rejoicings,  the  victory  which 
he  came  to  gain. 

In  order  to  augTuent  his  power,  this  prince 
feigned  to  be  zealously  occupied  about  the 
v/ants  and  interest  of  the  church,  and  mixed 
himself  up  in  all  the  religious  quarrels.  The 
Donatists  then  commenced  their  famous  dis- 
pute, the  origin  of  which  is  very  curious.  A 
priest  named  Cecilian,  had  been  chosen  bishop 
of  Carthage,  by  the  faithful ;  but  a  party  com- 
posed of  deacons,  who  had  received  in  deposit 
the  vesels  of  this  church  during  the  persecu- 
tion, opposed  his  ordination.  These  unMorlhy 
priests,  hoping  to  divide  among  themselves 
these  rich  spoils,  raised  altar  against  altar. 

Botrus  and  Calensius.  enraged  at  not  having 
been  chosen  to  fill  the  see,  joined  them,  and 
drew  into  their  party  a  lady  of  illustrious 
birth,  named  Lucilla.  Women  always  give  a 
great  impulse  to  all  the  plots  which  are  formed, 
in  church  or  state.  Lucilla  was  rich,  beauti- 
ful— surrounded  by  luunerous  friends.     For  a 


We  enter  now  upon  a  vast  career,  less  ob- 
scure than  that  of  the  preceding  ages.  His- 
tory will  lighten  up,  with  her  sublime  torch, 
the  enormous  crimes  and  scandalous  de- 
baucheries which  we  shall  find  on  the 
throne  of  the  emperors,  or  the  chair  of  the 
popes. 

Melchiades,  the  new  pontiff,  was  an  Afri- 
can. During  his  reign,  the  church  commenced 
enjoying  a  little  tranquillity.  Maxentius  only 
persecuted  religion  at  intervals  ;  and  then  only 
to  gratify  his  ill-regulated  passions.  Thus,  he 
carried  off  Christian  girls  and  women,  whom 
he  made  subservient  to  his  infamous  plea- 
sures. The  conduct  of  the  tyrant  excited  the 
indignation  of  the  faithful,  and  Melchiades 
wrote  to  Constantine,  who  had  advanced  to 
Treves,  to  come  and  combat  Maxentius. 

Constantine  had  been  providing,  for  a  long 
time,  the  means  to  mount  the  throne,  and  his 
policy  rendered  him  favourable  to  Chris- 
tianity. He  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  Mel- 
chiades, and  his  aiTny  marched  on  Milan. 

His  first  act  of  power  was  to  make  an  edict 
in  favour  of  the  Christian  religion ;  but  at  the 
same  time,  he  left  to  the  pagans  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  their  ceremonies:  "Because,"  said 
he,  '-I  have  learned  that  religion  should  be 
free ;  and  that  each  one  should  be  left  to  wor- 
ship God  as  he  judges  proper."  At  this  time, 
those  who  professed  Catholicism,  were  still 
ignorant  that  we  are  permitted  to  force  men 
to  worship  God,  contrary  to  their  convictions. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


55 


long  time  her  conduct  had  brought  scandal 
upon  the  church.  This  woman  was  anxiously 
desirous  to  be  avenged  on  Cecilian,  who  had 
reproved  her,  in  a  full  assembly,  tor  her  levity 
and  vices. 

The  three  parties,  united,  formed  a  power- 
ful faction,  which  declared  against  Cecilian, 
and  refused  to  communicate  with  him. 

Seventy  bishops  seconded  their  culpable 
designs.  Having  assembled  in  council  at 
Carthage,  they  condemned  Cecilian,  because 
he  had  refused  to  appear  before  them,  to  jus- 
tify himself ;  because  he  had  been  ordained 
by  traitors :  and  lastly,  because  he  had  hin- 
dered the  faithful  from  taking  provisions  to 
the  martyrs,  who  were  imprisoned  during  the 
last  persecution. 

After  this  decision,  the  fathers,  regarding 
the  see  of  Carthage  as  vacant,  proceeded  to 
a  new  election ;  and  ordained  a  man  named 
Majorin,  a  domestic  of  Lucilla,  and  who  had 
been  a  reader  in  the  deaconate  of  Cecilian. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  schism  of  the 
Donatists  in  Africa.  They  derive  their  name 
from  Donatus,  of  Casoe  Nigrse,  and  from  an- 
other, Donatus,  still  more  renowned,  who 
succeeded  Majorin  in  the  tille  of  bishop  of 
Carthage. 

The  Donatists  carried  their  complaints  be- 
fore the  emperor,  and  besought  him  to  drive 
Cecilian  from  Carthage  ;  but  the  prince,  wish- 
ing to  render  an  equitable  decision,  ordered 


the  bishop,  and  his  adversaries,  to  appear  be- 
fore a  council  for  judgment. 

Cecilian  went  to  Home,  with  ten  bishops  of 
his  party;  Donatus,  with  an  equal  number  of 
prelates.  The  synod  assembled  in  the  pa- 
lace of  the  empress  Fausta,  called  the  house 
of  the  Lateran.  The  fathers  declared  Ceci- 
lian innocent^and  approved  of  his  ordination. 
Donatus  was  alone  condemned,  as  the  author 
of  all  the  scandal  of  this  accusation,  and  was 
convicted  of  great  crimes,  by  his  own  confes- 
sion. The  other  bishops  were  confirmed  in 
their  dignities,  and  permitted  to  return  to  their 
sees,  though  they  had  been  ordained  by  the 
schismatic  Majorin. 

The  pope  and  the  other  bishops  rendered 
an  account  to  Constantine,  of  the  judgment 
which  the  council  of  Rome  had  pronounced 
upon  the  aliair  of  the  Donatists,  by  sending 
him  a  copy  of  the  record  of  their  proceedings. 
Melchiades  died  three  months  after,  in  the 
course  of  the  year  314. 

In  spite  of  the  condemnation  which  they 
had  encountered,  the  Donatists  persevered  in 
their  schism.  They  had  the  boldness  to  com- 
plain of  the  council  of  Rome,  affirming  that 
the  judges  had  been  corrupted  by  Cecilian ; 
and  even  in  the  time  of  St.  Augustine,  under 
the  emperor  Honorius,  they  accused  pope 
Melchiades  of  having  delivered  up  the  sacred 
books  to  the  pagans,  and  of  having  offered 
incense  to  idols. 


SYLVESTER,  THE  THIRTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  314. — Constantine,  Emperor.] 

Birth  of  Sylvester — Council  of  Ancyra — Council  of  Neocesarea — Celibacy  of  the  priests—  Dis' 
orders  in  convents — Heresy  of  Arius — He  is  exiled — Sect  of  the  Vdesians — The  priests 
desire  to  imitate  them — A  holy  bishop  opposes  the  law  of  celibacy — His  opinion  adopted  by 
the  council — Knavery  of  the  priests,  in  relation  to  the  true  cross — Pope  Sylvester  is  accused  of 
having  abjured  the  Christian  religion,  by  sacrificing  to  idols — His  death. 


SvLVKSTER,  a  Roman  by  birth,  was  the  son 
of  Rnliiuis  and  Justa,  a  woman  of  great  piety. 
On  his  arrival  at  the  pontificate,  the  church 
was  occupied  by  no  afl'airof  more  importance 
in  the  West,  and  in  Africa,  than  that  of  the 
Donatists.  The  holy  father  obtained  from  the 
emperor  permission  to  hold  a  new  council  in 
the  city  of  Aries,  and  th(!  heretics  were  ana- 
thematised, and  driven  from  the  communion 
of  the  faithful. 

At  the  same  period,  a  council  was  held  at 
Ancyra,  which  has  become  famous  for  its 
canons.  The  tenth  nms  thus :  "  If  deacons, 
at  the  ordination,  have  made  protestation  that 
tliey  intend  to  marry,  they  shall  remain  in  the 
ministry,  by  the  permi.-^sion  of  the  bishop. 
But,  if  they  have  not  made  any  protestation 
before  their  ordination,  and  ihey  contract  a 
second  marriage,  they  shall  be  driven  from 
the  ministry."'  This  confirms  us  in  the  opin- 
ion, that  the  celibacy  of  the  priesthood  was 
unknown  ia  the  apostles'  times,  and  for  a  long 


'  period  after.  Still,  it  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine from  what  period  it  was  that  ecclesias- 
tics have  preferred  '•  to  burn  than  to  marry." 
Historians  show  that,  during  the  third  century, 
priests,  being  more  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the 
persecutions  than  the  lait}',  with  difficulty 
found  wives,  and  were  accustomed  to  live  in 
a  state  of  celibacy. 

The  council  of  Neoc(rsarea  took  place  some 
months  afterwards,  and  a  part  of  the  same 
bishops  assisted  at  the  new  assembly.  The 
fathers  enacted  many  reirulations  for  ecclesi- 
astical discipline.  In  the  first  canon,  they  pro- 
hibited priests  from  marrying  under  pain  of 
being  depo.sed.  In  the  eighth,  they  permit 
those  already  married,  to  continue  to  live  with 
their  wives,  and  to  leave  them  only  on  con- 
viction of  adultery.  This  usage  still  prevails 
in  the  Grecian  church. 

The  famous  Cornelius  Asrippa  blamed  se- 
verely the  law,  which  compelled  ecclesiastics 
to  deprive  themselves  of  wives.    He  accused 


56 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


the  bishops,  opposed  to  the  marriage  of  priests, 
of  permitting  concubinage,  in  order  that  they 
might  draw  from  it  large  revenues.  He  adds, 
that  a  certain  bishop  boasted  that  he  had  in  his 
diocese,  eleven  thousand  priests,  living  in  a 
state  of  concubinage,  who  paid  him  a  crown  of 
gold  yearly,  to  tolerate  their  mistresses.  This 
motive  alone,  had  induced  him  to  oppose  the 
marriage  of  priests. 

In  the  sjiiod,  the  fathers  observed  that  mar- 
riage drew  after  it  terrestrial  and  sensual  oc- 
cupations, which  turned  away  ministers  from 
the  duty  which  the  priesthood  imposed  on 
them.  Unfortunately,  the  promoters  of  this 
jurisprudence  had  not  studied  human  nature 
sufficiently,  when  they  passed  the  law  of  ce- 
libacy. With  more  indulgence  for  human 
passions,  they  would  have  prevented  the  scan- 
dalous debaucheries  of  the  priests,  and  the 
disorders  of  the  convents. 

During  the  reign  of  Constantine.  the  church 
entered  upon  a  state  of  grandeur  and  pros- 
perity, which  was  soon  troubled  by  Arius, 
chief  of  a  sect,  who  was  born  in  Lybia.  Eu- 
sebius,  bishop  of  Nicomedia,  took  the  new  he- 
resy under  his  protection^  and  contributed 
powerfully  to  its  propagation.  This  prelate, 
adroit  and  skilful,  had  drawn  to  his  party 
Constantia,  sister  to  the  emperor,  whose  good 
opinion  he  had  obtained  ;  and  by  her  aid,  it 
made  rapid  progress.  Daring  bishops  listened 
favourably  to  the  new  schism,  and  terrible 
disputes  and  bloody  combats  took  place. 
Then  the  emperor  Constantine,  in  order  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  disorders,  assembled  the  first 
general  council  at  Nice,  which  condemned  the 
doctrine  of  the  Arians. 

Arius  taught  a  Trinity,  in  which  God,  the 
father,  was  elevated  above  other  persons.  He 
regarded  Christ  as  the  first  of  created  beings, 
and  affirmed  that  God  had  adopted  him  for 
his  son  ]  but;  that  the  son  did  not  partake  of 
the  paternal  consubstance  ]  nor  was  he  equal 
to  the  father — nor  consubstantial  with  him  • 
nor  eternal,  nor  co-eternal.  That  the  son  was 
not,  until  he  was  made ;  that  he  had  been 
created  out  of  nothing,  as  all  the  other  beings 
of  creation ;  and  that  he  was  not  the  true  God, 
but  made  one  by  participation. 

Some  authors  maintain,  that  the  obscurity 
of  the  matter,  aided  much  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  heresy.  They  add  that,  at  the 
last,  Arius,  having  abjured  his  sentiments,  in 
the  presence  of  a  council,  remained  at  peace 
with  the  church.  Others  maintain,  with  more 
truth,  that  he  was  exiled,  and  cite  a  decree  of 
Constantine,  which  ordered  his  writings  to  be 
burned,  and  threatened  with  death  those  who 
should  have  the  boldness  to  preserve  them — 
a  singular  decree,  which  condemned  to  ban- 
ishment Arius  and  his  disciples,  and  ordained 
penalty  of  death  against  those  who  preserved 
the  heretical  works. 

The  great  question,  in  relation  to  the  cele- 
bration of  Easter,  was  also  agitated,  and  de- 
cided by  the  council  of  Nice.  The  fathers 
determined  to  celebrate  the  same  day,  through- 
out all  the  church;  and  the  Orientals  engaged 
to  conform  to  the  practice  of  Rome,  of  Egypt, 


and  the  West.  They  then  made  a  canon  in 
relation  to  eunuchs.  They  permitted  those 
who  had  been  mutilated  by  surgeons,  or  bar- 
barians, to  remain  in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy, 
and  pronounced  an  interdict  against  those 
who  had  operated  on  themselves.  The  judg- 
ment of  the  fathers  teaches  us,  that  a  badly 
understood  zeal  for  purity,  had  led  many 
priests  to  imitate  Origen.  The  sect  of  the  Va- 
lesians  was  distinguished  for  this  cruel  prac- 
tice. They  were  all  eunuchs,  and  prohibited 
their  disciples  from  eating  the  flesh  of  animals 
until  they  had  themselves  undergone  the  same 
operation.  Then  they  guve  them  every  liberty, 
regarding  them  as  safe  against  temptations. 

An  ecclesiastical  writer,  of  a  later  age,  urges 
the  bishops  of  our  communion,  who  have  made 
vow  of  living  in  a  state  of  celibacy,  to  make 
a  law,  V  hich  should  constrain  monks  and  ab- 
bots to  follow  the  example  of  the  Valesians. 
This  cruel  precaution  would  arrest  the  disor- 
ders of  the  clergy.  But  we  fear  that  marriages 
would  not  be  as  fruitful  as  they  are  now,  if  all 
the  priests  were  eunuchs. 

"  The  grand  council  pushed  its  severity  so 
far,  as  to  prohibit  bishops,  priests,  or  clerks, 
from  keeping  in  their  houses  women,  sub- 
introduced,  but  a  mother,  sister,  aunt,  or  other 
person,  who  could  not  excite  suspicion."  They 
denominated  sub-introduced,  those  who  dwelt 
with  the  ecclesiastics  as  nieces,  cousins,  or 
young  and  handsome  serving-women.  The 
council  of  Eliberis  had  already  made  the  same 
decree.  At  Nice,  a  law  still  more  severe  was 
proposed.  It  prohibited  those  who  were  in 
sacred  orders — that  is,  bishops,  priests,  or  dea- 
cons— from  living  with  the  women  whom  they 
had  espoused  when  laymen.  But  the  confessor 
Paphnuces,  a  bishop  in  the  upper  Thebais,  rose 
and  said,  with  a  loud  voice,  "  My  brethren, 
we  would  not  impose  a  yoke  so  heavy  upon 
priests  and  clerks.  Marriage  is  honourable, 
and  the  bed  undefiled.  Too  great  severity 
would  be  injurious  to  the  church ;  for  all  men 
are  not  capable  of  so  perfect  a  continence.  It 
should  be  sufficient,  to  prohibit  priests  from 
marrying,  without  forcing  them  to  surrender 
the  wives  they  had  espoused,  before  entering 
into  holy  orders."  The  opinion  of  Paphnuces 
had  greater  weight  with  the  council,  from  the 
fact,  that  the  holy  confessor,  having  never 
married,  had  preserved  great  continence  in 
the  Episcopal  see.  His  opinion  was  adopted. 
The  question  of  marriage  was  abandoned,  and 
the  priests  were  left  entirely  at  liberty. 

The  council,  having  closed  its  sittings,  the 
emperor  Constantine  wrote  two  letters,  in 
order  to  enforce  its  decrees.  Those  who  re- 
fused to  submit  to  the  decisions  of  the  fathers, 
were  pursued  by  the  secular  authority,  which 
was  more  fearful  than  the  canons  of  a  coun- 
cil. The  cares  of  the  prince  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  persecution  of  heretics.  Constan- 
tine was  engaged  in  extending  the  Christian 
religion  into  all  parts  of  his  dominions.  He 
even  wished  to  erect  a  splendid  church  on  the 
very  spot  where  Jesus  Christ  had  been  buried; 
and  Helen,  his  mother,  undertook  a  journey 
to  the  East,  during  the  pontificate  of  Eusebius, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


57 


in  order  to  build  at  Jerusalem  the  church  of 
tlie  Holy  Sepulchre.  Legends  affirm,  that  in 
digging  the  earth  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the 
temple,  they  found  the  cross  of  the  Saviour. 
The  princess  sent  a  portion  of  this  precious 
relic  to  her  son,  but  left  the  trunk  of  the  cross 
at  Jerusalem.  Since  that  period,  the  wood  of 
the  true  cross  has  so  multiplied  itself,  that  if 
we  could  collect  all  the  pieces  which  are  ex- 
posed for  the  veneration  of  the  peojjle,  they 
would  make  fue  wood  enough  to  warm  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Paris  during  the  most  severe 
winter ;  for  there  scarcely  exists  a  church, 
which  does  not  boast  of  being  enriched  with 
these  precious  relics. 

All  that  we  have  related,  belongs  rather  to 
ecclesiastical  history  than  to  the  life  of  pope 
Sylvester.  The  actions  of  this  pontiff  remain 
in  oblivion ;  and  the  legends  transmitted  by 
the  monks,  since  the  lilth  century,  are  less 
adapted  to  put  us  in  possession  of  the  truth, 
than  to  convince  us  that  the  history  of  a  man 
so  celebrated  has  been  corrupted  nearly  up 
to  its  very  source.  We  would  not  adopt  the 
fictions  of  authors,  who  represent  Sylvester  as 
the  catechist  of  Constantine  and  pretend  that 
this  prmce  was  cured  of  a  leprosy,  and  bap- 
tized by  the  pontiff.  They  add,  that  the  em- 
peror, in  gratitude,  made  nim  a  donation  of 
the  city  of  Rome,  and  ordered  all  the  bishops 
of  the  world  to  be  submissive  to  the  pontifical 
see.  They  affirm  that  the  council  of  Nice 
assembled  by  the  orders  of  Sylvester;  and 
that  he  first  granted  the  right  of  asylum  to 
clmrches. 

Romuala,  and  some  undiscerning  compilers^ 
give  us  all  these  ridiculous  fables  as  facts,  of 
which  celebrated  historians  have  proved  the 
falsity. 

In  the  council  of  Rome,  held  in  378,  under 
pope  Damasus,  the  fathers  wrote  to  the  em- 
peror Gratian  that  Sylvester,  having  been  ac- 
cused by  sacrilegious  men,  had  pleaded  his 
cause  before  Constantine,  because  there  was 


no  council  before  which  he  could  appear.  They 
adduce  this  example  to  show  that  Damasus 
and  the  popes,  his  successors,  could  defend 
themselves  before  the  emperors — a  new  proof 
that,  in  the  first  ages  of  the  church,  the  pon- 
tifi's  regarded  themselves  as  secondary  to  the 
secular  authority. 

We  will  also  remark,  that  the  comicil  of  Nice 
granted  to  the  bishop  of  Alexandria  the  same 
privileges  as  to  the  pastor  of  Rome.  The  au- 
thority of  the  pope  was  then  enclosed  within 
the  bounds  of  his  diocese ;  he  had  no  juris- 
diction nor  power  over  the  other  bishops ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  was  compelled  to  submit  to 
the  decrees  of  councils,  and  the  judgment  of 
his  colleagues. 

In  all  the  persecutions  which  St.  Athanasius 
underwent  from  the  Arians,  the  bishop  of 
Rome  was  never  consulted ;  nor  did  they 
submit  to  his  decision  the  articles  of  faith 
which  caused  the  disorders  in  the  East,  be- 
cause he  was  only  regarded  as  any  other  me- 
tropolitan bishopp  to  whom  was  due  primacy 
in  the  rank  of  his  see. 

The  liberality  of  the  emperor  Constantine 
produced  great  evils  in  the  church,  as  the 
legend  of  Sylvester  teaches  us.  It  affirms,  that 
on  the  day  of  the  pretended  donation  of  Con- 
stantine, a  voice  was  heard  from  heaven,  ex- 
clauning,  "  To  day  is  poison  spread  through 
the  church." 

The  Donatists,  who  persevered  in  their 
schism,  tarnished  the  memory  of  Sylvester. 
They  accused  him  of  having  dishonoured  the 
priesthood  during  the  reign  of  pope  Marcellinus, 
in  delivering  up  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  pagans, 
and  in  offering  incense  to  idols.  Their  accu- 
sations were  supported  by  terrible  and  irrefra- 
gable proofs. 

Sylvester  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  year 
335,  after  a  pontificate  of  twenty-one  years. 
His  body  was  interred  in  the  cemetery  of 
Priscilla,  a  short  league  from  the  city  of 
Rome. 


MARK,  THE  THIRTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  336. — Constantine,  Emperor.] 
Election  of  Mark — Obscurity  of  his  history — Supposed  writings — Refutation  by  the  Protestants. 


According  to  the  most  e.xact  chronology, 
Mark,  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  Pris- 
cus,  was  chosen  on  the  18th  of  January,  in 
the  year  336,  to  govern  the  church.  His  pon- 
tificate lasted  eight  months,  and  we  are  igno- 
rant of  any  of  his  actions. 

In  the  works  of  St.  Athanasius  is  found  a 
letter  from  the  bishops  of  Egypt  to  pope  Mark, 
in  which  they  ask  of  him  copies  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  council  of  Nice — but  the  Pro- 
testants regard  it  as  supposititious.  The  learn- 
ed of  our  own  communion  deny  the  authen- 
ticitv  of  this  letter,  and  of  the  pretended  reply 
Vol.  I.  H 


of  the  pope,  in  which  he  takes  the  proud  title 
of  universal  bishop. 

The  holy  father  died  on  the  7th  of  October, 
336,  and  was  interred  in  the  cemetery  of  Cal 
listus. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Mark,  and  undei 
the  reign  of  his  successors,  the  new  capital 
of  the  empire,  built  upon  the  site  of  ancient 
Byzantium,  continued  to  make  considerable 
progress.  According  to  the  historian  Sozo- 
meiies,  its  circumference  was  already  fifteen 
stadii.  The  interior  of  the  city  was  divided, 
Uke  ancient  Rome,  into  fourteen  quarters :  the 


58 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


public  squares  were  surrounded  by  covered 
gulleries  ;  the  principal  streets  came  together 
at  a  magnificent  forum,  in  which  was  raised 
a  column  of  porphyry,  supporting  a  statue  of 
Constantine.  The  emperor  inhabited  a  splendid 
palace,  in  advance  of  which  he  had  con- 
structed an  immense  circus  •  an  hippodrome 
for  horse-racing  ]  a  course  for  foot  races ;  and 
an  amphitheatre  for  the  combats  of  wild 
beasts.  Constantine  built  besides  several 
theatres,  porticoes  or  galleries  for  promenades, 
baths,  aqueducts,  and  a  great  number  of  foun- 
tains. This  prince  also  constructed  a  building, 
in  which  polite  literature  and  the  sciences 
were  taught  ]  a  palace  of  justice  ;  and  public 
granaries,  for  the  distribution  of  grain  to  the 
citizens  who  built  the  city,  and  to  whom  Con- 
stantine had  allowed  a  perpetual  rent,  payable 
to  them  and  their  families,  in  grain.  The 
capital  was  also  enriched,  at  the  expense  of 


other  cities,  with  the  most  beautiful  statuary 
of  Greece.  The  Pythian  Appollo,  the  Smin- 
thian.  and  the  Tripod  of  Delphos,  decorated 
the  Hipprodrome.  The  Muses  of  Helicon,  and 
the  celebrated  statue  of  Rhea,  from  Mount 
Didymos,  were  placed  in  the  imperial  palace. 
But  that  which  most  particularly  characterized 
this  reign,  was  the  great  number  of  Christian 
churches  which  were  built  at  Constantinople. 
The  cathedral  called  St.  Sophia,  and  the  church 
of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  built  in  the  form  af 
a  cross,  attracted  admiration  from  the  splendour 
of  their  architecture.  The  prince,  destining 
this  last  for  his  burial  place,  had  built  a  tomb 
of  rich  marble  in  the  midst  of  the  twelve 
sepulchres  of  the  apostles,  "hoping,"  says 
Eusebius,  of  Cajsarea,  "  to  participate,  after 
his  death,  in  the  glory  of  these  princes  of  the 
church." 


JULIUS  THE  FIRST,  THIRTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  337. — Constantine,  Constantius  and  his  Brothers,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Julius — Baptism  of  Constantine  before  his  death — He  is  canonized  in  the  Greek 
church — St.  Athanasius  is  accused  of  several  crimes — Council  of  Antioch — The  pope  is  mal- 
treated by  the  bishops  of  the  East— Deplorable  state  of  the  church— Death  of  the  pope— His 
infallibility  in  danger. 


The  Holy  See  remained  vacant  several 
months,  when  Julius,  a  Roman  by  birth,  vv^as 
chosen  to  occupy  it.  Soon  after  the  elevation 
of  the  holy  father,  Constantine  retired  to  By- 
zantium, to  escape  from  the  execration  of  the 
senate,  the  Roman  people,  and  even  the  Chris- 
tians, whom  he  had  overwhelmed  with  bene- 
fits. Baptism,  which  he  had  deferred  to  the 
last  period  of  his  life,  was  then  administered 
to  him,  and  he  embraced  Christianity — not 
from  conviction,  but  from  policy.  Scaliger 
says,  in  speaking  of  this  prince,  "  He  was  as 
much  a  Christian  as  I  am  a  Tartar."  The  his- 
torian Zozimus  also  accuses  him  of  having 
been  converted  to  the  new  religion,  because 
the  priests  of  paganism  refused  him  expiation 
for  the  enormous  crimes  which  he  had  com- 
mitted, whilst  the  Christian  religion  offered 
liim  full  and  entire  absolution.  The  Grecian 
priests  have,  nevertheless,  placed  this  monster 
in  their  menology,  and  honour  him  as  a  saint. 
He  died  soon  after  his  baptism,  and  left 
by  his  will  his  empire  to  his  three  sons  and 
two  nephews. 

The  followers  of  Arius  increased  daily; 
they  seduced  Constantius,  who  had  obtained, 
in  the  division  of  the  empire,  Asia,  the  East, 
and  Egyqit.  But  the  emperor  Constantine  the 
Younger,  who  reigned  in  Spain,  Gaul,  and  all 
the  country  beyond  the  Alps,  protected  the 
orthodox.  St.  Athanasius  was  re-established 
in  his  church  at  Alexandria,  where  he  was 
again  exposed  to  the  calumnies  of  his  ene- 
miesj  who  accused  him  of  having  committed 


murders,  and  excited  violent  seditions  in  his 
diocese. 

In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  the  scandal,  the 
patriarch  Eusebius  assembled,  in  the  city  of 
Antioch,  a  council,  composed  of  eighty-seven 
bishops,  in  order  to  judge  Athanasius.  No 
bishops  from  Italy  or  the  West  presented 
themselves  in  the  name  of  Julius;  and  the 
council,  presided  over  by  Eusebius,  was  again 
desirous  of  driving  St.  Athanasius  from  his 
see.  They  decided  the  different  articles  of 
faith  in  favour  of  the  Arians,  and  composed 
twenty-five  canons  of  discipline,  which  have 
since  been  received  by  the  whole  church.  The 
second  canon  is  particularly  remarkable.  The 
fathers  condemned  those  who  entered  the 
churches  in  a  spirit  of  disobedience  or  sin- 
gularity, and  refuse  to  join  in  prayer  and  the 
communion.  They  ordered  that  they  should 
be  driven  from  the  church.  This  demon- 
strates that,  in  the  first  ages  of  Christianity, 
the  faithful,  taking  part  in  Christian  assem- 
blies, were  accustomed  to  participate  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  eucharist. 

The  partizans  of  Eusebius  addressed  to 
Rome  letters,  filled  with  complaints  of  the  in- 
timacy which  the  holy  father  maintained  with 
Athanasius,  and  of  his  pretensions  to  re- 
establish in  their  sees  the  bishops  deposed 
by  the  councils.  They  sent  these  letters  by 
the  deacons  Elpidius  and  Philoxenes,  whom 
the  pope  had  sent  to  Antioch,  ordering  them 
to  bring  back,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  reply 
of  the  pontiff.  Julius  immediately  assembled 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


59 


a  new  council,  to  judge  the  cause  of  Athana- 
sius,  and  wrote  to  the  emperor  Coustans,  to 
apprise  him  of  the  treatment  which  this  pre- 
late, and  Paul  of  Constantinople,  had  sutfered. 
The  prince  wrote  to  Constantius,  his  brother, 
beseeching  him  to  send  three  bishops,  to  ren- 
der an  account  of  the  deposition  of  Paul  and 
Athanasius.  The  embassadors  went  to  Gaul, 
in  obedience  to  the  emperor's  orders;  but  the 
bishop  of  Treves  was  unwilling  to  receive 
them  to  his  communion ;  and  they,  on  their 
side,  refused  to  enter  into  a  conference  with 
the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  pretending  that 
they  did  not  justify  the  judgment  of  the  Ori- 
entals, and  contented  themselves  with  placing 
in  the  hands  of  Constans  the  new  profession 
of  faith  which  had  been  composed  smce  the 
council. 

The  church  was  then  in  frightful  disorder. 
Bishops  and  fathers  launched  at  each  other 
terrible  anathemas.  The  assembly  at  Sardes 
pronounced  a  condemnation  against  the  ene- 
mies of  Athanasius,  and  eight  of  the  principal 
chiefs  of  the  faction  were  deposed  and  ex- 
communicated. The  Eusebians,  on  their  side, 
contirmed  the  proceedings  against  Athanasius 
and  his  adherents.  They  deposed  Julius, 
bishop  of  Rome,  for  having  admitted  them  to 
his  communion;  and  Osius,  of  Cordova,  for 
having  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with 
Paulinus  and  Eustathes,  bishops  of  Antioch. 


I  They  excommunicated  Maximin,  bishop  of 
Treves,  and  deposed  Protogenes,  bishop  of  Sar- 
des— the  one  because  he  favoured  JVlarcel, 
who  had  incurred  a  condemnation — the  other 
because  he  had  sustained  the  deposed  priests. 
The  churches  of  the  East  and  West  were 
thus  divided,  and  did  not  communicate  for 
several  years.  At  length  Gregory  the  usurper 
of  the  see  of  Alexandria,  being  dead,  the 
emperor  recalled  St.  Athanasius,  and  re-estab- 
lished him  at  the  head  of  his  flock. 

t  Other  new  heresies  broke  out,  during  the 
pontificate  of  Julius:  but  history  does  not 
teach  us  whether  the  holy  father  protected  or 
combatted  them.  He  died  on  the  r2th  of 
April,  in  the  year  352.  after  having  governed 
the  church  of  Rome  during  fifteen  years,  and 
was  interred  on  the  Aurelian  Way,  in  the  ce- 
metery of  Callipodus. 

Julius,  before  his  death,  had  allowed  him- 
self to  be  deceived  by  the  hypocrisy  of 
Ursaces  and  Valerus,  who  had  simulated  a 
reconciliation  with  Athanasius,  in  order  to 
labour  the  more  ethcaciously  for  his  downfall; 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  according  to  the  promise 
of  the  evangelist,  did  not  discover  to  the  pon- 
tiff the  artifices  of  these  bishops,  whom  he 
received  to  his  communion. 

Gratian  and  Yvon  have  preserved  several 
decrees  of  Julius,  in  which  the  holy  father 
condenms  usury. 


LIBERIUS,  THE  THIRTY-SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  352. — Constans,  Julian,  Jovian,  Valentinian,  and  Valens,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Liberiits — He  cites  St.  Athanasius  before  his  tribunal — He  excommunicates  him,  and 
is  then  reconciled  to  him — Council  of  Aries — Disgraceful  fall  of  the  pope — The  extraordinary 
affection  of  the  Roman  ladies  for  him — Liberius  excommunicates  St.  Athanasius  a  second  time — 
The  pope  becomes  a  heretic,  and  draws  .several  bishops  with  htm,  into  the  doctrines  of  Amis — ■ 
He  changes  his  sciitiments  through  policy — He  returns  to  Arianism,  and  dies  a  heretic — 21ie 
priests  have  made  a  saint  of  him. 


Aftek  a  vacancy,  of  which  the  precise  du- 
ration is  unknown,  Marcellinus  Felix  Liberius 
was  chosen  to  govern  the  church  of  Rome,  in 
the  room  of  Julius  the  First.  He  was  a  Ro- 
man by  birth.  As  soon  as  the  Orientals  were 
advised  that  Liberius  occupied  the  pontifical 
see,  they  wrote  to  him  against  Athanasius. 
The  pope  eagerly  seized  upon  the  opportunity 
afforded  him  of  augmenting  the  influence  of 
his  see.  He  sent  Paul,  Lucius,  and  Emilius, 
to  St.  Athanasius,  citing  him  to  appear  at 
Rome,  to  reply  to  the  accusations  against  him  ; 
but  Athanasius,  doubting  the  issue  of  a  judg- 
ment, whose  preparation  announced  the  tri- 
umph ot  his  enemies,  refused  to  appear.  Then 
Liberius  condemned  the  holy  bishop,  and 
launched  against  him  the  most  terrible  ana- 
themas. 

The  bishops  of  Egypt  assembled  immedi- 
ately in  a  synod,  declared  their  metropolitan 
orthodox,  and  sent  back  to  the  pontiff  the  ex- 
coiumuuicatioa  luiuiched  against  him. 


Liberius  discovered  that  his  ambition  had 
led  him  into  a  dangerous  path:  and  in  order 
to  lead  back  the  bishops  who  had  repulsed  hia 
pretensions,  he  addressed  to  St.  Athanasius, 
his  early  friend,  a  letter  full  of  friendship  and 
respect. 

j      He  then  assembled  a  synod  of  the  bishops 

[  of  Italy,  and  read  in  their  presence  the  letter 
of  the  Orientals  agahist  Athanasius,  and  that 
of  the  bishops  of  Egypt  in  his  favour.  The 
council,  comprising  more  of  the  partisans  of 
St.  Athanasius  than  his  enemies,  decided  that 
it  was  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  to  favour 
the  views  of  the  Orientals,  and  advised  the 
pope  to  send  to  the  emperor  Constans.  Vin- 
cent, bishop  of  Capua,  and  several  father.s,  to 
beseech  him  to  assemble  a  council  at  Aquileia, 

I  to  put  an  end  to  these  differences. 

The  new  council  was  convoked  in  the  city 
of  Aries,  whither  the  emperor  went,  after 
the  defeat  and  tragical  death  of  the  usurper 

1  Magnentius.     The  deputies  of  the  pope,  Vui- 


60 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


cent  of  Capua,  and  Marcel,  bishop  of  another 
city  of  Campania,  not  sharing  with  him  in  the 
privilege  of  infallibility,  had  the  baseness  to 
urge  earnestly  that  the  fathers  should  pro- 
nounce condemnation  of  the  heresy  of  Arius, 
themselves  engaging,  on  this  condition,  to 
subscribe  to  the  condemnation  of  Athanasius. 
The  Orientals  refused  to  condemn  the  doc- 
trines of  Arius,  and  maintained  that  they  ought 
themselves  to  excommunicate  Athanasius. 
Vincent  of  Capua,  was  seduced  by  the  gold 
of  the  heretics,  and  ranged  himself  on  the  side 
of  the  Arians.  Liberius,  afhicted  by  this 
weakness,  wrote  to  the  celebrated  Osius  of 
Cordova,  to  express  to  him  his  grief,  and  pro- 
tested that  he  would  rather  die  in  defence  of 
the  truth,  than  become  the  accuser  of  St.  Atha- 
nasius. But  he  did  not  persevere  long  in  this 
generous  resolution  ;  and  his  disgraceful  fall 
spread  scandal  and  desolation  through  the 
church.  The  conduct  of  Vincent  greatly  em- 
barrassed the  pope,  in  regard  to  the  condem- 
nation of  the  Arians,  a  constant  aim  of  the 
Holy  See.  The  pontiff,  before  entering  on  a 
path  which  might  prove  dangerous,  deter- 
mined to  take  the  advice  of  I^ucifer,  bishop 
of  Cagiiari.  This  prelate  despised  the  world, 
a  virtue  very  rare  in  i^ersons  of  his  rank.  He 
was  well  informed,  an  extraordinary  thing 
among  bishops.  His  life  was  pure,  and  he  was 
not  wanting  in  firmness.  Besides,  he  was  well 
informed  in  religious  controversies,  and  did 
not  believe  that  the  Orientals  designed  to  at- 
tack the  faith.  His  advice  was.  that  the  holy 
father  should  send  deputies  to  the  emj)eror  to 
obtain  permission  to  treat  of  all  the  articles 
of  the  faith  in  a  general  council,  offering  him- 
self as  one  of  the  embassadors. 

Liberius  accepted  thankfully  this  proposal ; 
then  Lucifer,  a  priest  called  Panacrus,  and  the 
deacon  Hilarius,  were  charged  to  hand  to  the 
emperor  a  respectful  but  firm  letter.  Con- 
stantius,  solicited  by  the  Catholics  and  the 
Arians,  agreed  to  the  wishes  of  the  two  par- 
ties, and  by  his  orders  a  general  council  as- 
sembled at  Milan.  St.  Athanasius  was  there 
condemned,  on  the  accusations  of  his  enemies; 
which  decree  the  prince  sustained  with  all 
his  authority,  and  the  orthodox  prelates  who 
refused  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  emperor, 
were  exiled  to  Chalcedon. 

Constantius,  irritated  in  seeing  that  his  pa- 
cific dispositions,  so  far  from  appeasing  the 
fury  of  the  orthodox,  only  augmented  the 
more  their  pride,  and  that  his  states  continued 
to  be  troubled  by  religious  quarrels,  which  the 
obstinacy  of  the  pope  excited,  wrote  to  Leon- 
tius,  governor  of  Rome,  to  take  Liberius  by 
artifice,  and  send  him  to  his  court ;  or  to  em- 
ploy force,  if  necessary,  to  tear  from  his  flock 
this  priest  of  discord. 

Leontius  arrested  the  pope  during  the  night, 
and  conducted  him  to  the  emperor,  at  Milan, 
who  interrogated  the  holy  father  on  the  dis- 
putes of  the  church;  but  Liberius  was  intrac- 
table on  all  his  propositions.  The  prince,  in 
a  transport  of  rage,  exclaimed  :  '-Are  you  then, 
the  fourth  part  of  the  Christian  world,  being 
willing  alone  to  protect  an  impious  man,  and 


trouble  the  peace  of  the  universe."  The  pope 
replied,  "  When  I  shall  be  alone,  the  cause  of 
the  faith  will  not  be  less  good,  and  I  will  oppose 
your  orders.  Besides,  three  generous  persons 
were  found  to  resist  the  unjust  commands  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  I  will  imitate  those  bold 
Israelites."  Two  days  after  this  conference, 
on  a  formal  refusal  to  subscribe  to  the  condem- 
nation of  Athanasius,  he  was  exiled  to  Beiea,  in 
Thrace ;  and  Constantius,  whom  the  ultra  Mon- 
tanes  regard  as  a  persecutor,  sent  him  five  hun- 
dred crowns  of  gold  for  his  expenses. 

The  Arians  then  elevated  Felix  to  the  pa- 
pal see ;  but  two  years  afterwards,  Constan- 
tius, having  come  to  Rome,  many  ladies,  of 
illustrious  birth,  engaged  their  husbands  to  be- 
seech the  emperor  to  restore  the  shepherd  to 
his  flock,  threatening  to  go  themselves  to  seek 
for  their  bishop.  The  senators,  fearing  to  ex- 
cite the  wrath  of  the  emperor,  did  not  dare  to 
take  so  bold  a  step,  and  permitted  their  wives 
themselves  to  demand  the  pardon  of  Liberius. 
The  Roman  ladies  presented  themselves  be- 
fore the  emperor,  clothed  in  their  richest  gar- 
ments, and  covered  with  precious  stones,  in 
order  tliat  the  prince,  judging  of  their  quality 
by  their  appearance,  might  have  the  more 
regard  for  them. 

Arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  they  pros- 
trated themselves  before  Constantius,  and  be- 
sought him  to  have  pity  on  this  great  city,  de- 
prived of  its  shepherd,  and  exposed  to  the  in- 
cursions of  the  wolves.  He  permitted  himself 
to  bend.  After  having  consulted  with  the  bi- 
shops who  accompanied  him,  he  gave  orders, 
that  if  Liberius  entered  into  their  views,  he 
should  be  recalled,  and  should  govern  the 
church. 

Fortunatian,  bishop  of  Aquileia,  went  after 
Liberius,  to  engage  him  to  subscribe  to  the 
wishes  of  the  emperor.  The  pontiff,  wearied 
by  exile,  and  desirous  of  returning  to  Rome, 
hastened  to  yield  a  full  and  entire  adhesion 
to  the  third  council  of  Sirmium,  Avhich  had 
published  a  profession  of  faith,  favourable  to 
Arianism.  The  letter,  in  which  he  expresses 
his  acceptance  of  the  entire  heretical  formula 
of  the  Arians,  has  been  preserved.  He  then 
excommunicated  St.  Athanasius,  the  greatest 
defender  of  the  church ;  and  this  example  of 
cowardice  drew  into  the  heresy  a  great  noun- 
ber  of  bishops. 

After  this  shameful  apostacy,  Liberius  wrote 
to  the  bishops  of  the  East  in  these  teims : 

"I  defend  neither  Athanasius  nor  his  doc- 
trine. I  received  him  to  my  communion  in 
imitation  of  Julius,  my  predecessor,  of  happy 
memory ;  and  in  order  not  to  deserve  to  be 
called  a  prevaricator.  But,  it  has  pleased  God 
to  cause  me  to  know  that  you  have  justly  con- 
demned him,  and  I  have  given  my  consent  to 
his  excommunication.  Our  brother  Fortuna- 
tian is  charged  with  the  letters  of  submission 
which  I  have  written  to  the  emperor.  I  de- 
clare my  intention  to  repel  Athanasius  from 
our  communion  ;  nor  do  I  even  wish  to  receive 
letters  from  him;  desiring  to  have  peace  and 
union  with  you,  and  with  the  bishops  of  all 
the  Eastern  provinces. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


61 


'■  To  the  end  that  j'ou  may  know  clearly 
the  sincerity  with  which  I  speak  to  you,  our 
brother  DemophiluS;  having  desired  to  pro- 
pose to  my  acceptance  the  true  and  catholic 
I'aith  which  many  of  our  brethren,  the  bishops, 
have  examined  at  Sirmium,  I  have  received 
it  entire,  without  curtailing  a  single  article.  I 
beseech  you  then,  since  you  see  me  agreed 
with  you  in  all  things,  to  address  your  prayers 
to  the  emperor,  that  I  may  be  recalled  from 
my  exile,  and  be  restored  to  the  see  which 
God  has  confided  to  me."  That  was  the  aim 
of  the  pontiff's  desires. 

As  soon  as  St.  Hilarius  was  apprised  that 
the  pope  was  become  an  Arian,  he  launched 
against  him  three  terrible  anathemas,  calling 
him  apostate,  and  prevaricator  from  the  faith. 
Indeed,  it  was  dililcult.  after  a  fault  so  dis- 
graceful, to  apologize  for  the  holy  father. 
The  priests  even  avow  that  Liberius  was  an 
heretical  pope  :  that  he  had  abjured  the  Catho- 
lic faith  in  openly  proclaiming  himself  an  Ari- 
an ;  and  that  the  infallibility  of  the  Holy  See  is 
gravely  compromised  by  his  apostacy,  and  his 
adhesion  to  the  heretical  council  of  Sirmium. 

The  abjuration  of  the  pontiff  having  been 
accepted,  Liberius  returned  to  Rome,  where 
he  was  received  with  great  honours.  His 
friends  pushed  on  the  people  to  new  seditions, 
and  drove  Felix  from  the  city.  The  holy  father 
then  sustained  the  new  doctrines  which  he 
had  embraced,  and  caused  the  Arians  to  tri- 
umph. But  he  soon  perceived  that  he  could 
not  long  maintain  himself  on  the  see  of  Rome 
if  he  did  not  change  his  policy.  Then  the 
Arian  council  of  Rimini,  having  demanded 
his  approval,  he  refused  to  sign  the  formulary, 
and  concealed  himself  until  the  death  of  the 
emperor  Constantius. 

Three  years  afterwards,  the  demi-Arians, 
persecuted  by  Eudoxius  and  the  pure  Arians, 
held  a  synod,  and  agreed  to  submit  their  doc- 
trines to  the  judgment  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 
The  pope  made  a  difficulty  about  receiving 
them,  regarding  them  as  Arians  who  had 
abolished  the  faith  of  Nice ;  but  when  they 
consented  to  recognize  the  consubstantiality 
of  the  word,  he  gave  them  a  letter  of  com- 
munion, in  which  he  bears  witness,  that  he 
receives  with  great  joy,  the  proofs  of  the  purity 
of  their  faith,  and  of  their  union  with  all  the 
Western  churches. 


The  pope  did  not  long  survive  this  re-union 
of  the  demi-Arians ;  he  died  on  the  24th  of 
September,  366,  after  having  governed  the 
church  of  Rome  for  fourteen  years  and  some 
months.  His  apostacy  has  not  prevented  the 
very  illustrious  bishops  St.  Epiphanus,  St.  Ba- 
sil, and  St.  Ambrose  from  eulogizing  him 
highly.  The  Roman  Martyrology  has  even 
inscribed  his  name  among  the  saints  whom 
the  church  honours.  But  through  an  excess  of 
prudence,  on  the  part  of  cardinal  Baronius,  it 
has  of  late  years  been  suppress(!d. 

During  the  reign  of  pope  Liberius,  died, 
aged  one  hundred  and  five  years,  the  great 
St.  Anthony,  who  is  regarded  as  the  founder 
of  the  religious  orders  of  the  East.  The  visions 
of  tliis  monk,  rather  than  his  piety,  rendered 
him  celebrated  among  the  anchorites  of  his 
age,  and  g^ave  him  an  immense  reputation  for 
holiness,  which  extended  even  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  Gaul.  Although  he  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  St.  Anthony  has  left  many 
works,  which  he  dictated,  in  the  Eg}T)tian 
language,  to  his  disciples;  among  others,  seven 
letters,  filled  with  the  true  apostolic  spirit, 
which  were  translated  first  into  Greek,  and 
then  into  Latin.  In  the  midst  of  the  ex- 
travagant and  incoherent  recitals  of  his  ec- 
stacies,  and  his  temptations,  we  have  been 
struck  with  the  singular  revelation  which 
he  had  a  few  days  before  his  death,  and 
which  has  been  transmitted  to  us  by  one 
of  his  disciples.  "  The  holy  man  was  seated," 
thus  speaks  the  legendary,  '-when  the  divine 
Spirit  descended  upon  him.  Then  he  entered 
into  an  ecstacy;  his  eyes  raised  to  heaven, 
and  his  attention  fixed.  He  remained  for  five 
hours  in  complete  immobility,  groaning  from 
time  to  time ;  at  length  he  fell  upon  his  knees. 
We  all,  seized  with  dread,  besought  him  to 
tell  us  the  subject  of  his  tears.  '  Oh,  my  child- 
ren, replied  he,  the  wrath  of  God  will  fall 
upon  the  church ;  we  will  be  delivered  over 
to  men  like  to  unclean  beasts ;  for  I  have  seen 
the  holy  table  surrounded  by  mules  and  asses 
which  overturned  the  altars  of  Christ  by  rude 
kicks,  and  which  defiled  the  sacred  body  of 
the  Saviour !  I  heard  a  voice  cry  out.  Thus 
my  altar  shall  be  profaned,  by  abominable 
ministers,  who  shall  call  themselves  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  apostles.'  " 


FELIX  THE  SECOND,  THIRTY-EIGHTH  POPE— OR  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  366.] 

Election  of  Felix — He  is  ordained  pontiff,  in  the  presence  of  the  eunuchs  of  the  emperor — Two 
popes  at  Rome — Felix  is  exiled — His  death — He  is  regarded  as  a  saint — Trickery  of  the  priests. 


Opinions  are  divided  on  the  subject  of  Fe- 
lix, as  to  whether  he  merits  the  name  of  pope, 
or  that  of  anti-pope  and  schismatic.    Authors, 


the  contrary,  that  he  was  legitimately  chosen 
bishop  of  Rome,  and  has  decreed  to  him  the 
honours  of  martyrdom.    This  authority,j\vith- 


respectable  for  their  knowledge,  speak  of  him  j  out  convincing  us  of   the  holiness  of  Felix, 
with  contempt.    The  church  maintains,  on  '  compels  U3,  at  least,  not  to  neglect  his  history. 


62 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


A  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  Anasta- 
sius,  he  was  still  a  deacon  when  the  pope  Li- 
berius  was  sent  into  exile.  The  Arians  wished 
to  place  another  bishop  over  the  see  of  Rome  ; 
but  the  clergy  having  sworn  that  they  would 
not  receive  any  other  whilst  Liberius  was 
living,  it  was  necessary  to  use  address  to  ren- 
der this  oath  useless.  The  emperor  Constan- 
tius  employed  Epictetus,  a  young  neophyte, 
bold  and  violent,  whom  he  had  created  bi- 
shop of  Centumcella,  now  Civita  Vecchia, 
S'tuated  upon  the  Tuscan  p-ulf.  It  was  from 
the  hands  of  this  prelate  that  Felix  received 
episcopal  ordination.  If  we  can  believe  St. 
Athanasius,  the  sacred  ceremony  took  place 
in  the  imperial  palace,  although  it  should 
have  happened  in  the  church.  Three  eu- 
nuchs represented  the  faithful  people  of 
Rome,  and  three  bishops  laid  their  hands  on 
Fehx. 

Authors  have  different  opinions  as  to  his 
conduct,  and  his  orthodoxy.  Some  say  he 
was  an  Arian  ;  others  maintain  that  he  pre- 
served the  Nicean  creed,  and  that  he  did  not 
hold  intercourse  with  heretics,  except  upon 
matters  foreign  to  religion  ;  but  all  agree  that 
his  elevation  displeased  the  friends  of  Libe- 
rius, who  were  very  numerous  ;  and  when  the 
Roman  ladies  had  obtained  the  recall  of  this 
latter,  the  empeior  ordered  that  he  should 
govern  the  church  in  connection  with  Felix. 

Then  the  prelates,  assembled  in  council  at 
Sirraium,  wrote  to  the  clergy  of  Rome  to  re- 
ceive Liberius,  who  had  sworn  to  forget  the 
past,  and  live  in  peace  with  Felix.  But  one 
had  tasted  the  joys  of  episcopal  grandeur,  the 
other  was  ambitious  ;  both  had  partizans,  who 
excited  in  Rome  violent  quarrels  and  bloody 
combats.  At  length,  the  legitimate  chief  tri- 
umphed over  his  competitor,  drove  him  from 
the  city,  and  reduced  him  to  the  state  of  a 
bishop,  without  a  church. 

Felix,  whose  faction  was  not  destroyed,  re- 
turned soon  after  to  the  city,  daring  to  call  the 
people  together,  in  a  church  beyond  the  Tiber ; 
but  the  nobility  forced  him  to  quit  Rome  a 
second  tirhe.  The  prince,  who  was  always 
desirous  of  maintaining  a  good  standing  with 
Liberius,  was  then  obliged  to  give  him  up; 
and  Felix,  having  lost  his  protector,  retired  to 


a  small  estate  w-hich  he  owned,  where  ha 
lived  nearly  eight  years. 

The  faithful  now  honour  him  as  a  holy 
martyr,  driven  from  his  see  by  the  Arian, 
Constantius,  in  consequence  of  his  defence  of 
the  Catholic  faith.  The  pontificate  of  Da- 
masus  adds,  that  he  was  massacred  at  Ceri, 
in  Tuscany,  by  the  orders  of  the  emperor, 
whom  he  had  excommunicated.  Neverthe- 
less, it  has  been  proved,  that  the  title  of  saint 
was  given  him  by  Gregory  the  Great,  and  that 
he  was  on  the  point  of  losing  it  under  Gregory 
the  Thirteenth,  by  an  incident,  of  which  the 
cardinal  Baronius  has  transmitted  to  us  the 
relation.  He  relates,  that  in  the  year  1382, 
whilst  they  were  labouring,  by  order  of  the 
pope,  on  the  reformation  of  the  Roman  Mar- 
tyrology.  they  were  deliberating  if  they  should 
give  to  Felix  the  title  of  martyr,  or  strike  him 
from  the  catalogue  of  saints.  Baronius  com- 
posed a  long  dissertation,  in  order  to  show 
that  Felix  was  neither  saint  nor  martyr.  He 
was  applauded  by  all  judicious  men,  and  the 
fathers  affirmed  that  he  had  been  inserted  by 
accident,  into  the  sacred  catalogue.  The  car- 
dinal Santorius,  undertook  the  defence  of  Fe- 
lix, but  met  with  no  success.  This  religious 
discussion  led  several  priests  to  dig  secretly 
under  the  altar  of  the  church  of  St.  Comus, 
and  St.  Damian,  where  they  discovered  a  great 
marble  sepulchre,  m  which  were  enclosed,  on 
one  side,  the  relics  of  the  holy  martyrs,  Mark, 
Marcellinus,  and  Tranquillin:  and  on  the  other, 
a  coffin,  with  this  inscription  :  '■•  The  body  of 
St.  Felix,  pope  and  martyr,  who  condemned 
Constantius." 

This  discovery,  having  been  made  on  the 
evening  cf  his  fete,  when  he  was  on  the  point 
of  losing  his  cause,  and  falling  from  heaven, 
they  attributed  to  a  miracle,  that,  which  can 
safely  be  called,  a  monkish  trick.  Baronius 
regarded  himself  as  blessed  in  finding  him- 
self defeated  by  a  saint,  and  retracted  at  once, 
all  that  he  had  written.  The  name  of  Felix 
was  then  re-established  in  the  Martyrology, 
where  his  worship  was  confirmed.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  reconcile  this  judgment  with  that  of 
Athanasius,  who  regarded  the  new  pontiff  as 
a  monster,  whom  the  malice  of  anti-Christ 
had  placed  in  the  Holy  See. 


DAMASUS,  THE  THIRTY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  366. — Valentinian,  Valens,  Gratian  and  Theodosius,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Damasus — He  embraces  the  party  of  the  anti-fope — Violerd  sedition  excited  by  the  two 

fopes,  DamasKs  and  Urban — Damasus  victorious — He  sets  fire  to  a  church — Luxury  of  the 
ishops  of  Rome — Debaucheries  of  the  priests — Hypocrisy  of  the  pope — Impostors  make  a 
saint  of  him — Frightful  scandal,  caused  by  the  pope — He  is  accused  of  adultery — Law  against 
the  insatiable  avarice  of  the  clergy — The  Arians  persecute  the  ortJiodox — Deaih  of  St.  Athana- 
sius— The  Luciferians — The  Donatists — Ambition  of  the  popes — Heresy  of  the  Priscillian- 
ists — Women  embrace  this  neiv  sect  with  enthusiasm — Debaucheries  in  their  assemblies — Another 
accusation  of  adultery  against  pope  Damasus — His  death. 

Damasus  was  a  Spaniard  by  birth,  and  the  I  lished  himself  at  Rome  as  a  scribe.  The  young 
son  of  a  writer,  named  Anthony,  who  estab- 1  Damasus,  having  be^;n  educated  with  great 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


63 


care,  in  the  study  of  polite  literature,  entered 
into  orders,  and  followed  pope  Liberius,  when 
exiled  to  Berea,  a  city  of  Thrace.  He  re- 
turned afterwards  to  Rome,  and  abandoned 
his  protector,  to  join  the  party  of  Felix. 

After  the  death  of  Liberius,  the  factions 
which  divided  the  clergy,  excited  a  violent 
sedition,  in  giving  him  a  successor.  Each 
party  assembled  separately.  Damasus,  who 
was  sixty  years  old,  was  chosen  and  ordain- 
ed in  the  church  of  Lucina,  whilst  the 
deacon  Ursin  was  proclaimed  in  another 
church.  When  it  came  to  mounting  the  papal 
see,  the  two  competitors  sharply  disputed  the 
throne,  and  the  people,  taking  part  in  the 
schism,  a  serious  revolt  ensued.  Juventius, 
prefect  of  Rome,  and  Julian,  prefect  of  pro- 
visions, exiled  Ursin,  as  well  as  the  deacons 
Amantius  and  Loup,  the  principal  leaders. 
They  then  arrested  seven  seditious  priests, 
whom  they  wished  to  banish  from  the  city. 
But  the  party  of  Ursin  rescued  them  from  the 
hands  of  the  ollicers,  and  conducted  them  in 
triumph  to  the  church  of  Julius.  The  parti- 
zans  of  Damasus,  armed  with  swords,  and 
clubs,  with  the  pontiff  at  their  head,  re-assem- 
bled, in  order  to  drive  them  off.  They  be- 
sieged the  church,  and  the  gates  being  forced, 
they  murdered  women,  children,  old  men, 
and  the  massacre  was  terminated  by  incen- 
diarism. The  next  day  there  were  found, 
under  the  ruins,  the  dead  bodies  of  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  persons,  who  had  been 
killed  by  arms  or  strangled  in  the  flames.  The 
prefect  Juventius,  not  being  able  to  quell  the 
sedition,  was  forced  to  retire. 

The  author  who  relates  these  facts,  blames 
equally  the  fury  of  the  two  factions  ;  he  adds : 
'•  When  I  consider  the  splendour  of  Rome,  I 
comprehend  that  those  who  desire  the  ofiice 
of  bishoj)  of  that  city,  would  use  all  their  ef- 
forts to  obtain  it ;  it  procures  for  them  great 
dignity,  rich  presents,  and  the  favours  of  the 
ladies ;  it  gives  them  splendid  ecjuipages, 
magnificent  garments,  and  a  table  so  choice, 
that  it  surpasses  that  of  kings." 

Damasus  was  yet  more  sensual  than  his 
predecessors.  He  loved  to  enjoy  the  pleasures 
of  a  soft  and  voluptuous  life.  Pretextatus,  who 
was  then  prefect  of  Rome,  said  to  him  in 
pleasantry:  '-'If  you  desire  me  to  become  a 
Christian,  make  me  bishop  in  your  place." 
And  truly,  so  rich  a  lord  would  not  have  been 
ambitions  of  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  if  the  con- 
duct of  Damasus  had  been  more  apostolical. 

The  luxury  of  the  Latin  church  was  odious 
to  St.  Jerome  and  St.  Gregory,  of  Nazianzus, 
who  indignantly  complained  of  it.  They  called 
tht!  Roman  clergy,  a  senate  of  Pharisees,  a 
troop  of  ignorant,  seditious  fellows,  a  band  of 
conspirators ;  they  blamed,  without  conceal- 
ment, the  prodigalities,  the  debaucheries,  the 
rascalities  of  the  priests,  and  condemned  the 
elevation  of  Damasus  to  the  Holy  See,  as  hav- 
ing bi-en  brousrht  about  by  force  and  violence. 

As  to  the  anti-pope  Ursin,  his  consecration 
was  still  more  irregular,  having  been  done  by 
a  single  prelate,  Paul,  bishop  of  Tibur,  a  gross 
and  ignorant  man.     Nevertheless,  the  schis- 


matics continued  to  assemble  in  the  cemete- 
ries of  the  martyrs,  and  preserved  a  church, 
where  they  held  their  assemblies,  though 
they  had  neither  priests  nor  clerks  in  the  city. 

Damasus  not  being  able  to  force  them  to 
submission,  had  recourse  to  the  authority  of 
the  prince,  to  obtain  an  order  to  drive  them 
from  Rome.  Joining  then  hjpocrisy  to  fanati- 
cism, he  made  a  solemn  procession,  to  beseech 
from  God,  the  conversion  of  these  obstinate 
schismatics.  But,  when  he  had  received  from 
the  emperor  authority  to  destroy  his  enemies, 
the  pontiff,  suddenly  changing  his  tactics,  as- 
sembled his  partizans,  and  with  his  tiara  on 
his  head,  and  arms  in  his  hands,  he  pene- 
trated into  the  church,  and  fell  upon  the  here- 
tics, giving  the  signal  for  combat.  The  car- 
nage was  long  and  bloody;  the  temple  of  the 
God  of  clemency  and  peace  was  soiled  by 
violence  and  assassination. 

This  terrible  execution  could  not  yet  break 
down  the  faction  of  the  followers  of  Ursui. 
Then  the  holy  father,  taking  advantage  of  the 
anniversary  of  his  birth,  assembled  several 
bishops,  from  whom  he  desired  to  force  the 
condemnation  of  his  competitor.  These  bi- 
shops, firm  and  just,  replied,  that  they  had 
assembled  to  rejoice  with  him,  and  not  to  con- 
demn a  man  unheard. 

Such  was  this  pope,  whom  impostors  dare 
to  call  "  a  very  pious,  and  a  very  holy  person." 

The  accusation  of  adulter)-,  which  was  af- 
terwards brought  against  the  holy  father,  by 
Calixtus  and  Concordius.  appears  to  be  estab- 
lished upon  the  strongest  proof.  The  synod 
which  freed  him  from  this  accusation,  did  not 
change  the  convictions  in  relation  to  this  fright- 
ful scandal ;  for  if  the  calumny  of  the  charge 
had  been  established,  the  accusers  would 
have  been  handed  over  to  the  secular  arm,  to 
be  punished  in  accordance  with  the  rigour  of 
the  Roman  law ;  and  we  know,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  they  were  sustained  by  the  princi- 
pal magistrates. 

In  order  to  understand  the  morals  of  the 
clergy,  of  this  period,  it  is  important  that  we 
should  make  mention  of  a  law  which  was 
passed  by  the  emperors  Valentinian,  Valens, 
and  Gratian,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  370. 
It  prohibited  ecclesiastics  and  monks  from 
entering  the  houses  of  widows,  or  of  single 
women  living  alone,  or  who  had  lost  their 
parents.  In  case  of  a  breach  of  it,  it  permit- 
ted relatives  or  connections  to  summon  the 
culjiable  priest  before  the  tribunals.  It  also 
prohibited  ecclesiastics,  under  penalty  of  con- 
iiscation,  from  receiving,  by  donation  or  tes- 
tament, the  property  of  their  penitents,  unless 
they  were  the  legitimate  heirs.  This  law  was 
read  every  Sunday  in  all  the  churches  of 
Rome.  It  is  supposed  that  the  pope  himself 
had  asked  for  its  passage,  in  order  to  repress, 
by  aid  of  the  secular  arm,  the  avarice  of  many 
priests,  who  seduced  the  Roman  dames  in 
order  to  enrich  themselves  with  their  spoils. 
The  avarice  of  the  ecclesiastics  had  led  them 
to  friLrhtful  corruptions:  they  surpas.'^ed  the 
most  skilful  in  the  art  of  extorting  property, 
and  their  prudence  was  so  marvellous,  that  no 


64 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


one  dared  bring  them  before  the  tribunals. 
St.  Jerome  openly  condemned  this  law  against 
the  avarice  of  the  priests,  which  fixed  a  mark 
of  infamy  on  the  clergy.  Still  it  appeared 
to  him  just  and  necessary.  "  What  a  dis- 
grace," he  exclaimed,  "to  see  pagan  ministers, 
jugglers,  play  actors,  hackney  coachmen,  de- 
praved females,  inherit,  without  obstacles, 
whilst  the  clergy  and  monks  are  alone  prohibit- 
ed from  acquiring  inheritances.  This  prohibi- 
tion is  made,  not  by  pagan  princes,  nor  by  the 
persecutors  of  Christianity,  but  by  Christian 
emperors  !  I  dare  not  complain  of  the  law.  for 
my  soul  is  deeply  afflicted  in  being  obliged  to 
confess  that  we  have  merited  it.  and  that  re- 
ligion, lost  through  the  insatiable  avarice  of 
our  priests,  has  forced  our  princes  to  apply  a 
remedy  so  violent." 

The  disorders  of  the  clergy  were  not,  how- 
ever, arrested  by  this  law.  The  emperors 
weire  constrained  to  make  a  new  one,  by 
Vi^hich  widows  were  prohibited  from  parting 
with  their  jewels  or  rich  furniture,  under  pre- 
tence of  religion.  They  ordered  that  they 
should  leave  them  to  their  children,  and  that 
no  one,  when  dying,  should  name  as  his  heir, 
the  priests,  the  poor,  or  the  churches. 

At  Constantinople,  the  Arian  sect,  by  turns 
persecuting  or  persecuted,  still  ruled,  under 
the  protection  of  the  emperor  Valens.  It  pur- 
sued the  orthodox  with  bitterness,  and  using 
reprisals,  inflicted  on  them  all  the  evils  it  had 
undergone.  St.  Athanasius,  Eusebius  of  Sa- 
mosata,  Meleceus,  and  St.  Basil,  wrote  to  Da- 
masus  touching  letters,  in  regard  to  the  wretch- 
ed state  of  affairs  in  the  East.  The  pope 
made  them  no  reply,  being  too  much  occupied 
at  Rome  to  give  any  attention  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  East ;  or,  rather,  his  great  age 
began  to  weaken  his  ambition.  Perchance, 
he  also  feared  that  the  emperor  Valens  might 
sustain  the  interests  of  Ursin,  his  enemy,  if 
he  declared  himself  with  too  much  warmth 
against  the  Arians ;  besides,  he  did  not  love 
St.  Basil,  who  had  opposed  Paulinus,  the  fa- 
vourite of  the  pope,  and  sustained  Meleceus, 
his  competitor  for  a  bishop's  see. 

Damasus  sent  back  the  letters  by  the  same 
bearer,  charging  him  to  say  to  the  bishops, 
that  he  ordered  them  to  follow,  word  for  word, 
the  formulary  which  he  prescribed.  Basil, 
despising  these  airs  of  hauteur,  broke  off  all 
intercourse  with  the  pontiff,  and  exhibited,  in 
several  letters,  his  indignation  against  the 
Holy  See. 

Egypt  remained  peaceful  during  the  life  of 
St.  Athanasius,  who  exercised,  for  forty-six 
years,  episcopal  functions  in  the  city  of  Alex- 
andria. As  the  bishop  had  entered  on  a  very 
advanced  age,  the  faithful  besought  him  to 
designate  his  successor.  He  named  Peter,  a 
venerable  man,  esteemed  by  all  for  his  great 
piety.  On  this  occasion,  the  Roman  pontiff 
wrote  to  the  new  prelate,  letters  of  commu- 
nion and  consolation,  which  he  sent  by  a  dea- 
con. The  prefect  of  Alexandria,  fearing  that 
Damasus  only  sought  the  alliance  of  the  bishop 
to  excite  anew  the  old  religious  quarrels,  ar- 
••ested  his  envoy,  and  caused  them  to  bind 


his  hands  behind  his  back,  ordering  that  he 
should  be  beaten  by  the  executioners  with 
stones,  and  thongs  of  leather,  loaded  with 
lead.  After  the  punishment,  the  unhappy 
deacon,  still  covered  with  blood,  was  imme- 
diately put  on  shipboard,  and  sent  to  the  cop- 
per mines  of  Pha'nicia.  Peter,  fearing  for 
himself,  escaped  during  this  execution,  and 
avoiding  his  persecutors,  took  refuge  in  a 
vessel,  which  carried  him  to  Rome,  Mhere  he 
remained  for  five  years  in  the  tranquillity  of 
a  safe  and  honourable  retreat. 

At  Rome,  the  party  of  Ursin  was  reduced 
to  the  last  extremities :  but  the  Luciferians, 
other  schismatics,  held  still  criminal  assem- 
blies, and  the  vigilance  of  Damasus  could  not 
hinder  them  from  having  a  prelate.  They 
had  chosen  Aurelius )  after  his  death  Ephe- 
sius  succeeded  him,  and  maintained  himself 
in  the  city,  in  defiance  of  the  pursuit  of  the 
pope. 

The  faction  of  the  Donatists  had  also  its 
bishop.  They  assembled  beyond  the  walla 
of  the  city,  in  the  caves  of  a  mountain.  These 
heretics  received  from  their  brethren  in  Africa, 
a  pretended  Roman  patriarch,  who,  faithful, 
in  spite  of  himself,  to  the  precepts  of  the 
evangelists,  had  nothing  but  humility  and 
poverty  for  his  lot. 

After  several  years  of  expectation.  Peter  of 
Alexandria,  who  had  been  driven  from  his 
see,  by  the  violence  of  the  Arians,  was  called 
to  assist  at  a  council,  convened  by  Damasus, 
at  which  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  Appo- 
linairus,  and  his  disciple  Timothy,  who  laid 
claims  to  the  metropolitan  see  of  Alexandria, 
condemned.  Up  to  this  time,  the  heresy  of 
Appolinairushad  not  been  anathematized,  and 
his  errors  had  been  tolerated  by  the  holiest 
2:)atriarchs  of  the  East,  who  evidenced  a  j^ro- 
found  respect  for  his  personal  character. 

The  anti-pope  Ursin,  had  been  engaged  in 
constant  intrigTies,  since  the  death  of  Valen- 
tinian  the  First,  to  sustain  his  party,  and  re- 
mount the  Holy  See.  Three  years  had  elapsed 
in  these  vain  efforts,  when  Damasus  resolved 
to  destroy  entirely  the  remains  of  this  faction, 
and  profiting  by  the  interregnum  which  took 
place  after  the  death  of  Valens,  he  held  a 
council  at  Rome,  at  which  a  large  number  of 
Italian  bishops  were  jsrcseiit.  The  fathers 
addressed  a  letter  toGratian  and  Valentinian, 
to  beseech  the  emperors  to  suppress  the  schism 
of  Ursin.  They  announced  at  the  same  time, 
that  they  had  resolved,  that  the  Roman  pontiff 
should  judge  the  other  chiefs  of  the  clergy  ; 
that  mere  priests  should  remain  responsible 
to  the  ordinary  tribunals,  but  that  they  should 
not  be  liable  to  be  put  to  the  torture. 

The  princes  replied  favourably  to  the  re- 
quest of  the  council,  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
the  prefect  Aquilainus.  They  ordered  the 
vicars  of  Rome  to  execute  the  orders  they 
received  from  the  popes,  to  drive  heretics 
from  the  holy  city,  and  to  expel  them  from 
the  provinces.  Thus  the  emperors,  by  yield- 
ing to  the  council  of  Rome  all  that  it  had  asked, 
despoiled  themselves  of  a  part  of  their  au- 
thority, with  which  they  invested  the  pontiff 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


65 


Damasus.  In  succeeding  ages  we  shall  find 
the  pride  of  the  successors  of  the  bishop  of 
Rome  elevated  even  to  audacity — to  mad- 
ness;  and  the  slothfulnessof  princes  descend 
even  to  degradation. 

At  this  period,  the  frequent  irruptions  of  the 
Germans  into  Gaul,  obliged  Gratian  to  return 
to  the  West,  where  he  had  established  the 
seat  of  his  empire,  abandoning  toTheodosius 
Illyrium,  and  the  East.  The  two  emperors 
were  equally  favoured  by  fortune  ;  Gratian,  in 
his  contests  with  the  Germans,  and  Theodo- 
sius,  in  his  with  the  dwellers  on  the  borders 
of  the  Danube.  This  prince,  having  defeated 
their  armies,  constrained  them  to  sue  for 
peace.  The  sacred  historians  afhrm,  that  he 
then  returned  to  Thessalonica,  where  he  fell 
dangerously  ill.  The  priests  hastened  to  in- 
struct him  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  Asco- 
lius.  bishop  of  that  city,  administered  to  him 
the  sacrament  of  baptism,  which  procured 
for  him  a  miraculous  cure. 

But,  if  religion  was  strengthened  in  the 
East,  by  the  conversion  of  an  ilkistrious  prince, 
it  was  menaced  in  the  West,  by  greater  perils, 
through  the  heresy  of  the  Priscillianists.  Mark, 
an  Egyptian  of  ftlemphis,  chief  of  this  new 
sect,  had  come  into  Spain  to  preach  his  im- 
pious doctrines,  and  his  eloquence  had  dra\^ni 
into  the  schism  the  rhetorician  Elpidius,  and 
a  woman  of  high  birth,  named  Agapa.  The 
new  convert,  by  the  inlluence  of  her  rank,  her 
wealth,  and  her  beauty,  attracted  a  great 
number  of  sectarians,  and  among  them,  the 
noble  and  celebrated  Priscillian,  from  whom 
the  sect  took  its  name.  Born  of  one  of  the 
first  families  in  the  state,  well  made  in  his 
person,  eloquent,  well  educated,  zealous, 
sober,  disinterested,  Priscillian  had  all  the 
qualities  of  a  reformer,  and  his  energy  ren- 
dered him  capable  of  sustaining  the  persecu- 
tions which  in  all  states  are  the  recompense 
of  the  apostles  of  the  people. 

Ilis  doctrine  was  embraced  by  great  num- 
bers of  the  nobility,  and  the  army.  Above  all, 
the  women,  desirous  of  novelty,  and  shining 
in  faith,  ran  in  crowds  after  him.  He  taught 
the  errors  of  the  Manicheans  and  the  Gnos- 
tics; he  aflirmed.  that  souls  were  a  part  of 
the  essence  of  God  ;  that  they  descended  vo- 
luntarily upon  earth,  traversing  the  immen- 
sity of  the  heavens,  and  all  the  degrees  of 
principalities  ;  and  that  the  great  architect  of 
the  universe  placed  them  in  different  bodies, 
in  order  to  combat  the  evil  principle.  Accord- 
ing to  his  doctrine,  men  were  connected  with 
different  fatal  stars,  and  their  bodies  were 
dependant  on  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac. 
The  ram  governed  the  head ;  the  bull  the 
neck ;  the  twins  the  shoulders ;  in  fine,  he  re- 


called all  the  reveries  of  the  astrologers.  Not 
recognizing  the  Trinity,  he  maintuiiicd,  with 
Sabellius,  that  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit, 
were  the  same  God,  without  any  real  distinc- 
tion of  persons.  His  dogmas  differed  from 
those  of  the  Manicheans,  in  his  not  rejecting 
oju'idy  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  which  he 
explained  the  most  licentious  passages  by 
chaste  allegories.  He  admitted,  with  the  ca- 
nonical books,  many  apochryphal  works.  He 
prohibited  his  disciples  from  eating  that  which 
had  had  life,  as  being  unclean  food  ;  and  in 
hatred  of  generation,  he  anathematized  mar- 
riage, maintaining  that  the  flesh  was  not  the 
work  of  God,  but  of  evil  angels. 

In  this  sect,  men  and  women  assembled  by 
night,  and  prayed  entirely  naked,  in  order  to 
mortify  their  bodies.  The  maxim  of  Pris- 
cillian was,  "swear,  perjure  yourselves,  but 
do  not  discover  the  mysteries."  Thus,  their 
enemies  not  being  able  to  convict  them  of 
real  crimes,  made  use  of  this  formula  of  initia- 
tion against  them,  and  accused  them  of  com- 
mitting the  most  horrid  impurities — of  making 
use  of  men  and  children  for  their  debauche- 
ries, and  of  outraging  nature,  even  with  their 
women.  The  Catholics  affirmed,  that  their 
priests,  in  their  hatred  of  marriage,  drew  from 
the  wombs  of  pregnant  women  the  fa?tus,  half 
formed,  and  piled  them  up  in  the  midst  of  the 
church,  in  iron  mortars. 

The  Priscillianists,  fasted  on  Sundays,  and 
at  Easter  and  Christmas,  and  concealed  them- 
selves in  order  not  to  attend  church.  This 
heresy  had  already  infected  Spain,  and  dra^^^^ 
off  a  large  number  of  bishops,  amongst  others 
Justantius  and  Salvian,  who  formed  a  party  to 
sustain  it ;  but  after  many  years  of  struggle, 
the  orthodox,  sustained  by  the  prince,  con- 
voked a  council  at  Saragossa,  where  it  was 
condemned  in  the  absence  of  its  followers. 

At  the  same  time  took  place,  by  the  orders 
of  Gratian,  the  famous  sjTiod  of  Aquileia.  St. 
Ambrose  presided  over  this  assembly,  and 
condemned  Arianism.  It  then  examined  into 
the  charges  against  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and 
especially  the  accusation  of  adultery,  which 
two  deacons  devoted  to  Ursin,  had  before 
brought  against  him,  and  which  was  founded 
on  the  attachment  of  the  Roman  ladies  to  the 
holy  father.  The  council  examined  juridi- 
cally, all  the  accu.sations  against  Damasus,  and 
bore  an  authentic  testimony  to  the  innocence 
of  the  pope. 

Damasus  died  at  length,  on  the  11th  of 
December,  384,  after  having  governed  the  See 
of  Rome  about  eiiihteen  years.  He  enriched 
the  church  of  St.  Lawrence  with  many  splen- 
did presents,  which  were  the  gifts  or  inneri- 
tances  to  him  from  the  Roman  ladies. 


Vol.  I. 


66 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


SIRICUS,  THE  FORTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  384. — Theodosius,  Arcadius  and  Honorius,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Siricus — Celibacy  of  the  priests — Corruption  of  the  clergy  of  Rome — Avarice  of  the 
Ecclesiastics — St.  Jerome  calls  the  pope,  the  scarlet  woman — Debased  morals  of  the  clergy — 
Doctrine  of  Jovinian — Death  of  Siricus. 


After  the  death  of  Damasus,  Siricus,  a 
Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  Tiburcus,  was 
chosen  pope,  notwithstanding  the  opposition 
of  the  old  schismatic,  Ursin.  The  new  pon- 
tiff, was  no  sooner  seated  on  the  holy  seat, 
than  he  displayed  his  ambition,  and  in  order 
to  try  his  power,  he  made  new  laws  on  a  sub- 
ject which  the  great  Council  of  Nice,  had 
left  undecided,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy. 
He  made  a  decree  to  exclude  from  the  cleri- 
cal ranks,  those  who  preserved  intimate  con- 
nection with  their  wives,  applying  unjustly 
to  the  married  clergy  the  words  of  St.  Paul : 
"  Those  who  are  in  the  llesh,  camiot  please 
God." 

Siricus  wished  to  imitate  the  Pagans,  who 
regarded,  with  great  veneration,  virginal  pu- 
rity ;  but  these  latter  had  recognized  it  as  an 
axiom,  that  no  man  could  preserve  it  without 
resorting  to  extraordinary  means ;  and  the 
hierophants,  who  were  the  first  ministers  of 
religion  among  the  Athenians,  drank  hem- 
lock, for  the  purpose  of  rendering  themselves 
impotent ;  and  as  soon  as  they  were  elected  to 
the  pontificate,  they  ceased  to  bear  about  them 
marks  of  virility. 

St.  Jerome,  in  one  of  his  writings,  puts  the 
following  words  into  the  mouth  of  a  Stoic, 
named  Cheremon,  who  is  describing  the  life 
of  the  ancient  priests  of  Egypt :  "Their  priests 
haye  no  commerce  with  women  from  the  time 
they  attach  themselves  to  the  service  of  the 
divinities ;  in  order  to  quench  the  flames  of 
unlawful  desire,  they  abstain  entirely  from 
flesh  and  wine,  and  the  ministers  of  Cybele 
were  all  eunuchs."  Jerome  appears  to  in- 
sinuate, that  priests  and  monks,  who  rasMy 
take  upon  themselves  vows  of  chastity,  and 
engage  to  guard  a  virginal  purity,  should  use 
the  infallible  process  of  the  pagan  ministers, 
when  they  discovered  that  the  spirit  was  too 
weak  to  arrest  the  desires  of  the  flesh. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Damasus,  Jerome 
was  obliged  to  quit  Rome,  in  order  to  return 
to  Palestine.  His  reputation  for  sanctity  had 
excited  the  jealousy  of  many  of  the  clergy; 
and  the  freedom  with  which  he  exposed 
their  vices  had  excited  against  him  the  sa- 
cerdotal hatred.  In  a  little  treatise  which  he 
wrote  on  the  mode  of  preserving  virginity,  he 
advises  the  virgin  Eustochia,  daughter  of  St. 
Paul,  "  to  avoid  the  hypociites  who  seek  the 
priesthood,  or  the  deaconate,  for  the  purpose 
of  freer  commerce  with  women,  or  to  clothe 
themselves  in  rich  habits,  and  perfume  their 
locks. 

"These  bad  priests,"  he  adds,  "wear  bril- 
liant rings  on  their  fingers,  and  walk  on  their 


toes;  their  whole  occupation  is  to  learn  the 
names  and  residence  of  handsome  women, 
and  to  inform  themselves  of  their  inclinations. 

"In  order  that  you  may  not  be  deceived  by 
the  appearance  of  a  false  piety,  I  will  trace 
the  portrait  of  one  of  these  priests,  master  of 
his  trade.  He  rises  with  the  sun;  the  order 
of  his  visits  is  arranged ;  he  frequents  the 
greatest  thoroughfares ;  he  enters  even  into 
the  chamber  where  the  females  sleep ;  if  he 
sees  a  pillow-case,  or  a  napkin,  or  some  small 
piece  of  furniture  to  his  taste,  he  examines 
them  attentively,  and  admires  their  beauty ; 
he  feels  them,  mourns  that  he  has  none  like 
them,  and  steals  them  rather  than  not  get 
them'." 

"'Bishops  even,  under  a  pretext  of  bestow- 
ing their  benediction,  put  out  their  hands  to 
receive  mone)',  become  the  slaves  of  the  fe- 
males who  pay  them,  and  render  them,  with 
assiduity,  services  the  most  base  and  unwor- 
thy, in  order  to  obtain  their  inheritance." 

Several  prelates,  furious  at  seeing  them- 
selves unmasked  by  the  criticisms  of  St.  Je- 
rome, revenged  themselves  by  scandalizing 
him.  They  censured  his  gait  and  visage ;  his 
simplicity  even  was  suspected,  and  at  length 
the  calumny  extended  so  far  as  to  blacken  his 
character  in  regard  to  some  women  and  vir- 
gins, to  whom  he  explained  assiduously  the 
Holy  Scriptures. 

The  exemplary  conduct  of  Jerome,  and  his 
lofty  piety,  should  have  served  to  have  placed 
him  above  such  suspicions;  but  the  people  of 
Rome  were  prejudiced  against  monks  who 
came  from  the  East ;  regardmg  them,  and  with 
reason,  as  impostors,  who  sought  to  seduce 
girls  of  quality.  The  holy  doctor  obliged  to 
yield  to  the  storm,  quitted  Italy  in  order  to 
get  away  from  the  chagrin  it  excited  in  him, 
and  complained  bitterly  in  his  letter  to  Mar- 
cella,  of  the  outrages  he  had  endured  in  the 
holy  city.  "  Read,"  said  he,  "read  the  apoca- 
lypse ;  you  will  see  what  is  there  said  of  that 
woman  clothed  in  scarlet,  who  bears  upon  her 
forehead  the  name  of  blasphemy.  Behold 
the  end  of  that  proud  city ;  of  a  truth  it  con- 
tains a  holy  church,  Avhere  may  be  seen  the 
trophies  of  the  apostles  and  martyrs,  where 
the  name  of  Christ  and  his  apostolic  doctrine 
are  professed  ;  but  ambition,  pride,  and  gran- 
deur divert  the  faithful  from  true  piety." 

About  the  same  time,  a  council  at  Rome 
condemned  the  heresy  of  Jovinian.  This 
monk  had  passed  the  first  years  of  his  life  in 
the  austerities  of  a  convent,  fasting,  living  on 
bread  and  water,  walking  with  naked  feet, 
1  wearing  a  coarse  garment,  and  labouring  with 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


67 


his  own  hands.  But  afterwards,  he  left  his 
convent  near  Milan  to  come  to  Rome,  where 
he  taught  his  doctrines.  He  maintained,  that 
those  who  had  been  regenerated  by  baptism, 
could  not  again  be  overcome  by  the  devil ;  he 
affirmed,  that  virgins  had  less  merit  in  the 
eyes  of  God  than  widows  or  married  women; 
he  taught  that  men  should  eat  all  kinds  of 
food,  and  enjoy  the  good  which  the  divinity 
has  granted  to  them. 

Jovinian  lived  in  conformity  with  his  prin- 
ciples ;  he  dressed  with  great  refinement, 
wore  white  and  fine  clothes  of  linen  and  silk, 
curled  his  hair,  frequented  the  public  baths, 
loved  the  games,  splendid  repasts,  rich  cook- 
ery and  exquisite  wines,  as  was  apparent 
from  his  fresh  and  ruddy  complexion,  and  liis 
C7i  bon  point.  Nevertheless,  he  vaunted  him- 
self on  being  a  monk,  and  he  preserved  his 
celibacy  in  order  to  shun  the  vexatious  conse- 
quences of  marriage.  His  heresy  found  many 
partizans  at  Rome.  Several  persons,  after 
having  lived  for  a  long  time  in  continence  and 
mortification,  adopted  his  opinions  and  quitted 
the  austerities  of  the  cloister  to  return  to  the 
ordinary  life  of  a  citizen. 

After  his  condemnation,  Jovinian  returned 
to  the  city  of  Milan ;  but  pope  Siricus  sent 
three  priests  to  the  bishop  to  advise  him  of 
ihe  excommunication  of  this  heretic,  and  to 
beseech  him  to  drive  him  from  his  church. 

History  teaches  us  nothing  of  consequence 
in  the  life  and  actions  of  Siricus.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  he  died  in  the  year  308. 

During  his  reign,  the  reputation  of  St.  Au- 
gustine began  to  spread  through  all  Christian 
countries  ;  and  the  numerous  works  which  he 
wrote  against  the  Manicheans  and  the  Dona- 
tists,  caused  him  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the 
pillars  of  the  church.  He  was  then  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  young  Augustin  of  the  school 
of  Tagasta,  his  country,  whom  his  school-fel- 


low regarded  as  the  most  debauched  of  the 
students ;  for  we  must  avow,  that  the  first 
part  of  the  life  of  the  saint  was  passed  in  the 
mid.st  of  the  greatest  disorder,  and  that  his 
irregularities  were  such,  that  his  mother  was 
obliged  to  drive  him  from  her  house.  He 
had  besides  embraced  the  opinion  of  Manes, 
in  relation  to  nature  worship,  and  had  publicly 
professed  this  heresy.  At  length,  tired  of  his 
unsettled  life,  he  married,  and  left  Africa  to 
settle  at  Milan.  In  this  city  he  contracted 
an  intimacy  with  the  venerable  Ambrose, 
who  converted  him  to  the  Christian  religion, 
and  baptized  him  and  his  young  son  Adeoda- 
lus.  Some  years  after,  on  returning  to  Africa, 
he  was  made  a  priest  at  Hippo,  and  after- 
wards became  bishop  of  that  city.  From  that 
time  he  showed  himself  to  be  intolerant  and 
a  persecutor,  and  pursued  with  the  utmost 
rigour  all  Christians  who  held  doctrines  differ- 
ing from  his  own. 

Among  the  numerous  works  of  St.  Augus- 
tin, his  treatise  on  labour  occupies  the  first 
place ;  in  it  he  takes  for  his  motto  these 
words  of  the  apostle  Paul:  "Whosoever  is 
unwilling  to  labour,  let  him  not  eat."  They 
cite  also  his  work  on  baptism ;  his  work  on  the 
City  of  God,  or  the  defence  of  the  church 
against  the  children  of  the  age :  his  trea- 
tise upon  the  Trinity,  in  which  he  esta- 
blishes the  equality  of  the  three  divine  per- 
sons;  and  finally,  his  various  tracts  upon 
original  sin,  the  soul,  grace,  free-will,  predes- 
tination of  saints,  perseverance,  &c.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  enumerate  the  works  of  this 
father  of  the  church ;  for  according  to  the 
catalogTie  which  Possidius  has  left  of  them, 
their  number  amounts  to  more  than  one  thou- 
sand and  thirty.  All  these  writings  were 
composed  in  the  interval  of  forty  years,  which 
took  place  between  the  conversion  and  the 
death  of  St.  Augustine. 


POLITICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY. 

.ibdication  of  Diocletian — His  opinions  in  regard  to  the  ministers  of  princes — Exploits  of  Con- 
stantine  Chlorus — Galerius  Maximin — Morals  of  the  tyrant  Masentms — He  violates  Chris- 
tian virgins — Sophronia  stabs  herself  to  escape  him — Victory  of  Constant ine — Maxentius 
is  drowned  in  the  Tiber — Constantinc  unites  vtth  Licinius — Massacres  him — Portrait  of  Con- 
stantinc — His  good  qualities — His  cruelties — He  causes  his  son  Crispus  to  be  assassinated — He 
condemns  Fausta,  his  wife,  to  be  strangled  in  a  hath — The  sons  of  Constantine  divide  the  ein- 
pire — Cruel  icar  hetiveen  the  brothers — Frightful  disorders  in  the  empire — Magnentius  kills 
himself — Decentius  strangles  himself — Exploits  of  Constans — Julian  the  apostate — Jovian  em- 
peror— He  gives  permission  to  espouse  tiro  wives — Vallus  is  burned  alive  in  his  tent — Gratian 
t.s  assassinated — Valentinian  re-eslablished  on  the  throne,  is  strangled  by  his  eunuchs — History 
of  the  reign  of  Theodosius. 


The  cruel  Diocletian,  elated  with  glory] 
after  the  defeat  of  his  enemies,  pushed  his 
impudence  so  far  as  to  cause  those  who  came 
before  him  to  kiss  his  feet,  and  was  impious 
enough  to  cause  himself  to  be  adored  as  a 
(Jod.  At  length,  however,  he  perceived  that 
this  excess  had  renderecl  him  an  cbject  of 
public  liatred,  and  he  resolved  to  abdicate  his 


power,  fearing  that  the  apparent  submission 
of  Constantine  and  Galerius  might  be  power- 
less to  preserve  him  from  the  violent  death 
with  which  he  was  threatened  by  the  people. 
This  remorse  of  conscience  compelled  him 
to  quit  the  empire,  and  to  seek  in  retreat  a 
repose  of  which  he  was  deprived  by  the  cares 
of  government.     In   spite   of  his  tyrannical 


68 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


conduct,  this  prince  frequently  gave  utterance 
to  beautiful  sentiments,  and  said  truly,  "That 
nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  govern  well; 
for  the  ministers  who  serve  princes  are  only 
united  to  betray  them, — they  conceal  or  dis- 
guise the  truth  from  them,  the  first  thing 
which  they  ought  to  know  ]  and  by  their  flat- 
teries, deceive  and  sell  their  sovereigns,  who 
pay  them,  in  order  to  receive  from  them  wise 
counsels." 

Valerius  Maximian,  the  successor  of  Dio- 
cletian, following  his  example,  abdicated  the 
empire  after  a  reign  of  eighteen  years ;  but 
he  soon  repented  of  this  step,  on  discovering 
that  a  philosopher  in  solitude  has  less  power 
than  an  emperor.  He  abandoned  his  retreat 
and  returned  to  Rome,  under  the  pretext  of 
assisting  the  counsels  of  Maxentius,  his  son. 
Times  were  changed.  The  old  emperor, 
perceiving  that  his  design  of  seizing  again 
the  power,  was  penetrated,  passed  over  into 
Gaul,  to  Constantino,  his  son-in-law.  He 
formed  a  conspiracy,  which  was  discovered 
by  his  own  daughter,  Flavia  Maxima — and 
fled,  in  order  to  escape  the  chastisement  of 
his  perfidy.  Constantine  sent  emissaries  in 
pursuit  of  him,  who  took  him  at  Marseilles, 
and  strangled  him  in  a  dungeon. 

After  the  abdication  of  Diocletian  and 
Maximian,  Constantine  Chlorus  and  Valerius 
Maximin  divided  the  empire  between  them. 
Constantine  Chlorus  made  his  reign  renowned 
by  his  great  exploits.  He  recovered  Britain, 
defeated  sixty  thousand  Germans,  and  built 
the  city  of  Spires,  on  the  Rhine.  His  domi- 
nion extended  over  England,  which  he  had 
conquered,  Illyria,  Asia,  and  all  the  provinces 
of  the  East.  This  prince  loved  men  of  let- 
ters, was  liberal,  and  so  great  an  enemy  of 
ostentation  that  his  table  was  served  on 
earthen  dishes.  On  great  festivals  of  cere- 
mony, he  besought  his  friends  to  lend  him 
services  of  plate. 

During  his  reign  the  Christians  enjoyed  a 
profound  peace.  It  is  even  related  of  him, 
that  having  made  a  decree,  in  which  he  or- 
dered the.  i'aithful,  who  held  places  in  the 
state,  to  sacrifice  to  idols,  or  to  quit  them, 
some  preferring  exile  to  place,  retired ;  but 
the  prince  recalled  them,  naming  them  before 
the  court,  "  his  true  friends,"  and  sent  away 
those  who  had  had  the  weakness  to  sacrifice 
to  idols,  reproaching  their  apostasy  with  bit- 
terness, and  adding,  "  No, — those  who  are  not 
faithful  to  God,  cannot  be  devoted  servants  to 
the  emperor."  Constantine  Chlorus  died  at 
York,  in  England,  after  having  crowned  Con- 
stantine, liis  son. 

Galerius  Maximin,  before  coming  to  the 
empire,  had  gained  two  great  battles  over  the 
Persians,  and  had  lost  a  third  by  his  impru- 
dence when  he  was  yet  but  Csesar.  His  first 
act  of  power  was  a  declaration  of  war  against 
this  people ;  he  conquered  them,  pillaged  their 
camp,  seized  the  person  of  king  Nors,  with 
his  family,  and  by  his  conquests  extended 
the  frontiers  of  the  empire  to  the  Tigris. 

He  chose  as  his  successors  his  two  ne- 
phews.    C.  Valerius  Maximin,  called  Daza 


before  he  was  made  Csesar,  had  for  his  share 
the  East  ]  and  Flavins  Valerius  Severus  ob- 
tained Italy  and  Africa.  Soon  after  he  made 
these  dispositions,  Galerius  died  of  an  ulcer, 
in  which  were  engendered  a  prodigious  quan- 
tity of  worms,  which  almost  devoured  him 
alive. 

Marcus  Aurelius  Valerius  Maxentius,  son 
of  Marcus  Aurelius  Valerius  Maximian,  called 
the  elder,  having  learned  that  Constantine  had 
been  proclaimed  emperor,  caused  the  same 
title  to  be  given  to  him  at  Rome,  by  the  sol- 
diers and  the  Praetorian  guards,  whom  he  per- 
mitted to  violate  females  and  murder  citizens. 
This  prince,  entirely  addicted  to  magic,  dared 
not  commence  any  enterprise  without  con- 
sulting oracles  and  divinations.  He  overbore 
the  provinces  with  extraordinary  tributes,  and 
despoiled  the  richest  inhabitants  of  their  pa- 
trimony. Wine,  that  perfidious  liquor  which 
destroys  the  reason,  maddened  him ;  in  his 
fits  of  drunkenness  he  gave  cruel  orders, 
and  made  them  mutilate  his  fellows  at  the 
table.  His  avarice  was  insatiable;  his  debau- 
cheries and  cruelties  equalled  those  of  Nero. 
Not  being  able  to  conquer  the  resistance  of  a 
Christian  lady,  named  Sophronia,  whom  he 
wished  to  dishonour,  he  sent  soldiers  to  bring 
her  from  her  house — when  this  courageous 
female,  feigning  compliance  with  his  desires, 
demanded  only  time  to  clothe  herself  richly, 
to  appear  before  him,  and  entered  her  dress- 
ing chamber  ;  as  she  did  not  return,  the  im- 
patient soldiers  forced  the  door,  and  found  her 
dead  body  with  a  poignard  in  her  bosom. 

A  Christian  virgin,  of  Antioch.  named  Pe- 
lagia,  with  her  mother  and  sisters,  also  slew 
themselves,  to  avoid  the  danger  to  which 
they  were  exposed  from  the  pursuit  of  Maxi- 
min, the  colleag-ue  of  Maxentius. 

War  was  then  declared  between  Maxentius 
and  Constantine.  The  latter  approached 
Rome,  and  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which 
he  declared  that  he  came  not  to  make  war 
upon  the  Romans,  but  to  deliver  the  capital 
from  a  monster,  who  caused  the  people  to  be 
massacred  by  his  Prcetorian  soldiers. 

Maxentius,  on  his  side,  sought  to  procure 
victory  by  magical  operations.  He  immolated 
lions  in  impious  sacrifices,  and  caused  preg- 
nant women  to  be  opened,  in  order  to  examine 
the  children  in  their  wombs,  and  consulted 
auguries.  The  oracles  being  unfavourable,  the 
affrighted  prince  quitted  the  palace,  with  his 
wife  and  son.  to  retire  to  a  private  house. 
Nevertheless,  he  caused  his  troops  to  sally 
forth  from  Rome.  They  consisted  of  an  hun- 
dred and  sixty  thousand  infantry,  and  eighteen 
thousand  cavalry.  His  army  having  passed 
the  Tiber,  encountered  that  of  Constantine, 
which  numbered  eighty  thousand  infantry 
and  eight  thousand  cavalry,  and  the  battle 
commenced. 

At  the  same  moment,  a  violent  sedition 
broke  out  in  Rome.  The  people,  indignant 
at  the  conduct  of  Maxentius,  whom  supersti- 
tion and  cowardice  had  retained  in  the  city, 
precipitated  themselves  towards  the  Circus, 
where  the  prince  was  giving  public  games,  in 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


69 


honoui  of  his  advent  to  the  empire,  and  made 
him  hear  this  tonible  shout,  '•  Death  to  the 
traitor !  Death  to  the;  coward  and  the  traitor  ! 
Glory  to  the  invincible  Constantino  !"'  Maxen- 
tius,  alarmed  by  these  shouts  of  admiration 
for  his  rival,  lied  from  the  circus,  anil  ordered 
th(!  senators  to  consult  the  Sybiiline  books. 
They  replied,  that  they  announced  that  on 
that  very  day  the  enemy  of  the  Romans 
would  perish  miserably;  then  the  prince,  re- 
gardinit:  the  victory  assured,  rejoined  his  army. 
On  his  leaving  Rome,  however,  screech  owls 
reposed  themselves  on  the  walls  of  the  city, 
and  followed  him  even  to  the  field  of  battle. 
This  sinister  presage,  seen  by  all  the  army, 
abated  the  courage  of  his  soldiers.  Their 
ranks  give  way  before  the  legions  of  Con- 
stantine,  and  the  route  commences.  JNIaxen- 
tius  himself,  drawn  along  by  the  crowd,  re- 
gains the  bridge  of  boats  which  he  had  built ; 
by  chance  or  treason,  the  boats  separate,  and 
he  falls  into  the  river,  where  he  is  drowned. 
Maxentius  thus  became  the  victim  of  the 
snare  which  he  had  laid  for  Constantine,  for 
the  bridge  was  built  in  such  a  way,  that  in 
case  of  route,  his  enemies  traversing  it,  it 
would  break  in  the  middle,  and  submerge 
them  in  the  Tiber.  The  next  day  his  body 
was  found,  and  his  head  was  cut  off  and  car- 
ried through  the  streets  of  Rome  on  the  point 
of  a  pike. 

Constantine,  master  of  the  empire,  associ- 
ated w-ith  him  Licinius,  who  had  espoused 
his  sister,  Constantia.  These  two  princes 
destroyed  the  army  of  Jovius  Maximin,  who 
aift'cted  the  title  of  emperor. 

Licinius  was  the  son  of  a  peasant  of  Dacia ; 
by  his  courage  he  had  advanced,  step  by  step, 
in  the  army,  to  its  highest  dignities,  and  had 
been  made  Caesar  by  the  emperor  Galerius. 
Become  prince,  he  showed  himself  avari- 
cious, transported,  intemperate,  shameless; 
as  if  the  supreme  rank  must  bestow  all  vices, 
at  the  same  time  it  does  the  power  of  grati- 
fying them.  In  his  extreme  ignorance,  he 
called  literary  men  "a  poison,  a  public  pest," 
and  caused  them  to  be  put  to  deatL  though 
guiltless  of  any  crime. 

He  soon  became  suspected  by  his  colleague, 
because  he  renewed  the  persecution  against 
the  Church,  and  sought  to  rally  to  his  side 
the  pagan  priests.  He  was  concjnered  by  the 
troops  of  his  brother-in-law,   and  beheaded. 

After  the  defeat  and  death  of  this  brutal 
man,  Constantine  enjoyed  in  peace  the  sove- 
reign authority.  This  prince  had  a  majestic 
port  and  a  great  soul ;  he  was  brave,  hardy, 
provident  in  his  enterprises;  but  ho  joined 
great  vices  to  these  good  (pialities.  Our  de- 
sign is  not  to  enter  into  the  details  of  a  life 
60  illustrious,  and  we  will  only  comment  on 
the  iwrtiality  of  the  friends  or  enemies  of  the 
first  Christian  monarch.  The  one  has  been 
prodigal  of  extreme  euloginms  on  liim ;  the 
others  have  char<red  liis  memory  with  every 
crime.  Envy  and  hatred  furnished  to  Julian, 
the  apostate,  the  colours  which  he  has  em- 
ployed in  painting  the  portrait  of  his  prede- 
cessor, and  the  fathers  of  the  church  have 


frequently  given  excessive  praise  to  this  em- 
peror, the  first  who  declared  himself  the  pro- 
tector of  the  Christian  religion. 

Constantine  truly  merited  the  surname  of 
great,  if  we  take  this  epithet  in  its  entire  ac- 
ceptation. What  prudence  did  he  not  display 
in  avoiding  the  perils  which  he  encountered 
on  his  route  towards  the  empire  !  What  in- 
trepidity in  confronting  the  most  frightful 
perils!  What  valour  in  attacking  and  con- 
quering enemies,  equally  redoubtable  for 
their  bravery  and  their  numbers !  What 
courage  and  wisdom  in  holding,  during  thirty 
years,  the  reins  of  an  empire  which  was 
offered  at  auction  !  What  consummate  skill, 
to  govern,  in  peace,  so  many  different  people, 
and  to  assure  their  happiness  by  causing  them 
to  submit  to  equitable  laws  ! 

The  portrait  of  Constantine,  seen  on  its 
handsome  side,  presents  so  many  brilliant 
qualities,  that  it  serves  to  exhibit  his  defects 
in  greater  contrast. 

Little  scrupulous  as  a  Christian,  he  did  not 
receive  the  sacrament  of  baptism  until  a  few 
minutes  before  his  death. 

An  unnatural  father,  he  put  to  death  his 
son,  Crispus,  on  the  mere  accusation  of  a 
step-mother,  interested  in  procuring  it. 

An  inflexible  husband,  he  commanded 
Fausta  to  be  strangled  in  a  bath.  Lastly,  a 
cruel  politician,  he  shed  the  blood  of  the 
young  Licinius,  an  amiable  prince,  who  had 
not  participated  in  the  crimes  of  his  father, 
Licinius,  and  who  was  the  only  consolation 
of  the  unfortunate  Constantia.  This  last  act 
of  cruelty  furnishes  an  evident  proof  that  the 
Christianity  of  Constantine  was  but  the  re- 
flection of  his  policy.  He  had  need  of  par- 
tizans  to  resist  his  enemies,  and  as  the  Chris- 
tians were  disposed  to  sustain  the  interest  of  a 
prince  who  afforded  them  tranquillity,  he  took 
them  under  his  protection. 

After  his  death,  his  children  divided  the 
empire  between  them.  Flavins  Claudius 
Constantine  the  Second,  had  Spain,  Gaul,  a 
part  of  the  Alps,  England,  Ireland  and  the 
Orcades;  Flavins  Julius  Consfantius  obtained 
Italy,  Africa  and  its  islands,  Dalmatia,  INIace- 
donia,  the  Peloponnesus,  or  Morea  and  Greece. 
Flavins  Julius  Constans  had  Asia  and  Thrace, 
and  Flavins  Delmatius,  Annenia  and  the 
neighbouring  provinces. 

Delmatius  was  slain  by  his  soldiers,  after  a 
reign  of  a  few  years. 

Constantine  the  Second  wi.shed  to  despoil 
his   brother,    Consfantius,   of    the   provinces 
which   he   possessed,  declared  war   against 
him,  and  sent  troops  to  combat  him;  but  hav- 
ing been  himself  surprised  in  an  ambuscade, 
'  near  Aquileia.  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse 
I  and  pierced  with  several  mortal  wounds. 
I      Upon  the  news  of  this  victory,  Consfantius 
'  crossed  the  Alps,  entered  Gaul,  and  in  two 
:  years  rendered  himself  mnster  of  all  the  ])ro- 
vinccs   of  his  brother.     He  soon  forgot   the 
cares  of  empire  in  pleasures  and  debauchery. 
Then  the  officers  of  his  army  of  Rhetia  gave 
the  title  of  emperor  to  Magiienf ins.     This  un- 
I  grateful  and  rebellious  subject,  forgetting  that 


70 


HISTORY    OF    THE   POPES. 


Coustantius  had  generously  covered  him  with 
his  own  shield,  in  order  to  defend  him  against 
the  soldiers,  who  were  desirous  to  kill  him, 
sent  assassins  against  his  sovereign  and  bene- 
factor, who  massacred  the  prince  in  his  tent. 
Flavius  Nepotiaiius,  in  his  turn,  usurped 
the  empire  for  some  days,  but  the  senator, 
Heraclidus,  who  was  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  Maxentius,  demanded  of  liim  a  private  in- 
terview, at  \vhich  he  stabbed  him,  and  hav- 
ing cut  ofi'  his  head,  caused  it  to  be  carried 
through  the  streets  of  Rome. 

Flavius  Veteranion,  on  his  side,  took  the 
title  of  emperor  in  Pannonia.  He  then  sub- 
mitted to  Constans,  voluntarily  despoiled  him- 
self of  the  purple,  and  received  hi  return  the 
government  of  Bithynia,  in  wliich  he  was 
treated  with  the  greatest  honours  to  the  time 
of  his  death. 

Flavius  Silvanus,  after  having  repulsed  the 
Germans,  who  made  irruptions  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Gaul,  wished  also  to  be  named  em- 
peror by  the  army,  but  Constans  corrupted 
his  principal  officers,  who  massacred  him  at 
Cologne,  after  a  reign  of  about  a  month. 

Magnentius  made  each  day  fresh  progress, 
and  advanced  towards  Rome  by  forced 
marches.  This  usurper,  a  monster  of  ingra- 
titude, whom  St.  Ambrose  calls  "a  sorcerer,  a 
Judas,  a  second  Cain,  a  fury,  a  devil,"  was  at 
last  defeated  in  a  great  battle.  Constans 
pursued  him  to  Lyons,  and  constrained  him  to 
kill  himself.  Decentius,  who  had  been  named 
Csesar  by  JVlagnentius,  also  put  an  end  to  his 
days,  and  strangled  himself  in  despair. 

Constantius  Gallus,  whom  Constans  had 
made  Ca3sar,  wishing  to  abandon  himself  to 
acts  of  cruelty  and  insolence  towards  the 
conquered,  was  beheaded,  by  order  of  the 
emperor,  who  put  Julian,  his  brother,  in  his 
place.  He  then  declared  war  against  the 
Quadi  and  the  Sarmatians,  whom  he  over- 
came ;  but  he  was  in  turn  conquered  by  Sa- 
por, the  second  son  of  Homeidas,  who  retook 
Mesopotamia  and  Armenia.  As  he  was 
marching  against  Julian,  to  whom  the  army 
had  given  the  title  of  Augustus,  he  was  at- 
tacked by  a  violent  flux,  and  died,  near 
Mount  Taurus,  in  Mesopotamia. 

Flavius  Claudius  Julian,  sumamed  the 
apostate,  was  chosen  emperor.  This  prince, 
after  having  abjured  Christianity,  which  he 
professed  in  his  early  years,  bestowed  upon 
pagans  the  cares  of  the  magistracy,  closed 
the  schools  of  the  Christians,  and  prohibited 
them  from  teaching  their  children  rhetoric, 
poetry  and  philosophy.  The  Catholics  relate 
that  this  prince,  having  determined  to  rebuild 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  falsify 
the  prophecies,  was  compelled  to  abandon 
his  rash  enterprize,  by  the  bursting  forth  of 
subterranean  fires,  which  miraculously  de- 
stroyed the  new  foundations. 

Some  historians  have  elevated  Julian  above 
Constant ine,  and  affirm  that  this  prince  had  a 
more  brilliant  and  better  cultivated  under- 
standing than  his  predecessor.  His  reign  was 
of  short  duration,  and  was  terminated  by  his 
unfortunate  expedition  against  the  Persians. 


In  a  battle  with  these  people  he  was  wounded 
with  a  poisoned  javelm,  and  died  on  the  iield 
of  battle.  The  priests  affirm  that  it  fell  from 
heaven,  as  a  sign  of  the  wrath  of  God,  and 
that  Julian  exclaimed,  whilst  plucking  out 
the  slaughtering  steel,  "  Thou  hast  conquered, 
0  Gallilean." 

With  this  emperor  ended  the  dynasty  of 
Constantine,  a  dynasty  which  had  given  to 
Christianity  a  great  protector  and  a  redoubt- 
able enemy.  Julian,  from  the  difi'erent  ver- 
sions of  authors,  oifers  one  of  the  most  em- 
barrassing problems  to  be  solved  by  history.  By 
turns  humane  and  sanguinary,  rash  and  wise, 
avaricious  and  prodigal,  severe  towards  him- 
self and  blameably  indulgent  towards  his  fa- 
vourites, he  appears  to  unite  in  his  own  person 
all  contrasts.  Nevertheless,  the  priests,  in 
heaping  upon  his  memory  the  gravest  accu- 
sations, convince  us  that  he  was  endowed 
with  good  qualities,  and  that  his  faults  were 
consequent  upon  his  admiration  for  rhetori- 
cians. Among  his  principal  works,  which 
have  come  down  to  us,  may  be  cited  as  re- 
markable, an  allegorical  fable,  a  writing  enti- 
tled Misopogon,  a  discourse  in  honour  of  Cy- 
bele,  another  in  honour  of  Diogenes,  and  a 
collection  of  sixty  letters,  among  which  is  a 
long  epistle  to  Themistius,  which  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  complete  treatises  extant 
of  the  duties  of  a  sovereignr  towards  his  peo- 
ple. This  last  composition  is,  beyond  doubt, 
the  best  conceived  and  most  elevated,  as  re- 
g'ards  style.  His  Book  of  the  Caesars  forms  a 
necessary  addition  to  the  critical  history  of 
the  Roman  empire.  Julian  condemnis,  with 
finesse,  the  mysteries  of  Christianity,  and 
blames  Constantine  and  his  descendants  for 
the  intolerance  they  had  shown,  in  order  to 
assure  the  triumph  of  the  new  religion.  At 
the  last,  in  his  indignation,  the  philosophic 
emperor  does  not  hesitate  to  add,  that  the 
greatest  misfortune  for  a  people  is  to  confide 
their  destiny  in  the  hands  of  priests  and  kings. 
Julian,  when  dying,  designated  Procopius, 
his  cousin,  as  his  successor,  but  the  soldiers 
offered  the  crown  to  Flavius  Jovian,  of  Pan- 
nonia, who  refused  the  honour,  declaring  that, 
being  a  Christian,  he  could  only  command 
men  of  his  own  religion.  The  legions  ex- 
claimed that  they  would  consent  to  be  bap- 
tized, if  he  would  accept  the  empire.  His 
first  care  was  to  conclude  a  peace,  for  thirty 
years,  with  Sapor  the  Second,  to  Avhom  he 
restored  five  provinces,  which  Galerius  had 
taken,  and  engaged  not  to  succour  Arsaces, 
the  Armenian.  He  then  oc-cupied  himself 
with  the  interests  of  religion,  made  terrible 
decrees  ag"ainst  the  Jews,  and  prohibited 
them  from  worshipping  in  public.  This 
prince  reversed  the  edicts  of  his  predecessors, 
re-established  St.  Athanasius  and  the  bishops, 
banished  by  Constans  and  Julian,  restored  to 
the  faithful  and  to  the  churches  the  property, 
honours,  revenues  and  privileges  which  had 
been  taken  from  them. 

AH  these  beautiful  actions  certainly  merited 
the  honours  of  saintship,  if,  in  the  first  ages  of 
Christianity,  they  had   been   accustomed  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


71 


this  sort  of  apotheosis.  The  prince  died  sud- 
denly, after  a  reign  of  seven  months,  and  the 
church  has  forgotten  to  canonize  liim. 

Flavius  Valentinian,  the  son  of  Gratian,  the 
rope  maker,  \vho  sold  ropes,  near  Belgrade, 
was  chosen  emperor  by  the  soldiers,  after  the 
death  of  Jovian.  His  strength  was  so  extra- 
ordinary that  he  overthrew,  at  once,  five  of 
the  strongest  men  of  his  army.  During  his 
reign  a  law  was  enacted,  giving  permission 
to  espouse  two  wives.  This  prince  died  of 
apoplexy. 

Valens,  who  was  associated  with  him  in 
the  government,  conquered  the  tyrant  Pro- 
copus,  a  relative  of  Julian  the  apostate,  and 
gained  a  great  victory  over  Anthanaric,  king 
of  the  Goths  ;  but  his  wife  having  drawn  him 
ofT  to  Arianism,  he  persecutetl  the  i'aithful, 
which  caused  .the  soldiers  to  burn  him  alive 
in  his  tent. 

After  him  the  crown  fell  to  Flavius  Gra- 
tian, the  son  of  Valentinian  the  First  and  of 
Severa.  This  prince,  brought  up  by  the  poet 
Ausonius,  of  Bordeaux,  divided  the  empire 
with  the  young  Valentinian.  He  was  gene- 
rous, sober  and  laborious.  He  made  war  suc- 
cessfully on  the  Alani,  the  Huns  and  the 
Goths.  Then  he  gave  himself  up  to  sloth, 
abandoning  to  his  courtiers  the  affairs  of 
government,  to  devote  himself  entirely  to 
pleasure,  the  chase  and  debauchery — Magnus 
Maximus,  who  was  desirous  of  seizing  on  the 
sovereignty  of  the  British  Isles,  availed  him- 
self of  the  improvidence  of  Gi-atian  to  assas- 
sinate him. 

Valentinian  the  Second,  or  the  young,  had 


to  sustain  a  terrible  war  against  the  tyrant 
Maximus,  who  passed  the  Alps,  and  obliged 
him  to  take  refuge  in  Thessalonica,  and  even 
in  the  East. 

Theodosius  arrested  the  progress  of  this 
dangerous  enemy,  gave  him  battle  under  the 
walls  of  Milan,  in  which  Maximus  was 
slain,  and  re-established  Valentinian  upon  his 
throne.  This  unfortimate  prince  did  not  long 
enjoy  his  power.  He  terminated  his  days 
wretchedly,  at  Vienne,  in  Dauphiny,  where 
he  was  strangled  by  his  eunuchs,  who  an- 
nounced that  he  had  committed  suicide  from 
despair. 

Valentinian  and  Theodosius,  in  order  to  at- 
tach the  clergy  to  them,  and  to  strengthen 
their  authority,  made  laws  which  prohibited 
the  offering  of  sacrifices  to  false  gods.  I'rom 
opening  the  pagan  temples,  from  preserving 
idols,  or  even  burning  incense  to  the  house- 
hold gods. 

During  his  whole  reign  Theodosius  had  no 
other  desire  than  that  of  rendering  his  sub- 
jects happ)-,  and  of  honouring  the  Deity  by  the 
worship  of  the  true  religion.  This  prince, 
elevated  to  the  throne  on  account  of  his  merit, 
had  the  good  fortune  to  raise  up  the  empire 
when  near  its  fall,  and  not  only  had  the  valour 
to  conquer  his  own  empire ;  but,  a\  hat  is  still 
more  glorious,  fortune  having  given  him  an- 
other empire,  he  had  sutficient  grandeur  of 
soul  to  restore  it  to  the  young  Valentinian. 
In  fine,  his  life  was  filled  with  generous  ac- 
tions, and  his  acts  of  weakness,  taking  their 
source  in  goodness  of  his  heart,  rendered  his 
virtues  still  more  brilliant. 


THE    FIFTH   CENTURY. 

ANASTASIUS  THE  FIRST,  FORTY-FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  398. — ARCADips  and  Honorius  the  First,  Emperors.] 

Ordination  of  Anastasins — Two  icomcn,  celebrated  for  their  beauty.  Mclania  and  Marcella^  excite 
a  schism  in  the  church — History  of  Jiufimis  of  Aquileia,  and  of  Mclania — Riifinus  is  pur- 
sued by  MarccllcUf  who  causes  the  pontiff  to  excommunicate  him — Death  of  A)iastasius. 

A  FEW  days  after  the  death  of  pope  Siricu.s,  |  which  pope  Siricus  had  granted  him  without 
Anastasius  the  First,  a  Roman  by  birth,  was  difficulty.  But,  during  the  reign  of  Anasta- 
chosen  pope.  {  sius,  a  Roman  lady,  named  Marcella.  wlio 

At  the  time  of  his  advent  to  the  Holy  See,    was  furious  ag-ainst  Rnfinus  for  having  des- 
the  church  was  troubled  by  the  errors  of  Ori-    pised  her  favours,  pointed  out  to  the  pontiff' 
gen,  and  two  ladies  of  illustrious  birth.  Me-    the  doctrines  of  the  philosopliical  priest. 
laiiia  and  Marcella,  divided  the  faithful  into  |      He  was  accused  of  having  propn'/ated  the 
two  hostile  factions.  errors  of  Origen :  his  translation  of  the  Prin- 

Ruiinus,  a  priest  of  Aquileia,  who  had  '  cipia  was  produced,  and  as  he  had  not  put 
lived  at  Jerusalem  about  twenty-five  years,  '  his  name  to  the  work,  his  enemies  pointed 
with  Mclania,  came  to  Rome,  to  publish  a  out  copies  corrected  by  his  own  hniid.  He 
Latin  version  of  the  Apology  of  Origen,  attri- :  warned  of  what  was  plotting  aijainst  his 
buted  to  the  martyr  St.  Pamphilius.  He  then  writings,  refused  even  to  reply  to  the  pontiff 
produced  a  letter  to  show  that  the  works  of  and  remained  in  Acpiileia. 
Origen  had  been  falsified,  and  that  the  new  j  Ana.stasius,  St.  Jerome,  and  the  oth-^roppo- 
translation,  called  Periarchon,  was  the  only  nents  of  Rufinu.s,  in  spite  of  the  protests  of 
true  one.  After  having  propag-ated  his  doc-  his  disciples  and  the  orthodoxy  of  his  confes- 
trines.  Rufinus  retired  to  the  city  of  Aquileia,  sion  of  faith,  condemned  him,  in  order  to 
his  country,   with  a  letter  of   communion,    satisfy  the  demands  of  a  courtezan. 


72 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


The  whole  reign  of  Anastasius  was  passed  1  of  Carthage.  The  holy  father  died  on  the 
ill  the  midst  of  theological  quarrels  between  4th  of  April,  402,  after  four  years  of  ponti- 
the  Donatists  and  the  Catholics  of  the  church   ficate. 


INNOCENT  THE  FIRST,  FORTY-SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  402. — Arcadius,  Honorius,  and  Theodosius  the  Younger,  Emperors.] 

Electio7i  of  Innocent — Victory  of  Stilico — Schism  in  the  Eastern  church — The  pope  defends  St. 
John  Chrysostom — Celibacy  of  the  priests — Incontinence  of  monks — Violence  towards  monks 
and  virgins — The  pope  imtes  to  the  emperor  Honorius — Vigilantius  declares  against  the  celi- 
bacy of  the  priests — He  blames  the  avarice  of  the  popes — Monks  the  scourge  of  nations — Death 
of  St.  Chrysostom — First  siege  of  Rome  by  Alaric — The  pope  permits  the  senators  to  sacrifice 
to  false  gods — Second  siege  of  Ro?ne — Victory  of  Honorius — The  emperor  refuses  a  just 
satisfaction  to  the  Gothic  king — Capture  and  sack  of  Rome — Neiu  pillage  of  Rome — The  pope 
coivardly  abandons  his  flock — He  returns  to  Rome — Birth  of  Relagianism — Satire  on  the 
monks — Celestius  and.  Pclagius  in  Palestine — Trickery  of  St.  Augustin — Violent  character  of 
St.  Augustin — The  council  of  Diospolis  approves  the  doctrines  of  Pclagius — Virgins  vio- 
lated— Ambition  of  popes — Council  of  Carthage — Reply  of  the  pontiff — He  is  accused  of  fa- 
vouring the  heresy — Decretals  of  Innocent — Not  true  that  he  excommunicated  the  emperor 
Arcadius,  and  the  empress  Eudoxia — Death  of  the  pope — His  character. 


Innocent  the  First  was  from  the  city  of  Al- 
bano,  near  to  Rome.  After  his  elevation  to  the 
Holy  See,  the  Goths,  who  threatened  Italy 
with  a  frightful  desolation,  were  repulsed  by 
Stilico,  who  gained  over  them  a  brilliant 
victory. 

Delivered  from  fear  of  the  barbarians,  the 
priests  recommenced  their  religious  quarrels, 
and  new  schisms  soon  broke  out  in  the  East- 
ern church.  Theophilus,  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, sustained  by  the  emperor,  had  deposed 
St.  Chrysostom.  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
and  in  advising  the  pope  of  his  judgment  had 
refused  to  explain  the  motives  of  the  excom- 
munication. Innocent  received  also  a  letter 
from  Chrysostom,  informing  him  of  all  that 
had  passed  in  the  first  synod,  which  had  pro- 
nounced his  deposition,  and  in  the  second  as- 
sembly, which  had  condemned  him  to  ban- 
ishment. The  pope  received,  with  great 
honours,  the  deputies  from  the  patriarch,  and 
those  from  Theophilus ;  but  in  order  not  to 
compromit  the  dignity  of  his  see,  on  a  ques- 
tion so  important,  he  referred  its  examination 
to  an  approaching  council  of  the  bishops  of 
the  East  and  the  West. 

Many  decisions  on  the  celibacy  of  priests 
are  attributed  to  this  holy  father,  prohibiting 
ecclesiastics  from  living  in  carnal  intercourse 
with  their  wives,  and  ordering  monks  to  live 
in  continence.  But  nature  is  stronger  than 
the  laws  of  men ;  and  the  bulls  of  the  pontiff, 
like  the  decrees  of  his  successors,  will  be  al- 
ways impotent  in  arresting  the  disorders  of 
ministers,  and  the  debaucheries  of  convents. 
In  his  rules,  Innocent  prohibits  ecclesias- 
tical orders  from  being  conferred  on  the  offi- 
cers of  the  emperor,  or  on  persons  filling  public 
charges.  He  orders  priests  to  refuse  peni- 
tence to  virgins  solem'nly  consecrated  to  God, 
when  they  should  be  desirous  of  engaging  in 
the  bonds  of  matrimony.  '•  If  a  woman," 
says  the  holy  father,  "  during  the  life  of  her 


husband,  espouses  another  man,  she  is  an 
adulteress,  and  is  repulsed  by  the  church.  Ob- 
serve the  same  rigour  with  respect  to  her 
who,  after  having  been  united  to  an  immortal 
spouse,  shall  pass  to  human  marriage."  It  is 
to  a  decision  so  ridiculous,  that  we  owe  the 
slavery  of  the  convents. 

Nevertheless,  the  pontiffs  admit  of  recla- 
mations from  vows  extracted  by  violence.  But 
the  unfortunate  victims,  in  order  to  be  un- 
bound from  their  oath,  must  offer  to  the  holy 
father  presents  and  money.  Complaints  the 
most  legitimate  were  then  admitted  or  re- 
jected, in  accordance  with  the  amount  of  the 
sums  sent  to  Rome.  Now,  nations  more  en- 
lightened have  learned  that  the  vows  of  celi- 
bacy could  be  broken,  even  without  the  au- 
thority of  the  pope  ;  and  the  example  of  our 
priests  proves  that  no  one  can  dispense  with 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  nature. 

Innocent  appeared  to  have  forgotten  the 
quarrels  of  the  Orientals,  when  he  received  a 
letter  from  twenty-five  bishops,  who  sustained 
the  cause  of  Chrysostom.  At  the  same  time, 
Domitian  and  Vallagus  arrived  at  Rome, 
charged  to  submit  to  the  holy  father  the  com- 
plaints of  the  churches  of  Mesopotamia.  The 
two  priests  rendered  to  him  an  account  of  the 
violence  used  by  Optatus,  prefect  of  Constan- 
tinople, against  Olympia  and  Pentadias,  wo- 
men of  high  birth,  and  of  consular  families. 
They  brought  with  them,  also,  monks  and 
virgins,  who  exhibited  their  backs  black  and 
blue,  and  the  marks  of  the  scourge  upon  their 
shoulders. 

The  pontiff,  touched  with  their  misfortunes, 
wrote  to  the  emperor  Honorius,  beseeching 
him  to  assemble  a  council,  which  should  put 
an  end  to  the  cruel  discussions  which  dis- 
tracted the  church. 

The  deputies  of  the  pope,  and  of  the  bi- 
shops of  Italy,  directed  their  stejis  towards 
Constantinople,  in  order  to  place  their  de- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


73 


spatches  in  the  hands  of  the  prince ;  but  the 
enemies  of  the  patriarch  rendered  the  depu- 
tation odious,  accused  Innocent  of  wishing  to 
calumniate  them,  and  drove  away  his  embas- 
sadors in  disgrace. 

During  the  year  406  appeared  the  first  book 
of  Vigilant,  a  learned  priest,  versed  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  nourished 
by  \\holesome  reading  of  profane  authors,  and 
joining  to  profound  knowledge  an  eloquence 
which  enchanted  the  masses.  He  declared 
boldly  against  the  abuses  introduced  into  re- 
ligion, blamed  the  celibacy  of  ecclesiastics, 
condemned  the  worship  of  relics,  called  those 
who  honoured  them  cmeraries  and  idolaters, 
and  treated  as  a  pagan  superstition  the  cus- 
tom of  lighting  wax  tapers  in  honour  of  saints. 

In  his  writings,  Vigilant  maintained  that 
the  faithful  should  not  pray  for  the  dead.  He 
besought  them  not  to  send  alms  to  the  pope, 
nor  to  sell  their  goods  to  give  them  to  the 
poor,  maintaining  that  it  was  better  to  pre- 
serve and  distribute  the  revenues  themselves. 
He  condemned  the  licentious  life  of  the  clois- 
ters, and  opposed  the  celebration  of  nocturnal 
masses  in  the  churches,  where  sacrilegious 
impurities  were  committed. 

This  admirable  man,  who  dared  to  speak  a 
langTUige  so  tirm,  in  ages  of  slavery  and  fa- 
naticism, could  not  abolish  any  of  the  ridicu- 
lous practices  introduced  by  the  avarice  and 
ambition  of  the  monks,  who  multiplied  among 
all  nations,  of  which  they  became  the  most 
terrible  scourge. 

St.  Chrysostom  died  at  Comana,  on  the  14th 
of  September,  in  the  year  407;  but  this  event 
did  not  terminate  the  discussions  of  the  East- 
ern and  Western  churches. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  408,  the 
redoubtable  Alaric  proposed  a  treaty  of  alli- 
ance with  the  emperor  Honorius.  His  ad- 
vances having  been  repulsed,  the  Goths  ap- 
proached Rome  and  besieged  it,  blockading 
it  entirely,  by  land  and  sea,  so  as  to  prevent 
provisions  from  entering  it. 

The  inhabitants,  decimated  by  famine  and 
pestilence,  made  lamentable  complaints,  and 
wished  to  open  the  gates  to  the  conqueror. 
In  this  extremity,  the  senators  thought  it  ne- 
cessary to  .sacrifice  in  the  capitol  and  other 
temples,  in  order  to  rouse  the  courage  of  the 
people.  They  consulted  Innocent,  who  gave 
an  example  of  noble  disinterestedness,  pre- 
ferring the  safety  of  the  city  to  ihe  rigorous 
observance  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  per- 
mitted them  to  make  public  sacrifices,  in 
honour  of  the  ancient  gods. 

The  pagan  sacrifices  were  as  useless  as  the 
religious  processions,  and  they  were  obliged 
to  devise  means  to  appease  Alaric.  They 
treated  witli  him,  and  agreed  to  purchase 
peace  from  him,  paying  a  ransom  of  five  thou- 
sand ])ound3  of  gold,  thirty  thousand  pounds 
of  silver,  font  thousand  tunics  of  silk,  three 
thousancl  skins  of  scailet  colour,  and  three 
thousand  pounds  of  pepper.  This  contribu- 
tion was  levied  on  the  fortunes  of  the  citizens, 
because  there  was  no  public  treasury.  They 
were  .still  obliged,  in  order  to  complete  the 

Vol.  I.  K 


sum  demanded  by  the  barbarians,  to  despoil 
the  temples  of  their  idols,  and  to  melt  down 
the  statues  of  gold  and  silver.  The  liomans 
promised,  beside,  to  cause  the  emperor  to 
conclude  an  alliance  with  him. 

The  king  of  the  Goths  having  raised  the 
siege,  came  to  Rimini  to  meet  Honorius,  and 
propose  to  him  peace  on  advantageous  terms. 
Jovius,  prefect  of  the  Prffitoriaus  of  Italy,  who 
was  charged  to  confer  with  Alaric,  broke  off 
the  negotiation,  by  refusing  him  the  general 
command  of  the  armies  of  the  emperor. 

The  senate,  fearing  the  consequences  of 
this  rupture,  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  the 
Gothic  king;  but  Innocent,  chief  of  the  de- 
putation, not  being  able  to  obtain  any  thing 
from  the  irritated  monarch,  and  fearing  the 
effects  of  his  vengeance,  hastened  to  take 
refuge  at  Ravenna,  near  Honorius,  and  aban- 
doned his  flock  to  the  rage  of  the  concjueror. 

Alaric  a  second  time  besieged  the  holy 
city,  and  having  rendered  himself  master  of 
the  port,  forced  the  Romans  to  declare  as 
emperor,  Attala,  prefect  of  the  city.  The  new 
Ca;sar,  elated  by  his  good  fortune,  no  longer 
consulted  the  sage  Alaric.  He  sent  to  Africa 
a  general  named  Constant,  charged  to  cause 
his  authority  to  be  made  known,  without 
giving  him  the  forces  necessary  to  sustain  his 
pretensions.  He  himself,  deceived  by  vain 
hopes,  marched  towards  Ravenna.  Honorius, 
frightened,  sent  to  him  his  highest  officers, 
offering  to  receive  him  as  his  colleatrue  ;  but 
Attala  repulsed  the  embassadors,  ordering  the 
emperor  to  choose  an  island,  or  designate  a 
province,  to  which  to  retire. 

Honorius.  having  then  disposed  of  his 
vessels,  did  but  wait  a  favourable  wind  to 
fly  to  his  nephew  Theodosius,  when  he  re- 
ceived from  the  East  unexpected  succours. 
At  the  same  time  Attala  learned  that  Constant 
had  been  defeated  by  Heraclian,  governor  of 
Africa,  and  that  the  fleet  of  his  enemy  guarded 
so  well  the  ports  of  Rome,  that  provisions 
could  no  more  be  brought  into  the  city.  He 
then  retraced  his  steps  to  defend  his  capitol. 
But  the  Gothic  king,  irritated  by  the  ingratitude 
with  which  he  had  repaid  his  benefits,  recon- 
ciled himself  to  Honorius,  and  de.-<poiled  his 
protege  of  the  imperial  purple,  after  a  reign 
of  a  year. 

Alaric  then  directed  his  steps  towards  the 
Alps,  and  came  to  within  three  leai;ues  of 
Ravenna,  to  show  that  he  really  desiretl  peace. 
He  announced  that  he   no  more  demanded 
great  provinces,  nor  the  command  of  ihe  ar- 
mies of  the  emperor,  but  only  a  small  sum  of 
money,  a  certain  quantity  of  wheat  for  the 
'  support  of  his  troops,  and  two  small  provinces 
!  at  the  extremity  of  Germany,  which  paid  no 
I  tribute  to  the  empire,  and  were  exposed  to  the 
I  incursions  of  the  barbarians. 
j      Honorius,   yielding  to  bad   advice,  refused 
to  grant  him  these.   The  kin£>-.  furious  at  this 
new  insult,  laid  siege  a  third  time  to  Rome, 
took  the  city  by  treason,  on  the  24!li  of  A  ii<;ust, 
410,  and  gave  it  up  to  his  soldiers  to  be  pil- 
laged.    The  church  of  St.  Peter  wns  aione 
i  spared,  by  order  of  the  conqueror.     Rut   the 


74 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


pontiff,  who  had  foreseen  the  misfortune  of  the 
holy  city,  for  the  second  time  cowardly  aban- 
doned his  see,  and  took  refuge  at  Ravenna 
with  the  emperor. 

The  pillage  lasted  three  days.  Then  Alaric 
sallied  from  Rome,  and  passed  mto  Campania, 
where  his  troops  sacked  Nola.  After  having 
ravaged  all  that  part  of  Italy,  the  king  of  the 
Goths  died  at  Cosenza,  in  returning  from  Reg- 
gio.  His  step-brother  Ataulf  having  succeeded 
him,  passed  again  through  Rome,  which  he 
pillaged  anew.  The  greater  part  of  the  in- 
habitants were  reduced  to  a  deplorable  mdi- 
gence  ;  almost  all  the  Christians  were  dis- 
persed, and  constrained  to  seek  refuge  in  the 
neighbouring  cities  of  Tuscany,  in  Sicily,  Af- 
rica, Egypt,  the  East,  and  Palestine. 

Innocent  returned  to  his  see  when  the  dan- 
ger was  passed,  and  availed  himself  of  the 
general  desolation  to  crush  the  remains  of 
idol  worship,  and  strengthen  his  spiritual  au- 
thority. He  drove  the  Novatians  from  the 
city,  and  pursued  with  extreme  rigour  all  un- 
fortunate heretics. 

The  noise  of  the  conference  at  Carthage, 
in  411,  between  the  orthodox  and  Donatists, 
had  attracted  into  Africa  Pelagius  and  Celes- 
tius,  two  divines  of  great  Britain,  who  had 
dwelt  for  a  long  time  in  Italy.  Celestius  was 
of  an  open  character ;  Pelagius,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  tricky,  politic,  and  fond  of  good 
cheer,  like  all  other  monks,  whom  Jerome 
thus  criticises  :  '•'  They  treat  their  bodies  with 
great  regard ;  but  the  Christian  should  war 
against  the  flesh,  which  is  the  enemy  of  the 
soul.  But  perhaps  they  do  this  in  order  to 
obey  the  precept  of  the  evangelist,  which 
orders  us  to  love  our  enemies." 

Celestius  rejoined  his  friend  Pelagius  in 
Palestine,  where  their  works  were  favourably 
received.  Count  Marcellinus,  the  governor 
of  the  province,  wished  to  examine  into  their 
doctrine,  and  addressed  himself  to  St.  Au- 
gnastin.  The  bishop  of  Hippo  replied  by  this 
captious  proposition  :  "Yes,  man  can  be  with- 
out sin,  by  aid  of  the  grace  of  God,  but  it 
never  happens."  The  English  monk  taught 
the  same  doctrine,  affirming  that  God  could 
grant  this  grace  to  his  elect.  Thus  the  dif- 
ference in  the  two  sentiments  consisted  in  a 
dispute  on  words ;  but  fearing  to  draw  on  him- 
self this  redoubtable  adversary,  he  wrote  to 
St.  Augustin  a  letter,  full  of  protests  on  the 
orthodoxy  of  his  faith,  and  was  prodigal  of 
excessive  praise  towards  him.  The  holy 
bishop  being  flattered  in  his  vanity,  received 
him  to  the  communion. 

Pelagius  had  as  yet  published  nothing  but 
a  small  commentary  on  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Paul,  and  a  letter,  addressed  to  a  beautiful 
woman  named  Demetria,  who  made  a  profes- 
sion of  virginity.  This  piece  has  been  attri- 
buted to  St.  Jerome  or  St.  Augustin,  so  subtle 
was  the  venom  of  his  errors. 

But  when  his  treatise  appeared,  entitled 
"  The  natural  power  of  man  to  build  up  again 
the  right  of  free  will,"  a  general  reprobation 
greeted  the  daring  innovator.  St.  Jerome  re- 
futed it  by  dialog-ues,  and  St.  Augustm  accu- 


mulated mountains  of  volumes  against  this 
new  heresy. 

Pelagius  having  demanded  permission  to 
justify  his  doctrines  before  a  council,  forty 
bishops  assembled  at  Diospolis  in  Palestine. 
After  having  taken  cognizance  of  all  the  con- 
tested articles,  the  fathers  rendered  the  fol- 
lowing decree :  "  We  are  satisfied  with  the 
declarations  of  the  monk  Pelagius  here  i)re- 
sent,  who  agrees  in  holy  doctrine,  and  con- 
demns that  which  is  contrary  to  the  faith  of 
the  church.  We  declare  that  he  is  in  eccle- 
siastic and  Catholic  communion." 

Theodore  of  Mopsuesta,  celebrated  for  his 
profound  learning  and  great  wisdom,  was  one 
of  the  most  powerful  supporters  of  Pelagius 
in  the  East.  John,  bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
also  favoured  the  new  doctrine.  In  order 
to  render  the  Pelagians  odious,  St.  Jerome 
brought  an  atrocious  accusation  against  them. 
He  wrote  to  the  pope,  that  their  furious  band 
had  attacked  him  in  a  monastery,  which  they 
had  delivered  to  the  flames,  after  having  pil- 
laged it ;  that  he  himself  had  been  constrained 
to  save  himself  in  a  fortified  tower. 

The  pontiff  addressed  a  long  letter  to  John 
of  Jerusalem,  in  order  to  point  out  to  him  the 
author  of  these  violences,  and  to  engage  him 
to  put  a  stop  to  them  by  his  authority.  He 
also  wrote  to  St.  Jerome  a  letter  of  consola- 
tion, undertaking  to  bring  his  accusation  be- 
fore his  see,  in  order  that  judgment  might  be 
rendered  upon  it.  This  letter  is  a  convincing 
proof  of  the  ambition  of  the  popes,  who  al- 
lowed no  opportunity  of  usurping  new  rights 
in  the  church  to  escape  them. 

The  bishops  of  the  province  of  Africa  as- 
sembled as  usual  at  Carthage,  in  their  annual 
council.  The  fathers,  yielding  to  the  solici- 
tations of  the  bishop  of  Hippo,  decided  that 
Pelagius  and  Celestius  should  be  anathema- 
tized, in  order  that  the  fear  of  excommunica- 
tion might  bring  back  all  whom  they  had 
deceived,  even  if  it  should  not  have  that  effect 
upon  themselves.  The  council  then  wished 
to  inform  the  pope  of  the  judgment  which  it 
had  decreed,  in  order  to  give  it  more  so- 
lemnity, through  the  aid  of  the  authority  of 
the  see  of  Rome,  and  sent  to  the  holy  father 
the  proceedings  of  the  synod,  as  well  as  the 
writings  of  the  bishops  Heros  and  Lazams. 

The  synod,  governed  by  St.  Augustin,  re- 
futed, summarily,  the  principles  attributed  to 
Pelagius.  and  finished  its  bulls  of  excommu- 
nication as  follows  :  "  We  ordain  that  Pelagius 
and  Celestius  disavow  this  doctrine,  and  the 
writings  produced  in  its  defence,  although 
we  have  not  been  able  to  convince  them  of 
falsehood ;  for  we  anathematize  in  general 
those  who  teach  that  human  nature  can  of 
itself  avoid  sin  :  and  those  who  show  them- 
selves to  be  the  enemies  of  grace."  This 
anathema  could  not  reach  Pelagius,  who 
maintained,  on  the  contrary,  the  necessity  of 
grace,  in  order  to  live  without  sin. 

The  pope  replied  to  the  synodical  letters 
of  the  council.  He  bestowed  great  eulogiums 
on  the  bishops,  for  the  vigour  with  which  they 
had  condemned  error,  and  for  the  respect  they 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


75 


had  evinced  for  the  Holy  See,  in  consuUing 
it  in  regard  to  their  decisions.  He  added, 
with  mtolerable  pride,  that  they  had  con- 
formed to  the  laws  of  the  church,  which  com- 
manded that  all  ecclesiastical  causes,  before 
being  dulinitely  decided  in  the  provinces, 
should  be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter. 

"  The  Africans  repulsed  this  pretension  of 
the  bishop  of  Rome.  They  declared  they 
had  not  written  to  him  to  ask  his  confirmation 
of  that  which  they  had  decided,  but  only  to 
pray  him  to  approve  of  what  they  had  done, 
which  he  could  not  refuse  to  do,  without  being 
suspected  of  heresy."' 

In  etfect,  they  accused  Innocent  of  favour- 
ing Celestius ;  and  he,  in  order  to  set  aside 
their  suspicions,  replied  in  a  second  letter, 
that  he  detested  the  opinions  of  that  heretic. 
He  declared  that  he  approved  of  his  condem- 
nation by  the  bishops  of  Africa,  and  joined 
his  suffrages  to  theirs.  Then  the  holy  father 
produced  several  decretals  on  the  necessity 
of  grace  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  not 
born  of  the  person,  because  the  contrary  opin- 
ion was  deduced  from  the  writings  of  Pela- 
gius  and  Cele.stius,  a  consequence  which  the 
two  monks  disavowed.  He  launched  his  ana- 
themas upon  heretics  who  maintained  that 
they  had  no  need  of  the  grace  of  God  to  make 
them  good,  declaring  them  unworthy  of  the 
communion  of  the  faithful,  and  separate  from 
the  church  as  rotten  members.  He  adds, 
however,  that  if  they  wish  to  acknowledge 
their  errors,  and  to  admit  the  grace  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  sincere  conversion,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  church  to  aid  them,  and  not  refuse  its 
communion  to  those  who  have  fallen  into 
sin. 

A  great  number  of  the  decretals  of  this  pon- 
tiff, addressed  to  divers  bishops  of  Italy,  but 


without  any  date,  have  been  preserved.  One 
of  them,  addressed  to  Felix,  bishop  of  Nocera, 
is  in  relation  to  ordinations.  The  holy  father 
declares  that  the  mutilation  of  a  finger,  or  other 
part  of  the  body,  does  not  render  it  irregular, 
unless  it  is  voluntary.  The  second  is  ad- 
dressed to  Florentius,  bishop  of  Tibur,  accused 
of  having  encroached  upon  his  neighbour. 
The  pope  summoned  him  to  Rome  alter  the 
festival  of  Easter,  to  decide  upon  his  claims. 
In  another  decretal.  Innocent  decided  that  a 
second  marriage,  contracted  during  the  cap- 
tivity of  a  first  wife,  should  be  declared  null, 
on  her  return  to  her  husband. 

As  to  the  apochrj'phal  letter,  addressed  to 
the  emperor  Arcadms,  it  has  evidently  been 
fabricated  by  the  monks,  to  sustain  the  fable 
of  the  e.vcommunication  of  the  emperor  and 
empress.  The  author  of  this  letter  supposes 
that  Eudoxia  lived  after  the  death  of  St. 
Chrysostom ;  but  it  has  been  proved  that  she 
died  shortly  after  the  exile  of  that  bishop. 
Besides,  the  popes  at  this  period  would  not 
have  dared  to  excommunicate  princes,  from 
fear  of  the  chastisement  which  v/ould  have 
followed. 

St.  Iimocent  had  governed  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  given  laws  to  all  the  other  churches, 
during  nearly  fifteen  years,  when  he  died  on 
the  12th  of  March,  417. 

This  pope,  skilled  in  ecclesiastical  laws, 
knew  how  to  invoke  traditions  into  use,  in 
order  to  make  new  rules  from  them.  He  ex- 
liibited  a  jealous  desire  to  increase  the  gran- 
deur of  the  church  of  Rome,  and  aggrandize 
the  prerogatives  of  his  see.  His  works  were 
written  with  elegance,  though  at  times  he 
employed  expressions  slightly  inelegant.  He 
knew  how  to  give  an  adroit  turn  to  his 
thoughts  and  reasoning,  which  were  fre- 
quently wanting  in  soundness. 


ZOZIMUS,  THE  FORTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  417. — HoNORius  and  Theodosius  the  Yocnger,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Zozimus — He  condemns  the  accusers  of  Celestius — Receives  Pelagius  to  his  commu- 
nion — His  inconsistency — He  condemns  those  u'hom  he  had  absolved,  and  absolves  those  whom 
he  had  condemned — He  persecutes  the  Pelagians — Wishes  to  exterminate  them — Is  convicted  of 
a  criminal  imposture — His  death. 


Zozimus,  the  successor  of  St.  Innocent,  was 
a  Greek  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  a  priest 
named  Abraham.  Though  very  aged,  he 
kjit'w  how  to  profit  skilfully  by  the  occasions 
which  offered  of  augmenting  his  authority, 
and  ex-tending  the  rights  of  his  church,  in  dis- 
cussions with  the  bishops  of  Gaul. 

Celestius,  after  his  condemnation  by  the 
bishops  of  Carthage,  had  appealed  to  pope 
Innocent.  The  Africans  were  not  disquieted 
by  this  irregular  step ;  and  Celestius  himself, 
not  attaching  any  great  importance  to  his 
appeal,  passed  over  into  Palestine.  But  Pela- 
gius. more  crafty,  did  not  despah  of  bringing 


Rome  into  his  interests,  by  flattering  the  am- 
bition of  the  pontiff. 

Innocent  was  dead,  and  Zozimus  had  suc- 
ceeded him.  Informed  by  Pelagius  of  this 
change,  Celestius,  driven  from  Constantinople, 
hastened  to  the  West  with  the  design  of  gain- 
ing the  good  graces  of  the  new  pope,  by  ac- 
cepting him  as  a  judge  of  his  cause.  Zozi- 
mus. finding  it  an  opportunity  to  increase  his 
influence,  and  to  draw  before  his  tribunal  cases 
of  appeal,  listened  favourably  to  Celestius,  and 
consented  to  hear  his  justification.  He  hoped 
besides,  that  this  monk,  who  was  of  a  bold 
spirit,  would  minister  to  his  hatred  agahist  the 


76 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


Africans,  whom  he  wished  to  humble.  He 
declared  Celestius  to  be  a  good  Catholic,  con- 
demned Heros  and  Lazarus,  who  were  the 
accusers  of  the  Pelagian  doctrine,  and  de- 
posed them  from  the  pontificate. 

Emboldened  by  this  success,  the  heretics 
sent  to  Zozimus  letters  of  communion.  Pray- 
lus,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  recommended  him 
to  examine  the  doctrines  of  Pelagius;  and 
Pelagius  himself  addressed  the  holy  father, 
in  order  to  justify  his  principles.  These  writ- 
ings having  been  publicly  read  at  Rome,  all 
the  assistants  and  the  pontiff  declared  that 
they  contained  nothing  but  the  doctrine  of  the 
church.  The  fathers,  filled  with  joy  and  ad- 
miration, could  scarcely  restrain  their  tears, 
and  blamed  themselves  for  having  calumni- 
ated men  of  a  faith  so  pure.  But  Zozimus 
was  not  long  in  contradicting  himself,  and 
proving  by  his  conduct  that  the  Holy  See  is 
not  infallible. 

After  having  received  Pelagius  into  his 
communion,  and  overwhelmed  him  with  eulo- 
giums ;  after  having  launched  anathemas 
against  his  enemies,  the  holy  father,  shaken 
by  the  firmness  of  the  bishops  of  Africa,  con- 
demned authentically  the  Pelagians,  under 
the  pretext  that  Celestius  had  absented  him- 
self from  Rome  without  his  permission.  He 
wrote  to  the  bishops  of  Africa  and  all  the 
churches,  to  advise  them  of  this  new  decision. 
In  his  bulls  he  explained  the  errors  of  which 
Celestius  had  been  accused  by  Paulinus,  and 
did  not  omit  any  of  the  calumnies  with  which 
the  two  authors  of  Pelagianism  had  been  over- 
whelmed, declaring  them  excommunicated, 
and  reduced  to  the  rank  of  penitents.  Fol- 
lowing the  custom  of  courts,  the  will  of  the 
master  changed  the  opinion  of  the  synod,  and 
all  the  clergy  of  Rome  confirmed  the  judg- 
ment of  the  pope. 

Zozimus  wished  to  make  his  zeal,  against 
the  heresy  which  he  had  protected,  brilliant, 
in  order  to  stifle  the  complaints  of  the  victims 
of  his  inconsistency.  He  sent  to  the  emperor 
Honorius  a  copy  of  the  judgment  which  he 
had  pronounced  against  Pelagius  and  Celes- 
tius, and  demanding  that  the  heretics  should 
be  immediately  driven  from  Rome.  The  em- 
peror dared  not  resist  the  wishes  of  the  pon- 
tiff, and  gave  a  rescript  against  the  Pelagians, 
ordering  that  their  followers  should  be  de- 
nounced to  the  magistrates,  and  those  guilty 
of  the  heresy  should  be  sent  into  perpetual 
banishment,  and  their  property  be  confiscated. 

The  pope,  become  more  powerful  by  the 
weakness  of  Honorius,  pursued  with  bitter- 
ness the  design  which  he  had  formed  of  exter- 
minating the  friends  of  Pelagius.  He  deposed 
all  the  bishops  who  refused  to  subscribe  to 
the  condemnation  of  the  new  heresy ;  gave 
orders  to  drive  ihem  from  Italy,  and  to  tear 
them  from  their  dwellings  by  a  rude  soldiery. 
This  persecution  caused  the  conversion  of  a 
large  number  of  priests,  who  consented  to 
submit  to  the  Holy  See,  to  re-enter  their 
churches.  But  eighteen  bishops  firmly  main- 
tained their  opinions,  and  among  ihem  is 
found  the  famous  Juhan,  bishop  of  Eclana. 


The  pope  having  signified  to  them  that  they 
must  condemn  Pelagius  and  Celestius.  they 
boldly  replied,  that  they  refused  to  subscribe 
to  the  last  letter  of  Zozimus,  and  did  not  re- 
cognize the  authority  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

Zozimus,  whose  adventurous  spirit  de- 
lighted in  difficulties,  had  to  maintain  a  violent 
quarrel  with  the  bishops  of  Africa,  in  which 
he  was  convicted  of  imposture.  The  fact 
presents  some  curious  incidents,  which  de- 
serve to  be  related.  A  priest  named  Apiarius, 
refusing  to  submit  to  a  punishment  which  had 
been  inflicted  on  him  by  Urban,  bishop  of 
Sicca,  in  Eastern  INlauritania,  appealed  from 
his  excommunication  to  the  bi-shop  of  Rome. 
This  step  appeared  irregular  in  Alrica,  because 
the  council  of  Miletus  had  prohibited  this  kind 
of  appeal :  but  the  pope,  without  much  ex- 
amination, as  to  whether  the  means  which 
offered  themselves  to  subserve  his  ambition 
were  legitimate,  availed  himself  of  the  op- 
portrmity,  and  sent  three  legates  into  Africa. 

The  deputies,  on  arriving  at  Carthage,  found 
the  bishops  assembled  in  a  s}'-nod,  presided 
over  by  Aurelius.  They  presented  the  in- 
structions with  whicWthey  were  charged,  and 
demanded  permission  to  read  them  in  the 
council.  The  letters  of  the  holy  father  con- 
tained four  articles :  the  first  authorized  ap- 
peals from  bishops  to  the  pope ;  the  second 
prohibited  the  journeys  of  bishops  to  court ; 
the  third  permitted  priests  and  deacons  to 
appeal  from  the  excommunication  of  their 
bishop  to  neighbouring  prelates;  the  fourth 
commanded  the  bishops  to  excommunicate  or 
cite  bishop  Urban  to  appear  before  the  pontiff, 
if  he  did  not  receive  Apianius  into  his  com- 
munion. 

The  fathers  adopted  the  second  article 
without  any  difficulty,  for  the  bishops  of  Af- 
rica had  already  made  a  canon  in  the  council 
of  Carthage,  to  prevent  bishops  and  priests 
from  resorting  to  the  court  of  Rome.  But  on 
the  first  article,  which  permitted  bishops  to 
appeal  to  the  pope  from  the  judgments  which 
condemned  them,  and  on  the  third,  which 
sent  back  the  causes  of  the  clergy  to  neigh- 
bouring bishops,  the  prelates  repulsed  the 
pretensions  of  the  pope. 

To  put  an  end  to  opposition,  Zozimus  had 
the  impudence  to  assert  that  the  canons  of 
the  council  of  Nice  declared  that  all  Chris- 
tian kingdoms  were,  in  the  last  resort,  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal  of  Rome.  The 
Africans,  surprised  at  hearing  canons  quoted 
of  which  they  had  no  knowledge,  ordered 
researches  to  be  made  into  the  copies  of  the 
decrees  of  the  council  of  Nice,  which  were 
in  the  archives  of  the  church  at  Carthage ; 
and  having  discovered  that  Zozinlus  relied 
upon  decisions  which  were  not  in  existence, 
they  declared,  in  full  synod,  that  the  pontiff 
was  an  infamous  usurper. 

The  act  of  the  pope  was  a  piece  of  knavery 
of  the  most  criminal  character,  and  which  we 
cannot  too  much  condemn.  But  he  had  not 
the  grief  to  survive  his  shame.  He  died  on 
the  26th  of  December,  418,  before  the  return 
of  his  embassadors,  and  was  interred  on  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


77 


road  to  Tibur,  near  the  body  of  St.  Law- 
rence. 

Zozimus  is  accufted  of  havinjj  trampled 
under  foot  all  law.s,  human  and  divine,  to 
satisfy  his  unbridled  ambition.  Skilful  in  di- 
vining the  weak  point  of  his  adversaries,  he 
forgot  nothing  which  could  injure  them.  Of 
an  excessive  pride,  he  pushed  his  audacity  to 
its  extreme  limits,  and  when  he  perceived 
that  the  bow  was  about  to  break  from  the 
force  of  its  tension,  he  suddenly  relaxed  it. 
His   conduct  was  artilicial;   and  he  always 


showed  himself  the  enemy  of  repose  and 
tranquillity.  The  zeal  which  he  bore  for  re- 
ligion was  the  eti'ect  of  his  ambition,  which 
seconded  marvellously  a  great  skill  in  public 
affairs,  and  a  tortuous  policy,  which  INlachia- 
vel  would  not  have  disowned. 

The  church  has,  nevertheless,  conferred 
upon  the  pontiff  the  title  of  saint ;  but  if  God 
has  received  Zozimus  into  his  royal  kingdom, 
and  pardoned  his  execrable  ambition,  his  re- 
volting injustice,  and  his  bold  impostures,  no 
one  need  fear  eternal  damnation  ! 


BONIFACE  THE  FIRST,  FORTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  418. — HoNORius  and  Theodosius  the  Second,  Emperors.] 

Schism  in  the  church — Eulalius  and  Boniface — The  two  popes  excite  revolts  in  the  holy  city — 
The  emperor  declares  against  Boniface — The  partizans  of  Boniface  icrite  to  the  emperor 
against  Eulalius — Council  of  Ravenna — Eulahus  enters  Rome  in  opposition  to  the  decree  of 
Ilonorius — He  is  driven  from  the  city,  and  Boniface  re-established  as  pope — Rescript  of  the 
emperor — Elections  of  popes  in  the  fifth  century — Sixth  council  of  Carthage — llie  ambition 
of  the  pontiffs  repressed  by  llteodosius — Death  of  Boniface. 


After  the  death  of  pope  Zozimus,  Sym- 
machus,prefect  of  Rome,  harangued  the  peo- 
ple, to  warn  them  that  they  should  leave  to 
the  clergy  the  freedom  of  election.  He  threat- 
ened, at  the  same  time,  the  trades-people  and 
chiefs  of  the  quarters  with  terrible  punish- 
ments, if  they  troubled  the  peace  of  the 
city. 

Some  priests  then  assembled,  according  to 
custom,  to  proceed  to  an  election;  but  before 
the  funeral  of  Zozimus  took  place,  the  arch- 
deacon Eulalius  resolved  to  usurp  the  ponti- 
fical chair;  and  at  the  head  of  his  faction  he 
took  possession  of  the  church  of  the  Lateran, 
closing  all  the  entrances  to  it.  His  party  was 
composed  of  deacons,  some  priests,  and  a 
very  large  number  of  citizens,  who  remained 
two  entire  days  in  the  church,  waiting  for  the 
solemn  moment  of  ordination,  that  is,  the  next 
Sunday.  The  other  faction  of  the  clergy  and  the 
people  assembled  in  the  church  of  Theodore, 
resolved  to  elect  Boniface,  and  sent  to  Eulalius 
three  priests,  to  order  him  not  to  undertake 
anything  without  the  participation  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  clergy ;  but  the  embas.siidors 
were  maltreated  and  detained  as  prisoners. 

Eulalius,  supported  by  the  aid  of  Symma- 
chus,  was  ordaiJied  by  the  bishop  of  Ostia, 
and  Boniface  received  the  imposition  of  hands 
in  the  church  of  St.  Marcel. 

The  prefect  Symmachus  wrote  to  the  em- 
peror Ilonorius,  who  was  at  Ravenna,  to  ad- 
vise him  of  what  was  passing  in  Rome.  He 
condemned  the  election  of  Boniface,  and  de- 
manded his  orders,  in  order  to  execute  his 
judgment,  addressing  him  at  the  same  time 
favourably  to  the  cause  of  Eulalius. 

The  emperor,  prejudiced  by  the  story  of 
Symmachus,  declared  for  Eulalius,  and  by 
his  rescript,  ordered  Boniface  to  leave  Rome, 
commanding  the  prefect  to  drive  him  out,  if 


he  resisted,  and  to  punish  the  rebellious  as 
they  deserved. 

Symmachus  sent  his  secretary  to  inform 
Boniface  that  he  was  coming  to  find  him,  to 
advise  him  of  the  will  of  the  emperor ;  but 
the  latter,  who  held  his  meeting  in  the  church 
of  St.  Paul,  despised  his  orders,  and  caused 
his  people  to  beat  the  ofRcer  whom  Symma- 
chus had  sent,  and  entered  the  city  in  defiance 
of  the  prefect  and  his  people.  The  troops 
then  came  to  disperse  the  people  who  accom- 
panied the  pope,  and  to  disengage  their  officer, 
who  had  been  almost  killed  in  the  tumult. 
An  account  was  rendered  to  the  emperor  of 
all  these  disorders,  and  the  pontiff  Boniface 
was  accused  of  having  excited  them. 

Eulalius  always  exercised  the  fund  ions  of 
the  episcopate  in  the  part  of  the  cit}-  which 
had  recognized  him  as  pontiff;  but  tlu;  priests, 
the  jmrtizansof  Boniface,  wrote  to  the  i)rince 
to  set  him  against  Eulalius,  affirming  that  he 
had  been  misadvised.  They  besought  him 
to  revoke  his  first  orders,  and  to  order  to  his 
court  the  anti-pope  and  those  who  sustained 
him,  promising  that  Boniface  would  render 
himself  there  with  his  clergy.  They  be- 
sought him.  besides,  to  drive  from  Rome  the 
faithful  who  refused  to  conform  to  his  deci- 
sion. 

Honoring  consented  to  suspend  his  first  de- 
cree, and  signified  to  Boniface  and  Eulalius 
that  they  should  come  toliiivenna,  under  pain 
of  deposition,  accompanied  by  the  prelates 
who  had  ordained  them  both. 

The  bishops,  convoked  to  Ravenna,  assem- 
bled in  council,  and  put  off  the  decision  of 
this  affair  to  the  first  day  of  May,  after  (he 
celebration  of  the  festival  of  Easter.  The 
emperor  prohibited  Boniface  and  Eulniiusfrom 
entering  Rome  under  any  pretext,  before  judg- 
ment was  pronounced,  and  ordered  that  the 


78 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


holy  mysteries  should  be  celebrated  by  Achri- 1 
les,  bishop  of  Spoletta,  who  had  not  d.eclared 
for  either  party. 

Eulalius,  yielding  to  bad  advice,  re-entered 
the  city  without  the  knowledge  of  Symma- 
chus,  and  lost  by  his  imprudence  the  place 
which  he  might  have  advantageously  con- 
tended for.  Honorius,  who  was  favourable 
to  him,  irritated  by  this  disobedience,  made 
a  decree  in  these  terms:  "Since  Eulalius  has 
returned  to  Rome  in  defiance  of  the  orders 
which  prohibited  the  two  pretenders  from  ap- 
proaching the  city,  he  must  instantly  leave 
his  church,  to  remove  all  pretence  for  sedi- 
tion ]  otherwise  we  shall  declare  him  de- 
prived of  his  dignity.  It  will  not  be  received 
as  an  excuse,  that  the  people  retain  him  by 
force ;  for  if  any  one  of  the  clergy  communi- 
cates with  him,  he  shall  be  punished  himself, 
and  the  laity  be  banished  from  our  slates. 
We  charge  the  bishop  of  Spoletta  to  celebrate 
divine  service  during  the  holy  days  of  Easter, 
and  for  this  purpose  the  church  of  the  Late- 
ran  shall  be  open  to  him  alone." 

Symmachus,  having  received  this  decree, 
informed  Eulalius  of  it  on  the  same  day ;  the 
latter  replied  that  he  would  think  of  it,  and 
did  not  wish  to  leave  Rome  in  spite  of  the 
urgency  of  his  friends.  The  next  day  he 
assembled  the  people,  and  seized  upon  the 
church  of  the  Lateran,  where  he  baptized  and 
celebrated  Easter.  The  prefect  was  then 
compelled  to  drive  him  away  by  his  troops, 
and  placed  officers  to  guard  the  church,  that 
Achilles  of  Spoletta  might  celebrate  the  so- 
lemnity in  tranquillity.  Eulalius  was  arrested 
and  sent  into  exile,  with  several  clergy  of  his 
party,  which  excited  new  seditions. 

The  emperor  Honorius,  informed  of  all 
these  disorders,  declared  Eulalius  excluded 
from  the  Holy  See,  and  Boniface  at  liberty  to 
return  to  Rome  to  take  the  govenunent  of  the 
church.  The  senate  and  people  evidenced 
great  joy  in  finding  an  end  put  to  these  bloody 
quarrels,  and  two  days  afterwards  Boniface, 
amid  general  acclamations,  entered  the  city 
in  triumph.  Peace  was  then  restored  to  the 
church,  and  Eulalius,  having  promised  to  re- 
nounce all  his  pretensions,  received  in  recom- 
pense the  bishopric  of  Nepi. 

Boniface  then  wrote  a  letter  to  the  emperor, 
beseeching  him  to  make  an  edict  which 
should  prevent,  in  future,  the  intrigues  and 
cabals  which  had  taken  place  on  the  death  of 
a  pope,  in  order  to  seize  upon  the  bishopric 
of  Rome. 

Honorius  replied  to  the  wishes  of  the  holy 
father  by  the  following  decree :  "  If,  -contrary 
to  our  desires,  your  holiness  should  quit  the 
earth,  let  all  the  world  know  they  must 
abstain  from  intrigues  to  be  elevated  to  the 
papacy ;  thus,  when  two  ecclesiastics  shall 
be  ordained  contrary  to  the  rules,  neither  of 
them  shall  be  considered  as  bishop  •  but  only 
he  whose  election  shall  be  confirmed  anew 
Dy  the  consent  of  all ;"  which  shows  us  that 
the  bishop  of  Rome  was  elected  by  the  clergy 
and  the  people,  and  consecrated  by  a  bishop, 
with  the  consent  of  the  emperor. 


The  legates  whom  Zozimus  had  sent  into 
Africa  on  the  affair  of  Apianius,  had  assisted 
at  the  general  council  held  in  Carthage,  in  the 
hall  of  the  church  of  Fausta.  and  in  which 
new  debates  were  entered  upon,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  canons  falsilied  by  the  pope.  After 
the  conclusion  of  the  synod,  the  legates  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  rendered  an  account  of 
the  outrage  which  had  been  committed  on 
the  Holy  See.  Boniface,  furious,  resolved  to 
exterminate  the  Pelagians,  and  solicited  from 
the  emperor  a  precept,  of  which  mention  is 
made  in  a  letter  which  Honorius  wrote  from 
Ravenna  to  the  bishop  of  Carthage.  It  says, 
"That  in  order  to  restrain  the  obstinacy  of  the 
bishops,  who  maintain  still  the  doctrine  of  Pe- 
lagius,  it  is  enjoined  on  Aurelius  to  warn  them 
that  if  they  do  not  subscribe  to  the  condem- 
nation, they  shall  be  deposed  from  the  epis- 
copate, driven  from  their  cities,  and  excommu- 
nicated." Aurelius,  a  submissive  slave  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  hastened  to  execute  these 
orders,  threatening  the  bishops  with  all  the 
wrath  of  the  prince. 

But  Theodosius,  shortly  after  his  marriage, 
issued  a  precept  against  the  authority  of  the 
pope,  in  which  he  declared  the  sees  of  Illyria 
were  not  subjected  to  the  judgments  of  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  and  that  the  prelates  of 
Constantinople  enjoyed  the  same  privileges 
as  the  Roman  pontiffs.  The  prince  also  or- 
dered a  council  to  be  held  at  Corinth,  to  exam- 
ine into  several  disputes  which  had  occurred 
between  the  churches.  Boniface  complained 
of  this  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and 
wrote  to  him :  "  If  you  read  the  canons  you 
wull  see  that  yours  is  the  second  or  third  see 
after  the  Roman  church.  The  great  churches 
of  Alexandria  and  Antioch  guard  their  au- 
thority by  canons,  and  yet  they  have  recourse 
to  our  see  in  important  affairs,  as  iir  those  of 
Athanasius  and  Flavian  of  Antioch.  I  pro- 
hibit you  then  from  assembling  to  discuss  the 
ordination  of  Perigen.  If,  since  his  ordina- 
tion, he  has  committed  crimes,  our  brother 
Rufus  will  take  cognizance  of  them,  and  re- 
port to  us,  for  we  alone  have  the  right  of 
judging  him."  He  then  recommends  them 
to  obey  Rufus,  and  threatens  with  excommu- 
nication those  who  shall  go  to  the  council. 

Boniface  then  sent  a  deputation  to  the  em- 
peror, to  beseech  him  to  sustain  the  ancient 
privileges  of  the  Roman  church.  Honorius 
wrote  to  Theodosius,  who  replied,  that  "  the 
ancient  privileges  of  the  Roman  church  should 
be  observed  according  to  the  canons,  and  that 
he  had  charged  the  prefects  of  the  Preetorians 
to  cause  them  to  be  executed." 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  the  holy 
father  repressed  in  Ganl  the  pretensions  of 
Patroclus  of  Aries,  who  had  ordained  out  of 
his  province  a  bishop,  who  was  asked  for 
neither  by  the  clergy  nor  the  people  of  his 
residence.  At  length  the  pope  Boniface  died 
in  the  month  of  October,  in  the  year  423.  and 
was  interred  in  the  cemetery  of  St.  Felicita. 

St.  Simon  the  Stylite,  who  lived  during  the 
pontificate  of  Boniface  the  First,  had  taken  up 
his  dwelling  on  the  summit  of  a  column  forty 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


79 


cubits  high,  on  which  he  lived  thirty  years. 
This  fanatic  was  born  at  Sisan,  a  city  situated 
on  the  confines  of  Cilicia  and  Syria.  He  had 
entered  into  a  Greek  monastery,  by  the  ad- 
vice of  a  priest,  and  had  been  expelled  from 
it  by  the  abbot,  who  believed  him  insane, 
from  the  cruel  macerations  and  injurious  ab- 
stinences to  which  he  condemned  himself. 
On  leaving  the  monastery  he  retired  into  a 
grotto,  at  lire  foot  of  Momit  Telenissus,  where 
he  resolved  to  imitate  Jesus  Christ,  bypassing 
lent  without  taking  any  nourishment.  A  pious 
Cenobite  of  the  neighbourhood,  whom  he  had 
apprized  of  his  intentions,  wished  to  dissuade 
him  from  them.  Simon  fell  into  a  passion 
with  him,  and  prohibited  him  from  coming  to 
visit  him  iluring  that  period.  The  poor  monk, 
thinking  that  he  had  lost  his  reason,  left  for 
him  ten  loaves  of  bread  and  a  jug  full  of 
water,  and  did  not  go  again  to  the  grotto  until 
the  forty  days  had  expired.  His  astonishment 
was  great  on  finding  the  provisions  untouched, 
and  the  fanatical  Simon  extended  on  the 
earth  and  giving  no  signs  of  life.  He  imme- 
diately caused  him  to  take  some  drops  of 
water,  and  administered  to  him  the  eucharist. 
At  the  same  moment,  says  the  legend,  Simon 


rose  with  his  full  strength,  and  appeared  as 
satiated,  as  if  he  had  passed  lent  in  the  midst 
of  feasting.  Since  that  period  he  had  pre- 
served the  same  abstinence,  and  had  preached 
for  thirty  years  from  the  top  of  his  column, 
exhorting  the  faithful  to  follow  his  example. 
His  preachings,  and  the  singularity  of  his 
sacrilice,  had  unfortunately  too  much  in- 
fluence in  stimulating  the  imagination  of 
devotees  and  exciting  imitators  of  him. 
The  most  distinguished  of  these  was  Si- 
mon the  Second,  who  mounted  on  a  co- 
lumn at  the  age  of  fifty  years,  and  who 
remained  there  sixty-eight  years  without  ever 
descending. 

The  exaltation  of  the  faithful  was  then 
carried  to  such  an  extreme  for  macerations, 
that  fanatics  entered  into  ditches,  only  keep- 
ing their  heads  above  them,  and  waited  for 
death  in  this  position ;  others  made  a  vow 
not  to  wear  clothing;  they  remained  entirely 
naked,  exposed  to  the  heat  of  summer  and 
the  cold  of  winter ;  men  and  women  lived  in 
herds  like  beasts,  and  slept  at  night,  pell-mell 
in  grottoes,  in  form  of  a  stable,  in  order  to 
exercise  themselves  in  conquering  all  kinds 
of  temptations. 


CELESTIN  THE  FIRST,  FORTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  423. — Theodosius  the  Second,  and  Valentinian  the  Third.  Emperors.] 

EuhiUvs  refuses  the  pontifical  see — Election  of  Celestin — Accusations  against  Anthony,  bishop 
of  Fusela — l^he  bishops  of  Africa  depose  him  on  account  of  his  crimes — The  pope  reinstates 
him — Nestorius — He  is  calumniated  by  St.  Cyril  and  Evagcjs — Council  of  Rome — Council  of 
Ephesus — Nestorius  vnjustly  condemned — Eulosium  on  Nestorius — New  condemnation  of  the 
Pelagians — Celestin  defends  the  dqctrine  of  St.  Augustine — Death  of  the  pope — his  character — 
He  persecutes  the  Novatians — Extortions  of  the  priests. 


After  the  death  of  Boniface  the  First, 
many  members  of  the  clergy  wished  to  recall 
Eulalius,  who  had  before  disputed  with  him 
the  pontifical  see.  But  this  priest,  having  be- 
come a  philosopher,  refused  the  tiara,  and 
remained  in  his  retreat,  in  Campania,  where 
he  lived  another  year.  The  chair  of  St.  Peter 
remained  vacant  for  nine  days,  when  Celestin, 
who  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of 
PriscuS;  was  chosen  without  opposition. 

Scarcely  elevated  to  the  pontifical  .see,  the 
sad  affair  of  appeals  from  beyond  the  sea,  the 
rock  on  which  the  humility  of  the  popes  was 
wrecked,  was  renewed  by  the  appeals  of  the 
priest  Apiarius,  and  of  Anthony,  bishop  of 
Fusela.  This  last  was  a  young  man  whom 
St.  Augustine  had  brought  up  in  hismonastery. 
He  had  only  attained  to  the  degree  of  a  reader, 
when  his  protector  imposed  his  hands  upon 
him,  and  made  him  bishop  of  Fusela,  a  small 
city  at  the  extremity  of  the  diocese  of  Hippo. 
Anthony  was  received  by  the  faithful  with 
entire  submission,  but  soon  the  disorders  and 
scandal  of  his  conduct  became  so  great  that 
the  people  revolted  against  his  authority. 

A  council  of  bishops  assembled  to  judge 


I  him.  The  Fusel ians  accused  him  of  pillage, 
exactions  and  debauchery,  and  furnished 
proof  of  their  accusations.  The  fathers,  not 
j  being  able  to  refuse  a  condemnation,  yet  de- 
I  siring  to  exhibit  indulgence  for  a  protege  of 
St.  Augustine's,  left  him  the  title  of  bishop, 
though  depriving  him  of  the  government  of 
his  bishopric. 

Anthony,  emboldened  by  the  weakness  of 
the  synod,  presented  a  request  to  the  pope,  in 
which  he  demanded  to  be  re-established  in 
his  church,  maintaining  that  he  could  not  be 
rightly  deprived  of  it,  or  that  he  should  have 
been  deposed  from  the  pontificate.  Celestin 
wrote  to  the  prclati's  of  Africa  in  favour  of  the 
young  bi.shoj).  but  demanding  his  re-e.stab- 
lishment  only  in  case  a  true  recital  of  facts 
had  been  made  to  him.  Anthony,  ."Strong  in 
the  judiimeiit  of  the  bi.shop  of  Rome,  threat- 
ene(l  them  that  he  would  cause  it  to  be  exe- 
cuteil  by  the  secular  power,  or  by  an  armed 
hand.  Then  Augustine,  to  shun  the  eifectsof 
general  indignation,  determined  to  send  to 
Celestin  all  the  proceedings,  beseeching  him 
to  interpose  his  authority,  to  hinder  manifes- 
tations of  violence. 


80 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


The  letter  of  St.  Augustine  was  written  at 
a  time  when  the  bishops  of  Africa  still  showed 
a  deference  for  appeals  to  Rome  ;  but  when 
they  had  acquired  an  entire  knowledge  of  the 
Canons  of  Nice,  they  declared,  that  they  were 
unwilling  to  suffer  appeals  beyond  the  sea, 
and  the  affair  of  Anthony  of  Fusela  terminated 
to  the  disgrace  of  the  pope. 

Celestni  wished  also  to  re-instate  Apiarius, 
and  sent  him  back  into  Africa  with  bishop 
Faustin.  On  his  arrival,  the  African  prelates 
assembled  a  new  council,  over  which  Aure- 
lius  of  Carthage  presided.  They  examined 
mto  the  affair  of  Apiarius,  and  he  was  con- 
victed of  so  great  crimes,  that  Faustin  him- 
self, not  daring  to  defend  him,  wrapped 
himself  in  his  cloak  of  office,  as  the  advocate 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  opposed  the  council, 
under  the  pretext  that  it  was  trespassing  on 
the  privileges  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  At  last 
he  declared  to  the  fathers  that  they  ought  to 
receive  Apiarius  to  their  communion  without 
examination,  and  solely  because  the  pope  had 
re-instated  him. 

After  three  days  of  contest,  the  guilty  man, 
pressed  by  remorse  of  conscience,  confessed 
all  the  crimes  of  which  he  had  been  accused, 
infamous  crimes,  which  excited  the  general 
indignation  and  aggravated  the  excommuni- 
cation. Then  the  fathers,  in  council,  de- 
manded, ironically,  from  Faustin,  where  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  inspired  the  popes  came 
from,  since  Celestin  had  granted  his  commu- 
nion to  so  great  a  culprit ;  and  they  ordered 
him  to  write  to  the  pontiff  that  they  prohibited 
him  from  receiving  those  whom  they  had  ex- 
communicated. 

Celestin,  seeing  his  authority  rejected  in 
Africa,  turned  his  attention  towards  the 
West.  He  sent  several  decretal  letters  to  the 
prelates  of  the  provinces  of  Vienne  and  Nar- 
bonne,  for  the  purpose  of  correcting  abuses. 
In  a  very  remarkable  letter,  he  condemns  the 
bishops  who  wore  a  distinctive  dress,  and 
were  known  from  the  other  faithful  by  a  man- 
tle and  a  girdle.  "  You  ought  to  distinguish 
yourselves  from  the  people,  wrote  he,  not  by 
dress,  but  by  your  doctrine  and  the  purity  of 
your  morals ;  the  priests  should  not  seek  to 
impose  on  the  eyes  of  the  faithful,  but  to  en- 
lighten their  minds." 

What  would  have  been  his  indignation  if 
he  could  have  foreseen  that  the  earth  would 
one  day  be  covered  with  monks,  which  che- 
quered it  black  and  white  ;  with  friars  ridic- 
ulously clad,  shod  or  unshod;  with  domini- 
cans,  their  heads  shaved,  or  wearing  long 
hair,  and  all  distinguished  by  the  particular 
marks  of  their  order. 

The  second  abuse  condemned  by  the  pope 
was  the  custom  of  refusing  repentance  to  the 
dying;  the  third,  the  habit  of  ordaining 
bishops  from  simple  laymen,  who  had  not 
filled  the  different  degrees  of  the  clerical 
order.  "  You  are  not  content  with  ordaining 
the  laity,  he  writes,  but  it  happens  that  you 
ordain  as  bishops  persons  accused  of  crimes  ; 
thus,  we  learn  that  the  monk  Daniel,  after 
having  been  superior  of  a  nunnery  in  the 


East,  has  retired  into  Gaul ;  we  have  also 
learned  that  he  has  been  accused  by  the  in- 
mates of  his  nunnery  of  infamous  crimes  and 
odious  debaucheries.  We  have  sent  all  this 
information  to  the  bishop  of  Aries,  to  cite 
Daniel  before  his  council,  and  yet  at  the  very 
same  time  you  ordained  him  a  bishop." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  same  year,  the  cele- 
brated Nestorius  commenced  spreading  his 
doctrines.  Evager  speaks  of  him  with  the 
bitterness  and  bad  faith  which  fanaticism 
never  fails  to  inspire  in  the  slaves  of  the  Ro- 
man Court.  "This  tongue,  the  enemy  of 
God;  writes  he,  forges  blasphemies,  sells 
Jesus  Christ  a  second  time,  divides  the  body 
of  the  Saviour,  and  rends  it.  Nestorius  re- 
fuses to  the  Holy  Virgin  the  name  of  Mother 
of  God,  although  the  Holy  Spirit  has  conse- 
crated to  her  this  title,  through  the  councils 
and  the  holy  fathers.  He  calls  her  only 
Mother  of  Christ,  and  this  outrage  fills  with 
consternation  the  hearts  of  all  the  faithful. 
Anastasius.  his  disciple,  that  heretical  priest, 
become  the  obstinate  defender  of  the  opinions 
ot  his  master,  wishes  to  lead  us  back  again  to 
Judaism.  He  does  not  fear  to  profane  the 
temple  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  church,  at 
Constantinople,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
people,  he  dared  to  teach  this  impious  doc- 
trine, 'that  no  one  could  call  Mary  the  mother 
of  God,  for  Mary  was  a  woman,  and  God 
could  not  be  born  of  a  woman.'  " 

"  On  hearing  these  abominable  words,  the 
scandalized  faithful  murmured  against  the 
sacrilegious  priest ;  but  the  patriarch  Nesto- 
rius, the  original  author  of  the  blasphemy, 
sanctioned,  in  place  of  condemning  it,  and 
outdoing  the  impiety  of  his  disciple,  was 
abandoned  enough  to  say,  'I  will  carefully 
guard  myself  from  calling  God  an  infant  of 
two  or  three  months  old.'  " 

The  pope,  advised  by  St.  Cyril  of  the  rapid 
progress  which  the  new  heresy  was  making, 
assembled  a  council  at  Rome  to  examine  the 
writings  of  Nestorius.  The  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople was  condemned,  and  Cyril  was 
charged  with  the  execution  of  the  sentence. 

Celestin  then  sent  into  Great  Britain  St. 
Geirmain,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  to  resist  Agricola, 
the  son  of  a  Pelagian  bishop,  who  was  spread- 
ing false  doctrines  on  the  subject  of  grace ; 
St.  Louis,  bishop  of  Treves,  was  also  nomi- 
nated ambassador  by  a  numerous  council, 
which  assembled  in  Gaul.  During  their  jour- 
ney, the  two  prelates  performed,  by  the  aid 
of  the  Spirit  of  God,  a  great  number  of  mira- 
cles. We  will  be  content  with  relating  the 
most  remarkable. 

When  they  had  entered  upon  the  confer- 
ence with  the  heretics,  a  philosopher  of  the 
time  proposed  a  singular  expedient  hi  order 
to  put  an  end  to  the  discussion ;  he  presented 
to  them  a  blind  girl  to  cure.  The  proposal 
appeared  insidious,  and  the  two  parties  de- 
clined the  proof, — but  St.  Germain,  recollect- 
ing that  he  was  fortified  by  precious  relics, 
accepted  the  offer,  applied  his  talisman  to  the 
eyes  of  the  blind  girl,  and  restored  her  to 
sight.     At  the  same  moment,  the  Pelagians, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


II 


enlightened  by  an  heavenly  inspiration,  ab- 
jurcnl  thu  errors  which  they  had  maintained  !  ! ! 
Whilst  the  Pel;igiaiis  were  being  converted 
in  Great  Britain,  Si.  Cyril,  in  execution  of  the 
orders  of  the  pontifl,  assembled  a  general 
council  in  the  East.  As  soon  as  they  had  cele- 
brated the  festival  of  Easter,  the  bishops  of 
the  different  provinces  of  the  empire  assem- 
bled at  Ephesus.  The  parties  were  warm  in 
their  discussions — the  holy  fathers  villilied 
each  other,  and  in  the  midst  of  disorder  and 
confusion,  Nestorius  was  deposed  by  the  bish- 
ops, who  adhered  to  St.  Cyril.  The  latter,  in 
his  turn,  was  excommunicated  by  the  bishops 
who  adhered  to  John  of  Antioch.  Never  was 
a  judgment  more  precipitous  nor  suspicious 
than  that  rendered  by  the  council  of  Ephesus 
agahist  Nestorius:  a  single  sitting  only  was 
consumed  in  the  examination  of  his  writings 
and  those  of  his  adversary,  and  the  president 
of  the  council,  St.  Cyril,  the  avowed  enemy 
of  the  patriarch,  had  opened  it,  without  even 
waiting  for  the  legates  of  ihe  pope. 

But  posterity  has  freed  Nestorius  from  the 
accu.sations  brought  against  him  by  St.  Cyril 
and  his  calumniator,  Evager, — for  it  has  been 
shown  that  the  meanhig  which  he  attributed 
to  the  epithet.  Mother  of  God,  was  reasonable 
and  orthodox.  Thus,  the  pretended  heretic 
underwent  an  unjust  condemnation. 

Cyril,  who  had  been  the  persecutor,  was 
re-instated  in  his  see  by  the  emperor,  and  en- 
suing ages  have  honoured  him  as  a  great  saint. 
Nestorius,  on  the  contrary,  a  victim  to  the 
hatred  of  his  enemies,  remamed  all  his  life 
exposed  to  their  persecutions,  and  his  memory 
is  still  held  in  execration  in  the  writings  of 
ignorant  priests. 

Nevertheles.s,  the  doctrines  of  Nestorius 
have  victoriously  traversed  fourteen  centuries, 
and  his  followers,  under  the  name  of  Chal- 
deans, inhabit  still  Syria,  Chaldea,  Persia,  and 
the  coast  of  IMalabar,  and  have  preserved 
their  symbol,  which  difiers  in  nothing  from 
that  of  the  great  Grecian  church,  but  in  the 
belief  in  two  natures,  distinct  and  separate, 
in  Jesus  Christ.  The  Nestorians  of  Malabar 
are  better  known  as  the  Christians  of  Mark 
Thomas,  a  title  which  they  acquire  from  the 
name  of  the  apostle  who  converted  their  an- 
cestors. The  Catholics,  not  willing  to  attri- 
bute to  him  the  merit  of  these  conversions, 
have  changed  the  name  of  their  missionary 
into  that  of  St.  Thomas,  who,  according  to 
them,  had  travelled  as  far  as  India  to  preach 
their  faith  ]  but  it  has  been  historically  proved 
that  Thomas  lied  from  Constantinople  to  es- 
cape thn  persecutions  of  the  emperor  Theo- 
dosius,  th(!  enemy  of  Nestorianism,  and  that 
he  settled  in  that  country. 

During  the  sixth  century,  the  Chri.stian  col- 
ony which  he  had  settled  "became  of  so  much 
importance  that  frequent  mention  is  made  of 
it  in  the  chronicles  of  Malabar.  These  Chal- 
deans reject  a  belief  in  the  divine  nature  of 
Christ ;  coiise(|uentlv,  they  do  not  call  Mary 
the  Mother  of  God,  and  deduce  the  Holy 
Spirit  from  the  Father  alone.  They  have  but 
thi-ee  sacraments,  baptism,  the  eucharist  and 
Vol.  I.  L 


ordination,  and  place  m  their  churches  no  image 
but  that  of  the  cross.  Their  priests  can 
marry,  and  in  their  ceremonies  they  still  pre- 
serve the  Chaldean  or  Syriac  language. 

After  the  condemnation  of  Nestorius,  the 
ambassadors  of  Celestin  arrived  at  Ephesus, 
and  subscribed,  without  examination,  to  the 
decrees  of  the  council.  The  Pelagians  were 
excommunicated  in  the  same  assembly. 
These  unfortunates,  whose  heresy  on  the  sub- 
ject of  grace  was  no  more  real  than  the  im- 
pious sentiments  on  the  incarnation  attributed 
to  Nestorius.  became  the  objects  of  public 
hatred.  Prosper  made  an  epitaph  on  Pela- 
gianism  and  Nestorianism,  comparing  them 
to  two  idolatrous  females,  mother  aud  daugh- 
ter, who  should  be  buried  in  the  same  tomb. 
This  triumph  was  but  an  illusion  of  pride,  for 
the  two  sects  which  the  council  of  Ephesus 
believed  to  be  crushed  by  the  same  blow, 
have  intinitely  multiplied,  traversed  centuries, 
and  exist  even  in  our  own  day. 

Towards  the  end  of  this  unfortunate  year, 
431,  the  pope  wrote  to  the  bishops  of  Gaul  in 
defence  of  St.  Augnastine,  whose  doctrines  had 
been  attacked  by  the  priests  of  their  dioceses. 
He  addressed  to  them  severe  reproaches  on 
their  negligence,  in  not  repressing  this  scan* 
dal.  In  what  terms,  then,  would  he  have  ex- 
pressed his  indignation,  if,  by  a  prophetic 
spirit,  he  could  have  foreseen  that  one  of  his 
successors  would  one  day  reject,  as  impious 
and  sacrilegious,  the  doctrine  of  St.  Augustine. 

The  letter  of  the  pontiff,  on  the  .subject  of 
grace,  contains  nine  articles,  in  which  Jan- 
senism exhibits  itself  in  all  its  purity,  and 
without  equivocation,  so  that  if  the  Bull  uni- 
genitits  could  have  a  retrospective  effect,  pope 
Celestin  would  hnd  himself  in  heaven,  excom- 
municated by  Clement  the  Eleventh. 

The  year  432  was  marked  by  the  death  of 
St.  Pallas,  whom  the  pope  had  sent  into  Scot- 
land and  Ireland  to  the  apostolic  mission  of 
St.  Patrick,  and  to  preach  the  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ.  This  apostle  introduced  the  use  of 
letters  among  the  Irish,  who  had  not  before 
any  other  literature  than  rythmical  verses, 
composed  by  their  bards  and  containing  their 
history. 

Celestin  died  on  the  6th  of  April,  432,  after 
having  governed  the  church  of  Koine  for  eight 
years.  He  was  interred  in  the  cemetery  of 
Priscilla. 

This  pope  wrote  in  an  earnest  and  succinct 
manner,  but  his  style  is  sententious  and  con- 
fused. He  is  rc})roache(l  with  having  been 
ambitious  and  fanatical,  common  defects  with 
those  who  have  occupied  the  pretemled  seat 
of  St.  Peter.  He  jiersecuted  the  Novatians, 
took  from  them  several  churches,  and  com- 
pelled Rusticulus,  their  bishop,  to  hold  liis 
meetings  in  a  private  house.  This  sect,  es- 
tablished for  a  long  period  in  Rome,  had  at- 
tracted the  respect  of  the  people  by  a  holy 
morality  anil  regular  morals.  They  possessed 
magnilicent  churches,  where  an  immense 
multitude  of  the  faithful  assembled.— Unfor- 
tunately for  the  Novatians,  tneir  jirosperity 
excited  the  jealous  hatred  of  the  popes,  who 


82 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


were  beginning  to  usurp  an  authority  too  ab- 
solute ;  they  no  longer  permitted  their  public 
assemblies,  and  whilst  praising  the  purity  of 
their  faith,  they  deprived  them  of  their 
wealth.  The  patriarchs  of  Constantinople  did 
not  imitate  the  bishops  of  Rome  in  their  per- 
secution of  the  Novatians;  on  the  contrary, 


they  evidenced  a  great  respect  for  their  doc- 
trines, and  permitted  their  assemblies  in  the 
capital  of  the  empire. 

The  dedication  of  the  famous  church  of 
Julius  is  attributed  to  Celestin,  who  enriched 
it  with  superb  vases  of  silver  and  gold,  bought 
with  the  gifts  of  the  faithful. 


SIXTUS  THE  THIRD,  FORTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A  D.  432. — Valentinian  the  Third,  and  Theodosius  the  Second,  Emperors.] 

Fanaticism  of  Sixtus  before  his  pontificate — He  persecutes  the  heretics — The  emperor  puts  an 
erul  to  the  quarrels  of  Cyril  and  John  of  Antioch — The  pope  is  accused  of  having  violated  a 
sacred  virgrn,  and  of  having  committed  an  incest — Sixtus  poisons  his  accuser — Ambition  of  the 
popes — Death  of  Sixtus — He  gives  the  church  great  riches^  torn  from  the  unfortunate  people. 


Sixtus,  the  third  pope  of  that  name,  was 
an  Italian  by  birth,  and  a  priest  of  the  church 
of  Rome.  During  the  pontiticate  of  Zozimus 
he  had  pursued  the  unfortunate  Pelagians 
with  mveteracy,  and  by  his  fanaticism  had 
merited  the  title  of  maintainor  of  the  faith. 

After  his  advent  to  the  Holy  See,  Sixtus  the 
Third,  who  united  hypocrisy  to  intolerance, 
Avrote  to  St.  Cyril  to  treat  with  John  of  Anti- 
och, whose  powerful  party  was  vigorously 
opposed  to  the  decrees  of  the  council  of 
Ephesus.  This  prelate  had  assembled  at 
Tarsus  a  new  sjaiod,  in  which  the  fathers  had 
deposed  St.  Cyril,  Arcadius,  the  legate  of  the 
pope,  and  the  other  prelates,  who  had  gone  to 
Constantinople  to  ordain  Maximian.  The 
bishop  of  Alexandria,  in  conformity  with  the 
wishes  of  the  pope,  took  steps  towards  a 
reconciliation,  but  they  could  not  calm  John 
of  Antioch,  who,  immediately  on  his  arrival 
at  his  metropolis,  held  a  second  synod,  in 
which  all  the  depositions  of  the  first  w^ere 
confirmed.  The  Orientals  then  wrote  to  The- 
odosius, to  inform  him  that  they  detested  the 
doctrines  of  Cyril,  and  to  beseech  him  not  to 
suffer  them  to  be  taught  in  the  churches  of 
the  empire. 

The  prince,  worn  out  with  the  complaints 
of  both  parties*,  and  fearing  that  the  schism 
with  which  the  church  was  menaced  would 
trouble  the  public  tranquillity,  wished  to  recon- 
cile John  of  Antioch  and  St.  Cyril.  He  flat- 
tered the  ambition  and  pride  of  these  two 
prelates,  and  terminated  their  disputes  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  of  the  enemies  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Nestorians.  The  illustrious  old  man 
preserved;  however,  some  friends,  who  boldly 
condemned  the  treason  of  John  of  Antioch. 

This  triumph  of  Sixtus  the  Third  was  not  of 
long  duration.  He  was  soon  after  accused  by 
Bassus,  a  commendable  priest,  and  of  distin- 
guished birth,  of  having  committed  an  incest, 
and  introduced  himself  into  a  convent,  to  vio- 
late a  religious  woman,  named  Chrysogonia. 
The  accusation  becoming  public,  appeared 
atrocious,  and  caused  so  great  a  scandal  that 
Valentinian,  emperor  of  the  West,  was  obliged 


to  convoke  a  council,  at  wdiich  assembled 
fifty-six  bishops,  to  examine  into  the  conduct 
of  the  pope.  The  gold  of  the  holy  father  cor- 
rupted the  judges,  and  the  assembly  declared 
that  the  crimes  not  having  been  established 
by  material  proof,  the  accuser  should  be  con- 
demned. In  consequence  of  this  judgment, 
the  emperor  and  empress  Placidia,  his  mother, 
proscribed  Bassus  and  confiscated  all  his 
goods  to  the  church. 

Three  months  after  the  sentence  the  priest 
died  of  poison  !  Historians  add,  that  the  pon- 
tiff, covering  liimself  with  the  hypocritical 
veil  of  religion,  assisted  himself  during  his 
sickness,  administered  to  him  the  holy  sacra- 
ment, and  wished,  after  his  death,  to  place 
him  in  his  shroud  with  his  own  hands,  in 
order  to  conceal  the  dead  body  disfigiired  by 
poison.  The  priests,  on  the  other  hand,  affirm 
that  Sixtus  came  forth  from  this  accusation 
pure  as  gold  from  the  furnace,  and  that  it 
served  to  augTnent  the  favourable  opinion  en- 
tertained by  the  people  of  the  holiness  of  the 
pontiff. 

Church  history  leaves  a  void  of  some  )^ears 
in  its  recital  of  the  actions  of  Sixtus,  and  we 
cannot  undeitake  to  draw  them  from  the  pro- 
found oblivion  in  which  they  are  buried.  We 
only  know  that  he  maintained  the  jurisdiction 
of  his  See  over  Illyria,  and  that  he  confirmed 
the  sentence  of  Iddiuus,  condemned  by  Pro- 
clus.  At  this  period  the  bishops  of  Asia  re- 
fused to  recognize  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pa- 
triarch of  Constantinople,  or  rather  the  dou- 
ble dealhigpriests,  well  knowing  the  ambition 
of  the  popes,  disobeyed  the  judgment  of  their 
legitimate  superiors,  in  order  to  carry  their 
causes  to  Rome ;  where  their  complaints,  no 
matter  how  unjust,  would  be  favourably  re- 
ceived, provided  they  favoured  the  policy  of 
usurpation  pursued  by  the  Holy  See. 

Julian  of  Eclana,  the  famous  defender  of 
Pelagius.  worn  out  by  the  persecution  which 
the  hatred  of  the  priests  of  the  East  constantly 
excited  against  him,  came  to  make  his  sub- 
mission to  the  pontiff,  and  dt^manded  per- 
mission to  retake  possession  of  his  see ;  but 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


83 


Sixtus,  after  having  consulted  with  the  arch- 
deacon Leo,  the  most  important  person  in 
the  church,  and  whom  we  shall  soon  see  suc- 
ceed him.  sharply  repulsed  the  proposals  of 
Julian,  and  commenced  a  new  persecution 
against  the  unfortunate  Pelagians. 

Pope  Sixtus  died  soon  after,  on  the  28th  of 
March,  420,  having  held  the  Holy  See  about 
eight  years.  He  was  buried  on  the  road  to 
Tibur.  near  to  St.  Lawrence. 

During  his  pontilicate  he  rebuilt  the  church 
of  St.  Mary,  placed  in  the  interior  an  altar  of 
silver,  weighing  three  hundred  pounds,  g-ave 
to  it  many  vases  of  silver,  weighing  eleven 
hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds,  a  vase  of 
gold,  of  fifty  pounds,  and  twenty-four  chan- 
deliers of  copper,  and  he  appropriated  for  the 
support  of  this  church,  in  houses  and  lands,  a 
revenue  of  seven  hundred  and  t\venty-nine 
sous  of  gold.  He  gave  to  the  baptistery  of  St. 
Mary  vases  of  silver,  and  a  stag,  from  whence 
flowed  the  water,  of  thirty  pounds  weight. 


He  adorned  the  confessional  of  St.  Peter  with 
ornaments  of  silver,  weighing  four  hundred 
pounds,  and  that  of  !^t.  Lawrence  with  balus- 
trades of  porphyry.  He  placed  upon  the  altar 
columns  of  massive  silver,  weighing  four 
hundred  pounds,  sustaining  a  silver  arch,  .sur- 
mounted by  a  statue  of  St.  Lawrence  in  mas- 
sive gold,  weighing  two  hundred  pounds. 
The  church  of  the  saint  was  encumbered 
with  vases  of  silver  and  gold,  adorned  with 
pearls  and  precious  stones.  St.  SLxtus  had 
equally  ornamented  the  baptistery  of  the 
Lateran  with  columns  of  porphyry,  and  upon 
the  marble  architecture  he  caused  verses  to 
be  sculptured,  which  pointed  out  the  virtues 
of  baptism  and  the  faith  of  original  sin.  In 
fine,  this  pontiff  gave  to  the  churches,  during 
his  life  more  than  two  thousand  six  hnndred 
and  eleven  pounds  weight  of  gold  and  silver, 
which  he  had  extracted  from  the  faithful  by 
means  of  alms  and  testaments. 


LEO  THE  FIRST,  FORTY-SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  440. — Valentinian  the  Third,  and  Theodosius  the  Second,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Leo — He  excommunicates  bigamist  bishops — Laws  in  favour  of  celibacy — Ravages  of 
Genseric  in  Italy — Persecutions  of  the  Manicheans — The  pope  accuses  them  falsely — Leo 
attacks  the  Pelagians — He  wishes  to  extend  his  rule  over  Illyria — Death  of  St.  Cyril — Cru-el 
punishment  of  Priscillian  in  Spain — St.  Martin,  bishop  of  Tovrs,  condemns  the  intolerance 
of  the  pope — Leo  encovrages  the  fanaticism  of  the  emperor  against  the  heretics — Eutyches — 
his  doctrine — his  condemnation — The  pope  sustains  the  heresy — General  council  of  Ephesus — 
Eutyches  is  absolved — The  pope  excommunicated — He  demands  from  the  emperor  a  general 
council — Exploits  of  Attila — Leo  arrests  his  career — Miracle  of  the  holy  father — Quarrel 
between  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  and  Leo — Rome  sacked  by  Genseric — The  pope  prohi- 
bits any  one  from  taking  the  veil  under  forty — Fasts  established  by  St.  Leo — History  of  the 
bloody  hand — Death  of  the  pope. 


Leo  was  bom  at  Rome  towards  the  end  of 
the  reign  of  Theodosius  the  Great ;  his  father's 
name  was  Quiiitiaii.  Authors  are  silent  in 
regard  to  his  birth,  and  Leo  first  appears  in 
history  on  the  occasion  of  a  violent  quarrel 
which  had  broken  out  between  Aetius  and 
Albin,  the  leaders  of  the  Roman  annies  sent 
into(iaul  to  repulse  the  barbarians,  who  threat- 
ened the  frontiers.  The  misunderstanding 
b(!tween  these  generals  might  have  brought 
about  the  greatest  disasters,  and  perhaps  the 
ruin  of  the  empire.  Leo,  sent  by  the  pontiff 
to  negotiate  an  agreement  between  the  two 
armies,  happily  terminated  this  difiicult  nego- 
tiation, and  reconciled  Aetius  and  Albin,  who 
reunited  their   forces  against  the  barbarians. 

The  ambassador  was  still  at  the  camp  when 
Sixtus  died,  and  though  absent,  he  was  unan- 
imously elected  chief  of  the  church,  and  a 
deputation  brought  to  him  the  amiouncement 
of  this  gooil  news. 

Arriv('<l  at  the  sovereign  pontificate,  he  at 
once  applied  himself  with  great  assiduity  to 
the  instruction  of  his  flock.  He  then  sent  an 
envoy  to  bishop  Potentius,  in  Africa,  to  make 
to  him  an  e.xact  report  of  the  situation  of  the  , 


churches,  which  were  said  to  be  governed  by 
persons  unworthy  of  the  episcopate,  and  who 
had  been  elevated  to  this  dignity  by  means 
of  bloody  seditions.  The  legate  discovered 
that  discijjline  was  entirely  abandoned,  and 
that  the  sacred  orders  were  bestowed  on  the 
laity — bigamists  and  heretics. 

The  pope  immediately  wrote  to  the  bishops 
of  Eastern  Mauritania,  to  recommend  to  them 
to  follow  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  in  ac- 
conlance  with  the  intent  of  the  councils.  In 
this  letter  he  calls  those  bigamists  who  had 
married  widows,  or  who  had  two  wives  at  a 
time,  or  who  had  espoused  a  second  after 
having  repudiated  a  first. 

He  permitted  the  mere  laity,  who  had  been 
elevated  to  bishoprics,  to  hold  their  sees;  he 
also  confirmed  in  their  dignities  I\>natus  of 
Salicina.  who  had  abjured  with  his  people  the 
heresy  of  the  Novatians,  and  Maximus,  a  J)o- 
natist  convert,  who  had  been  ordained  bishop 
without  having  received  orders ;  but  he  sur- 
rendered to  the  judgment  of  the  prelates  of 
the  provinces  Aggar  and  Tiberieii,  who  had 
been  consecrated  in  consequence  of  revolts, 
reserving,  nevertheless,  to  himself  the  revi- 


84 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


sion  of  the  process  and  the  right  of  final  de- 
cision. 

St.  Leo  judged  the  nuns  innocent  who  had 
been  violated  when  their  convents  were  pil- 
laged by  the  Arabs,  counselling  them,  never- 
theless, not  to  compare  themselves  with  those 
who  still  had  then-  virginity,  and  advising 
them  to  mourn  for  the  residue  of  their  lives 
over  the  irreparable  loss  they  had  sustained.. 

He  then  wrote  to  Rusticus,  bishop  of  Nar- 
bonne,  to  prohibit  him  from  exposing  to  pub- 
lic penitence  a  priest  who  had  been  found 
g-uilty  of  enormous  crimes,  adding  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  conceal  the  faults  of  the  clergy,  in 
order  to  shun  a  scandal  which  might  bring 
dishonour  on  the  church. 

In  a  decree  which  he  made  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  442,  the  holy  father  ordered 
mere  priests  to  follow  the  same  law  as  the 
bishops,  in  regard  to  continence ;  that  is,  he 
enjoined  them  to  keep  their  wives,  without 
having  any  intimate  connection  with  them. 
The  deacons  refused  to  submit  to  the  observ- 
ance of  this  strange  decree  ;  and  it  was  later, 
and  by  employing  the  greatest  circumspec- 
tion, that  the  pontiffs  were  able  to  make  the 
laws  of  celibacy  acceptable  ini  the  West.  In 
the  East  they  were  equally  disappointed. 

In  another  bull  the  pope  established  this 
invidious  proposition,  that  a  clergyman  could 
give  his  daughter  to  a  man  living  in  concu- 
binage, without  incurring  the  ecclesiastical 
censure,  as  if  he  gave  her  to  a  married  man ; 
because,  adds  the  holy  father,  concubines 
are  not  legitimate  wives,  and  the  daughters 
do  not  sin  in  yielding  themselves  to  their  hus- 
bands. The  last  article  of  this  bull  concerns 
the  faithful  who  had  been  prisoners  among 
the  pagans,  and  who  had  lived  like  them. 
He  permitted  the  bishops  to  purify  them  by 
fasting  and  the  imposition  of  hands,  in  case 
they  had  only  eaten  of  the  sacrificial  food ; 
but  he  ordered  that,  like  homicides  and  adul- 
terers, they  should  submit  to  public  penance, 
if  they  had  adored  the  idols. 

During  the  year  443,  Genseric,  after  having 
ravaged  the  provinces  of  the  empire,  and  es- 
tablished his  dominion  in  Africa,  made  a  de- 
scent on  Sicily,  where,  at  the  instigation  of 
Maximian,  chief  of  the  Arians,  he  cruelly 
persecuted  the  orthodox.  In  the  peril  in 
which  the  church  was  placed,  St.  Augustine 
thought  it  was  his  duty  to  abandon  his  dio- 
cese, to  go  to  Rome  to  combat  the  Arians. 
He,  by  chance,  took  up  his  residence  in  the 
house  of  a  Manichean,  which  sect  was  then 
making  great  progress,  and  had  increased 
very  considerably  from  the  Africans,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  Italy  after  the  destruction  of 
Carthage  by  the  king  of  the  Vandals. 

St.  Augustine,  betraying  the  duties  of  hospi- 
tality, discovered  to  Leo  the  places  of  meet- 
ing of  this  new  sect,  and  pretended  that  the 
Manicheans  were  the  authors  of  the  corrup- 
tions which  were  glidinc:  into  his  flock.  Then 
the  holy  father  warned  the  faithful  in  his  ser- 
mons that  they  ought  not  only  to  guard  against 
these  dangerous  heretics,  but  to  denounce 
them;  and  he  pointed  out  the  means  of  recog- 


nizing  them.  He  accused  them  of  fasting  on 
Sunday,  in  honor  of  the  sun,  and  on  Monday 
in  that  of  the  moon ;  he  affirmed  that  they 
received  the  communion  in  only  one  knid, 
that  of  bread,  regarding  wine  as  the  produc- 
tion of  an  evil  principle. 

After  having  rendered  them  execrable  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  the  pope  Leo  ordered 
the  strictest  search  to  be  made  for  them  in 
the  city;  he  prohibited  their  secret  assem- 
blies, ordered  the  books  which  contained 
their  doctrine  to  be  seized,  and  burned  them 
publicly  in  the  square  in  front  of  the  church 
of  St.  Peter.  Then,  in  order  to  increase  the 
horror  he  was  desirous  of  inspiring  against 
these  unfortunates,  he  held  a  synod,  com- 
posed of  the  neighbouring  bishops,  to  whom  he 
added  the  principal  members  of  the  clergy, 
the  senate,  the  nobility  and  the  people,  and 
in  the  presence  of  this  assembly  several  Ma- 
nicheans and  one  of  their  bishops,  seduced  by 
the  money  of  the  pontifi,  made  a  public  con- 
fession of  the  abominable  acts  of  lewdness  of 
which  they  had  been  guilty.  But  the  testi- 
mony of  these  cowardly  apostates  will  appear 
always  suspicious  to  conscientious  minds,  who 
desire  to  judge  with  impartiality;  and  we 
know  by  recent  examples  in  religion,  as  well 
as  in  politics,  that  zeal,  or  the  fear  of  tortures, 
induce  new  converts  to  calumniate  their  breth- 
ren, frequently  to  persecute  them. 

The  pope,  not  being  yet  satisfied,  excited  the 
magistrates  to  exterminate  the  Manicheans, 
and  was  constrained  in  his  cruel  pursuits  by 
the  imperial  laws.  Valentinian  the  Third 
published  an  edict,  in  which  he  confirmed 
and  renewed  all  the  ordinances  of  his  prede- 
cessors against  these  sectaries,  declaring  them 
to  be  infamous,  incapable  of  exercising  any 
charge,  of  carrying  arms,  of  bearing  testi- 
mony, of  contracting  or  doing  any  lawful  act 
in  civil  society,  prohibiting  all  the  subjects  of 
the  empire  from  afibrding  them  an  asylum, 
and  ordaining  that,  when  denounced,  they 
should  be  punished  according  to  the  rigour  of 
the  laws. 

Thirteen  centuries  later  will  produce  an- 
other execrable  example,  in  the  person  of 
Louis  the  Fourteenth,  authorising  persecu- 
tions against  the  Protestants. 

Many  bishops  of  the  East  and  West,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  pontiff,  proceeded  with 
equal  zeal  against  the  Manicheans  in  their 
dioceses.  Thanks  to  these  violent  remedies, 
Rome  was  soon  purged  of  this  heresy,  and 
Leo  could  turn  his  arms  against  Pelagianism, 
which  Julian  of  Eclana,  his  implacable  foe, 
favoured  in  Campania  and  Italy ;  but  not 
wishing  to  engage  in  theological  discussions 
in  which  he  feared  a  failure,  it  appeared  to 
him  more  certain  to  excite  the  bishops 
against  the  Pelagians,  and  put  in  force  the 
cruel  ordinances  of  the  emperors. 

During  the  course  of  the  same  year,  Leo 
gave  a  new  proof  of  his  excessive  ambition. 
The  emperors,  in  the  division  of  Illyria,  had 
taken  aAvay  from  the  popes  the  jurisdiction 
of  primacy,  which  they  claimed  over  that 
province.     In  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


85 


sovereign,  the  holy  father  established  in 
Illyria,  as  vicar  for  his  see,  Anastasius,  bishop 
of  Thessalouica.  It  is  true,  that  in  this  trans- 
action, he  had  to  displaj-  all  his  political  skill, 
and  that  he  was  obliged  to  write  to  the  pre- 
fects of  the  East  letters  of  condescension  to 
excuse  his  conduct.  Experience  had  taught 
the  pontitfs  that  they  could  more  easily  bend 
to  then-  will  the  bishops  of  the  West  than 
those  of  the  East,  who  knew  how  to  maintain 
themselves  in  possession  of  their  privileges; 
and  prudence  advised  them  to  show,  in  their 
intercourse  with  them,  great  address. 

Leo  showed  no  regard  for  the  decisions  of 
the  prelates  of  Gaul,  and  imperiously  ordered 
them  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  court  of 
Rome. 

St.  Hilarius,  and  St.  Germain  of  Auxerre, 
having  been  charged  by  the  prince  to  reform 
the  abuses  which  had  been  introduced  into 
some  provinces  of  Gaul,  went  to  Vienne  to 
receive  the  complaints  of  the  people  and  the 
nobles,  who  accused  Celidonius,  their  bishop, 
of  rape  and  murder,  and  of  having  linally 
married  a  woman  whose  husband  he  had 
caused  to  be  assassinated. 

These  two  prelates  ordered  the  witnesses 
to  assemble,  and  convened  several  ecclesias- 
tics, of  great  merit,  to  examine  into  this 
affair.  The  accusation  having  been  proved, 
they  decided,  according  to  the  rules  of  scrip- 
ture, that  Celidonius  himself  should  renounce 
the  episcopate.  The  condemned  bishop  ap- 
pealed to  Rome  from  this  sentence,  and  was 
listened  to  with  favour  by  the  pontiff.  St.  Hi- 
larius,  in  order  to  avoid  scandal,  went  himself 
to  Italy,  to  beseech  Leo  to  maintain  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  churches.  He  represented  to 
him,  with  great  wisdom,  that  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  Holy  See  to  renounce  its  preten- 
sions of  elevating  to  ecclesiastical  functions 
bishops  deposed  in  Gaul  b)'  the  orders  of  the 
magistates.  '-I  am  come,  holy  father," 
added  he,  "  to  render  you  my  duty,  and  not 
to  plead  my  cause ;  I  advise  you  of  that 
which  has  passed,  not  in  form  of  accusation, 
but  in  simple  recital ;  if  your  opinion  differs 
from  mine,  I  shall  urge  it  no  more,  and  will 
follow  up  before  the  prince  the  deposition  of 
the  guilty." 

Tlu!  pope,  through  ambition  for  the  prerog- 
ative of  his  see,  not  only  repulsed  the  demand 
of  St.  Hilarius,  but  gave  orders  to  his  guards 
to  retain  him  as  a  prisoner,  being  desirous  of 
constraining  him  to  justify  himself  before  the 
council  which  he  had  convoked.  Fortu- 
nate!}^, the  prelate  was  enabled  to  deceive 
the  spies  of  the  holy  father,  sallied  secretly 
from  Rome,  and  returned  to  his  church.  Leo, 
furious  at  seeing  his  prisoner  escape  him. 
caused  him  to  be  excommunicated  by  his 
council,  and  reinstated  Celidonius  in  all  his 
rights.  The  synod,  it  is  true,  was  composed 
of  his  slaves  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  bi.'^hops  con- 
tiguous to  Rome.  With  such  people,  add 
historians,  the  pontiff  would  have  been  ena- 
bled to  condemn  the  apostles,  and  Jesus 
Christ  himself.  The  emperor,  Valentinian 
the  Third,  lending  himself  to  the  vengeance 


of  Leo,  had  the  weakness  to  give  an  order, 
addressed  to  the  patrician  Aetms,  who  com- 
manded the  troops  in  Gaul,  ordering  him  to 
imprison,  as  a  traitor  and  seditious  person, 
the  holy  shepherd  of  the  city  of  Aries. 

This  act  of  despotism  was  a  mortal  blow  to 
the  liberty  of  the  French  churches,  and  its 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  which  had  before  been 
judged  by  national  synods,  were,  from  that 
time,  carried  before  the  bi.shop  of  Rome. 

St.  Cyril,  one  of  the  most  violent  persecu- 
tors of  the  Novatians,  died  on  the  9th  of  June, 
in  this  same  year,  after  having  governed  the 
church  of  Alexandria  for  thirty-two  years. 
He  had  designated  as  his  successor  the  bishop 
Diosconus. 

In  spite  of  the  vigilance  of  the  pope,  the 
heresy  of  the  Priscillianists  continued  to  make 
the  most  surprising  progress  in  Spain  and 
Gaul. 

These  sectarians  were  but  a  continuation 
of  the  Gnostics,  and  by  the  accounts  of  their 
enemies,  were  subdivided  into  many  fractions, 
distinct  from  each  other,  and  having  each 
their  particular  belief.  Thus,  the  Massalians 
did  not  believe  that  the  sacraments  were  at 
all  elTficacious  in  driving  away  demons,  and 
maintained  that  the  only  mode  of  exorcising 
the  faithful  possessed  with  evil  spirits,  was  to 
sneeze,  in  order  that  the  demons  might  be 
expelled  with  the  discharge.  The  Sethians, 
or  Ophites,  placed  the  serpent  before  Christ, 
and  adored  him  for  having  taught  man  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  The  Adamites 
taught  a  community  of  women,  because, 
according  to  them,  promiscuity  was  the  true 
mystical  community  of  the  Christian.  The 
Cainites  honoured  Cain,  as  the  one  who  had 
taught  men  to  labour,  and  regarded  the  murder 
of  Abel  as  an  allegorj',  signifying  that  people 
could  destroy  the  idle,  who  were  a  charge  on 
society.  They  venerated  the  memory  of 
Judas,  because  this  apostle,  by  betraying 
Christ,  had  saved  the  world  from  universal 
damnation.  They  believed  that  every  sin 
had  a  guardian  angel,  who  presided  over  its 
accomplishment,  and  they  detested  chaste 
men,  as  beings  without  force  or  energy; 
finally,  they  invoked,  in  their  prayers,  the 
inhabitants  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  all 
the  Hebrews  of  the  Old  Testament,  who  had 
been  signalized  for  their  impiety. 

How  great  soever  may  be  the  trust  reposed 
by  priests  in  the  assertions  of  the  fathers  of 
the  church,  those  among  the  ecclesiastics 
who  have  written  u]ion  this  heresy,  have  not 
been  able  to  avoid  doubting  the  exactitude  of 
the  statements  of  St.  Epiphanus  on  the  dif- 
ferent sects  of  the  Priscillianists  or  Gnostics; 
and  if  they  do  not  accuse  him  of  having 
wished  to  calumniate  them,  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  their  enemies,  at  least 
they  reproach  him  for  having  shown  himself 
too  credulous  in  adopting  the  popular  fables 
invented  against  them  by  ignorance  or  hatred. 
St.  Ireneus  and  St.  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
themselves,  refn.sed  to  believe  in  their  alleged 
turpitude,  and  accused  them  only  of  an  affec- 
tation of  too  great  purity  and  chastity. 


86 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


The  monks,  the  docile  instraments  of  the 
fanaticism  of  Leo,  after  havnig  brought  before 
the  prefect  Evodus,  atrocious  accusations 
against  the  venerable  Priscillian,  demanded 
that  he  should  be  incarcerated  in  one  of  their 
prisons,  and  submitted  to  the  most  terrible 
proofs. 

The  unfortunate  heretic  was  bound  with 
cords  and  chains  :  then  the  priest  commenced 
the  interrogatory  : — 

"  Abjure  thy  errors,  Priscillian  ]  submit 
thyself  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  of  Kome." 

The  sufferer  refusing  to  reply,  the  execu- 
tioners made  his  limbs  to  crack  under  the 
pressure  of  his  chains,  and  plunged  both  his 
feet  into  a  heated  brazier. 

"Abjure  thy  errors,  Priscillian,  and  glorify 
Leo,  the  father  of  the  faithful." 

Priscillian,  during  this  horrible  suffering, 
addressed  his  prayers  to  God,  and  refused 
still  to  glorify  the  pope. 

Then  the  monk  charged  with  the  execution 
gave  the  orders  to  the  executioners  to  com- 
mence the  punishment.  They  tore  from  him 
his  hair  and  the  skin  of  his  skull,  they  burned 
with  hot  iron  all  parts  of  his  body,  and  poured 
upon  his  wounds  boiling  oil  and  melted  lead, 
and  at  last  plunged  into  his  entrails  a  rod 
heated  in  the  fire  ;  and  this  martyr  expired, 
after  two  hours  of  frightful  suffering. 

Leo  still  pursued  the  residue  of  the  sect, 
and  abandoned  them  to  the  implacable  hatred 
of  the  priests.  Their  vengeance  not  being 
satislied  by  the  condemnation  of  Priscillian, 
they  soon  abused  their  credit  and  the  favour 
of  the  court,  by  persecuting  people  of  wealth. 
It  was  enough  to  be  suspected  of  fasting  and 
loving  a  quiet  retreat,  and  the  greatest  crimes 
then  were  to  be  wise  and  honoured.  Citizens 
who  had  displeased  the  clergy  were  accused 
of  Priscillianism,  especially  when  their  death 
might  be  agreeable  to  the  prince,  or  their 
riches  could  fill  the  treasury  of  the  holy 
father. 

St.  Martin,  bishop  of  Tours,  loudly  con- 
demned the  intolerance  of  the  pontiff,  who, 
under  the  cloak  of  religion,  sought  to  gratify 
his  ambition  and  avarice  by  sacrificing  the 
quiet  of  the  people.  At  first,  he  refused  to 
communicate  with  the  bishops  of  Spain,  who 
had  executed  the  orders  of  Leo ;  but  in  the 
end,  fatigued  by  their  protestations,  he  per- 
mitted them  to  extort  an  act  of  communion 
from  him.  He  was  much  afflicted,  in  conse- 
quence of  it,  during  the  rest  of  his  life,  and 
was  persuaded  that  this  act  had  hindered  the 
grace  of  miracles  from  shining  forth  in  his 
person. 

The  pope  not  only  dared  to  glorify  himself 
for  having  ordered  the  punishment  of  Pris- 
cillian, but  he  even  wrote  to  Maximus,  to  de- 
mand from  him  his  assistance  to  extend  the 
nriassacres  through  all  the  provinces  of  the 
empire  ;  he  expressed  himself  in  these  terms, 
^•My  lord,  the  rigor  and  severity  of  your 
justice  against  this  heretic  and  his  disciples 
have  been  of  great  aid  to  the  clemency  of  the 
church.  We  have  heretofore  been  content 
with  the  mildness  of  the  judgments  which  the 


bishops  delivered  in  accordance  with  the 
canons,  and  we  did  not  desire  bloody  execu- 
tions ;  now,  however,  we  have  learned  that  it 
is  necessary  to  be  aided  and  sustained  by  the 
severe  constitutions  of  the  emperors — for 
the  fear  of  religious  punishment  frequently 
makes  heretics  recur  to  a  spiritual  remedy, 
which  can  cure  their  souls  from  a  mortal 
malady  by  a  true  conversion." 

This  impious  pope,  thus  separating  himself 
from  the  tolerant  precepts  of  Christianity, 
endeavored  to  extirpate  heresies  by  the  most 
violent  means. 

Soon  the  affair  of  Eutyches  gave  the  world 
a  new  proof  of  the  cruelty  of  Leo,  and  shovi-ed 
the  ridiculous  spectacle  of  a  pretended  heresy, 
against  which  the  East  and  the  West  were 
up,  without  knowing  the  dogmas  which 
would  encounter  the  anathemas  of  the  Holy 
See. 

Eutyches,  a  priest  and  abbot  of  a  great 
convent  of  three  hundred  monks,  near  Con- 
stantinople, had  written  to  the  pope  to  inform 
him  that  Nestoiianism  was  recovering  new 
strength,  under  the  protection  which  the  pa- 
trician, Flavian,  granted  to  it.  Leo  approved 
of  his  zeal,  and  encouraged  him  to  pursue  the 
heretics.  Domnus  of  Antioch  wrote,  in  his 
turn,  to  the  emperor  Theodosius,  and  accused 
him  of  renewing  the  heresy  of  Appolinarius, 
by  maintaining  that  the  divinity  of  the  Sou 
of  God,  and  his  humanity,  were  but  one  na- 
ture, and  attributed  his  sufferings  to  his 
divinity.  This  heresy  was  founded  on  the 
consequences  drawn  from  the  terms  of  Euty- 
ches, which  did  not  differ  from  the  orthodox 
opinions  but  in  the  mode  of  interpreting  them. 
He  recogirized,  in  fact,  two  natures  in  Jesus 
Christ,  but  he  maintained  that  it  was  better 
to  explain  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation  by 
saying  that  there  existed  but  a  single  nature ; 
because  Jesus  Christ  was  at  once  God  and 
man.  Those  who  declared  against  this  sen- 
timent spoke  of  those  two  natures  as  if  they 
had  been  separate,  and  the  pretended  heretic 
was  condemned,  because  he  was  not  under- 
stood, or  because  they  refused  to  understand 
him. 

The  Eastern  prelates  assembled  in  coun- 
cil at  Constantinople,  to  judge  Eutyches,  and 
pronounced  a  sentence  of  excommunication, 
which  does  not  inspire  a  great  respect  for  the 
abilities  of  the  fathers  who  composed  the 
synod.  He,  believing  himself  inijustly  con- 
demned, wrote  to  the  pope,  '•  I  beseech  you, 
holy  father,  to  decide  upon  the  faith,  and  not 
permit  the  decree  which  has  been  ordained 
against  me  by  a  cabal  to  be  executed .  Have  pity 
on  an  old  man,  who  has  lived  sixty-five  years 
in  continence,  in  the  exercise  of  piety,  and 
whom  they  drive  from  his  retreat."  The 
emjieror  Theodosius,  who  favoured  Eutyches, 
wrote  at  the  same  time  to  the  pontiff  on  the 
troubles  which  were  agitating  the  church  at 
Constantinople. 

These  letters,  which  flattered  the  ambition 
of  Leo,  already  at  variance  with  Flavian  of 
Constantinople,  sufficed  to  engage  him  to 
undertake  the  defence  of  Eutyches.    He  thus 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


87 


wrote   to  Flavian,    '•'  I  am    astonished,    my 
brother,  that  you  have  sent  me  no  iiilormation 
of  the  scandal  which  troubles  the  church,  and 
of  which  you  should  have  been  the  lirst  to 
advise  me.     We  have  read  the  expose  of  the 
doctrine  of  Eutyches,  and  we  do  not  see  for 
what  motive  you  have  separated  him  from 
the    communion    of    the    faithful.      Never- 
theless, as  we  desire  to  be  impaitial  in  our 
judgments,  we  will  make  no  decision  without  [ 
understanding,  perfectly,  the  reasons  alleged  | 
by  both  parties.     Send  us,  then,  a  relation  of 
all  that  has  passed,  and  teach  us  what  new  I 
error  has  sprung  up  against  the  faith,  that  we 
may  be  able,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  ! 
the  emperor,  to  put  an  end  to  the  division —  } 
and  this  we  shall  be  easily  enabled  to  do, 
since  the  priest  Eutyches  has  declared  that 
if  we  should  lind  any  thing  reprehensible  in  I 
his  doctrine,  he  was  ready  to  correct  it."  | 

Some  days  after  the  receipt  of  the  letters  j 
of  the  pope,  a  new  council  was  held  at  Con-  ] 
stantinopie,  to  revise  the  hrst  judgment.  The 
emperor  wished  the  patrician  Florentin  to 
represent  him  in  this  assembly,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  hatred  of  theologians  from  op- 
pressing innocence  ■  as  he  learned  that  his 
precautions  were  powerless,  he  transferred 
the  council  to  Ephesus. 

The  pope,  and  Flavian  of  Constantinople, 
who  had  been  reconciled,  fearing  to  lose  their 
influence  over  the  fathers,  used  their  efforts 
to  engage  the  emperor  to  countermand  his 
last  orders.  But  all  their  endeavours  were 
useless.  Leo,  unwilling  to  go  to  Ephesus, 
contented  himself  with  sending,  as  his  legates, 
Julius,  bishop  of  Pouzzola  :  Rene,  a  priest  of 
the  order  of  St.  Clement;  Hilarius,  a  deacon  ; 
and  Dulcitius.  a  notary. 

When  all  the  fathers  convoked  by  the  em- 
peror were  assembled  at  Ephesus,  the  open- 
ing of  the  council  was  fixed  for  the  8th  of 
August.  Dioscorus,  the  successor  of  St. 
Cyril  in  the  government  of  the  church  of 
Alexandria,  was  named  president  of  the  as- 
sembly. The  sentence  of  deposition  pro- 
nounced against  ICutychcs  in  the  council  of 
Constantinople,  was  declared  null  by  the 
fathers;  they  re-established  the  venerable 
abbot  at  the  head  of  his  monastery,  and  ren- 
dered him  entire  justice,  as  to  the  purity  of 
his  faith  and  the  sanctity  of  his  morals.  His 
accusers,  Flavian,  and  Eusebius,  bishop  of 
Dorylea,  were  condemned  and  deposed,  de- 
spite of  the  opposition  of  Hilarius,  the  deacon 
of  the  Roman  church,  who  sj^oke  in  the  name 
of  the  pope  ;  and  de.spite  of  the  efforts  of  sev- 
eral bishops,  who  evinced  a  strong  attach- 
ment to  the  interests  of  Flavian. 

Alter  the  council,  l)io.scoius  even  pro- 
nounced a  .sentence  of  condemnation  against 
pope  Leo,  as  a  punishment  for  his  pride  and 
despotism.  The  emperor  Theodosius  con- 
lirmed,  by  an  edict,  the  second  council  of 
Ephesus,  and  prohibited  new  sees  being 
given  to  bishops  who  should  sustain  the  he- 
resy of  N(?storius  and  Flavian. 

In  the  interval,  Leo  received  a  letter  from 
the  bishops  of  the  province  of  Vienne,  which 


advised  him  of  the  election  of  Ravennius  to 
the  archbishopric  of  Aries,  v  hich  shows  that 
they  did  not  wait  for  the  consent  of  tht;  holy 
father  to  consecrate  a  bishop,  and  that  they 
advised  him  of  their  elections  ior  the  sole 
purpose  of  maintaining  the  bonds  of  fraternal 
union. 

The  pope  was  still  ignorant  of  what  was 
passing  in  the  Ea.st,  from  whence  he  had  re- 
ceived no  news.  He  wrote  then  to  Flavian, 
to  testify  his  incjuietude.  Some  time  after, 
the  deacon  Hilarius,  having  returned  to  Rome, 
advised  the  holy  father  of  the  great  outrages 
which  had  been  committed  against  his  see  by 
the  council  of  Ephesus.  Leo,  transported 
with  rage,  immediately  convoked  the  bishops 
of  Italy  to  a  synod,  and,  in  his  turn,  excom- 
municated the  fathers  of  Ephesus;  then  he 
wrote  several  syiiodical  letters  against  Euty- 
ches. and  demanded  at  once  from  the  empe- 
ror authority  to  preside  over  a  general  council. 
After  the  death  of  Theodosius,  the  empress 
Pulcheria,  seconding  the  pontiff  in  his  desire 
to  draw  down  vengeance  on  Eutyches  and  his 
friends,  ordered  the  patriarch  Anatolius,  who 
had  been  placed  in  the  see  of  Constantinople 
in  the  stead  of  Flavian,  to  embrace  the  party 
of  Rome,  and  to  merit  the  affection  of  the 
pope,  if  he  wished  to  preserve  his  bishopric. 
Anatolius,  intimidated  by  this  threat,  assem- 
bled a  council,  to  which  he  invited  the  legTites 
of  the  pontiir.  to  take  cognizance  of  the  famous 
letter  of  Leo  to  Flavian.  The  fathers  of  the 
new  council  declared  that  they  entirely  ap- 
proved of  its  contents.  Then  Anatolius  pro- 
nounced an  anathema  against  Nestorius  and 
Eutyches,  condemned  their  doctrine,  and  by 
this  unjust  sentence,  merited  to  be  received 
as  the  legitimate  bishop  of  Constantinople. 

Political  affairs  were  in  as  deplorable  a 
state  as  ecclesisastical.  The  redoubtable 
Attila,  the  king  of  the  Huns,  after  having  re- 
duced to  ashes  the  city  of  Aquileia,  and 
ravaged  all  the  country  over  w  hich  he  passed, 
caused  all  Italy  to  tremble.  Pavia  even,  and 
Milan,  those  two  great  cities,  could  not  resist 
the  efforts  of  his  victorious  arms?,  and  had 
become  the  frightful  theatre  of  all  the  dis- 
orders of  war. 

This  new  distress  caused  the  greatest  con- 
sternation at  Rome.  The  Senate  as.sembled 
to  deliberate  whether  the  emperor  should 
quit  Ital}',  since  it  appeared  to  be  impossible 
to  defend  the  capital  agTiinst  the  deluge  of 
barbarians  who  seemed  to  have  inundated 
the  empire.  In  this  extremity,  they  resolved 
to  try  the  effect  of  negotiations,  and  sent  to 
Attila  a  pompous  embassy,  with  pope  Leo, 
whose  persuasive  eloquence  they  wvU  knew, 
at  its  head.  The  pontiff  siillied  from  the  city 
with  an  imposing  cortege  to  meet  this  re- 
doubtable enemv,  and  when  he  was  near  the 
tent  of  Attila,  be  astonished  him  with  the 
solemn  chants  of  the  church,  and  humbly 
prostrated  himself  before  the  majesty  of  the 
barbarian  chief;  then  the  conferences  com- 
menced. The  cluonicles  relate  that  the 
king  of  the  Huns  was  so  struck  by  this  strange 
spectacle,  that  he  submitted  to  every  thing 


88 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Leo  demanded,  as  to  orders  from  Heaven  ; 
that  he  consented  to  peace,  and  retired  with 
his  armies  beyond  the  Danube.  Some  histo- 
rians even  add,  that  the  Hunnish  chieftains 
having  openly  expressed  their  contempt  for 
their  prince,  who  had  honoured  the  pope  by 
obeying  him  even  as  a  slave,  he,  to  justify  him- 
self aliirrned,  that  he  had  seen  in  a  dream  a 
venerable  old  man,  holding  in  his  hand  a 
drawn  sword,  who  menaced  him  with  death 
if  he  did  not  conform  to  the  orders  of  Leo. 

This  story  was  formerly  found  in  the  Bre- 
viary of  Paris.  During  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, one  of  our  most  learned  archbishops  has 
suppressed  it,  as  well  as  other  grosser  fables 
which  it  contained.  The  true  motive  for  the 
retreat  of  Attila  was  the  desire  of  possessing 
the  gold  which  the  pope  made  to  glitter  be- 
fore his  eyes )  an  unpardonable  fault  for  a 
conqueror  at  the  head  of  victorious  troops, 
and  especially  for  an  Attila,  the  scourge  of 
God,  the  enemy  of  the  human  race,  whose 
look  filled  the  bravest  with  fear,  and  at  whose 
name  nations  trembled. 

Leo,  who  had  disarmed  the  invincible  king 
of  the  Huns,  could  not,  nevertheless,  conquer 
Anatolius,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
who,  not  having  need  to  preserve  any  address 
with  him,  wished  to  extend  his  sway  over 
the  Eastern  churches,  and  imitated  the  pope, 
who  had  alreatly  made  his  authority  felt  in 
the  churches  of  the  West. 

In  order  to  humiliate  the  bishops  of  Rome, 
Anatolius  favoured  the  partizans  of  Eutyches 
and  Dioscorus,  and  repulsed  the  friends  of  the 
holy  father ;  the  latter  complained  to  the  em- 
peror Marcian  and  the  empress  Pulcheria; 
but  the  emperor,  who  desired  to  maintain 
peace  in  the  church,  refused  to  give  any 
satisfaction  to  either  of  the  two  parties, 
and  forced  them  to  feign  an  official  recon- 
ciliation. 

The  pope  was  charged,  during  the  follow- 
ing year,  with  an  important  embassy,  which 
resulted  deplorably,  and  in  which  his  elo- 
quence did  not  produce  a  second  miracle. 

The  empress  Eudoxia,  after  the  death  of 
Valentinian  the  Third,  had  been  forced  to 
espouse  Maximus,  the  usurper  of  the  throne 
and  the  assassin  of  her  husband.  As  the 
princess  refused  to  .yield  to  the  desires  of  this 
monster,  he  had  the  barbarity  to  order  his 
soldiers  to  bind  her  with  cords,  and  to  strip 
from  her  her  garments,  that  he  might  be  ena- 
bled to  glut  his  brutal  passion.  Eudoxia, 
outraged  by  this  horrid  violence,  secretly 
demanded  assistance  from  the  king  of  the 
Vandals.  Genseric  seized  upon  the  pretext, 
disembarked  in  Italy,  and  marched  towards 
Rome,  whose  gates  were  opened  to  him  by 
treason. 

St.  Leo,  seeing  his  flock  exposed  to  the 
vengeance  of  the  Arians,  cast  himself  at  the 
feet  of  the  king  of  the  Vandals,  and  entreated 
him  to  spare  the  holy  city.  AH  his  endea- 
vours failed  before  the  obstinacy  of  Genseric  ] 
Rome  was  delivered  up  to  pillage  during 
fourteen  days,  and  the  inhabitants  had  only 
the  liberty  of  retiring  with  their  families  into 


three  churches,  which  served  for  an  asylum, 
and  where  there  was  no  bloodshed. 

The  king  then  returned  to  his  vessels, 
which  were  filled  with  booty,  taking  with 
him  the  empress  Eudoxia  and  her  two 
daughters,  whom  he  treated  with  distinction. 
Tfiis  prince  was  not  as  cruel  as  ecclesiastical 
historians  maintain ;  and  the  faults  with  which 
they  reproach  him  were  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences of  supreme  power.  We  shall  find 
actions  much  more  condemnable  in  the  lives 
of  monarchs  whose  memory  is  venerated  in 
the  church. 

After  the  death  of  the  emperor  Marcien, 
the  party  of  Eutyches  made  great  efibrts  in 
the  East  to  obtain  the  protection  of  his  suc- 
cessor, surnamed  Macellus ;  but  tlie  pontiff, 
who  had  aided  by  his  cabals  and  intrigues 
in  placing  him  on  the  throne,  so  preserved 
his  credit  at  court  as  to  repress  the  enemies 
of  the  church,  and  maintain  the  authority  of 
the  Holy  See. 

Leo  then  occupied  himself  with  ruling 
several  points  of  discipline  on  the  subject  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Aquileia,  who 
had  been  carried  away  prisoners  by  Attila. 
During  their  captivity,  the  faithful  had  eaten 
impure  food  and  consented  to  receive  neAV 
baptism ;  others,  on  their  return,  had  found 
their  wives  married.  Nicetas,  bishop  of 
Aquileia,  having  consulted  St.  Leo  in  cases 
of  conscience,  the  pope  replied  in  the  fol- 
lowing decretal  : — He  orders  women  who  have 
contracted  new  unions,  in  the  uncertainty  as 
to  the  existence  of  their  husbands,  to  return 
to  them,  under  pain  of  excommunication,  and 
excuses  the  second  husbands.  He  condemns 
to  public  penitence  those  whom  fear  or  hun- 
ger had  induced  to  eat  unclean  food,  and 
orders  those  who  had  been  re-baptised,  to 
reconcile  themselves  with  the  church  by  the 
imposition  of  the  hands  of  the  bishop.  In 
another  decretal,  Leo  prohibits  virgins  from 
receiving  the  solemn  benediction  and  the  veil 
until  they  had  been  tried  to  the  age  of  forty. 
It  is  believed  that  it  was  at  his  solicitation 
that  the  emperor  Magorian  passed  a  law 
against  parents  forcing  their  daughters  to 
consecrate  themselves  to  God ;  the  same  law 
blames,  severely,  widows  who,  not  having 
children,  renounce  a  second  marriage,  through 
libertinage,  and  not  virtue. 

The  church  owes  to  this  holy  father  the 
establishment  of  four  solemn  fasts  during  the 
year,  to  wit :  Lent,  Pentecost — the  fasts  of 
the  seventh  and  the  tenth  months.  Legends 
fix  at  this  period  the  origin  of  "  Rogations," 
which  were  first  celebrated  in  Dauphinj",  and 
in  the  end  adopted  by  the  churches  of  all 
countries.  Mamers,  bishop  of  Vienne,  was 
the  inventor  of  this  superstitious  practice, 
which,  according  to  the  priests,  has  the  power 
of  bending  Divine  Justice,  arresting  earth- 
quakes, fires,  and  other  scourges  which  deso- 
late nations. 

Authors  relate  a  singular  anecdote  in 
regard  to  the  custom  of  kissing  the  foot  of 
the  pope.  A  woman  of  remarkable  beauty 
had  been  admitted,  they  say,  on  Easter  day 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


89 


to  kiss  the  hand  of  the  pontifT;  when  she  was 
near  to  Leo,  his  holiness  felt  the  flesh  revolt- 
ing ag-aiiist  the  spirit,  and  he  desired  to 
possess  the  beautiful  penitent.  But,  almost 
immediately  after  the  commission  of  the 
crime,  repentance  took  possession  of  his  soul, 
and  he  cut  oii  the  hand  which  hail  caused 
this  mark  of  weakness.  This  mutilation  pre- 
venting the  holy  father  from  celebrating 
mass,  the  people  began  to  murmur ;  then  Leo 
addressed  fervent  prayers  to  God  for  the  res- 


toration of  his  hand,  which  was  granted  him 
on  condition  he  would  change  the  custom  of 
giving  the  hand  to  kiss,  and  that  he  would 
introduce  the  practice  of  presenting  the  feet 
of  the  pontiff  for  the  adoration  of  the  faithful. 
Thus  does  the  legend  relate  the  miracle  of 
the  bloody  hand  !  ! 

St.  Leo  held  his  see  twenty-one  years,  and 
died  on  the  11th  of  April,  in  the  year  461,  the 
day  fixed  in  honour  of  his  memory  in  the 
church. 


HILARIUS,  THE  FORTY-EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  461. — Leo  the  First,  Severus,  and  Anthemius,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Hilarius — The  affair  of  Hermes,  bishop  of  Bezicrs — He  persecutes  St.  Mamers- 
Violcnce  of  the  pontiff — He  extends  his  sway  over  Gaul  and  Spain — Intolerance  of  the  pope- 
His  death — Character  of  his  pontificate . 


Hilarius  was  a  Sardinian,  and  the  son  of 
Crispinus.  Nothing  is  known  of  his  educa- 
tion, nor  of  the  private  acts  of  his  life,  before 
his  arrival  at  the  pontificate.  History  truly 
speaks  of  his  embassy  to  the  council  of 
Ephesus,  where  he  had  been  sent  by  Leo,  to 
sustain  the  rights  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

The  old  scandal  of  appeals  to  Rome  was 
renewed  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign.  A  man 
named  Hermes  had,  by  means  of  intrig-ue, 
been  ordained  bishop  of  Beziers,  in  opposition 
to  the  wishes  of  its  inhabitants,  who  did  not 
want  him,  on  account  of  the  crimes  of  his 
past  life,  which  rendered  him  unworthy  of 
the  episcopate ;  but  the  new  prelate  having 
addressed  himself  to  the  court  of  Rome,  the 
pontiff  wrote  to  Leo  of  Aries,  to  obtain  from 
him  a  report  on  the  morals  and  conduct  of 
Hermes,  in  order  to  interpose  his  judgment  in 
the  affair.  Then,  without  even  waiting  for 
the  reply  of  Leo,  he  assembled  a  council,  and 
confumed  Hermes  in  his  bishopric,  prohibiting 
him,  however,  from  ordaining  priests. 

St.  Mamers,  bishop  of  Vienne,  celebrated 
through  all  Gaul  for  nis  piety,  acquired  new 
glory  from  a  persecution  he  endured  from  the 
pontiff  on  the  following  account.  An  ambi- 
tious priest  had  carried  complaints  to  Rome 
against  INIamers,  who,  having  repelled  his 
pretensions  to  the  bishopric  of  Dia,  had  given 
the  see  to  a  venerable  old  man.  In  it,  he 
was  sustained  by  Leo  of  Aries  and  the  synod 
of  the  province,  who  ha.stened  to  inform  the 
pope  that  the  act  of  Mamers  was  just  and 
equitable  ;  but  Hilarius,  desirous  of  augment- 
ing the  power  which  his  predecessor  had 
arroo-ated  to  him.self  in  Gaul,  on  this  occasion 
broke  through  the  bounds  of  equity.  He 
called  the  act  of  Mamers  an  unpardonable 
outrage  :  he  accused  him  of  pride,  presump- 
tion, and  prevarication  ;  he  threatened  even  to 
take  from  him  his  privileges  if  he  should 
persevere  in  the  just  exercise  of  his  rights; 
and  he  even  charged  bishop  Veranus  to  exe- 
cute his  orders,  as  the  delegate  of  the  Holy  See. 

Vol.  I.  M 


Mamers  repelled  these  attacks  of  the  pon- 
tiff with  dignity  and  moderation;  he  refuted 
the  accusations  of  his  enemies,  and  declared 
that  he  would  maintain  the  rights  of  his 
church.  The  cardinal  Baronius  himself, 
when  speaking  of  this  scandalous  dispute, 
says,  "  Do  not  be  astonished  if  the  pope  acted 
with  too  much  vehemence  a<iainst  Slamers. 
a  prelate  of  exemplary  piety;  for,  in  contested 
afiairs,  every  one  may  be  deceived,  even 
although  he  is  the  successor  of  St.  Peter;  and 
a  like  difficulty  had  before  taken  place  during 
the  reign  of  St.  Leo." 

Two  important  affairs  occurred  in  the  same 
year,  (462,)  which  increased  the  influence  of 
the  Holy  See.  Sylvanus,  bishop  of  Calahora, 
had  selected  a  priest  of  the  church  of  Tarra- 
gona, and  had  ordained  him  a  bishop,  not- 
\\ithstanding  the  opposition  of  his  metropoli- 
tan. The  chiefs  of  the  clergy  of  the  province 
having  assembled  in  council  to  decide  upon 
the  dispute,  could  not  agree,  and  they  had  the 
weakness  to  write  to  the  holy  father,  to  ask 
from  him  what  should  be  their  decision. 

The  other  regarded  Nundinarius,  bishop  of 
Barcelona,  who,  when  dying,  had  designated 
as  his  successor,  Ileneus,  who  was  already 
the  shepherd  of  another  city,  and  had  be- 
queathed to  him  all  his  property.  The  pre- 
lates of  the  province,  in  conformity  with  the 
will  of  the  deceased,  and  with  the  consent  of 
the  clergy,  the  people,  and  the  nobles,  con- 
sented to  the  transfer  of  Ireneus,  and  bound 
themselves  only  to  demand  for  it  the  confir- 
mation of  the  jiontiff.  The  ecclesiastics  thus 
committed  two  great  faults,  which  rendered 
them  dependent  on  the  Holy  See,  and  by  their 
imprudence,  furnished  the  popes  with  the 
means  of  increasing  their  authority  daily. 

The  new  emperor,  Anthemius,  having  come 
to  Rome  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  467,  to 
take  possession  of  the  empire,  Hilarius  feared 
lest  the  heresies  of  the  East  should  be  intro- 
duced into  the  church  of  the  West,  through 
the  protection    of  Philothcus,   an    heretical 


90 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Macedonian,  and  favourite  of  the  prince,  who  ' 
had  already  permitted  all  sects  to  hold  as- 
semblies. The  pope  declared  himself  .op- 
posed to  liberty  of  conscience,  and  dared  even 
to  reproach  the  emperor  before  the  assembly 
of  the  people  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter;  he 
threatened  the  monarch  to  excite  the  provinces 
against  him,  unless  he  engaged,  by  a  solemn 
oath;  to  drive  all  heretics  from  his  states.  j 
Some  time  after  having  thus  manifested 
his  spirit  of  intolerance,  Hilarius  died,  in  the 
month  of  September,  467,  and  was  interred 
in  the  grotto  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Law- 
rence. 


Historians  afhrrn,  that  the  pontiff  had  par- 
taken with  the  barbarians  of  the  riches  ob- 
tained from  the  pUlage  of  Rome  by  Genseric, 
and  that  these  treasures  enabled  him  to  pur- 
chase the  Tiara.  When  he  became  pope  he 
conformed  to  the  customs  of  the  age,  and 
built  magnificent  churches,  which  he  enriched 
with  precious  vases.  His  pontificate  affords 
nothing  remarkable,  if  we  except  the  same 
perseverance  in  the  uniform  plan  pursued  by 
the  bishops  of  Rome,  to  weaken  the  imperial 
power,  and  trample  down  the  hberties  of  the 
people. 


SIMPLICIUS,  THE  FOKTY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  467. — Leo  the  First  and  Zend,  Emperors. j 

Birth  of  Simplicius — He  opposes  the  wishes  of  Leo — Troubles  in  the  East — Zeno  is  driven  from 
the  throne — He  regains  the  crown — The  pope  persecutes  the  Eutychians — Serious  quarrel 
between  Simplicius  and  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople — Audacity  of  the  pope — His  death. 


TiBUR,  a  city  situated  in  ancient  Latium, 
and  now  called  Tivoli,  was  the  birth  place  of 
Simplicius,  the  son  of  Castinus. 

As  soon  as  the  emperor  Leo  was  informed 
of  the  election  of  Simplicius,  he  wrote  to  him 
to  congratulate  him.  and  pressed  him  at  the 
same  time  to  confirm  the  decree  of  the  council 
of  Chalcedon,  which  elevated  the  see  of  Con- 
stantinople to  the  second  rank  in  the  episco- 
pal dignity.  Simplicius  obstinately  opposed 
the  wishes  of  the  prince. 

After  the  death  of  Leo,  Zeno,  his  successor, 
mounted  the  throne.  But  soon  the  usurper 
Basilicus,  having  produced  a  revolt  among 
the  troops,  drove  off  the  new  monarch  and 
seized  upon  the  empire  of  the  East.  His  first 
act  was  to  re-establish  the  Eutychian  prelates, 
whom  Leo,  at  the  instigation  of  the  pope,  had 
persecuted  with  great  rigour. 

Acacius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  alone, 
among  the  bishops,  refused  to  obey  the  orders 
of  the  tyrant,  and  was  sustained  in  his  resist- 
ance by  the  priests  and  people.  The  holy 
father  at  first  approved  of  the  conduct  of  the 
generous  Acacius,  but  the  monks  having 
advised  him  of  the  return  of  Timotheus 
Eleurus,  who  endeavoured  to  excite  troubles, 
in  order  to  re-establish  himself  in  the  see 
of  Alexandria,  Simplicius  was  weak  enough 
to  write  that  he  advised  him  to  imitate 
the  example  of  his  legate,  and  rally  around 
the  throne  of  Basilicus,  if  that  prince  would 
exclude  Temotheus  from  the  see  of  Alexan- 
dria. 

His  holiness  accused  this  prelate  of  par- 
taking of  the  heresy  of  an  African  monk, 
who.  after  profound  and  minute  researches  as 
to  the  authenticity  of  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
God  on  the  earth,  had  arrived  at  this  remarka- 
ble conclusion  :  '•' Jesus  has  not  existed!"  In 
support  of  his  opinion  he  invoked  the  silence 
of  Philo.  a  celebrated  Jewish  doctor,  who 
wrote  at  the  time  at  which  the  mission  of 


Christ  is  placed.  He  proved  that  in  the  works 
of  Flavins  Josephus,  who  flourished  in  the 
middle  of  the  first  century  of  our  era,  the 
passage  in  which  mention  is  made  of  Jesus, 
contains  gross  interpolations,  which  did  not 
exist  in  the  time  of  Origen.  that  is.  in  253, 
since  that  father  in  his  book  expresses  great 
surprise  at  the  absolute  forgetfulness  of  Jesus 
by  Josephus.  He  draws  also  the  improba- 
bility of  the  condemnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
whom  the  evangelist  says  was  judged  by 
Annas,  Caiaphas.  Pilate,  then  by  Herod,  who 
had  no  judicial  authority  in  Judea,  and  was 
finally  condemned  and  punished  by  Caiaphas, 
all  in  the  space  of  six  hours.  The  learned 
monk  maintained,  that  even  admitting  the 
authenticit)'  of  the  passage  of  Josephus,  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  cannot  be  deduced  as  a  con- 
sequence from  it ;  "  For."  says  he,  "this  histo- 
rian speaks  of  the  revolt  of  the  Jewish  people 
against  Pilate,  of  the  courageous  resistance 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  insurgents;  of  their  con- 
stancy in  the  midst  of  punishment.  He  enu- 
merates at  length  the  names  and  qualities  of 
Simon  and  Judas,  proclaimed  kings  during 
the  revolt ;  of  Judas  of  Galilee,  and  of  Zadoc 
the  Pharisee,  founders  and  chiefs  of  the  pat- 
riotic zealots;  of  James;  of  Manasses;  of  Jo- 
nathan Thaumaturgus ;  of  Simon  the  magician, 
and  of  Simon  Barjona ;  whilst  on  the  other 
hand  he  devotes  but  a  few  lines  to  relating 
that  a  person  of  low  order,  called  Jesus,  had 
announced  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  and 
the  sack  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  says 
nothing  of  his  doctrine,  disciples,  miracles, 
death  nor  resurrection."  The  African  monk, 
besides,  objected  that  Justus  Tiberius,  a  co- 
temporary  of  Flavius,  and  of  the  pretended 
disciples  of  Christ,  had  made  no  mention  of 
the  Saviour,  nor  of  his  apostles,  in  his  history 
of  the  Jews. 

The  letter  of  the  holy  father  against  Timo- 
theus Eleurus  and  his  protege,  acted  power- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


91 


fully  on  the  spirit  of  Acacius,  who  immedi-  ' 
ately  began  to  pursue  the  heretics. 

Zeno,  profiting  by  the  disorders  which  the 
orthodox  and  the  Eutychians  fomented  in  the 
provinces  of  the  empire,  returned  to  Con- 
stantinople at  the  head  of  an  army,  drove 
away  in  his  turn  the  usurper,  and  remounted 
the  throne.  Acacius  hastened  to  send  to  the 
holy  father  an  account  of  this  counter-revolu- 
tion, and  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  heretics  to 
again  seize  upon  their  influence.  He  asked 
from  him,  at  the  same  time,  a  plan  of  con- 
duct. Simplicius,  changing  his  opinion  with 
an  astonishing  versatility,  replied  that  it  was  no 
longer  from  Basilicus,  but  from  Zeno,  from 
whom,  under  God,  they  must  expect  aid  to  the 
church  •  and  he  urged  him  to  beseech  the 
prince  to  publish  an  ordinance,  exiling  the 
bishops  whom  Timotheus  Eleurus  had  or- 
dained. The  emperor,  fearing  to  excite  the 
wrath  of  the  bi.shops  of  Rome,  of  whose  as- 
sistance he  had  need,  to  maiiitain  himself 
upon  the  throne,  yielded  to  his  wishes,  and 
persecuted  the  Eutychians  with  the  greatest 
violence. 

The  see  of  Alexandria  having  become  va- 
cant by  the  death  of  Timotheus,  the  priests 
nominated  as  his  successor.  Johir  Talaia,  with- 


out even  waiting  for  the  permission  of  the  em- 
peror. Zeno.  irritated  by  their  boldness,  drove 
away  the  new  prelate  who,  in  order  to  avenge 
himself,  appealed  to  the  pope.  But  the  for- 
midable influence  of  Rome  was  already  be- 
ginning to  diminish  in  the  East,  and  the  holy 
father  wishing  to  reprimand  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople  on  this  subject,  received  simply 
for  answer,  that  the  Orientals  did  not  recog- 
nize John  Talaia  as  bishop  of  Alexandria,  be- 
cause it  was  not  agreeable  to  them  to  do  so. 

The  affairs  of  the  East  occupied  much  of 
the  pontiff's  attention,  nevertheless,  he  did 
not  neglect  those  of  the  West,  as  appears  from 
the  reprimand  which  he  addressed  to  John, 
metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  who  had  ordained 
Gregory,  bishop  of  a  church  without  his  con- 
sent. Of  his  own  authority  he  transferred 
the  new  prelate  into  the  diocese  of  Modena, 
and  freed  him  from  dependence  on  the  arch- 
bishop. 

This  apostolic  boldness  gave  great  disquie- 
tude to  John  of  Ravenna  and  the  patriarch 
Acacius,  who  were  fearful  of  creating  new 
j  disorders  in  the  church.  Soon,  however,  all 
their  fears  ceased,  from  the  death  of  the  pon- 
tiff, which  took  place  in  the  beginning  of  the 
,  year  483. 


FELIX  THE  THIRD,  FIFTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  483.— Zeno,  Emperor.] 

Birth  and  marriage  of  the  priest  Felix — His  election — He  pursues  the  policy  of  his  predecessor — 
Maintains  the  pretensions  af  John  Talaia — His  legates  arc  arrested — Condemnation  of  the 
legates — The  patriarch  of  Constantinople  excommunicated — Insolence  of  the  monks — State  of 
the  church  in  Africa — Death  of  Acacius — Deceit  of  Flavita — Euphemius,  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople— Death  of  the  emperor  Zeno — Rashness  of  Euphemius — Death  of  Felix. 


Celius  Felix  was  a  Roman  of  senatorial 
family.  His  father,  a  venerable  priest  of  the 
order  of  Fasciola,  had  caused  him  to  embrace 
the  ecclesiastical  state,  though  he  was  married 
and  had  children.  After  the  death  of  Sim- 
plicius, the  clergy  assembled  with  the  magis- 
trates in  the  church  of  St.  Peter;  they  pro- 
ceeded to  the  election  of  a  pope,  and  Felix 
received  all  the  votes. 

The  new  pontiff  embraced  the  views  of  his 
predecessor  on  the  affairs  of  the  East,  and 
profited  by  the  sojourn  of  John  Talaia  in 
Rome  to  learn  the  secret  plots  of  the  patri- 
arch. John,  who  desired  vengeance  on  his 
oniMnies,  exaggerated  his  wrongs  and  the  bad 
faith  of  Acacius.  He  accused  him  of  secretly 
protecting  Peter  Mongus,  and  irritated  the 
pride  of  the  pontiff,  by  representing  to  him 
that  the  letters  of  Simplicius  had  produced  no 
effect  in  Constantinople,  He  added,  that  it 
would  be  a  great  disgrace  to  the  Holy  See,  if 
they  thus  continued  to  brave,  in  the  East,  the 
aulhority  of  ]\ome. 

The  pontiff,  following  his  councils,  sent 
embassadors  to  Zeno,  to  beseech  him  to  drive 
away  Peter  Mongus  as  a  heretic,  and  to  send 


Acacius  to  Rome,  to  reply  to  the  accusations 
preferred  against  him  by  John  in  his  memorial 
to  the  Holy  See.  But  the  legates  V'ilalusand 
Misenus,  on  arriving  at  the  city  of  Ab)  tios, 
were  arrested  by  the  orders  of  the  emperor. 
Their  papers  were  taken  from  them,  and  they 
were  thrown  into  prison.  Zeno  even  threat- 
ened them  with  death  if  they  persisted  in 
their  refusal  to  communicate  with  Acacius 
and  Peter  Mongus.  They  remained  unshaken; 
for  violence  increases  courage  and  intrepidity, 
and  it  is  the  nature  of  man  to  resist  obstacles. 

Nevertheless,  the  legates,  who  had  resisted 
threats,  were  seduced  by  caresses  and  pre- 
sents, and  declared  their  willingness  to  com- 
municate with  the  patriarch  if  they  were  set 
at  liberty.  They  were  then  taken  from  prison 
and  embarked  for  Constantinople,  where  they 
performed  their  promise,  by  recognizing  Peter 
Mongus  as  the  legitimate  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria. 

The  embassadors  then  returned  to  Rome, 
charged  with  letters  from  the  emperor  and  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Felix,  irritated 
against  them  on  account  of  their  cowardly 
submission  to  his  enemies,  refused  to  receive 


92 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


them,  nnd  convoked  a  council  to  judge  them. 
They  were  convicted  of  having  communicated 
with  the  heretics  of  the  East,  and  for  having 
done  so,  were  condemned  to  deposition,  and 
excommunicated . 

In  the  same  synod  Peter  MongTis  was  a 
second  time  declared  an  heretic  and  preva- 
ricator. It  was,  however,  judged  prudent  to 
deal  cautiously  with  the  patriarch,  and  Felix 
contented  himself  with  writing  to  him  in  the 
name  of  the  council,  to  persuade  him  to  ask 
pardon  for  his  past  conduct.  Acacius  replied 
with  spirit,  that  he  would  not  humble  himself 
before  the  Holy  See,  and  that  he  would  per- 
form no  act  of  submission.  The  pontiff  then 
pronounced  against  him  a  terrible  sentence, 
which  deprived  him  of  the  honour  of  the 
priesthood,  and  declared  him  excommuni- 
cated, and  beyond  human  power  to  be  ab- 
solved from  the  anathema. 

The  bull  of  excommunication  was  carried 
to  Constantinople  by  an  old  clerg}-man  of  the 
Roman  church,  named  Tutus,  by  whom  the 
pope  sent  at  the  same  time  two  letters,  one  for 
the  emperor,  the  other  addressed  to  the  clergy 
and  people  of  Constantinople.  Felix  com- 
plained of  the  violence  shown  his  legates,  in 
contempt  of  the  rights  of  nations,  which  were 
respected  by  the  most  barbarous  people.  He 
then  declared  that  the  Holy  See  could  never 
communicate  with  Peter  of  Alexandria,  who 
had  been  ordained  by  heretics ;  he  finished 
by  threatening  the  emperor,  and  invited  him 
to  choose  between  the  communion  of  the 
apostle  St.  Peter,  and  that  of  Peter  of  Alex- 
andria. 

The  lofty  pretensions  of  the  pontiff  were 
treated  with  scorn  at  Constantinople  ;  Acacius 
even  refused  to  receive  the  letters  addressed 
to  him.  Some  mischief-making  monks,  alone, 
had  the  boldness  to  attach  the  anathema  of 
the  holy  father  to  their  cloaks  during  divine 
service  •  but  the  justice  of  the  prince  repressed 
their  insolence,  and  their  heads  fell  under  the 
axe  of  the  executioner.  The  embassador, 
after  having  acquitted  himself  of  his  mission, 
imitated  the  first  legates.  He  allowed  himself 
to  be  seduced  by  offers  of  money,  and  com- 
municated with  the  enemies  of  Rome.  The 
holy  pontiff,  on  the  news  of  this  defection, 
transported  with  fur}^,  launched  forth  three 
anathemas :  one  against  Tutus,  the  other  two 
against  Acacius  and  the  emperor.  All  his 
thunders  did  not,  however,  hinder  the  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople  from  continuing  to 
exercise  his  ministry,  and  from  suppressing 
the  name  of  Felix  in  the  sacred  registers. 

The  church  in  Africa  was  also  agitated  by 
violent  religious  quarrels.  Huneric,  who  ruled 
its  provinces,  professed  Arianism,  and  perse- 
cuted the  orthodox  by  way  of  reprisal.  After 
the  death  of  that  prince,  Gonthamond,  his 
successor,  treated  with  more  lenity  the  faith- 
ful who  adhered  to  the  Nicean  faith.  The 
pope  then  convoked  a  council  of  thirty-eight 
bi.shop.s,  to  reg-ulate  the  discipline  which  the 
African  prelates  should  pursue  in  regard  to 
apostate  priests,  and  to  the  faithful  who  had 
been  baptized  anew.     The  fathers  declared 


that  there  was  a  great  difference  between 
those  who  had  been  baptized  of  their  own 
accord  by  heretics,  and  those  who  had  suf- 
fered it  through  constraint.  They  condemned 
the  first  to  perform  penance,  and  to  submit  to 
religious  practices,  in  order  to  show  the  sin- 
cerity of  their  repentance  ■  they  ordered  the 
second  to  make  a  public  profession.  They 
exhibited  more  severity  towards  the  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons  M'ho  had  accepted  Arian 
baptism.  They  condemned  them  to  remain 
in  penitence  during  the  rest  of  their  lives^  se- 
parate from  ecclesiastical  assemblies,  and 
excluded  from  the  prayers  of  the  church, 
granting  them,  as  the  only  grace,  laical  com- 
munion when  at  the  point  of  death. 

The  council  inflicted  twelve  years  of  re- 
pentance on  the  clerks,  monks,  and  virgins 
dedicated  to  God,  who  had  ranged  themselves 
on  the  side  of  the  heretics  ]  three  jears  in  the 
ranks  of  hearers,  seven  in  that  of  penitents, 
and  two  years  of  consistence,  pemiitting  their 
pastors,  nevertheless,  to  aid  them  if  in  danger 
of  death.  The  last  article  concerns  the  young, 
whose  age  might  excuse  their  apostacy.  The 
fathers  ordered  the  bishops  to  lay  their  hands 
on  them,  without  subjecting  them  to  peni- 
tence, and  prohibited  priests  from  receiving 
to  their  communion  clerks  or  laymen  from 
another  diocese,  unless  they  presented  testi- 
monial letters  from  their  bishop  or  pastor. 

Acacius  died  during  the  year  849,  and  the 
emperor  elevated  to  the  see  of  Constantinople 
a  prie.st  named  Flavita,  who,  desirous  of  being 
on  good  terms  with  the  pope,  and  Peter  of 
Alexandria,  wrote  at  the  same  time  to  both 
the  bishops,  that  he  would  accept  no  commu- 
nion but  theirs.  His  knavery  was  soon  dis- 
covered, and  Felix  drove  away  his  deputies 
in  disgrace.  A  few  days  after.  Flavita  drew 
his  last  breath,  in  the  midst  of  sufferings, 
causod,  according  to  some,  by  poison,  and  ac- 
cording to  others,  produced  by  an  unknown 
malady.  He  had  held  the  patriarchal  see  but 
four  months. 

Euphemius,  his  successor,  desirous  of  re- 
establishing peace  in  the  church,  consented 
to  erase  the  name  of  Peter  of  Alexandria 
from  the  sacred  registers,  and  replaced  that 
of  the  bishops  of  Rome ;  after  which  he  sent 
deputies  to  the  pontiff  to  request  his  commu- 
nion. Felix  repelled  his  advances,  because 
the  patriarch  wished  to  preserve  in  the  regis- 
ters the  names  of  Acacius  and  Flavita ;  and 
his  obstinacy  retarded  still  longer  the  re- 
union of  the  churches  of  the  East  and  the 
West. 

After  the  death  of  Zeno,  a  princenamed  Ana- 
stasius,  devout  even  to  superstition,  mounted 
the  throne.  At  Constantinople,  as  well  as  at 
Rome,  the  boldness  of  the  clergy  had  so  aug- 
mented by  the  weakness  of  the  emperors, 
that  the  patriarch  dared  accuse  Anastasius, 
before  an  assembly  of  the  people,  of  being 
an  heretic  unworthy  to  command  Christians, 
and  refused  to  crown  him,  until  the  prince 
had  given  his  profession  of  faith  in  writing, 
and  had  engaged  himself  by  a  solemn  oath  to 
change  nothing  in  religion. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


93 


Pope  Felix  wrote  to  the  emperor  to  feli- 
citate him  on  his  elevation  to  the  throne,  and 
to  assure  him  of  his  respect  and  obedience. 
But  he  had  not  the  satisfaction  of  seeuig  in 
the  atfairs  of  the  church  the  change  which 
he  desired.  He  died  on  the  25th  of  February, 


492,  after  a  pontificate  of  nine  years.  Aji  in- 
supportable pritle,  and  a  spirit  constantly  in 
revolt  against  the  authority  of  the  emperors 
were  the  principal  traits  in  the  character  of 
Felix,  now  honoured  by  the  church  as  among 
its  samta. 


GELiSIUS,  THE  FIFTY-FIRST  POFE. 

[A.  D.  492. — Anastasius,  Emperor.] 

Birth  and  election  of  Gelasius — His  reply  to  Ei(phcmius — The  rigour  of  the  pope  causes  a  schism — 
Letter  from  Gelasius  to  Honorius,  against  the  Pelagians — He  elevates  the  sacerdotal  above  the 
princely  power — Decretals  of  the  pope — Festivals  in  honour  of  Pan,  at  Rome — Persecution  of 
the  Manichcans — Death  of  the  pope. 


Gelasius  was  an  African  by  birth ;  the  Ro- ! 
man  clergy  and  people  elevated  him  to  the 
Holy  See,  some  days  after  the  death  of  Felix. 
As  soon  as  the  patriarch  Euphemius  heard 
of  this  election,  he  wrote  to  Gelasius  to  com- 
plain that  he  had  not  been  advised  of  his  ordi- 
nation, according  to  established  usag^.  He  sent 
liim  at  the  same  time  his  profession  of  faith. 
The  pope  replied  to  Euphemius :  ■'  It  is 
true  that  ancient  usage  ordered  our  fathers 
who  were  united  in  communion,  to  advise 
their  colleagues  of  their  ordination  ;  but  why 
have  you  preferred  the  society  of  strangers  to 
that  of  St.  Peter?  You  say  that  I  ought  to  use 
condescendence  towards  you.  But  if  we 
should  raise  up  the  fallen,  we  are  not  com- 
manded to  precipitate  ourselves  with  them  into 
eternal  fire.  You  condemn  Eutyches  and  you 
defend  Acacius.  You  demand  in  what  coun- 
cil Acacius  was  condemned,  as  if  a  particular  j 
condemnation  were  needed  to  reject  from  the 
church  a  Catholic  who  communes  with  people 
soiled  with  heresy."  At  last  Gelasius  termi- 
nates his  letter  by  declaring  to  Euphemius 
that  his  reply  is  not  a  mark  of  communion, 
and  that  he  writes  to  him  as  to  a  stranger. 

The  intolerance  of  the  holy  father  produced 
the  effect  which  must  always  attend  extreme 
measures;  it  augmented  the  evil.  The  patri- 
arch, persuaded  that  there  would  be  injustice, 
and  even  harshness,  in  the  condemnation  of 
Acacius,  refused  to  submit  to  the  orders  of 
the  pope ;  and  the  first  two  sees  of  Christianity 
remained  separated  in  communion  some  years 
longer. 

Gelasius  persisted  in  an  invincible  obsti- 
nacy on  the  subject  of  Acacius.  The  smallest 
concession  could  easily  have  restored  peace 
to  the  church;  but  he  preferred  seeing  trouble 
and  disunion  among  the  faithful,  rather  than 
abandon  his  unjust  pretensions. 

The  pope  then  learning  that  Pelagianism 
was  reappearing  in  Dalmatia,  wrote  to  a  bi- 
shop of  that  country  named  Ilonorius,  that  he 
should  caution  his  brethren  to  separate  them- 
selves from  those  who  were  infected  with  the 
heresy.  The  prelate  fiercely  replied,  that 
he  was  astonished  at  the  excess  of  his  zeal 
for  the  churches  of  Dalmatia,  and  that  there 


was  no  need  of  recalling  them  to  their  duty 
to  watch  over  the  progress  of  the  schism. 

Gelasius,  recalled  to  sentiments  of  humility 
by  the  vigour  of  Honorius,  replied  that  the 
Holy  See  had  a  care  over  all  the  churches  of 
the  world,  to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  faith, 
and  that  he  had  no  intention  of  imposing  his 
will  on  the  bishops  of  Dalmatia. 

Thus  the  ambition  of  the  pope  exposed  him 
a  second  time  to  severe  reproaches  from 
strange  prelates.  Soon,  however,  the  heretics 
whom  he  sought  out  to  combat  with  in  distant 
countries,  rose  up  under  his  very  eyes  in 
Picenum.  An  old  man  named  Seneca  taught 
Pelagianism,  and  drew  to  his  side  a  great 
number  of  priests,  and  even  some  bishops. 
The  pope  then  wrote  to  the  prelates  of  Pice- 
num, to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  heresy,  and 
sent  them  a  treatise  against  the  Pelagians, 
with  the  view^  of  combatting  the  doctrine 
which  they  preached,  and  of  demonstrating 
to  the  faithful  that  man  could  not  live  sinless. 

Some  months  after,  the  embassadors  whom 
king  Theoderic  had  sent  to  the  East,  came  to 
Rome  on  their  return  from  their  mission  :  they 
engaged  the  pontiff  to  write  to  the  emperor 
Anastasius,  who  complained  that  he  had  not 
been  yet  apprised  of  his  ordination. 

Gelasius,  not  daring  to  disobey  the  deputies 
of  Theodoric,  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  em- 
peror of  the  East,  in  which  he  show(>d  to  what 
a  degree  of  audacity  the  Roman  pontiff  had 
already  arrived :  "  There  are  two  powers,"' 
said  he,  '-'who  have  sovereign  rule  over  the 
world ;  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  authority; 
the  sacred  authority  of  the  bishops  is  so  much 
the  greater,  as  on  the  day  of  judgment  tliey 
must  render  an  account  of  the  actions  of 
kings.  You  know,  magnanimous  emperor, 
that  your  dignity  surpasses  that  of  other  ininces 
of  the  earth;  nevertheless  you  are  obliged  to 
submit  to  the  power  of  the  ministers  in  sacred 
things,  for  it  is  to  them  you  address  yourself 
to  know  what  are  the  sources  of  your  safety, 
and  the  rules  which  you  ought  to  follow  in 
receiving  the  sacraments,  and  in  disposing  of 
religious  things. 

"  The  bishops  persuade  the  people  that 
God  has  given  you  a  sovereign  power  over 


94 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


temporal  things,  and  they  cause  them  to  sub- 
mit to  your  laws.  In  return  you  should 
obey;  with  entire  submission,  those  who  are 
destined  to  distribute  to  you  the  holy  sacra- 
ments. If  the  faithful  ought  blindly  to  follow 
the  orders  of  bishops  who  acquit  themselves 
worthily  in  their  functions,  so  much  the  more 
ought  they  to  receive  the  decree  of  the  pontiff 
of  Home,  whom  God  has  established  as  the 
first  of  his  bishops,  and  whom  the  church  has 
always  recognized  as  its  supreme  chief." 

This  letter,  a  master-piece  of  pride,  hypo- 
crisy, and  impudence,  is  a  lesson  for  those 
who  shall  meditate  on  the  causes  of  the 
tyranny  of  priests  and  kings. 

Gelasius,  always  pushed  on  by  his  ambition, 
■wished  to  extend  his  authority  over  all  Chris- 
tian countries,  and  convoli:ed  at  Rome  a  council 
of  seventy  bishops,  to  establish,  as  is  alleged, 
the  distinction  between  the  authentic  books 
and  the  apocryphal  books.  The  Protestants 
deny  the  existence  of  the  pretended  decree, 
which  was  rendered  in  this  council:  "At 
least."  says  one  of  their  famous  authors,  "  it 
was  not  known  until  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century,  and  we  are  surprised  to  see  that  in 
this  decree  of  Gelasius,  there  is  no  mention 
made  of  but  one  book  of  Esdras.  and  one  book 
of  the  Maccabees.  In  many  manuscripts,  the 
book  of  Job  even,  has  been  omitted ;  and  in 
others,  the  two  books  of  the  Maccabees  have 
been  entirely  suppressed."  Fleury,  who  has 
written  at  length  upon  this  decree,  has  been 
compelled  to  speak  of  these  contradictions, 
to  afford  a  proof  of  his  fidelity  and  correct- 
ness. 

John,  bishop  of  Ravenna,  having  advised 
the  pope  of  the  deplorable  state  in  which 
many  churches  of  Italy  were,  who  were  des- 
titute of  pastors,  Gelasius  wrote  to  the  pre- 
lates of  Lucania,  to  the  bishops  of  the  Bru- 
tians,  and  to  those  of  Sicily,  authorizing  them 
to  confer  the  sacred  orders  on  monks  who  had 
not  committed  crimes,  or  who  had  not  been 
twice  married. 

The  holy  father  recommends  not  to  admit 
laymen  into  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  until 
after  they  have  been  examined  with  the 
greatest  care,  in  order  that  they  should  not 
bestow  the  sacred  orders  on  vicious  men.  He 
prohibits  bishops  from  dedicating  newly  built 
churches,  without  permission  from  the  Holy 
See,  and  forbids  them  from  exacting  from  the 
faithful,  pay,  for  conferring  baptism  or  con- 
firmation, and  especially  from  not  demanding 
money  from  heretics  newly  converted. 

Gelasius  also  recommends  to  priests  not. to 
exalt  themselves  above  their  rank ;  not  to 
bless  the  holy  oil ;  not  to  confirm,  and  not  to 
discharge  any  sacred  function  in  the  presence' 
of  a  bishop.  He  reminds  them  that  they 
should  not  sit  down,  or  celebrate  mass  in  the 
presence  of  a  bishop,  without  his  permission; 
and  that  priests  could  not  ordain  sub-deacons. 
He  proscribed,  also,  to  the  deacons,  to  keep 
themselves  within  the  bounds  of  their  min- 
istry, prohibiting  them  from  discharging  the 
functions  appertaining  to  priests,  or  even  from 
baptizingj  but  in  cases  of  necessity.  He  adds, 


that  deacons,  not  being  of  the  rank  of  priests, 
ought  not  to  distribute  to  the  faithful  the  con- 
secrated bread  and  w'ine. 

The  holy  father  prohibited  from  baptizing, 
except  during  the  festival  of  Easter,  and  at 
Pentecost,  unless  he  on  whom  the  baptism 
was  to  be  conferred  should  be  in  danger  of 
dying.  He  wished  virgnis  to  take  the  veil  on 
the  day  of  the  Epiphany,  at  Easter,  or  at  the 
festival  of  the  apostles.  He  regards  w'idows 
as  unworthy  of  being  consecrated  to  Jesus 
Christ,  and  refuses  them  admission  into  mo- 
nasteries. 

He  condemns  ecclesiastics  ordained  for  mo- 
ney to  be  driven  from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy, 
and  submits  to  public  penitence,  for  the  rest 
of  their  lives,  those  who  had  been  convicted 
of  entertaining  criminal  connection  with  the 
virgins  consecrated  to  God. 

The  pontiff  does  not  impose  any  penance 
on  widows  who  had  married  after  having 
made  a  profession  of  celibacy ;  but  desires 
that  they  should  be  publicly  reproached  with 
the  fault  they  had  committed.  In  conclusion, 
he  blames  severely  the  custom  which  existed 
in  the  churches,  of  having  the  mass  served 
by  females. 

The  pontiff  also  treats  of  the  question  of 
the  property  of  the  church.  He  orders  it  to 
be  divided  into  four  parts :  one  for  the  bishop, 
one  for  the  priests,  one  for  the  poor,  and  one 
for  the  building;  prohibiting  the  bishop  from 
diminishing  at  all  the  part  reserved  for  the 
clergy,  or  the  clergy  from  taking  any  of  that 
of  the  bishops.  '■  The  prelate,"  says  he, 
"ought  faithfully  to  employ  the  part  destined 
for  the  building  of  the  church,  without  turning 
any  of  it  to  his  own  profit.  In  regard  to  the 
portion  of  the  poor,  he  will  one  day  render  an 
account  to  God,  if  he  has  not  faithfully  per- 
formed his  duties  upon  earth." 

This  decretal  appears  to  have  been  the  re- 
sult of  the  last  council  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  The  pope  then  wrote  to  the  bishops 
of  Dardania,  to  convince  them  that  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Holy  See  against  the  famous  pa- 
triarch of  Constantinople,  was  a  confirmation 
of  the  council  of  Chalcedon;  and  the  fathers 
having  condemned  the  Eutychians,  had  con- 
sequently excommunicated,  through  future 
ages,  those  who  favoured  these  heretics. 

We  would  relate  among  the  honoiirable 
actions  of  the  pontiff,  his  courageous  opposi- 
tion to  the  senators  of  Rome,  who  wished  to 
re-establish  the  infamous  fete  of  the  Luper- 
cals,  during  which  the  priests  of  the  god  Pan 
ran  naked  through  the  city,  striking  with 
thongs  of  goat  skin,  women  who  pressed  for- 
ward to  meet  them,  believing  that  these  blows 
would  render  them  fruitful.  Gelasius  pro- 
hibited a  superstition  so  criminal  from  being 
renewed  in  the  midst  of  Christianity ;  and  as 
the  Romans  attributed  the  public  misfortunes 
and  the  maladies  which  desolated  the  city,  to 
the  suppression  of  the  fete,  he  wrote  a  work, 
to  show  them  the  ridiculous  nature  of  the 
fanaticism.  This  waiting  still  exists,  under 
the  title  of  "A  discourse  against  Andro- 
mache." 


1,1th  ofrnt^Kcri-A'dman.  fhUai/ ' 


Cflnitift  1^^  iluii^oflkcfvauks. 


96 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ings  ;  the  church  was  lit  by  the  brilliant  glare 
of  several  thousand  perfumed  tapers,  and  the 
baptistery  tilled  with  aromatic  perfumes,  ex- 
haled the  most  delicious  odours.  Young  virgins 
and  beautiful  youths,  crowned  with  flowers, 
carried  the  Sacred  Writings,  the  cross,  and  the 
banners,  whilst  the  prelate,  holding  Clovis  by 
the  hand,  entered  the  sanctuary,  followed  by 
queen  Clotilda  and  the  leaders  of  the  Frank 
army.  At  the  moment  when  St.  Remi  poured 
the  consecrated  water  on  the  head  of  the  new 
Christian,  he  pronounced  these  words,  '■'  Bow 
thy  head  proud  Sicamberj  henceforth  thou 
shalt  adore  that  which  thou  deliverest  to  the 
flames,  and  shall  burn  that  which  thou 
adorest."  In  imitation  of  the  Jews,  the  bishop 
anointed  the  forehead  of  Clovis  with  an 
odoriferous  oil,  which  he  said  was  brought  to 
him  by  a  white  dove.  This  pious  knavery  of 
the  holy  oil  is  due  to  the  celebrated  Hincmar 
of  Rheans.  He  first  exhibited  the  holy  phial 
for  the  adoration  of  the  faithful,  which  was  no- 
thing more  or  less  than  a  lachrymatory,  which 
is  frequently  found  among  the  Roman  tombs, 
and  which  appears  to  have  contained  the  balm 
which  they  used  in  their  expiatoxy  ceremonies 
to  sprinkle  the  ashes  of  the  dead.  Three  thou- 
sand of  his  warriors  were  baptized  with  Clovis 
and  his  sisters  Alboflede  and  Laudechilda. 

After  the  ceremony,  the  chief  of  the  Franks 
gave  to  the  bishop  of  Rheims  many  domains, 
situated  in  the  provinces  of  Gaul,  which  he 
came  to  conquer.  Many  Armorican  cities,  in 
consequence  of  the  agreement  between  the 
Frank  king  and  the  prelate,  consented  to  sub- 
mit to  the  authority  of  the  new  Christian,  and 
so  augmented  his  forces,  that  he  found  him- 
self in  a  situation  to  combat  the  Burgundians 
and  the  Visigoths. 


This  conversion  resembled,  in  its  circum- 
stances and  political  reasons,  that  of  Constan- 
tino. The  holy  father  hastened  to  write  to 
Clovis,  to  felicitate  him  on  the  grace  which 
God  had  granted  to  him,  in  allowing  the  light 
of  the  faith  to  shine  on  him. 

The  negotiations  of  the  patrician  Faustus 
were  terminated  at  Constantinople,  the  legates 
engaging,  in  the  name  of  the  pope,  to  sub- 
scribe to  the  Henoticon  of  Zeno.  and  received 
from  the  emperor  of  the  East  a  promise  of 
the  reunion  of  the  two  sees.  But  on  their 
return  to  Rome  they  learned  that  Anastasius 
had  died  during  the  month  of  March,  498, 
after  having  filled  the  Holy  See  a  year  and 
some  months. 

Some  sacred  historians  affirm,  that  God  had 
caused  him  to  die  suddenly,  as  a  punislunent 
for  having  received  Photius  to  his  communion. 
Others  maintain  that  his  death  was  shocking, 
and  that  his  entrails  came  out,  whilst  he  was 
obeying  a  law  of  nature.  In  all  points  of  view, 
we  reject  the  sentiments  of  the  ultra-montaneSj 
who  regard  the  death  of  this  pontiff  as  a  chas- 
tisement from  Divine  Justice ;  for  it  is  most 
probablehe  was  poisoned  by  the  priests,  whose 
intolerant passionshe  repressed.  If  Anastasiug 
had  lived  some  years  longer,  he  would  have 
repaired  the  evils  which  his  predecessors, 
through  their  excessive  rigour,  had  inflicted 
on  the  church.  The  pontiff  loved  peace,  ad- 
ministered his  affairs  with  an  enlightened 
zeal,  and  his  letters  are  full  of  moral  thoughts 
and  judicious  applications  of  passages  from 
the  Scriptures.  He  was  interred  in  the  church 
of  St.  Peter's. 

After  his  death  discords  broke  out  in  the 
see  of  Rome,  and  disturbances  recommenced 
among  the  faithful. 


SYMMACHUS,  THE  FIFTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  498. — Anastasius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Ambition  of  the  clergy — Symmachis  and  Lawrence  are  chosen  popes — Violent  seditions  in  Rome — ■ 
Judgment  of  king  Theodoric — Holy  virgins  violated  and  murdered — Council  at  Rome  to  hear 
the  accusations  against  Symmachus — His  pretensions — He  presents  himself  to  the  council — Is 
acquitted  without  examination — The  senators  Festus  and  Probinus  appeal  to  the  people  against 
the  judgment — Quarrel  between  Symmachus  and  the  emperor  Anastasius — State  of  the  Eastern 
church— The  Orientals  implore  the  cud  of  the  pope — They  are  repelled — Death  of  Symmachus — 
His  character. 


The  frightful  confusion  of  political  affairs  ] 
and  public  calamities,  did  not  arrest  the  am- 
bitioii  of  the  clergy,  so  ardent  is  this  passion 
among  them. 

Priests  already  could  not  arrive  at  the  sove- 
reign pontificate  but  by  intrigue,  audacity,  or 
bribery.  To  obtain  the  tiara,  they  put  in  peril 
the  reigning  pontiffs,  or  poisoned  them  them- 
selves, when  they  were  employed  about  their 
persons.  They  did  not  fear  to  employ  deceit, 
murder,  treason,  and  perjury  to  obtain  their 
wishes. 

A  schism,  whose  author  was  the  patrician 


Festus,  broke  out  after  the  death  of  Anastasius. 
That  generous  citizen,  animated  by  a  love  for 
the  public  good,  wished  to  re-establish  peace 
between  the  churches  of  the  East  and  the 
West,  and  caused  Lawrence,  who  had  agreed 
to  subscribe  to  the  Henoticon  of  Zeno,  to  be 
elected  bishop  of  Rome.  Unfortunately,  the 
greater  part  of  the  clergy  declared  against  his 
protege,  and  chose  the  deacon  Symmachus. 
the  son  of  Fortunatus,  born  in  Sardinia. 

Both  were  ordained  popes  on  the  same  day : 
Symmachus  in  the  church  of  Constantinople ; 
Lawrence  ui  that  of  St.  Mary.     The  senate 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


97 


and  the  people  took  pait  according  to  their 
caprice  or  their  interest,  and  the  result  was  a 
violent  sedition,  during  which  all  the  horrors 
of  civil  and  religious  war  were  displayed  in 
Rome. 

To  put  an  end  to  the  schism,  the  chief  citi- 
zens compelled  the  two  rivals  to  go  to  Ravenna, 
to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  king  Theodoric. 

The  prince  decided  that  the  Holy  See  should 
appertain  to  him  who  was  first  ordained,  and 
from  the  information  given  him.  he  elevated 
Symmachus  to  the  pontificate,  and  excluded 
Lawrence.  The  first  care  of  the  new  pope 
was  to  remedy  the  evils  in  the  church.  He 
assembled  a  council  of  seventy-two  bishops, 
who  held  their  first  session  on  the  first  day  of 
March,  in  the  year  499,  and  he  proposed  to 
them  to  take  steps  to  prevent  the  intrigues  of 
the  bishops  and  the  popular  tumults  which 
took  place  on  the  ordination  of  pontilfs. 

After  acclamation  several  times  repeated, 
he  caused  the  decrees  rendered  by  the  fathers, 
to  be  read  by  the  notary  Emilianus.  The  first 
AA'as  as  follows:  "If  any  priest,  deacon  or 
clerk,  during  the  life  of  a  pope,  and  without 
his  participation,  dares  to  give  his  signature, 
to  promise  his  suffrage  in  writing  or  by  oath, 
or  to  deliberate  on  this  subject  in  an  assembly, 
he  shall  be  deposed  or  excommunicated." 
The  second  was  :  "  If  any  pope  dies  suddenly, 
without  having  provided  for  the  election  of 
his  successor,  he  who  shall  have  the  suffrages 
of  all  the  clergy,  or  of  the  greater  number, 
shall  be  the  only  legitimately  consecrated 
bishop."  The  third:  "If  anyone  discovers 
the  intrigues  which  we  condemn,  and  proves 
them,  not  only  shall  he  be  absolved  as  an 
accomplice,  but  he  shall  be  magnificently 
recompensed." 

The  council  evidenced  its  consent  by  new 
acclamations :  the  pope  and  seventy-two  bi- 
shops subscribed  them,  as  well  as  sixty-seven 
priests,  of  whom  the  first  was  Celius  Law- 
rence, arch-priest  of  the  order  of  St.  Praxedes, 
the  same  who  had  been  elected  anti-pope,  antl 
who,  in  the  end,  obtained  the  bishopric  of 
Nocera. 

The  disorders,  however,  continued  in  Rome : 
houses  were  pillaged,  citizens  murdered  under 
a  pretext  of  religion,  and  for  the  glory  of  the 
church  :  the  holy  virgins  themselves  were 
oven  violated  and  murdered. 

Lawrence  was  recalled  to  the  city,  under 
favour  of  this  confusion,  and  his  presence 
auixnienting  the  fury  of  the  two  parties,  they 
were  compelled  again  to  have  recourse  to  king 
Theodoric.  Festusand  Probinus  besought  the 
prince  to  send  to  them  a  visiting  bishop,  as  if 
the  Holy  See  were  vacant. 

Theodoric  charged  Peter,  bishop  of  Altimim. 
with  this  important  mission,  with  orders,  that 
on  his  arrival  at  Home,  he  should  go  at  once 
to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  to  salute  pope  Sym- 
machus, and  demand  that  his  accusers  should 
be  produced,  that  they  might  be  interrogated 
by  the  prelate,  but  without  being  put  to  the 
torture.  The  bishop  of  Altinum  did  not  obey 
his  orders  ;  he  refused  to  see  the  pontirt",  and 
joined  himself  to  the  schismatics.     The  Ca- 

YoL.  1.  N 


tholics,  indignant  at  the  conauct  of  the  visit- 
ing bishop,  wished  to  drive  him  from  the  city, 
regarding  his  nomination  as  a  violation  of  the 
canons  of  the  church. 

The  prince,  then  obliged  himself  to  come 
to  Rome  to  re-establish  tranquillity,  ordered 
the  convocation  of  a  council  to  examine  the 
accusations  against  S}mniachus. 

In  obedience  to  his  orders,  the  bishops  of 
various  provinces  of  the  empire,  came  to  the 
capital  of  Italy ;  but  some,  incited  by  Sym- 
machus, dared  to  address  remonstrances  to 
the  monarch.  They  accused  him  of  having 
troubled  the  order  of  ecclesiastical  discipline, 
by  assembling  the  bi.shops.  They  represented 
to  him  that  the  pope  alone  had  power  to  con- 
voke councils  by  his  primacy  of  jurisdiction, 
transmitted  from  St.  Peter  and  recognized  by 
the  authority  of  the  fathers  of  the  church,  ani 
that  it  was  unexampled,  that  a  pontiff  should 
be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  his  inferiors! 

Already  did  the  tyranny  of  the  clergy  weigh 
heavily  upon  people  and  kings ;  and  Theodoric 
by  his  weakness,  rendered  still  more  formida- 
ble the  power  of  the  bishops  of  Rome. 

The  bishops  of  Italy,  assembled  in  council 
in  the  church  of  Julius,  abstained  from  openly 
visiting  SjTnmachus,  in  order  not  to  render 
themselves  suspected  :  but  they  always  made 
mention  of  him  in  their  public  prayers,  to 
show  that  they  were  in  his  communion.  The 
pope  demanded  from  the  father.s,  that  they 
should  cause  the  visiting  bishop  to  withdraw, 
called  in  contrary  to  the  rules  b}'  a  part  of  the 
clergy  and  principal  citizens,  and  that  all  the 
treasures  which  he  had  lost  should  be  restored 
to  him.  Theodoric  refused  his  demands,  or- 
dering that  Symmachus  should  first  reply  to 
his  accusers,  and  transferred  the  sittings  of 
the  council  to  the  church  of  the  palace  of 
Sessorius. 

Several  bishops,  from  a  desire  to  do  justice, 
proposed  receiving  the  declaration  of  his  ac- 
cusers ;  but  their  opinion  was  rejected  as 
derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  the  Holy  See,  and 
under  the  pretext  that  two  essential  defects 
had  been  discovered  in  it.  Symmachus,  reas- 
sured of  the  dispositionsof  the  prelates  whom 
he  had  gained  to  his  side  by  promises  or 
money,  went  to  the  council,  followed  by  a 
numerous  crowd  of  partizans.  Then  the  ene- 
mies of  the  pope,  despairing  of  obtaining  an 
equitable  judgment,  and  rendered  furious  by 
his  bold  attitude,  hurled  a  shower  of  stones 
at  the  priests  who  accompanied  him,  and 
would  have  massacred  them,  if  the  tumult 
had  not  been  arrested  by  the  troops  of  the 
king,  whochariii'd  upon  the  rebels.  The  par- 
tizans of  Symmachus,  using  reprisals  in  their 
turn,  spread  tliemselves  through  the  city, 
forced  the  gates  of  convents,  massacred  priests 
and  monks,  (.hew  from  their  retreats  the  sacred 
virgins,  and  caused  them  to  pass  through  the 
streets,  despoiled  of  their  clothing,  entirely 
naked,  and  striking  them  with  rods. 

The  holy  father  was  then  cited  four  times 
to  appear  before  the  council ;  but  he  excused 
himself  by  alleging  the  dangers  to  which  ha 
would  be  exposed,  should  he  quit  the  church 


98 


HISTORY   OF  THE   POPES, 


of  St.  Peter,  where  he  had  taken  refuge ;  and 
the  fathers  declared  they  could  not  condemn 
an  absent  man,  nor  judge  as  contumacious  one 
who  was  willing  to  appear  before  their  tri- 
bunal. 

Thus  was  declared  innocent  of  the  accusa- 
tion of  adultery,  this  pope,  who  had  dared  to 
present  himself  in  the  council  chamber  with 
a  strong  retinue,  composed  of  rufhans,  who 
had  already  committed  so  many  acts  of  vio- 
lence and  murders.  This  execrable  judgment, 
rendered  by  priests  proud  of  their  power,  was 
conceived  in  these  terms:  "  We  declare  Sym- 
machus  fieed  from  the  accusations  brought 
against  him,  leaving  all  to  the  judgTaent  of 
God. 

"  We  ordain  that  he  shall  administer  the 
holy  mysteries  in  all  the  churches  dependant 
on  his  see ;  and  we  restore  to  him,  in  virtue 
of  orders  from  the  prince,  all  that  belongs  to 
the  church,  within  or  without  Rome.  We 
exhort  all  the  faithful  to  receive  from  him  the 
holy  communion,  under  the  penalty  of  ren- 
dering an  account  to  God. 

"  The  clergy  who  have  brought  about  the 
schism,  by  giving  satisfactioii  to  the  pope,  will 
obtain  pardon,  and  will  be  reinstated  in  their 
functions ;  but,  after  this  sentence,  those  who 
shall  dare  to  celebrate  mass  in  any  of  the 
Roman  churches,  without  the  consent  of  Sym- 
machus,  shall  be  punished  as  schismatics." 

This  decree  was  subscribed  by  seventy-two 
bishops;  but  many  others,  persuaded  that  the 
pope,  not  having  justified  himself,  could  not 
be  absolved  from  the  crimes  imputed  to  him, 
refused  to  sign  it.  The  first  preferred  to  shun 
a  scandal  by  rendering  a  judgment  contrary 
to  their  consciences,  in  order  that  the  Arians 
and  other  adversaries  of  the  church  should 
not  have  such  powerful  motives  for  condemn- 
ing the  Catholics.  The  cardinal  Baronius  him- 
self says,  that  the  fathers  of  the  council  "de- 
sired to  bury  in  profound  silence  the  marks 
of  infamy  with  which  the  enemies  of  the 
pontiff  desired  to  tarnish  him." 

This  edict,  however,  proves  that  at  this 
period  the  bishops  of  Rome  still  recognized 
the  authority  of  kings ;  that  they  addressed 
themselves  to  them  to  obtain  permission  to 
assemble  national  councils ;  that  they  pre- 
sented themselves  before  other  bishops  to 
justify  themselves  from  crimes  of  Avhich  they 
were  accused^  and  that  they  submitted  to  their 
judgment. 

The  people  having  refused  to  submit  to  the 
decision  of  the  council,  the  friends  of  Law- 
rence attacked  the  validity  of  the  decree. 
Symmachus  despairing  then  of  being  enabled 
to  appease  the  troubles  which  were  becoming 
still  more  violent,  assembled  a  new  synod. 
Eighty  bishops,  thirty-seven  priests,  and  four 
deacons  composed  this  assembly  :  the  deacon 
Ennodius,  one  of  the  most  pitiful  flatterers  of 
the  see  of  Rome,  charged  with  refuting  the  ac- 
cusations of  the  followersof  Lawrence,  acquit- 
ted himself  of  this  duty  as  a  true  slave  of 
the  pope,  and  concluded  his  harangue  by  pro- 
nouncing him  the  most,  virtuous,  the  purest, 
and  the  holiest  of  men.    This  writing,  which 


has  been  preserved,  is  a  tissue  of  the  most 
outrageous  flatteries,  and  of  false  or  ridiculous 
principles.  It  resembles  the  apologetic  verses 
of  famished  poets,  who  exalt  the  virtues  of 
the  princes  who  sustain  them. 

Won  by  the  subtle  dialectics  of  the  dea- 
con Ennodius,  and  by  motives  of  interest  still 
more  powerful  than  eloquence,  the  s)-nod  of 
Rome  gave  a  second  decree  in  favour  of  Sym- 
machus. This  assembly  was  composed  of 
prelates  entirely  devoted  to  the  Holy  See,  from 
which  they  received,  alternately,  injuries  or 
benefits,  according  to  their  conduct  towards 
its  pontiffs. 

The  emperor  Anastasius  protested  against 
the  judgment  of  the  council,  and  accused  the 
holy  father  of  many  crimes,  in  a  libel  which 
he  circulated  throughout  Italy. 

Symmachus  refuted  these  accusations  in 
an  apostolical  letter,  in  Avhich  he  declares  to 
the  emperor,  that  the  interest  of  his  dignity 
obliging  him  to  put  an  end  to  the  scandal,  he 
will  reply  in  a  brief  essay  to  the  injuries  they 
have  heaped  upon  him.  He  takes  all  the  city 
of  Rome  to  witness,  that  he  is  not  infected 
with  Manicheism,  and  that  he  has  never  de- 
parted from  the  faith  of  the  Holy  See ;  he 
accuses  the  prince  of  being  himself  an  Euty- 
chian,  or  at  least  of  favouring  the  partisans 
of  Eutyches,  and  of  communing  with  them. 
He  treats  as  an  audacious  revolt  the  contempt 
which  Anastasius  evidenced  for  a  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  and  pushed  his  insolence  so  far 
as  to  maintain  that  his  chair  was  more  elevated 
than  all  the  thrones  of  the  universe.  "Com- 
pare," said  he,  "the  dignity  of  a  bishop  with 
that  of  an  emperor.  There  exists  between 
them  the  saine  difference  asbetween  the  riches 
of  the  earth  which  a  sovereign  administers,  and 
the  treasure  of  heaven,  of  which  we  are  the 
dispensers.  You  receive  baptism  from  a  bishop; 
he  administers  to  you  the  sacraments;  you 
ask  for  his  prayers,  you  wait  for  his  benedic- 
tion, and  you  address  yourself  to  him  to  sub- 
mit yourself  to  penitence.  In  fine,  princes 
govern  the  affairs  of  men,  and  we  dispose  of 
the  goods  of  heaven.  You  see,  my  lord,  that 
our  dignity  is  superior  to  all  the  grandeur  of 
earth." 

He  finishes  his  letter  by  these  threats  against 
the  emperor:  "If  you  shall  be  able  to  prove 
the  accusations  against  me,  you  will  be  ena- 
bled to  obtain  my  deposition.  But  do  you  not 
equally  fear  you  will  lose  your  crown,  if  you 
cannot  convict  me  1  Recollect  that  you  are  but 
a  man,  and  that  this  cause  will  be  discussed 
before  God.  It  is  true  that  a  priest  should 
respect  the  powerful  of  the  earth,  but  not 
those  who  demand  things  contrary  to  the  law 
of  the  church.  Respect  God  in  us,  and  we 
wrll  respect  him  in  you.  If  you  have  no  regard 
•  Tor  our  person,  how  can  you  strengthen  your 
will  over  tlie  people,  and  avail  yourself  of  the 
privileges  of  a  religion  whose  laws  you  de- 
spise? You  accuse  me  of  having  conspired 
with  the  senate  to  excommunicate  you.  Have 
I  not  then,  in  that,  followed  the  example  of 
my  predecessors?  It  is  not  you,  my  lord,  we 
anathematize ;  it  is  Acacius.    Separate  your- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


99 


self  from  him,  and  you  will  also  separate 
yourself  from  his  excommunication;  other- 
wise it  is  not  we  who  will  condemn  you — but 
yourself." 

Symmachus  then  complained  of  the  perse- 
cution which  the  emperor  caused  the  Catholics 
to  suffer,  prohibiting  them  from  the  free  exer- 
cise of  their  religion,  and  tolerating  all  heresies. 
''  Although  we  should  be  in  error,  our  worship 
should  be  tolerated  as  well  as  that  of  all 
others;  or  if  you  attack  us,  you  should  attack 
ail  the  heresies."  Finally  he  exhorts  the 
prince  to  reunite  himself  to  the  Holy  See,  and 
to  separate  himself  from  the  enemies  of  truth 
and  the  church. 

The  exploits  of  Clovis,  in  Gaul,  had  .so  in- 
creased the  reputation  of  the  warriors  of  the 
Franks,  that  the  emperor  Anastasius  wished 
to  make  a  treaty  of  alHance  with  this  new 
contjueror,  and  had  sent  him,  for  this  purpose, 
embassadors,  charged  with  rich  presents, 
among  which  was  a  magnificent  crown  of 
gold,  enriched  with  precious  stones,  which 
the  king  of  the  Franks  sent  to  the  pontiff  to 
be  deposited  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  at 
Rome. 

This  kind  of  liberality  has  been  in  the  end 
the  source  of  intolerable  abuse,  and  Philip 
Commines,  who  was  wanting  in  neither  piety 
nor  religion,  but  who  had  great  exjierience  in 
political  ad'airs,  strongly  condemns  the  muni- 
ficence of  kings  towards  priests.  He  thus 
expresses  himself  when  speaking  of  Louis  the 
Eleventh :  "  The  gracious  monarch  gave  much 
to  priests  during  his  life ;  and  in  this  he  had 
better  have  done  less ;  for  he  took  from  the 
poor  to  give  to  those  who  had  no  need  of  it." 
Princes  should  drink  in  these  words  of  sage 
advice,  and  not  enrich  an  insatiable  clergy  by 
ruining  the  people. 

The  church  of  the  East  was  always  in  trou- 
ble and  confusion.  The  Catholics  exercised 
against  the  heretics  all  the  cruelties  which 
vengeance  inspires.  These,  in  their  turn,  sus- 
tained by  the  emperor  Anastasius,  pursued 
their  adversaries  with  fury.  The  monasteiies 
became  the  theatres  of  the  most  cruel  wars, 
of  which  zeal  for  religion  served  as  a  pretext, 
and  of  which  ambition,  or  the  vengeance  of 
the  priests  was  the  true  motive. 

The  following  passage  from  Juvenal  de- 
scribes perfectly  the  situation  of  affairs  in  the 
East:  '-The  citizens  of  the  city  of  Omba, 
and  those  of  Teutyris,  have  been  for  a  great 
number  of  years  irreconcileable  enemies. 
They  have  never  been  willing  to  form  alli- 
ances ;  their  hatred  is  inveterate,  immortal ; 


and  this  incurable  wound  is  yet  more  bloody 
to-day.  These  people  are  animated  by  an 
extreme  fury,  the  one  against  the  other,  be- 
cause the  Oinbians  adore  a  God,  whom  the 
Tentyrians  execrate.  Each  maintains,  that  the 
divinity  they  respect  is  the  true  and  only  one." 
The  hatred  of  the  Orientals,  as  ridiculous  in 
its  motives,  and  as  ill  founded  as  that  of  Omba 
and  Teutyris,  drew  a  deluge  of  calamities 
upon  the  church  of  Constantinople. 

At  length  the  Orientals  implored  the  aid  of 
S}Tnmachus,  in  an  epistle,  which,  according 
to  ancient  usage,  they  addressed  to  Rome  and 
the  bishops  of  the  VVest.  They  demanded  to 
be  reunited  in  communion  with  the  Holy  See, 
and  not  to  be  punished  for  the  faults  of  Aca- 
cius.  since  they  accepted  the  letter  of  St.  Leo 
and  the  councd  of  Chalcedon  :  "  Do  not  reject 
us,"  they  wrote,  "under  the  pretext  that  we 
commune  with  yoiu-  adversaries,  for  our  pre- 
lates are  less  attached  to  life,  than  tormented 
by  the  fear  of  leaving  their  fiocks  a  prey  to 
heretics.  Those  who  have  approved  of  the 
conduct  of  our  patriarch,  and  those  who  are 
separate  from  his  communion,  wait  for  your 
succour  next  to  that  of  God,  and  beseech  you 
to  render  to  the  East  the  light  which  you  your- 
selves originally  received  from  it.  The  evil 
is  so  great  that  we  cannot  go  to  seek  the 
remedy,  and  you  must  come  to  us." 

Then,  in  order  to  show  that  they  are  Ca- 
tholics, they  finish  by  an  exposition  of  their 
doctrine,  and  condemn  Nestorius  and  Euty- 
ches.  The  orthodoxy  of  the  Orientals,  and  the 
compassion  which  their  misfortunes  inspired, 
were  powerful  motives  to  determine  the  pon- 
tiff to  relax  in  his  rigour,  and  to  engage  to 
procure  them  peace,  of  which  they  had  so 
great  need.  But  Symmachus  repelled  all  their 
advances,  and  by  his  harshness  showed  that 
the  popes  know  not  how  to  pardon  any  one 
who  resists  their  ambitious  designs.  Should 
religion  inspire  such  implacable  hatred,  and 
shall  it  be  always  the  cause  of  the  misfor- 
tunes of  the  people  1  Let  us  hope  that  reason 
and  philosophy  will  replace,  in  future,  religious 
fanaticism,  which,  during  almost  two  thousand 
years,  has  served  as  a  veil  to  conceal  from 
men,  the  baneful  passions  of  the  princes  of 
the  church. 

S^Tiimachus  died,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  modern  chronologists,  on  the  19th  of  July, 
514,  toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  year  of 
his  pontificate,  without  having  been  able  to 
disprove  the  accusations  of  adultery,  which 
had  been  brought  against  him.  His  ashes 
were  deposited  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 


100 


HISTORY    OF    THE   POPES. 


HORMSIDAS,  THE  FIFTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  514. — Anastasius  and  Justin,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Picture  of  the  misfortunes  of  the  church — The  priests  excite  seditions — Martyrdom  of  St.  Proteus 
by  the  people  of  his  diocese — Disorders  at  Aiitioch — Revolt  of  Sabas — Excesses  at  Constanti- 
nople— The  emperor  writes  to  the  pope  to  convoke  a  council — Reply  of  the  pope — Pretensions 
of  Hormsidas — His  legates  received  with  great  honours — He  refuses  the  condemnation  of  Aca- 
cius — Second  embassy  to  Constantinople — The  pope  exacts  from  the  bishops  an  anathema  against 
Acacius — The  emperor  sends  back  the  fathers  without  assembling  the  council — Reign  of  Justin, 
an  ignorant  and  Catholic  prince — Reunion  of  the  churches  of  Rome  and  Constantinople — Do- 
rotheas, bishop  of  Thessalonica,  opposes  the  reunion — The  legates  of  the  pope  ill  treated — 
Famous  controversy — 2'he  rnonks  driven  from  Rome — Death  of  Hormsidas — His  character. 


Before  speaking  of  the  successor  of  Sym- 
machus,  it  is  necessary  to  trace  the  picture 
of  the  deplorable  state  of  the  church  in  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  Father  Louis 
Doucin  has  left  us  a  description  so  touching, 
and  so  conformed  to  the  truth,  that  no  one 
can  study  it  without  being  penetrated  with 
the  most  lively  compassion  for  the  unfortu- 
nate people  who  are  submitted  to  the  despot- 
ism of  emperors,  or  the  domination  of  priests. 
Wise  men  had  failed  in  all  their  efforts  to 
pacify  the  church,  and  their  counsels  had  only 
irritated  the  passions  of  the  clergy.  Cities 
were  constantly  troubled  by  bloody  seditions, 
and  the  prelates,  far  from  appeasing  them, 
frequently  even  excited  them ;  every  where 
murders  and  sacrileges  were  committed  in  holy 
places  were  the  themes  of  discourse  and  the 
capitals  of  the  provinces  had  become  the  thea- 
tres of  the  most  horrible  cruelties. 

The  massacres  commenced  in  the  city  of 
Alexandria.  The  holy  martyr  Proteus,  bishop 
of  that  city,  was  murdered  in  his  very  church, 
and  only  from  hatred  to  the  council  of  Chal- 
cedon. 

This  venerable  old  man,  besieged  in  his 
house  by  a  troop  of  furious  wretches,  was 
obliged  to  take  refuge  in  a  chapel  adjoining 
the  metropolitan  church ;  but  neither  the 
majesty  of  the  place,  nor  the  sanctity  of  the 
day  (Holy  Thursday)  could  protect  him  against 
the  rage  of  his  enemies.  He  was  assassinated 
by  the  baptismal  font,  and  his  blood  coloured 
the  steps  of  the  sanctuary. 

These  cannibals  then  mutilated  his  body  in 
an  infamous  manner — tore  out  his  entrails, 
ate  his  heart,  and  dragged  through  the  streets 
his  mutilated  remains,  striking  them  with 
sticks.  As  fanaticism,  excited  by  the  vin- 
dictiveness  of  priests,  places  no  bounds  to  its 
vengeance,  the  remains  of  the  flesh  of  the 
martyr  were  hung  to  a  gibbet,  and  his  horrid 
funeral  rites  celebrated  upon  a  scaffold. 

Antioch  was  disgraced  by  like  executions, 
and  four  orthodox  patriarchs  were  massacred 
during  the  seditions.  The  heretics  were  not 
the  sole  authors  of  these  atrocities;  the  Ca- 
tholics exercised  like  violence,  and  on  their 
side  preserved  no  measure  in  their  vengeance. 
Under  the  pretext  of  assembling  a  synod  to 
disc'iss  religious  affairs,  they  drew  into  the 
city  a  great  number  of  Eutychian  monks, 


'■'  and  there,  as  on  a  field  of  battle,  they  main- 
tained religion  by  massacreing  all  the  heretics. 
The  blood  which  was  shed  on  this  fatal  day 
caused  the  Orontes  to  overflow,  and  dead  bo- 
dies arrested  the  course  of  the  river  for  some 
days." 

At  Jerusalem  the  famous  Sabas,  a  Catholic 
bishop,  carried  away  by  religious  zeal,  had 
assembled  in  the  desert  more  than  four  thou- 
sand Arabs,  and  at  their  head  attacked  the 
troops  of  the  emperor,  routed  them,  and  caused 
religion  to  flourish,  not  by  force  of  anathemas 
or  miracles,  but  by  the  terror  which  his  ban- 
dits inspired. 

The  clergy  rendered  themselves  still  more 
terrible  at  Constantinople.  The  majesty  of  the 
throne  was  not  even  spared  ,  the  priests  over- 
whelmed with  outrages  the  unfortunate  em- 
peror Anastasius;  they  stabbed  his  best 
friends  almost  under  his  very  eyes,  massacred 
a  religious  female  whom  they  accused  of  ad- 
vising him ;  drew  from  his  retreat  a  poor 
Eremite,  and  after  having  killed  him,  paraded 
his  head  through  the  city  on  the  point  of  a 
lance,  crying  out,  '•  Behold  the  contidant  of 
him  who  has  declared  war  on  the  adorable 
Trinity  !  Thus  perish  all  the  blasphemers  of 
the  three  divine  persons."' 

Then  they  secured  the  gates  of  Constanti- 
nople, and  forming  a  camp  in  the  midst  of 
the  city,  organizecl  troops  of  assassins  to  mur- 
der those  who  were  suspected  of  heresy ;  to 
burn  their  houses  and  destroy  the  statues  of 
the  emperor.  The  senators  sent  by  the  prince 
to  calm  this  irritated  multitude  were  driven 
off  by  blows  from  stones,  and  Anastasius  him- 
self was  besieged  in  his  palace  by  a  species 
of  army,  composed  of  monks,  priests,  and 
devotees,  marching  in  order  of  procession, 
with  the  cross  and  scriptures.  The  affrighted 
monarch  only  saved  his  life  from  the  fury  of 
these  inexorate  wretches,  by  disgraceful  sub- 
mission. 

The  priests  would  desire,  beyond  doubt,  to 
weaken  the  recollection  of  those  horrible  cru- 
elties, but  God  has  permitted  the  sad  remem- 
brance of  them  to  come  down  to  our  times, 
to  teach  nations  that  they  ought  to  suppress 
with  severity  the  ambition  of  the  clergy. 

The  authority  of  the  popes  was  strength- 
ened daily  by  these  disorders,  and  by  the 
complaisance  of  the  emperors,  who,  far  re- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ic: 


moved  from  the  ancient  capital,  showed  an 
extri'ine  submission  to  the  pontifi's,  in  order 
to  retain  the  people  under  their  despotism. 

The  barbarians  who  had  invaded  the  pro- 
vinces of  the  empire,  ec^ually  sought  the 
friendship  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  Then  the 
holy  father  flattered  the  ambition  of  rival 
princes,  and  sold  his  alliance  to  the  two  parties. 
On  their  side,  the  heretics,  like  bad  herbs  or 
foul  plants,  banished  and  driven  away,  now 
from  Africa  and  now  from  the  East,  had  still 
resource  to  the  Holy  See,  and  addressed  to  it 
their  appeals  ;  and  all  complaints,  as  all  alli- 
ances, were  favourably  received,  provided 
they  favoured  the  proud  project  of  universal 
monarchy,  entertained  by  the  pontiffs  of 
Rome. 

Finally,  at  this  period,  the  policy  of  the 
popes  had  rendered  them  the  dispensers  of  all 
grace )  there  was  not  a  single  bishop  who  did 
not  seek  the  friendship  of  the  holy  father  for 
the  interests  of  his  diocese  or  his  personal 
glory.  The  pontiffs  availed  themselves  skil- 
fully of  all  these  circumstances.  If  they  were 
consulted — if  very  humble  requests  were  ad- 
dressed to  them,  or  if  they  themselves  even 
gave  advice,  they  made  it  pass  for  a  com- 
mand. Finally,  if  prelates  named  them  as 
arbiters  in  their  differences,  their  arbitration 
was  immediately  changed  into  a  judgment. 

Such  was  the  position  of  the  church  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century !  We  ought  to 
add  that  the  faithful  were  divided  on  the  sub- 
ject of  a  council,  which  was  principally 
accused  of  having  approved  of  the  epistle  of 
Ibas,  the  faith  of  Theodore,  and  the  writings 
of  Theodoret. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  disorders,  so 
fatal  to  the  church,  and  so  advantageous  to  the 
Holy  See,  that  Celius  Hormsidas,  the  son  of 
Justus,  a  native  of  the  small  town  of  Frusil- 
ona,  in  Campania,  was  chosen  at  Rome,  to 
replace  Symmachus.  His  election  was  as 
peaceful  as  that  of  his  predecessor  had  been 
tumultuous;  all  voices  were  reunited  in  his 
favour,  and  no  more  was  heard  of  the  schism 
of  the  followers  of  Lawrence.  The  political 
skill  of  Hormsidas  contributed  much  to  this 
happy  event. 

Cassidorus,  who  was  then  consul,  felicitated 
king  Theodoric  on  this  reiuiion  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  people  of  Rome  congratulated  them- 
selves on  it,  as  the  greatest  happiness  which 
could  render  his  consulate  illustrious,  and  as 
an  incontestable  proof  of  the  mildness  of  the 
govi'rnment  of  his  prince. 

But  through  the  whole  East  fanaticism  was 
changed  into  religious  phrensy.  Religion, 
which  is  frequently  a  pretext  ior  ambition, 
concealed  from  the  eyes  of  the  Catholics,  the 
criminality  of  the  revolt  of  Vitalian,  the  gene- 
ral of  the  cavalry  of  the  emperor.  This 
rebellious  subject  advanced  even  to  the  gates 
of  Constantinople,  and  constrained  Anastasius 
to  sue  for  peace  from  him,  imposing  as  its  con- 
dition that  all  the  property  of  heretics  should 
be  surrendered  to  the  orthodo.\,  and  that  a 
council  should  be  assembled  to  excoramuni- 
^te  them. 


The  prince,  in  order  to  accomplish  his  pro- 
mises, wrote  to  Hormsidas,  beseechuig  him  to 
labour  with  him  to  pacify  the  troubles,  and 
reunite  the  churches  of  the  East  and  West, 
laying  upon  the  harshness  of  the  popes,  his 
predecessors,  all  the  disorders  which  desolated 
his  states.  The  holy  father  replied  to  the 
emperor  with  empty  congratulations  :  '•  I  am 
delighted,  my  lord,  to  see  in  you  opinions  so 
favourable,  and  thank  God  that  he  has  in- 
spired you  to  brteak  silence.  I  rejoice  in  the 
hope  of  seeing  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
peace  and  union ;  but  I  shall  not  be  able  to 
write  to  you  more  at  length  until  I  shall  have 
been  informed  of  the  motive  for  the  convoca- 
tion of  the  council." 

The  bishop  of  Thessalonica  also  addressed 
a  long  epistle  to  the  pope,  exhorting  him  to 
labour  for  the  glory  of  religion,  and  testifying 
that  he  would  consent,  on  this  condition,  to 
condemn  the  heretics,  and  to  recognize  in  the 
Holy  See  a  right  of  sovereignty  over  the  other 
prelates.  The  pontiff  approved  his  zeal,  and 
promised  to  contribute,  on  his  side,  to  the  re- 
union of  the  churches,  without  at  all  replying 
in  a  positive  manner  to  the  observations  of  the 
bishop. 

At  length  the  emperor,  tired  of  the  tardi- 
ness shown  by  Hormsidas,  sent  him  another 
letter,  apprizing  him  that  the  council  would 
assemble  in  the  city  of  Heraclea,  and  inviting 
him  to  go  there  by  the  1st  of  July,  in  the 
same  year,  (515).  Vitalian  had  sent  him  em- 
bassadors for  the  same  purpose,  and  king 
Theodoric  solicited  him  to  yield  to  the  desires 
of  the  Orientals.  The  pontiff,  pressed  on  all 
sides,  found  himself  obliged  to  assemble  a 
synod  to  name  legates.  His  choice  fell  upon 
bishop  Fortunatus  and  Ennodius,  bishop  of 
Pavia,  the  same  who,  whilst  deacon,  had  de- 
clared himself  the  defender  of  Symmachus, 
and  had  been  provided  with  a  bishopric  as  a 
recompense  therefor. 

The  instructions  of  the  legates  obliged  them 
to  obtain  from  the  council  a  promise  that  the 
bishops  accused  of  heresy  should  be  sent  to 
Rome,  to  demand  the  re-installation  of  those 
who  were  in  communion  with  the  Holy  See, 
and  the  condemnation  of  those  who  had  per- 
secuted the  Catholics.  Hormsidas  thus  ap- 
peared to  evince  mildness,  whilst  in  reality 
his  policy  had  no  other  end  but  to  augment 
the  rights  of  his  see. 

Anastasius  penetrated  the  secret  intentions 
of  the  pontiff,  and  discovered  that  he  had  not 
consented  to  be  represented  at  the  council  of 
Heraclea,  but  on  condition  of  guiding  it  at 
his  pleasure.  Nevertheless,  he  hoped  thai  by 
temporising,  the  holy  father  would  return  to 
ideas  more  ecjuitable,  and  more  in  conformity 
with  the  wretched  state  of  the  established 
churches,  he  received  the  legates  most  fa- 
vourably, rendering  to  them  every  honour,  in 
order  to  convince  the  Holy  See  of  the  honesty 

j  of  his  purposes.  The  single  point  of  the  ana- 
thema of  Acacius  was  rejected  by  the  prince. 

[  He  wrote  to  the  pope  that  he  condemned  Nes- 
torius  and   Eutyches,  and    that  he  acknovr- 

I  ledged   the    council  of  Chalcedon ;    but  in 


102 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


reference  to  Acacius,  said,  he  "  found  it  wholly  [  and  fifty  of  our  people,  wounded  even  a  greater 
unjust  to  chase  the  living  from  the  church  on  |  number,  and  massacred,  even  at  the  very  foot 
account  of  the  dead  j"  addnig,  that  the  fathers   of  the  altar,  those  who  had  hoped  to  tind  a 


would  decide  ail  questions  in  the  council,  and 
that  he  would  advise  the  Holy  See  of  the  re- 
sult of  its  deliberations. 

In  the  following  year  (516)  the  emperor 
sent  to  Rome,  Theopompus,  captain  of  his 
guards,  and  Severianus,  a  counsellor  of  state, 
hoping  that  persons  so  eminent  might  conduct 
the  affair  with  more  wisdom  than  ecclesiastics, 
always  urgent  for  the  interest  of  their  caste. 

The  embassadors  were  charged  with  a  letter 


place  of  refuge  in  the  churches.  Besides, 
during  the  night,  our  caves  were  pillaged, 
sanctuaries  violated,  and  buildings  given  to 
the  flames. 

"  You  will  be  advised  of  all  these  circum- 
stances by  the  memorials  which  our  venera- 
ble brothers,  John  and  Sergius  will  place  in 
your  hands.  We  sent  envoys  to  Constantino- 
ple to  obtain  justice  from  our  enemies ;  but 
the  emperor,  without   deigning   to   reply  to 


for  the  holy  father,  and  another  for  the  senate  j  them,  drove  them  in  disgrace  from  the  city 


of  Rome,  whose  assistance  it  claimed  in  soli 
citing  king  Theodoric  and  the  pontiff  to  labour 
seriously  for  the  peace  of  the  church.  The 
senate,  under   the   influence   of  Hormsidas, 


His  otiicers,  even,  were  unwilling  to  listen  to 
our  complaints,  maintaining  that  we  were 
justly  punished  for  our  rebellion.  Then  we 
turn  to  you,  most  holy  father,  to  beseech  you 


replied  to  the  emperor  that  the  Roman  clergy    to  sympathize  with  the  wounds  of  the  body 


vould  never  consent  to  a  reunion  of  the 
churches,  if  the  name  of  Acacius  was  pre- 
served in  the  sacred  books.  On  his  part,  the 
pontiff'  added,  that  "  far  from  having  need  of 
being  exhorted  by  the  senate,  he  cast  himself 
at  the  feet  of  the  emperor,  to  beseech  him  to 
have  pity  on  religion." 


of  the  church  of  which  you  are  the  chief,  by 
revenging  the  contempt  which  has  been  shown 
for  religion  and  yourself,  who  are  the  successor 
of  Peter,  and  who  have  power  to  bind  on  earth 
and  in  heaven." 

Then  they  finished  their  letter  by  anathe- 
matizine:    Nestorius,     Eutyches,     Dioscorus, 


This  fiypocrisy  rendering  the  advances  of  |  Peter  of  Alexandria,  Peter  the  fuller,  and 
the  emperor  fruitless,  a  second  legation  went  Acacius.  The  pope  replied  by  a  letter,  ad- 
fromRome  to  Constantinople.  The  pope  then  :  dressed  not  only  to  the  Archimandrites  of 
chose  for  his  legates  Ennodius  of  Pavia,  and  Greater  Syria,  but  to  the  Catholics  of  the  whole 
Peregrinus  of  Mycenum.     He  gave  them  six  [  East,  exhorting  them  to  remain  firm  in  the 


letters,  with  a  formula  of  reunion  for  schis 
matics,  aird  nineteen  copies  of  a  protest,  to 
be  scattered  through  the  cities,  if  the  letters 
were  not  received. 

In  these  different  writings  the  holy  father 
showed  himself  always  the  same ;  always  in- 
flexible, always  resolved  to  follow  up  the  con- 
demnation  of  Acacius,  whose  memory  was 


Roman  faith,  whose  purity,  he  said,  had  been 
attested  by  many  miracles. 

During  the  same  year  (519)  the  emperor 
Anastasius  died,  struck  by  lightning.  The 
priests,  availing  themselves  of  this  circum- 
stance, frightened  the  superstitious  multitude, 
and  threatened  the  heretics  with  the  ven- 
geance of  God.    Their  intrig-ues  were  so  well 


held  in  veneration  through  a  great  part  of  the  conducted,  that  they  placed  on  the  throne 
East.  This  second  legation  insisting  on  the  Justin,  a  very  ignorant  man,  and  from  that 
same  principles,  could  not  achieve  any  result,  very  cause,  a  good  Catholic.  The  prince,  on 
Anastasius  refused  the  reunion  on  the  condi-  his  elevation,  gave  a  direction  to  affairs  en- 
tions  imposed  on  him,  declaring  that  he  was  '  tirely  opposite  to  that  of  his  predecessor.  The 
unwilling  to  charge  his  conscience  with  an  pretended  heretics  were  punished,  and  the 
infamous  action,  in  blackening  the  reputation  populace  by  reiterated  acclamations  made  the 
of  many  holy  bishops,  and  in  condemning  as  |  Catholic  faith  triumphant.  The  will  of  a  fana- 
heretics  men  whose  crimes  existed  in-  the  '.  tical  mob  having  been  confirmed  by  a  council 
chimerical  ideas  of  their  adversaries.  held  at  Constantinople,  the  Catholics  could 

Then    the    mischief-making  monks  were    exercise  their  vengeance  against  the  Euty- 
charged  by  the  legates  to  spread  through  all  i  chians. 

the  cities,  the  protests  of  the  Holy  See ;  but  |  But  the  church  of  Constantinople  was  not 
the  bishops  arrested  their  distribution,  and  j  yet  reunited  to  that  of  Rome  ]  and  this  affair 
informed  'the  emperor  of  it,  who,  justly  pro-  j  appearing  to  be  of  the  highest  importance  in 
voked  by  the  obstinacy  of  Hormsidas,  sent  the  eyes  of  the  orthodox,  the  emperor  Justin 
back  the  prelates  who  had  come  to  the  coun-  |  wrote  to  the  pontiff,  to  advise  him  of  his  eleva- 


cil  of  Heraclea,  broke  off  all  negotiations  with 
the  inflexible  pontiff,  and  recommenced  the 
war. 

The  Archimandrites  and  monks  of  Second 
Syria,  then  addressed  a  request  to  the  holy 
father,  complaining  of  a  persecution  by  Seve- 
rus,  patriarch  of  Antioch  and  chief  of  the 
Eutychians.  They  expressed  themselves  thus: 
"As  we  were  on  our  way  to  rejoin  our  brethren, 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Simeon,  to  defend 
with  them  the  cause  of  the  church,  the  here- 
tics placed  an  ambuscade  on  our  route,  and 
falling  on  us  unprepared,  slew  three  hundred 


tion,  and  to  pray  him  to  concur  in  the  wish 
of  John  of  Constantinople,  who  recognized  the 
sovereign  authority  of  the  Holy  See.  Horm- 
sidas went  to  Ravenna,  to  confer  with  Theo- 
doric on  this  subject.  The  Gothic  king  ordered 
him  to  send  to  Constantinople  a  third  legation 
of  five  persons,  who  were  chosen  from  among 
the  prelates  of  whose  zeal  and  fidelity  the 
holy  father  was  well  assured.  In  the  differ- 
ent provinces  through  which  they  passed,  the 
legates  assured  themselves  of  the  aid  of  all 
the  bishops  whom  they  had  occasion  to  see, 
and  on  the  Monday  of  the  holy  week,  which. 


if 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


103 


■vvas  the  day  of  their  arrival  at  Constantinople, 
they  gave  inforn:iation  of  the  nature  of  the 
formulary  of  which  they  were  the  bearers, 
and  delivered  a  speech  in  full  senate,  in  the 
presence  of  four  bishops  who  represented  the 
patriarch.  Their  propositions  were  accepted 
without  discussion,  and  some  days  after,  the 
reunion  of  the  two  churches  was  solemnly  de- 
clared. The  names  of  Acacius,  of  the  pa- 
triarchs Flavita,  Euphemius,  Macedonius,  and 
Timothy,  as  well  as  tho.se  of  the  emperors 
Zeno  and  Anastasius,  were  effaced  from  the 
sacred  records. 

Dorotheus,  bishop  of  Thessalonica,  alone  re- 
fused to  sign  the  formula  of  faith  brought  from 
the  West,  and  also  to  approve  of  the  condem- 
nation of  Acacius.  Following  his  example, 
the  people  rose  against  the  legates  whom  the 
pope  had  sent  into  his  diocese,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  escape  by  night  to  avoid  the  dan- 
gers which  threatened  them.  The  deacon 
John  was  wounded  by  many  blows  of  a  dagger 
in  his  head  and  veins ;  and  a  Catholic  also, 
called  John,  was  slain  and  torn  to  pieces  for 
having  received  the  legates  into  his  house. 

The  peace  restored  to  the  church  after  so 
many  years  of  bloody  quarrels,  was  again  on 
the  point  of  being  troubled  by  the  famous 
proposition,  "  One  of  the  Trinity  has  been 
crucified."  The  monks  of  Scythia  sustained 
this  dogma,  despite  of  the  decisions  of  the 
orthodox  prelates  :  as  they  refused  to  yield  to 
the  judgment  of  their  bishops,  they  came  to 


Rome  to  demand  the  opinion  of  the  holy 
father ;  but  the  count  Justniian  and  Dioscorus, 
one  of  the  legates  who  had  already  judged 
the  affair,  wrote  to  Hormsidas  against  these 
mischief-making  monks,  who  were  driven  in 
disgrace  from  the  city. 

Thus  the  Catholics  triumphed  every  where. 
Dorotheus,  bishop  of  Thessalonica,  even  had 
been  arrested  and  conducted  to  Heraclea  by 
order  of  the  emperor,  that  his  affair  might  be 
investigated  ;  but  the  legates  wishing  to  exact 
that  he  should  be  re-conducted  to  Rome  with 
the  priest  Aristides,  that  both  should  be  ex- 
communicated and  deposed,  Justin  refused  to 
give  them  such  satisfaction,  and  contented 
himself  with  obliging  Dorotheus  to  send  en- 
voys to  the  pontiff  to  make  his  submission. 
He  then  re-installed  him  in  his  see. 

The  holy  father  died  in  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, 523,  having  governed  the  church  for 
nine  j'ears. 

Hormsidas,  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions, 
showed  an  excessive  ambition  and  an  impla- 
cable fanaticism.  We  do  not  find,  however, 
that  the  church  has  granted  him  the  honours 
of  canonization ;  at  least  she  has  been  un- 
willing to  glorify  the  generosity  of  the  pontiff 
in  building  convents  and  churches,  and  to  re- 
compense him  for  having  persecuted  the 
unfortunate  heretics,  Nestorians.  Eutychians, 
ArianS;  Pelagians,  and  Manicheans,  whom  he 
caused  to  be  publicly  scourged,  both  men  and 
women,  before  sending  them  into  exile. 


JOHN  THE  FIRST,  FIFTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  523. — Justin  the  First,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  John — The  emperor  Justin  persecutes  the  Arians — The ocJoric  sends  the  pontiff  to  the 
East — 'Miracle  of  the  papers  horse — Another  miracle  of  John's — He  receives  great  honours  at 
Constantinople — His  pride — His  Knavery — I'hepope  is  arrested  by  Theodoric — He  dies  in 
prison. 


The  Holy  See  remained  vacant  for  six  or 
seven  days,  when  John,  surnamed  Catelinus 
the  Tuscan,  son  of  Constantine,  was  chosen 
to  fill  it.  He  reigned  two  years  and  nine 
months,  according  to  the  learned  Holstein. 
Other  writers  maintain  that  this  chronology  is 
not  exact,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to  fix  the 
duration  of  the  pontificate  of  John. 

The  peace  which  the  church  beg-an  to  enjoy 
after  the  reunion  with  the  Orientals,  was  soon 
troubled  by  the  fanaticism  of  the  emperor 
Justin,  who  had  sworn  to  exterminate  the 
heretics  and  Arians;  a  foolish  enterprize, 
worthy  of  a  stupid  prince,  who  understood 
neither  his  own  interests  nor  those  of  his  sub- 
jects. He  published  edicts  to  compel  the 
Arians  to  be  converted,  and  threatened  them 
with  the  most  cruel  punishment. 

In  their  despair,  the  unfortunate  persecuted 
had  recourse  to  Theodoric.  who  wrote  to  the 
emperor  Justin  in  their  favour,  but  his  letters 
not  being  able  to  change  the  disposition  of  the 


emperor,  he,  irritated  by  the  contempt  they 
evinced  in  the  East  from  his  mediation,  and 
suspecting  that  Roman  politics  were  not  igno- 
rant of  the  blows  aimed  at  Arianism,  obliged 
John  to  come  to  his  court,  and  ordered  him  to 
go  as  embassador  to  Constantinople,  to  cause 
Justin  to  revoke  his  decree.  He  even  threat- 
ened the  pontifT  to  treat  with  rigor  the  Ca- 
tholics of  Italy,  if  they  still  persecuted  the 
ministers  of  his  creed,  and  if  the  emperor  did 
not  consent  to  restore  to  the  Arians  the 
churches  taken  from  them. 

This  prince  was  the  more  disposed  to  use 
reprisals,  from  seeing  with  what  ingratitude 
the  important  services  which  he  had  rendered 
to  the  Roman  church  were  regarded,  and  from 
the  extreme  tolerance  which  he  had  always 
shown  to  the  orthodox  in  his  dominions. 

Theodoric,  in  removing  the  pontiff,  under 
the  pretext  of  a  pompous  embassy,  not  only 
desired  to  restore  the  exercise  of  their  religion 
to  the  unfortunate  victims  of  the  fanaticism 


104 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


of  Justin,  but  also  wished  to  put  an  end  to 
the  plots  against  his  life,  and  of  which  the 
holy  father  was  the  most  ardent  favourer. 

John  dared  not  resist  the  orders  of  the  king, 
and  went  with  the  other  embassadors. 

The  legends  relate  several  miracles  per- 
formed by  the  holj-  father  during  his  journey : 
"  When  John  had  arrived  at  the  city  of  Co- 
rinth," says  the  pious  chronicler,  ''he  had  need 
of  a  saddle-horse  to  continue  his  journey. 
They  brought  him  one  belonging  to  one  of  the 
principal  ladies  of  the  country,  and  the  next 
day,  after  having  used  him,  he  sent  him  back 
to  his  mistress.  But,  oh.  wonderful  to  relate  ! 
the  lady  who  before  had  been  accustomed  to 
mount  the  horse,  could  no  longer  rule  him, 
and  was  obliged  to  send  him  to  the  pontiff." 

Gregory  the  Great  piously  explains  this 
fable,  and  adds,  besides,  one  still  more  extra- 
ordinary. He  says,  "  that  when  the  holy  father 
was  entering  Constantinople,  a  blind  man  be- 
sought him  to  restore  his  sight,  which  he  did 
by  placing  his  hands  on  his  eyes,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  all  the  people." 

Anastasius  the  librarian  does  not  speak  of 
these  miracles;  he  tells  us  only  that  great 
honours  were  rendered  to  JoRn,  and  that  the 
populace  went  out  twelve  miles  to  meet  him, 
with  banners  and  ensigns  displayed.  The 
emperor,  overjoyed  at  being  enabled  to  see 
the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  prostrated  himself 
at  his  feet,  and  demanded  to  be  crowned  by 
his  hand. 

The  23atriarch  Epiphanus  then  invited  pope 
John  to  officiate ;  he,  through  a  sentiment  of 
inconceivable  pride,  was  unwilling  to  accept 
the  honour  until  he  had  received  the  assur- 
ance that  he  should  not  only  be  seated  in  the 


highest  place,  but  even  on  a  throne.  The 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  yielded  to  the 
wishes  of  the  holy  father,  not  because  he 
regarded  him  as  his  superior  in  dignity,  but 
because  he  viewed  him  in  the  light  of  an  em- 
bassador from  a  powerful  king. 

Crazed  by  his  fanaticism,  the  emperor  re- 
jected all  remonstrances  on  the  subject  of  the 
Arians.  Then  John,  having  recourse  to  tears, 
represented  to  him  that  his  conduct  towards 
the  heretics  would  produce  terrible  conse- 
quences to  the  Catholics  of  Italy,  and  drew 
from  him  a  promise  to  yield  to  the  Arians 
freedom  to  worship.  Other  historians,  on  the 
contrary,  maintain  that  the  pontifl,  so  far  from 
acquittmg  himself  of  the  mission  with  which 
he  was  charged  by  king  Theodoric,  encou- 
raged the  emperor  in  the  extravagant  design 
he  had  formed  of  exterminating  the  Arians. 

All,  however,  agree,  that  on  his  return 
from  his  embassy,  John  was  arrested  at  Ra- 
venna, with  the  senators  who  accompanied 
him.  Theodoric,  whose  moderation  had  never 
failed  during  a  very  long  reign,  would  never 
have  committed  this  act  of  violence,  if  he  had 
not  had  certain  proof  of  the  treason  of  his 
embassadors. 

The  pontiff  was  condemned  to  finish  his 
days  in  prison,  in  which  he  died  on  the  27th 
of  March,  526.  His  body  was  transported  to 
Rome,  and  interred  at  St.  Peter's. 

The  church  honours  his  memory  as  that  of 
a  holy  martyr ;  nevertheless  we  must  avow, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  motives 
which  have  decreed  the  honours  of  canoniza- 
tion to  a  pope  who  was  justly  punished  for 
his  ill-directed  ambition,  and  who,  besides,  did 
not  suffer  a  violent  death. 


FELIX  THE  FOURTH,  FIFTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  526. — Justin  the  First  and  Justinian,  Emperors.] 

Election  of  Felix  by  king  Theodoric — Bad  faith  of  Fleury  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History — The 
election,  of  bishop  of  Rome  appertained  to  the  people — Corruption  of  the  clergy — Condemna- 
tion of  the  Semi-Pelagians — Rigor  of  the  pope  against  a  monk — Death  of  Felix. 


Felix,  fourth  of  the  name,  was  elevated 
to  the  Holy  See  by  the  authority  of  king 
Theodoric.  He  was  a  Samnite  by  birth,  and 
the  son  of  Castorius.  Ancient  and  modern 
authors,  who  have  spoken  of  this  election, 
lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  ambition  of  the 
priests  had  excited  intrigiies  and  disorders 
among  the  clergy,  in  order  to  give  a  successor 
to  John,  and  that  Theodoric  interposed  his 
authority  to  maintain  the  peace  in  Rome. 
This  is  confirmed  by  a  letter  from  king  Atha- 
laric,  in  which  he  exhorts  the  senate  to  place 
themselves  under  the  government  of  the  pope 
■whom  his  predecessor  had  selected,  and  to  put 
an  end  to  their  quarrels. 

Fleury  has  cited  this  letter  of  Athalaric, 
conceahng  the  facts  which  it  contains,  and  in 


his  love  for  the  Holy  See  prefers  to  blacken 
his  own  reputation  as  a  historian,  and  incur 
that  of  a  forger,  rather  than  avow  the  truth. 

It  is  proved  by  the  most  authentic  testi- 
mony, that  at  this  period  the  election  of  the 
popes  was  still  a  right  of  the  people,  and  that 
in  order  to  enjoy  their  dignity,  the  pontiffs 
must  be  confirmed  by  the  prince.  The  judi- 
dious  Fra-Paolo  makes  this  same  remark  in  his 
excellent  treatise  on  beneficial  affairs,  which 
critics  attribute  to  father  Fulgentius.  his  com- 
panion. 

History  teaches  us  nothing  of  the  actions 
of  Felix  the  Fourth;  only  Cassidorus  says,  that 
the  emperor  Valentinian  the  Second  had 
formerly  enacted  a  law,  by  which  the  pope 
was  submitted,  in  certain  cases,  to  the  judg- 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


105 


mcnt  of  the  secular  magistrates,  and  that 
this  law,  degrading  to  the  Holy  See,  was 
revoked  by  king  Athalaric,  at  the  jirayer  of 
Feli\  the  Fourth.  This  prince  then  published 
an  edict  exhorting  ecclesiastics  to  reform  their 
morals,  and  to  place  bounds  to  the  frightful 
corruption  which  prevailed  among  the  clergy 
of  Rome. 

The  sect  of  semi-Pelagians  continued  to 
make  progress,  and  spread  even  into  Gaul. 
The  bishops  of  the  country  then  assembled  a 
council  at  Orange  to  condemn  the  heresy,  and 
sent  their  decree  to  be  submitted  to  the  ap- 
probation of  the  holy  father  ;  but  the  synodi- 
cal  letter  of  the  council  of  Orange  did  not 
arrive  in  Italy  until  after  the  death  of  Felix; 
and  Boniface,  his  successor,  subscribed  it 
without  any  observation  on  the  sentence  pro- 
nouncH'd  agiiinst  the  Pelagians. 

In  the  same  year  (528)  a  monk  named  Equi- 
tus,  pretending  that  he  had  received  power 
from  heaven  to  exercise  pastoral  functions, 
travelled  through  the  cities  and  country,  so- 
lemnly dedicating  churches,  consecrating 
priests,  administering  confirmation,  and  caus- 
ing himself  to  be  adored  by  the  faithful.  His 
boldness  excited  the  indigiiation  of  the  clergy 
of  the  Roman  church,  who  wrote  to  Felix, 
'•'  Most  holy  father,  a  monk  has  taken  upon 
himself  authority  to  preach,  and  ascribes  to 
Mraself  your  functions,  all  ignorant  as  he 
is!  ...  .  We  beseech  you  to  cause  him  to  be 
arrested,  that  he  may  be  taught  the  force  of 
discipline  !....''  The  pope  ordered  Julian, 
then  the  defender  of  the  Roman  faith,  and  af- 
terwards bishop  of  Sabinum,  to  seize  him  and 
put  him  to  the  most  cruel  torture.  During 
the  night  the  orders  were  changed,  and  Julian 
having  demanded  the  cause  of  it,  was  an- 
swered that  the  pontifT  had  been  terrified  by 
a  vision,  and  that  an  angel  had  piohibited  him 
from  persecuting^the  servant  of  God. 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  pope  Gregory  the 
Great,  whose  writings  are  tilled  with  prodi- 
gies, has  adopted  this  fable  ;  but  we  are  aston- 
ished that  Fleury  has  related  it  as  a  true 
history.  These  kind  of  miracles  should  find 
no  place  but  in  legends ;  or  at  least  the  faith- 
ful should  be  warned  that  such  pious  tales, 
so  far  from  elevating  the  majesty  of  the  Ca- 


tholic religion,  and  affording  a  proof  of  its 
divinity,  only  serve  to  spread  ridicule  over  it. 

Felix  died  on  the  12th  of  October,  520, 
after  a  pontilicate  of  three  years.  Among  the 
most  remarkable  monuments  built  during  his 
reign,  were  the  churches  of  St.  Cosmus  and 
St.  Damian  and  that  of  St.  Saturninus.  which 
had  been  entirely  consumed  by  lire,  and  was 
now  rebuilt. 

During  this  pontificate,  St.  Benedict,  the  cele- 
brated founder  of  a  great  number  of  religious 
orders  in  the  West,  published  his  monastic 
rule,  which  reposes  upon  this  principle : 
'•  Those  are  true  Christians  who  live  from  the 
fruits  of  their  labour."  All  the  articles  of 
these  admirable  rules  tend  to  form  congrega- 
tions of  laborious  men,  on  whom  the  pious 
abbot  imposes  the  obligation  of  employing 
their  activity  or  intelligence  in  Tiseful  pro- 
ductive labours. 

Benedict  was  descended  from  an  illustrious 
family  of  Nosca,  a  city  of  the  duchy  of  Spo- 
letta.  He  studied  at  Rome,  and  was  distin- 
guished for  his  rapid  progress  in  science  and 
letters.  In  spite  of  the  brilliant  career  which 
his  name  and  fortune  could  have  opened  to 
him  in  the  world,  he  abandoned,  at  the  age 
of  seventeen,  parents,  friends  and  country,  to 
retire  to  a  cavern  in  the  midst  of  the  desert 
of  Subiaco,  forty  miles  from  the  holy  city. 
After  having  passed  three  years  in  prayer  and 
meditation,  he  associated  with  him  some  pil- 
grims, who,  attracted  by  his  reputation  for 
sanctity  had  come  to  visit  him,  and  constructed 
cells  for  them  to  sleep  in.  His  little  liock  in- 
creasing day  by  day,  the  pag^an  population  of 
the  neighbourhood  took  umbrage,  and  obliged 
them  to  retire  to  Mount  Cassino.  where  they 
encountered  other  idolaters.  St.  Benedict  con- 
verted them  by  his  elocpient  preaching,  and 
transformed  their  temple,  which  had  been 
consecrated  to  Apollo,  into  a  Christian  church, 
dedicated  to  the  true  God.  He  then  built  an 
immense  monastery  adjoining  the  new  church, 
which  he  governed  for  forty  years.  Following 
his  example,  his  companions,  heirs  of  his 
thoughts  continued  to  clear  up  the  land,  to 
drain  the  marshes,  and  to  copy  ancient  manu- 
scripts, those  treasures  which  antiquity  has 
left  to  future  ages. 


BONIFACE  THE  SECOND,  FIFTY-SEVENTH  POPE. 


[A.  D.  529. — Justinian,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Ambition  of  fhe  clergy — Election  of  Boniface — Schism  of  Dioscorus — Anathema  against  him — 
The  other  popes  accused  of  simony — Boniface  violates  the  canons — Stephen  of  Larissa — Death 
of  the  pope. 

After  the  death  of  Felix,  the  intrigues  for 
a  successor  were  renewed.  At  this  period  the 
ambition  of  the  priests  had  grown  to  be  very 
great ;  liberty  began  to  be  banished  from  the 
elections,  and  those  who  had  riches  or  pow- 

VoL.  1 .  0 


erful  friends  could  alone  hope  to  aspire  to  the 
episcojmte. 

Boniface  the  Second,  a  Roman  by  birth, 
son  of  Sigisvult,  of  the  race  of  the  Goths, 
was  chosen  to  succeed  Felix  the  Fourth,  and 


106 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


was  ordained  in  the  church  of  Julius.  But 
another  party  chose  the  deacon  Dioscorus, 
whom  we  beHeve  to  be  the  same  who  was 
sent  on  the  embassy  to  Constantinople  by 
Hormsidas.  Boniface,  the  tranquil  possessor 
of  the  Holy  See,  pursued  his  vengeance  against 
his  competitor,  and  anathematized  him  even 
after  his  death.  The  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion was  signed  by  the  clergy,  and  deposited 
in  the  archives  of  the  church,  as  an  eternal 
monument  of  his  apostolic  vigour.  The  pon- 
tiff accused  Dioscorusof  simony,  and  it  appears 
by  a  rescript  of  king  Athalaric,  that  the  accu- 
Bation  was  well  founded ;  but  Boniface,  ac- 
cording to  the  report  of  Anastasius  the  librarian, 
was  guilty  of  the  same  crime. 

Then  the  pope  assembled  a  council  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  and  made  a  decree  which 
gave  him  *the  power  of  designating  his  suc- 
cessor ;  and  he  compelled  the  bishops,  by  oath 
and  in  writing,  to  recognize  the  deacon  Vigi- 
lius  in  this  capacity.     Shortly  after  another 


council  was  held,  and  the  decree  was  erasea 
as  contrary  to  the  canons  and  dignity  of  the 
Holy  See.  The  pontiff  acknowledged  himself 
g-uilty  of  lese-majesty,  an  usurper  of  the  sove- 
reign authority,  and  cast  his  bull  into  the 
flames,  in  the  presence  of  the  bishops  and 
clergy. 

The  same  year  (531)  during  the  consulate 
of  Lampadus  and  Orestes,  Stephen,  bishop  of 
Larissa,  addressed  a  complaint  to  the  pope  on 
the  subject  of  a  new  heresy,  the  name  of 
which  has  not  descended  to  us.  On  this  occa- 
sion a  third  council  was  held,  to  which  Theo- 
dosius,  bishop  of  Echnicum,  in  Thessaly,  pre- 
ferred the  complaint  of  Stephen.  The  decision 
of  the  fathers  is  not  known. 

Boniface  died  towards  the  end  of  the  year 
531.  This  pope  showed  himself  during  his 
reign  to  be  a  very  religious  observer  of  the 
worship  of  angels,  and  built  a  magnificent 
church  in  honour  of  the  archangel  St.  Mi- 
chael. 


JOHN   THE    SECOND,  SURNAMED   MERCURY,   FIFTY-EIGHTH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  530. — Justinian,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Avarice  of  the  priests — Election  of  John — Complaints  against  simoniacal  elections — State  of  the 
Eastern  church — Justinian  sends  rich  presents  to  the  pope — John  condemns  the  Acemeta  and 
approves  of  the  doctrine  anathematized  by  Hormsidas — He  declares  '•  that  one  of  the  three  per- 
sons of  the  Trinity  was  crucified'' — Contradictory  judgments  of  the  Holy  See — Contumeliosus 
— Death  of  John. 


There  existed  so  little  good  faith  and  true 
religion  among  the  clergy  of  Rome,  that  in 
order  to  obtain  the  pontificate,  some  priests 
distributed  all  their  money ;  others  mortgaged 
their  palaces ;  whilst  some,  less  scrupulous, 
promised  the  property  of  the  church.  At 
length  the  Holy  See  being  put  up  at  auction, 
John  the  Second,  surnamed  from  his  elo- 
quence. Mercury,  paid  enormous  sums  to  his 
competitors,  and  obtained  the  pontifical  tiara. 

Corruption  had  then  so  increased,  that  the 
senators  sold  their  votes  operdy :  and  in  order 
not  to  profane  the  Divinity,  we  will  say.  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  did  not  govern  the  election  of 
the  popes  of  this  period ;  for  God  could  not 
preside  over  a  council  where  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  was  adjudged  to  the  highest  and  last 
bidder. 

John  the  Second  was  ordained  on  the  22d 
of  January.  532 ;  he  was  born  at  Rome,  and 
his  father  was  named  Projectus.  Shortly  after 
his  enthroning,  a  supporter  of  the  church  wrote 
to  king  Athalric,  that  during  the  vacancy  of 
the  Holy  See  the  partizans  of  the  pontiff  had 
sold  their  votes  for  the  election,  and  had 
extorted  from  him  promises  of  the  property 
of  the  church,  and  that  in  order  to  satisfy 
these  engagements,  John  had  publicly  exposed 
for  sale  the  sacred  vessels. 

To  remedy  this  abuse,  the  king  wrote  to 
the  pope,  the  patriarchs,  and  the  metropolitan 


churches,  to  observe  a  decree  of  the  senate, 
made  during  the  pontificate  of  Boniface,  and 
conceived  in  these  terms  :  "  Those  who  have 
promised  houses,  land  or  money  to  obtain  a 
bishopric,  shall  be  regarded  as  simoniacal  and 
sacrilegious  ;  their  engagements  shall  be  an- 
nulled, and  all  that  they  have  taken  from  the 
church  shall  be  restored.  Officers  of  the  palace 
are  nevertheless  permitted  to  take  three  thou- 
sand pennies  of  gold  to  expedite  despatches 
when  there  shall  be  a  dispute  in  the  election 
of  a  pope ;  but  rich  officers  shall  not  accept 
any  thing,  because  these  largesses  are  taken 
from  the  patrimony  of  the  poor." 

"In  the  elections  of  patriarchs  (a  name 
given  to  bishops  of  great  cities)  they  shall 
take  as  much  as  two  thousand  pennies  of 
gold,  and  in  that  of  mere  bishops,  five  hun- 
dred pennies  of  gold  shall  be  distributed  to 
the  people." 

The  king  then  ordered  the  prefect  of  Rome 
to  cause  this  decree  to  be  engraven  on  a  slab 
of  marble,  and  to  be  placed  at  the  entrance  of 
the  court  of  St.  Peter's. 

Platinus  affirms  that  John  the  Second  con- 
demned Anthimus,  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, who  had  become  an  Arian.  On  his 
part,  the  emperor  Justinian  pursued  with  great 
rigor  the  heretics  of  the  East,  whose  conver- 
sion he  had  sworn  to  effect. 

The  prince  sent  to  Rome  Hypacus,  arch- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


107 


bishop  of  Ephesus.  and  Demetrius,  bishop  of 
Phihppi,  to  consult  the  pope  on  the  proposi- 
tions laid  down  by  Cyrus  and  Eutogus,  depu- 
ties from  the  monastery  of  the  AcemetCD.  In 
a  letter  he  wrote  to  the  holy  father,  he  testifies 
for  him  great  respect,  and  informs  him  that 
the  monks  rejected  the  dogma,  "That  Jesus 
Christ,  the  only  Son  of  God,  born  of  Mary,  is 
one  of  the  persons  of  the  Trinity."  Justinian 
besought  the  pontiif  to  address  him  a  bull, 
declaring  that  he  received  to  his  communion 
all  those  who  partook  of  his  sentiments,  and 
that  he  condenmed  those  who  did  not  conform 
thereto.  To  give  more  weight  to  his  demand, 
the  emperor  sent  rich  presents,  destined  for 
the  church  of  St.  Peter :  a  vase  of  gold, 
weighing  five  pounds,  garnished  with  precious 
stones ;  two  chalices  of  silver  of  si.x  pounds 
each;  two  others  of  five  pounds,  and  four 
veils  in  tissue  of  gold.  This  liberality  dis- 
posed the  clergy  of  Rome  favourably  towards 
Justinian,  and  the  pope  condemned  the  Ace- 
metae  without  being  even  willing  to  listen  to 
their  complaints. 

According  to  father  Louis  Doucin,  the  bad 
faith  of  the  ^nonks  was  the  only  cause  of  their 
condemnation.  John,  indignant  at  seeing  the 
monks  take  advantage  of  the  judgment  ren- 
dered by  Hormsidas,  approved,  without  exami- 
nation, the  dogmas  which  the  emperor  maui- 
tained  against  them,  and  declared  as  most 
orthodox  the  same  proposition  which  his  pre- 
decessor had  excommunicated. 


Nevertheless,  the  holy  father  deliberated 
more  than  a  year,  and  even  wrote  to  Africa  to 
enlighten  himself  by  the  opinions  of  the 
learned.  Ferrand,  a  disciple  of  St.  Fulgen- 
tius,  a  skilful  theologian,  replied  to  the  con- 
sultation with  all  the  subtlety  of  the  priests 
of  our  days.  He  concluded  in  conformity 
with  the  doctrine  of  his  master,  and  very  fa- 
ourably  to  the  emperor,  in  saying,  •'  that  it  is 
not  one  of  the  Trinity  who  suffered  and  died, 
but  one  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity." 

The  pope  launched  anathemas  against  the 
heretical  Greeks  who  had  come  to  Rome  to 
defend  their  doctrine,  and  particularly  against 
Cyrus,  the  deputy  of  the  Acemette  monks. 
In  humiliating,  also  the  Nestorians,  John  sus- 
tained the  Acephali,  who  were  protected  by 
the  empress,  and  caused  the  two  parties  to 
comprehend  that,  of  which  in  the  end  they 
were  not  forgetful,  that  the  Holy  See  was  not 
inflexible,  and  that  for  money  the  retraction 
of  a  former  judgment  could  be  obtained. 

About  the  same  period,  John  received  let- 
ters from  St.  Ctt'sar  of  Aries,  and  other  pre- 
lates of  Gaul,  in  relation  to  Contumeliosus, 
bishop  of  Riez,  convicted,  on  his  own  confes- 
sion, of  enormous  crimes.  He  ordered  that 
this  bishop  should  be  interdicted  from  all  his 
functions,  and  be  confined  in  a  monastery,  in 
order  to  repent  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

Pope  John  died  on  the  26th  of  April,  535, 
after  having  held  the  see  three  years  and  four 
months. 


AGAPETUS,  THE  FIFTY-NINTH  POPE. 


[A.  D.  535. — Justinian,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Education  of  Ampetus — His  election — Letter  from  the  emperor  to  the  pope — Sentiment  of  Aga- 
petus  on  the  alienation  of  the  s,oods  of  the  church — He  recognizes  the  superiority  of  councils — 
He  is  sent  by  Theodatiis  as  embassador  to  Constantinople — Poverty  of  the  pope — He  is  received 
with  great  honours — Refuses  his  communion  to  the  patriarch  Anthimus — Reflections  on  the 
axUliority  of  the  popes — He  persitades  the  emperor  that  Anthimus  is  an  heretic,  and  makes  him 
drive  him  from  his  see — He  neglects  the  ajfairs  of  Thcodaius  and  troubles  the  quiet  of  the 
Eastern  churches — Death  of  the  pope. 


The  priest  Gordian,  the  father  of  Rusticus 
Agapetus,  had  educated  his  son  with  much 
care.  He  placed  him  when  very  young  among 
the  clergy  of  Rome,  where  he  exercised  the 
first  duties  of  the  clerical  order  in  the  church 
of  the  martyrs  St.  John  and  St.  Paul ;  then  he 
was  made  a  deacon  ;  afterwards  rector  of  the 
same  church,  and,  finally,  his  great  virtues 
caused  him  to  be  judged  worthy  to  fill  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  on  the  death  of  John  the  Se- 
cond. The  clergy  and  the  people  havii;e  united 
their  suffrages  in  his  favour,  he  received  the 
episcopal  ordination,  and  was  recognized  as 
sovereign  pontiff. 

He  commenced  his  administration  by  an 
act  of  justice.  He  publicly  burned,  in  the 
midst  of  the  church,  the  anathema  which 
Boniface  had  extorted  by  knavery  from  the 


bishops  and  priests  against  Dioscorus,  his  com- 
petitor. He  blackened,  by  this  circumstance, 
the  memory  of  his  predeces.sor.  and  by  an 
admirable  generosity,  preferred  an  equitable 
justice  to  the  vain  glory  of  the  Holy  See,  to 
which  he  did  not  attribute  the  divine  privi- 
lege of  infallibility. 

As  soon  as  the  emperor  was  apprised  of  the 
election  of  Agapetus,  he  sent  the  priest  Hera- 
clius  as  his  embassador  to  congratulate  hira. 
In  his  letter  he  explained  to  the  holy  father, 
that  in  order  to  facilitate  the  conversion  of 
the  Arians,  it  was  necessary  to  offer  tliom  the 
same  rank  in  the  church  that  they  held  in 
their  own  sect.  The  pontiff,  in  replying  to  the 
compliments  of  the  emperor,  approved  of  his 
zeal  for  the  reunion  of  the  Arians,  but  repre- 
sented to  him  that  the  popes  themselves  had 


108 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


no  power  to  change  the  canons,  which  pro- 
hibited reconciled  heretics  from  preserving 
holy  orders. 

The  alTair  of  Contunieliosus,  bishop  of  Riez, 
was  not  terminated  by  the  judgment  of  John 
the  Second,  and  that  prelate  appealed  to  the 
Holy  See  from  the  sentence  of  his  colleagues 
and  the  decision  of  John  the  Second.  Aga- 
petus  their  wrote  to  St.  CoBsar,  that  in  accord- 
ance with  the  demand  of  Contumeliosus,  he 
had  appointed  judges  to  examine  into  the 
decision  of  the  bishops  of  Gaul,  and  that 
whilst  waiting  the  result  of  their  inquiries, 
that  prelate  should  have  permission  to  return 
to  his  church,  but  not  to  exercise  any  episco- 
pal functions.  He  ordered  the  council  of  the 
province  to  restore  to  him  his  own  private 
property,  in  order  that  he  might  have  the 
means  of  living;  without,  however,  placing  in 
his  control  the  disposition  of  the  property  of 
the  church,  which  should  be  managed  by  a 
visiting  archdeacon. 

St.  CoBsar  of  Aries  then  consulted  the  holy 
father  on  a  point  of  discipline,  which  divided 
the  bishops  of  Gaul,  and  demanded  of  him, 
if  pa.stors  had  the  right  of  •alienating  the 
church  funds  in  difficult  circumstances.  Aga- 
petus  replied,  that  the  constitutions  prohibited 
this  sort  of  alienation,  and  that  he  did  not  dare 
authorize  an  infringement  of  them:  '•  Do  not 
think,  adds  the  pope,  that  my  councils  are 
dictated  by  avarice  or  temporal  interest ;  but 
considering  the  terrible  account  which  I  must 
render  to  God  of  the  flock  which  he  has  con- 
fided to  my  care,  I  seek  to  direct  it  into  the 
way  of  eternal  life,  and  cause  it  to  observe 
the  decisions  of  the  last  council." 

The  assembly  of  which  he  spoke  was  buf 
a  national  synod,  held  in  Italy,  under  the  pon- 
tiff Symmachu.s.  Agapetus,  by  declaring  that 
lie  is  obliged  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of 
councils,  condemns  the  ambition  of  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  his  successors,  who  have  en- 
deavoured to  elevate  themselves  even  above 
universal  councils. 

Animated  by  the  most  laudable  intentions, 
the  holy  father  established  public  schools,  for 
the  instruction  of  youth,  and  was  occupied 
in  exterminating  the  ignorance  which  had 
reached  even  to  the  highest  ranks  of  society. 
Very  different  from  his  predecessors,  he  main- 
tained that  the  best  dispositions,  if  not  nou- 
rished by  study,  would  insensibly  alter,  and 
frequently  change  into  gross  vices.  The  cele- 
brated Casiodorus  joined  with  him  to  facili- 
tate this  noble  enterprise ;  but  war  soon  drew 
off  their  attention  to  other  objects.  Justinian 
had  confided  the  command  of  his  armies  to 
Belisariu-s,  a  great  captain  and  consummate 
tactician.  The  Grecian  general  pursued  his 
conquests  with  surprising  rapidity;  wrested 
Africa  from  the  Vandals,  and  was  about  to 
carry  his  victorious  arms  into  Italy,  where  he 
spread  terror  among  the  Goths. 

Theodatus,  affrighted  at  the  march  of  the 
conqueror,  thought  of  flying  from  his  states, 
but  yielding  to  the  councils  of  his  embassa- 
dors, who  knew  the  stupid  devotion  of  the 
emperor,  he  resolved  to  make  religion  sub- 


serve as  the  means  of  arresting  the  victori- 
ous progress  of  Belisarius.  He  ordered  Aga- 
petus to  go  to  Constantinople  to  negotiate  a 
peace  or  a  truce,  threatening  to  put  the  Ro- 
mans to  the  sword  if  he  failed  in  his  mission. 

The  holy  father  excused  himself  on  account 
of  his  great  age  and  extreme  poverty,  refusing 
to  undertake  so  long  a  journey ;  but  new 
orders  from  the  prince  were  accompanied  with 
menaces  so  frightful,  that  the  pope  was  ob- 
liged to  obey.  Agapetus,  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  his  suite,  pawned  the  beautiful 
chalices,  the  sacred  vessels  of  gold  and  silver 
enriched  with  precious  stones,  with  which  the 
piety  of  the  faithful  had  ornamented  the 
churches ;  and  upon  these  precious  pledges, 
the  money  necessary  for  the  journey  was  ob- 
tained. We  should  add,  to  the  praise  of  Theo- 
datus,  that  on  being  informed  of  it,  he  reim- 
bursed the  necessary  funds,  and  restored  to 
the  churches  all  their  ornaments. 

On  his  arrival  in  Greece,  the  pontiff",  ac- 
cording to  St.  Gregory,  performed  an  aston- 
ishing miracle,  by  curing  a  man  who  could 
neither  walk  nor  stand  up.  We  leave  the 
particulars  of  this  prodigy  to  the  credulity  of 
the  legendaries. 

Epiphaus,  the  Catholic  patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, had  been  dead  about  a  year,  and 
Anthimus,  bishop  of  Trebizond,  had  been 
elevated  to  his  place,  through  the  irfluence  of 
the  empress  Theodora.  He  was  believed  to 
be  as  orthodox  as  his  predecessor;  and  this 
belief  had  procured  for  him  the  honour  of 
being  named  commissary  in  the  conferences 
with  the  Severite  heretics.  But  Ephraim, 
patriarch  of  Antioch,  who  suspected  him  of 
secret  concert  with  the  Acephali,  wrote  to 
unmaskhim,  and  to  publish  manifestoes,  which 
were  scattered  through  the  churches.  He  even 
addressed  a  petition  to  the  emperor,  to  compel 
the  new  chief  of  the  clergy  of  the  capital  to 
make  a  profession  of  the  orthodox  faith,  in 
his  synodical  letters.  Anthimus,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  prince,  made  a  declaration  in 
conformity  with  the  doctrines  of  the  church, 
and  sent  it  to  the  bishops  of  the  East  and 
West,  who  immediately  admitted  him  to  their 
communion.  Nevertheless,  his  spirit  of  tole- 
rance, well  known  to  the  Acephali,  deter- 
mined the  chiefs  of  that  sect,  Severus  of  An- 
tioch, a  prelate  named  Peter  of  Apamea.  and 
a  Syrian  monk  called  Zora,  to  re-enter  Con- 
stantinople. These  heretics,  at  first,  held 
their  assemblies  in  private  houses,  whither 
the  empress  and  Comita  her  sister,  frequently 
went  with  their  lovers,  and  a  crowd  of  young 
lords  of  the  court  of  Justinian.  Their  bold- 
ness increased  with  their  success :  they  built 
temples,  administered  the  sacraments,  re- 
ceived offerings,  and  made  numerous  prose- 
lytes. The  Catholic  priests,  who  saAv  their 
importance  and  their  revenues  daily  dimin- 
ishing, complained  to  the  emperor  against 
Anthimus,  and  sent  several  deputies  to  meet 
the  holy  father,  then  on  his  route  to  that 
city,  to  prejudice  him  against  the  patriarch. 

Agapetus  was  received  in  Constantinople 
with  great  demonstrations  of  respect,  which 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


109 


led  him,  on  the  very  day  of  his  entrance  into 
the  city,  to  abuse  the  tleference  shown  him, 
by  reiusing  to  receive  the  patriarch  Anthimus, 
whom  the  orthodox  accused  of  favouring  the 
Eutychians;  and  even  without  knowing  his 
profession  of  faith,  to  reject  him  as  an  in- 
truder. 

This  condemnable  action  is  cited  by  the 
priests  of  the  West,  as  an  example  of  the 
supreme  authority  which  the  okl  popes  exer- 
cised :  '-Thustlie  pontiff  alone,"'  say  they, 
•'•and  without  assembling  any  covmcij,  deposed 
the  bishop  of  New  Rome."  Father  Doucin, 
although  a  Jesuit,  admits  that  this  example  is 
badly  chosen-  for  the  deposition  was  of  no 
eflect.  '•  He  could  not  depose,"  adds  he, 
"  until  after  a  legitimate  election  :  and  as  the 
elevation  of  Anthimus  to  the  patriarchate  had 
not  been  recognized  by  the  clergy  of  Rome, 
Agapetus  had  no  need  of  a  council  to  refuse 
him  his  communion.  The  pope  and  each 
patriarch  had  a  right  to  act  of  himself,  when 
the  election  of  their  colleagues  appeared  to 
be  vicious,  or  even  suspicious.  In  a  like  cir- 
cumstance no  one  could  be  ignorant  of  the 
causes  which  rendered  Anthimus  unworthy 

of  the  patriarchal  see !" 

Severus,  and  all  the  Acephali,  outraged 
at  the  pride  of  the  pontiff,  went  immediately 
to  the  empress,  to  concert  with  her  the 
method  of  destroying  the  bishop  of  Rome. 
They  endeavoured  to  inspire  Justinian  with 
suspicion  as  to  the  belief  of  the  pope,  and  to 
cause  him  to  pass  for  a  partisan  of  Nestorian- 
ism,  as  Ids  predecessors  had  been  accused 
of  it. 

Notwithstanding  his  extreme  devotion,  the 
emperor  listened  to  these  accusations  against 
Agapetus  with  the  more  attention,  inasmuch 
as  he  was  dissatisfied  wdth  the  hauteur  with 
which  he  had  treated  the  patriarch,  and  the 
correction  he  had  bestowed  on  himself.  In  the 
preceding  year,  when  he  had  sent  to  Rome  an 
edict  witti  his  profession  of  faith,  the  holy 
father  replied  to  him,  "that  every  one  should 
remain  in  his  place,  and  that  he  could  not  ap- 
prove of  the  authority  which  a  layman  arro- 
giited  to  himself  of  publicly  teaching  the 
iaithiul." 

In  this  frame  of  mind  the  emperor  pressed 
the  pontiff  with  questions  in  relation  to  his 
doctrines ;  not  to  satisfy  his  passion  for  reli- 
gious controversy,  but  to  obtain  proofs  of  his 
heresy. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  bishops  of  the  fac- 
tion of  Severus,  sent  by  the  em])ress,  did  not 
cease  to  represent  to  Justinian,  that  the  bishop 
of  Rome  was  come  to  trouble  the  peace  of 
the  East:  "Since  the  election  of  Anthimus, 
have  you  not  seen,  my  lord,"  they  said  to  him, 
"the  Acephali  perfectly  well  disposed,  and 
ready  to  tio  all  that  you  demand  of  them] 
Severus  himself  promised  freer  clemency,  to 
submit  his  doctrine  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Roman  church;  but  he  did  not  expect  to  find 
on  the  throne  of  that  churcli  an  old  man  as 
hard  and  inflexible  as  this  one.  Consider,  my 
lord,  on  what  all  this  scandal  is  founded  ;  upon 
a  mere  formality,  which  reduces  itself  to  this, 


whether  it  is  for  the  greatest  good  of  the  uni- 
versal church,  that  the  city  of  Constantinople 
can  dispense  with  Anthimus,  or  whether  it 
prefers  to  give  him  the  title  of  patriarch,  rather 
than  that  of  bishop." 

Justinian,  convinced  by  the  reasoning  of  the 
prelates,  abandoned  himself  to  his  resent- 
ment against  Agapetus,  and  at  the  iirst  con- 
ference he  had  with  the  pontiff,  said  to  him 
with  emotion :  '•  I  am  detemiined  to  reject 
your  unjust  pretensions,  holy  father,  and  no 
longer  to  weigh  them.  Receive  us  to  your 
communion,  or  prepare  to  go  into  exile."  This 
threat  did  not  alarm  Agapetus,  who  replied 
boldly :  "  It  is  true,  I  deceived  myself,  my 
lord,  when  I  was  received  by  you  with  so 
much  earnestness.  I  hoped  to  find  a  Christian 
emperor,  and  I  have  met  with  a  new  Diocle- 
tian. Well !  let  Diocletian  learn  that  the 
bishop  of  Rome  does  not  fear  his  threats,  and 
refuses  to  submit  to  his  orders." 

The  emperor,  naturally  good  and  devout,  in 
place  of  punishing  this  temerity,  changed  the 
discourse ;  and  when  the  conversation  had 
become  more  peaceful,  the  pope  said  to  him ; 
••  To  convince  you  that  your  pretended  bishop 
is  a  very  dangerous  man  to  the  cause  of  reli- 
gion, I  beseech  you  to  permit  me  to  interro- 
gate him  on  the  two  natures  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Be  persuaded,"  added  the  wary  priest,  -that 
it  is  neither  to  shun  exile,  nor  to  seek  an  ac- 
commodation, that  I  propose  to  put  him  to  this 
test,  but  that  you  may  know  the  patriarch 
Anthimus." 

Justinian  gave  orders  to  the  two  adversa- 
ries to  come  before  him,  and  the  conference 
commenced.  The  pontiff  broached  the  reli- 
gious questions  on  the  mysteries  of  the  incar- 
nation. He  developed,  at  length,  the  points 
of  theologj'  which  had  reference  to  the  ques- 
tion ;  and  when  he  had  exhausted  all  the  re- 
sources of  controversy,  he  summoned  the  pa- 
triarch to  recognize  the  orthodoxy  of  his 
doctrine.  Anthimus  replied  to  the  arguments 
of  the  pontiff,  and  concluded  by  declaring  that 
Jesus  Christ  did  not  possess  two  natures. 
Agapetus,  in  a  fury,  hurled  anathemas  ag-ainst 
Anthimus,  Severus,  Peter  of  Apama,  Zora, 
and  several  other  prelates,  whose  names 
would  have  rested  in  oblivion  but  for  the  ex- 
communication. Then  he  obtained  from  the 
monarch  an  order  for  the  deposition  of  Anthi- 
mus, and  consecrated  the  new  patriarch  of 
Constantinople. 

After  having  troubled  the  East  for  four 
months,  the  holy  father  was  struck  with  an  un- 
known malady,  which  carried  him  off  in  a  few 
days.  His  funeral  was  celebrated  with  songs 
of  gladness;  and  when  his  body  was  trans- 
ported to  the  cathedral,  the  porticoes,  the  public 
places,  the  windows  and  roofs  of  houses  were 
encumbered  with  the  multitude,  who  wished 
to  look  at  him.  Historians  place  the  period 
of  his  death  on  the  25th  of  November,  536. 
They  assure  us  that  no  patriarch,  bishop,  nor 
emperor,  had  been  buried  with  .so  great  ])omp, 
and  with  so  extraordinary  a  solemnity  of  fetes. 
The  corpse  was  embalmed,  placed  in  a  leaden 
coffin;  and  transported  to  Rome. 


110 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


The  priests  exalt  the  virtues  of  this  pope,  i 
Liberatus,  deacon  of  Carthage,  represents  him 
as  a  holy  personage,  endowed  with  profound 
wisdom  and  great  skill,  especially  in  ecclesi- 
astical matters.  He  however  admits,  that  it 
was  at  his  instigation  that  the  bishop  of  Syria 
and  the  abbots  of  Constantinople  rose  against 
the  emperor  Justinian,  and  compelled  him  to 
proscribe  Severus  and  his  friends.  He  avows 
that  the  rebellious  prelat(!s  dared  to  threaten 
the  emperor  to  extend  the  revolt  to  the  pro- 
vinces ;  and  that  the  emperor,  always  at  the 
solicitation  of  the  pope,  had  the  cowardice  to 
make  a  decree,  which  prohibited  the  Ace- 
phali  from  entering  into  large  cities  ;  enjoined 
on  the  magistrates  to  burn  heretical  books, 
and  condemned  those  who  transcribed  them 
to  have  their  hands  cut  off  by  the  executioner. 
These  avowals  show  into  what  deplorable 
excesses  Justinian  fell,  by  yielding  to  the  coun- 
sel of  the  holy  father. 


It  results,  from  the  narrative  of  the  deacon, 
that  Agapetus,  who  went  as  embassador  from 
king  Theodatus,  only  occupied  himself  with 
ecclesiastical  affairs.  How  did  he  fulfil  his 
political  mission  to  the  emperor  ?  How  did  he 
open  the  negotiations  1  With  what  address 
did  he  conduct  them]  What  was  his  success? 
There  is  no  reply.  The  pope  did  nothing. 
He  only  submitted  to  Justinian  the  subject  of 
his  embassy,  without  insisting  on  a  favourable 
conclusion,  foreseeing  that  the  Roman  clergy 
would  be  happier  under  the  dominion  of  a 
Catholic  prince,  than  under  that  of  an  Arian 
monarch.  Not  only  was  Agapetus  perjured 
to  his  prince,  but  even  to  his  religion,  by 
troubling  the  repose  of  the  Eastern  churches, 
and  by  showing  a  base  jealousy  against  a  pre- 
late, whose  only  crime  consisted  in  having 
dared  to  compare  his  see  with  that  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome. 


SILVERUS,  THE  SIXTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  536. — Justinian,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Intrigues  at  Rome  to  obtain  dignities — Silverus  buys  the  pontificate  from  king  Theodatus — Trea- 
son of  the  pope — He  delivers  Rome  to  Belisarius — He  is  deposed  and  shut  up  in  a  monastery. 


The  intrigues  by  which  the  sovereign  pon- 
tificate was  obtained;  recall  the  transactions 
in  pagan  Rome,  when  those  who  aspired  to 
office  in  the  republic  bought  the  suffrages  of 
the  people :  '•  Instead  of  a  wise  discretion, 
a  disinterested  equity,  and  a  true  elevation  in 
sentiment,  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  was  become 
the  price  of  boldness,  corruption  and  avarice." 
The  pretenders  marched  openly  to  their  end, 
offering  gold  to  some,  dignities  to  others — 
pledging  the  property  of  the  church  to  those 
who  had  no  confidence  in  their  promises,  and 
setting  to  work  all  the  seductions  which  could 
augment  the  number  of  their  creatures. 

Priests  Sold  their  suffrages ;  cabals  strug- 
gled, raised  upon  their  competitors,  and  carried 
off  the  partisans  of  their  adversaries ;  and  at 
length  victory  remained  with  the  richest,  the 
most  skilful,  or  the  most  corrupt. 

In  the  midst  of  these  scandalous  intrigues 
and  criminal  practices,  Silverus,  son  of  the 
former  pope  Hormsidas.  led  away  by  the  am- 
bition of  occupying  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
offered  a  considerable  sum  to  king  Theodatus, 
and  was  chosen  pontiff  of  Rome. 

Anastasius,  the  librarian,  furnishes  the  most 
authentic  documents  in  relation  to  this  dis- 
graceful proceeding,  on  which  Baillet  and 
Dupin  have  endeavoured  to  throw  doubts. 
But  father  Doucin  himself  is  convinced  of 
the  infamy  of  Silverus,  and  deplores  the  con- 
du(^t  of  the  holy  father. 

The  election  of  this  pope  was  a  master- 
stroke of  policy.  The  king,  fearing  to  be  driven 
from  Italy  by  the  victorious  army  of  Belisa- 
rius, wished  to  assure  himself  of  the  fidelity 


of  the  Romans,  by  giving  them  a  bishop  de- 
voted to  his  interest,  and  who  had  need  of  his 
aid  to  maintain  himself  on  the  Holy  See. 
Neither  the  clergy  nor  the  people  were  per- 
mitted to  deliberate  on  this  election.  Theo- 
datus merely  announced  to  the  Romans,  that 
those  who  should  dare  to  nominate  another 
bishop,  must  prepare  to  die.  Then  Silverus 
took  upon  himself  the  government  of  the 
church,  and  fear  of  punishment  constrained 
the  people  to  recognize  him.  Some  ecclesi- 
astics alone  refused  to  sign  the  decree  of  the 
election ;  lime  passed  on,  however,  and  they 
soon  ranged  themselves  under  the  orders  of 
the  new  pope. 

But  Theodatus  was  deceived  in  his  hopes. 
The  traitor  Silverus,  practising  on  this  maxim 
of  the  priests,  "it  is  permitted  to  break  faith 
with  heretics,"  betrayed  his  benefactor,  and 
opened  the  gates  of  Rome  to  Belisarius. 

Justinian,  become  master  of  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  world,  revived  the  religious 
quarrels  which  had  taken  place  during  the 
pontificate  of  Agapetus.  The  empress  Theo- 
dora, who  was  favourable  to  the  Acephaji  in 
the  East,  wrote  to  the  pope,  to  prevail  on  him 
to  re-establish  the  patriarch  Anthimus,  and  to 
drive  Mennas  from  the  see  of  Constantinople. 
At  the  same  time  Belisarius  received  orders 
to  engage  Silverus  to  subscribe  to  his  projects; 
and  in  case  of  refusal  he  was  enjoined  to 
accuse  the  pontiff'  of  having  maintained  secret 
intelligence  with  the  Goths,  and  of  having 
desired,  by  a  new  treason,  to  deliver  up  the 
city  to  them.  The  holy  father  was  sent  for 
to  the  palace.     Belisarius,  and  his  wife  Anto- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


11, 


nina,  the  confidant  of  the  empress,  informed 
him  of  the  orders  they  had  received,  and  en- 
deavoured to  induce  him  to  obey,  by  denounc- 
ing the  council  of  Chalcedon,  and  approving, 
in  writing,  the  behef  of  the  Acephaii. 

Silverus,  placed  between  two  perils,  having 
on  the  one  side  to  fear  the  anger  of  the  prince, 
and  on  the  other  the  vengeance  of  the  clergy, 
demanded  pemnission  to  assemble  his  council. 
The  priests  decided  unanimously  against  the 
proposition,  and  threatened  him  with  deposi- 
tion as  a  traitor  and  prevaricator,  if  he  should 
obey  the  orders  of  their  enemies.  Then,  ruled 
b}'  fear,  he  refused  to  yield  to  the  demand  of 
Belisariusj  and  to  shun  the  vengeance  of  the 
Greeks,  sought  refuge  in  the  church  of  St. 
Maria  Sabina. 

Belisarius  publicly  accused  him  of  perfidy 
toward  the  emperor,  and  produced  as  wit- 
nesses an  advocate  named  Mark,  and  a  sol- 
dier of  the  Praetorian  guard,  who  affirmed  that 
they  had  remitted  letters  for  him,  addressed 
to  Vitiges,  king  of  the  Goths.  They  summoned 
the  pontitT  to  appear  a  second  time  at  the  im- 
perial palace,  promising  him,  under  oath,  not 
to  deprive  him  of  his  liberty.  Silverus  yield- 
ed to  the  invitation  of  the  Grecian  general, 
and  after  a  conference  was  reconducted  to 
the  church  in  which  he  had  established  his 
retreat. 

Having  been  commanded  to  appear  a  third 
time  before  Belisarius,  he  learned  that  his 
enemies  wished  to  surprise  him,  and  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  him  to  resist  much 
longer. 

His  conjectures  were  correct ;  for  the  em- 
press had  written  to  hold  him  as  a  pledge. 


She  besought  him  instantly  to  re-establish 
Anthimus,  or  to  come  to  examine  the  cause 
of  this  patriarch,  unjustly  condemned.  Silve- 
rus, after  reading  this  letter,  heaved  a  deep 
sigh.  "Behold,"  says  he,  "that  which  in- 
forms me  that  I  have  not  a  longtime  to  live." 
He  then  went  to  the  Grecian  general.  Those 
who  accompanied  him  were  arrested  ;  some 
at  the  entrance  of  the  saloon,  others  at 
the  door  of  the  antechamber;  and  Silverus 
was  introduced  into  the  apartment  of  Anto- 
nina,  who  was  still  in  bed.  "  Trul}',  my  lord 
bishop,"  she  said  to  him,  "I  know  not  what 
we  have  done  to  you,  and  you  Romans,  to 
caui^e  you  to  deliver  us,  as  you  have  essayed 
to  do,  into  the  hands  of  the  barbarians. 
PIea.se  advise  us  of  your  motives."  The  pon- 
tiff had  no  long  time  given  him  to  reply.  A 
sub-deacon  entered  quickly,  and  tore'  from 
him  his  mantle  ;  then  having  taken  him  into 
an  adjoining  ajiartment,  they  despoiled  him 
of  his  marks  of  dignity,  and  clothed  him  in 
the  garb  of  a  monk. 

After  this  ceremony,  another  sub-deacon 
entered  the  antechamber,  where  the  clergy- 
remained,  and  said  to  them,  "  My  brethren, 
we  have  no  longer  a  pope ;  he  has  been  de- 
posed, and  condemned  to  do  penance  in  a 
monastery."  Alarmed  at  this  news,  they  all 
fled  precipitately,  leaving  the  holy  father  in 
the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

Belisarius  then  occupied  himself  in  having 
the  priest  Vigilius,  who  had  been  long  ambi- 
tious of  the  honours  of  the  episcopate,  chosen. 

We  pass  on  to  the  following  reign,  before 
speaking  of  the  death  of  the  unfortunate  Sil- 
verus. 


VIGILIUS,  THE  SIXTY-FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  537. — Justinian,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Character  of  Vigilius — His  vices — He  sivears  to  obey  the  orders  of  Theodora — The  empress 
compels  him  to  give  seven  hundred  pieces  of  gold  to  buy  the  votes  of  the  clergy — Election  of 
Vigilius — Silverus  exiled  to  Patera,  obtains  from  the  emperor  permission  to  return  to  Rome — 
The  pope  seizes  him  and  condemns  him  to  be  starved  to  death  on  a  desert  island — Roguery  of 
Vigdius — He  becomes  suspected  by  the  emperor — King  Theodebert  consults  the  pope  on  the 
validity  of  his  marriage  irith  a  sister-in-lair — Fanaticism  of  the  emperor  Justinian — His  dis- 
cussions ivith  the  pontiff — He  orders  Vigilius  to  go  to  Constantinople  to  assist  at  a  council — 
The  pope  insulted  by  the  people  of  Rome — Anathemas  against  the  Acephaii — The  pope  con- 
demns the  three  chapters — Bad  faith  of  Fleury  in  his  ecclesiastical  history — Contradictions  of 
Vigilius — He  is  excommunicated  by  a  council — Excites  disorders  at  Constantinople — Con- 
strained to  take  refuge  in  a  church — His  hypocrisy — Returns  to  his  palace — 7,s  dragscd  throuo-h 
the  streets  of  Constantinople  ivith  a  cord  about  his  neck — Escapes  to  the  palace  of  Placidius — 
Is  sent  into  exile — His  recantation — Knavery  of  the  Jesuits — Death  of  the  pope — This  mon- 
ster, soiled  with  crimes,  has  found  apologists  who  have  made  a  martyr  of  him. 


Vigilius  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the 
son  of  a  consul  named  John.  During  the  pon- 
tificate of  Boni f:i ce  the  Second,  he  had  obtained 
a  decree  which  assured  to  him  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter;  but  the  clergy  opposed  this  scan- 
dalous sti^p.  and  his  hopes  were  blasted.  This 
check  did  not  discourage  Vigilius;  obstacles 
excited  his  enterprising  spirit,  and  he  pur- 


sued his   intrigues  with   more   vigour  than 
before. 

History  represents  him  as  a  man  of  unmea- 
sured ambition,  capable  of  committing  all 
crimes,  to  elevate  himself  to  power.  "His 
character,"  writes  an  author  of  that  day,  "was 
violent  and  passionate  ;  in  a  burst  of  rage  he 
killed  with  blows,  with  a  club,  a  young  child 


112 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


who  refused  his  infamous  caresses.  He  was 
so  avaricious  that  he  dared  to  avow,  that  if 
he  had  broken  off  his  relations  with  the  em- 
press, it  was  less  through  zeal  for  religion, 
than  not  to  be  obliged  to  restore  the  money 
she  had  it-nt  him  to  aid  him  in  his  election  as 
pope."  Besides,  the  course  of  his  life  was  a 
long  train  of  perfidy,  debauchery  and  crime  • 
and  yet  the  priests  have  placed  this  monster 
among  the  saints  of  the  church  ! 

Vigdius  had  accompanied  pope  Ag'apetus 
on  his  journey  to  Constantinople.  After  the 
death  of  the  pontiff  the  empress  demanded 
from  the  young  priest,  if  he  would  consent  to 
reverse  ail  the  decrees  of  Agapetus,  to  con- 
demn the  council  of  Constantinople  which 
was  about  closing;  to  depose  Mennas,  and 
reinstate  in  their  sees  Anthimus,  Severns, 
and  Timothy  ;  and  finally  excommunicate  the 
three  chapters,  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  and 
the  famous  letter  of  St.  Leo. 

None  of  these  propositions  frightened  the 
ambitious  Vigilius  ;  and  he  swore  to  obey  the 
orders  of  the  empress,  if  he  was  elected  pope. 
She  counted  out  to  him  immediately  seven 
hundred  pieces  of  gold,  on  the  security  of  his 
note,  by  which  he  promised*  to  restore  this 
sum  when  he  should  be  master  of  the  trea- 
sures of  the  church.  Then  letters  were  sent 
forward  to  Belisarius,  to  whom  the  empress 
recommended  the  deacon  Vigilius  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  Agapetus. 

All  these  precautions  assured  him  success ; 
but  on  his  arrival  at  Naples  he  learned  that 
the  Romans  had  already  received  a  pontiff 
whom  king  Theodatus  had  imposed  upon 
them.  This  new  check  did  not  stop  Vigi- 
lius in  his  projects.  He  first  studied  calmly 
the  obstacles  which  opposed  themselves  to  his 
elevation,  and  calculated  the  chances  which 
remained  of  overthrowing  a  man  rejected  by 
the  clergy,  as  being  the  creature  of  the  Goths, 
the  enemies  of  the  empire.  Then  he  informed 
the  emi)ress  of  his  hopes,  and  besought  her 
to  second  his  etlorts.  The  princess  wrote  to 
Belisarius,  ordering  him  to  examine  all  the 
plans  of  Vigilius,  and  to  excite  complaints 
against  Silterus,  that  he  might  be  deposed. 
"If  you  cannot  succeed,"  added  she,  ''arrest 
him,  and  send  him  to  Constantinople  without 
any  delay,  for  we  send  you  a  priest,  of  whose 
devotion  we  are  assured,  and  who  is  bound  to 
reinstall  Anthimus,  and  cause  the  Acephali  to 
triumph." 

Belisarius  feared  that  the  execution  of  this 
enterprise  might  produce  confusion  in  Rome, 
and  bring"  about  a  dangerous  schism.  Not 
being  entirely  confimied  in  his  conquest,  he 
did  not  wish  to  expose  himself  to  the  danger 
of  losing,  in  a  moment,  the  glory  which  he 
had  acquired  by  the  defeat  of  the  Vandals 
and  Goths.  But  his  wife,  who  had  a  great 
ascendancy  over  him.  determined  to  execute 
the  orders  of  the  princess,  and  the  result  was 
the  deposition  of  Silverus,  and  the  shameful 
election  of  Vigilius. 

In  obedience  to  the  command  of  the  Gre- 
cian general,  the  clergy  assembled  to  choose 
a  successor  to  the  deposed  pontifl'.  They  first 


agitated  the  question,  whether  the  Holy  See 
was  to  be  regarded  as  vacant.  Their  sufi rages 
having  been  paid  for  in  advance,  it  was  de- 
cided in  the  affirmative.  Some  then  wished 
to  exclude  Vigilius.  and  protested  against  hia 
pretensions.  Their  small  number  caused  them 
to  be  treated  with  contempt ;  and  those  who 
had  been  bought  proceeded  without  delay  to 
the  consecration  of  the  new  pope. 

Vigilius  also  exacted  that  the  unfortunate 
Silverus  should  be  placed  in  his  charge,  under 
the  pretext  that  he  was  bound  to  answer  for 
the  tranquillity  of  the  city.  He  banished  him 
from  Rome,  and  sent  him  under  safe  custody 
to  Patera  in  Lycia.  Contrary  to  his  expecta- 
tion, the  bishop  of  the  country  received  his 
prisoner  as  a  confessor ;  and  not  only  did  he 
render  him  the  honours  due  to  the  pontiff, 
but  even  undertook  to  reinstall  him  in  his  see. 
For  this  purpose  he  made  a  journey  to  Con- 
stantinople, represented  loudly  to  the  emperor 
the  injustice  of  the  condemnation  of  Silverus, 
and  obtained  from  the  prince  the  promise  that 
the  accused  should  return  to  Rome  to  imdergo 
a  new  trial.  Justinian  pledged  himself,  that 
if  he  was  innocent  of  the  treason  of  which  he 
had  been  accused,  he  would  replace  him  on 
the  pontifical  chair ;  and  that  if  he  were  guilty, 
he  would  only  banish  him  from  Rome,  without 
degrading  him. 

But  the  empress  Theodora  had  too  much 
interest  in  maintaining  Vigilius  in  his  usur- 
pation, to  permit  that  the  will  of  the  emperor 
should  be  executed ;  and  on  his  side,  Vigilius 
was  too  active  to  sleep  in  the  midst  of  the 
dangers  that  threatened  him.  He  then  Avrote 
to  Belisarius,  that  he  could  not  pay  the  sum 
agreed  upon,  unless  his  adversary  w  ere  placed 
in  his  hands  as  an  hostage.  Silverus  was  then 
taken  from  his  retreat,  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  infamous  Vigilius,  who  caused 
him  to  be  conducted  by  his  ferocious  satellites 
to  a  desert  island,  called  Palmaria,  where 
those  were  exiled  whom  it  was  desirable  to 
put  to  death  promptly  and  quietly. 

The  executioners,  whom  Vigilius  called  the 
defenders  of  the  holy  church,  executed  the 
orders  which  they  had  received,  which  en- 
joined them  to  put  an  end  to  their  prisoner 
promptly.  The  unfortunate  Silverus  was  de- 
prived of  food  duringnine  entire  days,  and  ashis 
death  did  not  happen  as  fast  as  the  impatience 
of  the  priests  who  guarded  him  required,  they 
strangled  him  and  returned  to  Rome.  Such 
was  the  punishment  of  the  crime  of  which 
Silverus  had  been  guilty,  that  of  usurping  the 
first  see  of  the  church. 

The  clergy  remained  uncertain  for  fiA^e  days 
as  to  the  choice  of  a  pope.  The  distribution 
of  money  at  last  united  their  sutlrages  upon 
Vigilius ;  and  after  some  days  of  intrigue  he 
was  recognized  as  the  most  worthy  to  occupy 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  The  priests  proceeded 
to  his  exaltation  notwithstamling  the  anathema 
of  him  by  Silverus,  and  notwithstanding  the 
frightful  complication  of  crimes  and  roguery 
which  he  had  put  in  execution  to  reach  the 
pontificate. 

Even  after  the  death  of  his  predecessor 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


113 


Vigillus  found  himself  placed  in  a  very  diffi- 
cult position.  On  the  one  side  the  Roman 
clergy  pressed  him  to  condemn  the  Acephali ; 
and  on  the  other,  the  empress  imperiously 
demanded  the  execution  ol  his  promises.  In 
order  to  avoid  the  inost  imminent  peril,  his 
holiness  remitted  to  Antonina,  the  wife  of  Beli- 
sarius,  and  who  was  regarded  as  the  favourite 
of  the  empress,  several  letters  destined  for 
Theodosius  of  Alexandria,  Anthimus  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  Severus  of  Antioch,  in  M-hich 
he  declared  that  he  professed  the  same  faith 
a?  they.  At  the  same  time  he  besought  them 
to  keep  his  letters  secret  until  he  was  con- 
firmed in  his  authority  ;  and  he  recommended 
to  them  to  avoid  suspicion,  by  saying  openly, 
that  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  suspected  by 
them. 

In  the  confession  of  faith  which  he  sent  to 
them  he  rejected  the  two  natures  in  Jesus 
Christ,  refuted  the  letter  of  St.  Leo,  and  de- 
clared those  excommunicated  who  did  not 
believe  in  one  person  and  one  essence.  It  is 
thence  incontestable  that  Vigilius  was  an 
apostate  priest,  and  a  hypocritical  pontilf;  for 
at  the  same  time  that  he  approved  of  the  opin- 
ions of  the  Acephali  in  a  letter  secretly  written 
to  tht-m.  he  made  a  public  profession  of  the 
faith  of  the  orthodox. 

Justinian,  irritated  because  Vigilius  had  not 
written  to  him  on  his  entrance  to  the  pontili- 
cate,  interpreted  unfavourably  his  silence,  and 
sent  into  Italy  the  patrician  Dominicus,  with 
letters  expressing  suspicions  of  the  pope.  The 
embassador  was  besides  charged  to  summon 
him  to  explain  the  relations  he  was  accused 
of  entertaining  with  the  heretics.  In  his  reply, 
Vigilius  passed  a  high  eulogium  to  the  prince 
on  the  purity  of  his  sentiments  :  he  declared 
to  him  that  his  belief  was  that  of  his  prede- 
cessors, Celestin,  Leo,  Hormsidas,  John,  and 
Agapetus ;  that  he  acknowledged  the  four 
councils,  and  the  letter  of  Leo  ;  and  that  he 
anathematized  all  who  held  contrary  opinions ; 
lastly,  he  besought  the  emptiror  to  prc^serve 
the  privileges  of  the  Holy  See,  and  to  send 
him  as  embassadors  irreproachable  Catholics. 
His  holiness  also  wrote  to  the  patriarch  Men- 
nas,  to  congratulate  him  on  having  performed 
the  promises  he  made  to  pope  Agapetus,  be- 
fore his  ordination,  in  acknowledging  the  four 
councils,  and  in  excommunicating  schis- 
matics. 

Profuturus,  bishop  of  Braga,  in  Lu.sitania, 
consulted  Viirilius  upon  several  points  of  dis- 
cipline. The  holy  father,  in  his  reply,  con- 
demned the  Priscillians,  who  abstained  from 
flesh.  Since  that  period  the  church  herself 
has  introduced  this  superstition  among  the 
faithful.  He  expresses  himself  at  length  on 
the  mode  of  converting  the  Arians,  and  on  the 
consecration  of  churches;  he  recommends 
them  to  celebrate  the  mass  in  the  new  tem- 
ples, and  prohibits  the  use  of  holy  water  in 
the  ceremonies. 

Theoilobert,  king  of   Austrasia,   who   had 

6ent  troops  into  Italy  during  the  war  between 

the  Romans  and  the  Goths,  also  consulted  Vi- 

giliuson  the  penance  which  should  be  imposed 

Vol.  I.  P 


on  a  man  who  had  espoused  the  wife  nf  his 
brother.  The  pope  replied  to  the  king,  and  at 
the  same  time  wrote  to  St.  Ccesar  of  Aries, 
that  he  should  inform  himself  of  the  fact, 
and  of  the  disposition  of  the  penitent,  in  order 
to  advise  king  Theodobert  of  the  time  neces- 
sary for  such  repentance,  and  to  beseech  him 
to  prevent  like  disorders  in  future.  The  mo- 
tives which  induced  him  to  send  back  this 
affair  to  St.  Ccesar.  are  remarkable :  '•  We 
ought,"  said  he,  "to  commit  to  bishops  of 
provinces  the  measure  of  repentance,  that 
they  may  be  enabled  to  grant  indulgence  ac- 
cording to  the  compunction  of  the  penitent." 

Justinian,  as  he  advanced  in  age,  abandoned 
himself  more  and  more  to  religious  fanati- 
cism, and  to  his  passion  for  controversy.  He 
composed  a  crowd  of  works  on  theology.  But 
in  wishing  to  fathom  the  mysteries  of  religion, 
he  finished  by  insensibly  departing  from  the 
orthodox  principles  which  he  had  professed. 
He  published  edicts  condemning  the  three 
chapters  of  Theodorus  of  JMopsuesta,  the  letter 
of  Ibas,  the  writings  of  Theodoret,  and  luially 
the  twelve  anathemas  of  St.  Cyril. 

The  edicts  of  the  emperor  were  received 
by  all  the  bishops  in  the  East ;  and  Vigilius 
alone,  ruled  by  the  Roman  clergy,  opposed 
the  propagation  of  his  principles  in  the  West. 

Irritated  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  pontiff, 
the  prince  resolveil  to  submit  the  questions  to 
a  general  council.  He  wrote  to  Vigilius  to 
inform  him  of  the  convocation  of  a  synod,  and 
to  order  him  to  come  without  delay  to  Con- 
stantinople 

The  popes  have  always  dreaded  general 
councils,  especially  when  they  were  held  be- 
yond their  jurisdiction.  Thus  the  holy  father 
made  every  effort  to  change  the  determination 
of  the  emperor,  or  at  least  to  avoid  appearing 
at  the  council.  Justinian  was  inflexible;  and 
new  orders  compelled  the  pontiff  to  obey. 

Before  his  departure  the  clergy  excited  se- 
ditions among  the  people,  and  gave  him  a 
foretaste  of  the  fate  which  would  attend  him 
at  Rome,  if  he  should  abandon  the  interests 
of  religion.  On  the  very  day  on  which  he 
quitted  the  city,  the  monks  .stoned  him,  and 
heaped  maledictions  and  insults  on  him.  Not- 
withstanding, Vigilius,  desiring  to  conciliate 
them  again.st  his  return,  landed  in  Sicily 
and  purchased  grain,  which  he  sent  to  Rome, 
to  be  distributed  to  the  people  in  his  name; 
after  which  he  continued  his  route  to  Con- 
stantinople. 

The  emperor  and  the  bishops  who  were  at 
his  court,  received  the  holy  father  with  great 
honours,  and  after  the  usual  ceremonie.s,  the 
council  openetl.  At  the  very  first  coidcrence, 
Vigilius,  having  declared  that  IMennas  and 
Theodorus  were  excluded  from  his  communion 
in  con.sequence  of  their  support  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  Justinian,  the  prince  let  loose  his 
anger,  and  ordered  the  guards  to  tear  from  his 
throne  the  unworthy  priest  whose  presence 
dishonoured  the  as.sembly.  It  was  done  at 
once,  notwithstanding  the  entreaties  of  the 
empress,  who  besought  her  husband  to  sus- 
pend his  vengeance. 


114 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


This  princess,  who  was  constantly  studying 
over  her  project  of  driving  away  Mennas  to 
reinstall  Anthimus  on  the  see  of  Constantino- 
ple, hoped  that  the  pope  would  resolve  to  fulfil 
the  promises  he  had  before  made  to  her  on 
this  important  affair.  Vigilius,  who  had  the 
threats  of  the  clergy  of  Rome  always  before 
him,  refused  to  ratify  his  old  engagements, 
and  preferred  reconciling  himself  with  Men- 
nas j  on  the  condition,  however,  that  the  pa- 
triarch should  subscribe  to  all  that  the  Latin 
bishops  should  determine  in  the  matter  of  the 
three  chapters. 

Theodorus  of  Cesarea,  also  made  his  peace 
by  accepting  the  same  conditions.  Still,  in 
order  to  show  that  his  reconciliation  with  these 
two  prelates  should  not  be  taken  as  a  decla- 
ration in  favour  of  the  Eutychians  and  Ace- 
phali,  Vigilius  solemnly  excommunicated  the 
followers  of  the  heresy. 

This  first  mark  of  deference  did  not  entirely 
satisfy  Justinian,  who  was  willing  that  Vigi- 
lius should  condemn  the  three  articles.  The 
pontiff"  then  protested  against  the  violence 
which  had  been  used  towards  him,  and  refused 
to  make  any  detennination  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Latin  bishops.  On  his  side,  the 
emperor  preserved  no  restraint  towards  the 
holy  father ;  and  matters  were  carried  so  far, 
that  the  pope  one  day  said,  in  a  full  assembly, 
*'  I  perceive  that  I  am  regarded  here  as  a 
slave,  whom  you  think  you  have  a  right  to 
eat.  It  is  true  that  I  am  in  chains ;  but  recol- 
lect that  Peter,  whose  place  I  occupy,  has  lost 
none  of  his  liberty." 

On  another  occasion  he  recalled  to  the 
prince  the  words  of  Agapetus  :  "  I  thought  I 
was  coming  to  the  court  of  a  Christian  em- 
peror, and  I  find  myself  in  that  of  Diocletian, 
the  most  cruel  of  tyrants."  The  firmness  of 
the  pontiff"  bent  the  emperor,  and  he  permitted 
the  bishops  to  assemble  to  deliberate  on  the 
aff"air  of  the  three  articles. 

Seventy  prelates  then  assembled,  when  the 
pope  declared  the  council  dissolved,  before 
they  had  arrived  at  any  decision.  The  fathers 
received  orders  to  give  their  opinions  in  writ- 
ing, and  he  sent  the  bulletins  to  the  palace  of 
the  emperor.  After  some  days.  Vigilius  himself 
gave  his  own  opinion,  which  was  in  condem- 
nation of  the  three  chapters,  without  prejudice 
to  the  council  of  Chalcedon.  Fleury  has  main- 
tained that  this  last  clause  was  a  question  of 
fact,  in  which  the  church  was  not  interested. 
Such  an  insinuation  can  only  show  prodigious 
ignorance  or  Avonderful  bad  faith  ;  for  the  af- 
fair of  the  three  chapters  was  so  important 
for  religion,  that  a  large  number  of  bishops 
separated  themselves  from  the  coinmunion 
of  Vigilius  because  he  had  condemned  them. 

Nevertheless,  the  judgment  of  the  pontiff 
contented  neither  the  Acephali  nor  the  ortho- 
dox, who  regarded  it  as  a  mark  of  the  apos- 
tacy  of  the  pope.  Dacius,  bishop  of  Milan, 
who  was  the  last  who  remained  attached  to 
his  fortunes,  abandoned  him,  and  refused  to 
take  part  in  the  new  constitution.  Two  of 
his  deacons,  Rusticus  and  Sebastian,  followed 
the  same  example,  and  published  through  the 


provinces,  that  the  pope  had  abandoned  the 
council  of  Chalcedon. 

Vigilius,  always  contradicting  himself  in 
his  measures,  gave  utterance  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  orthodox,  and  favoured  the  heretics,  as 
the  interests  of  his  grandeur  demanded.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  defenders  of  the  three  chap- 
ters remained  ih'm  in  their  belief.  They  held 
a  synod  in  Illyria,  at  which  they  condemned 
Benenanatus,  bishop  of  the  first  Justinianea. 
The  following  year,  the  prelates  of  Africa 
assembled  in  council,  showed  still  more  rigour. 
They  excommunicated  the  holy  father  as  a 
traitor  and  apostate,  undertook  the  defence  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  three  chapters,  and  sent 
their  letters  to  the  emperor  by  Olympius  Ma- 
gistrian. 

At  length  Vigilius,  comprehending  that  his 
tortuous  policy  had  not  succeeded  in  deceiving 
either  party,  consented  to  receive  the  three 
chapters,  and  proposed  a  general  council  to 
terminate  the  difficulty. 

Theodore  Ascidas,  bishop  of  Csesarea,  pro- 
foundly afflicted  by  the  disorders  and  sedi- 
tions which  all  these  disputes  excited  in  the 
empire,  cast  himself  at  the  feet  of  Justinian, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  clergy  addressed  to 
him  this  discourse:  "Is  it  not  a  shameful 
thing,  my  lord,  that  the  master  of  the  universe, 
after  having  reduced  so  many  different  na- 
tions, should  be  so  reduced  as  to  bend  before 
the  caprice  of  a  priest  who  knows  not  his  own 
mind  ?  Vigilius  said  yesterday  :  '  I  anathema- 
tize all  who  do  not  condemn  the  three  articles ! ' 
To  day,  he  says,  '■  I  anathematize  whomsoever 
condemns  them!'  And,  under  pretext  of  re- 
serving them  for  the  judgment  of  a  council, 
he  dares,  on  his  own  authority,  to  reverse  the 
edicts  of  the  emperor,  and  impose  his  belief 
even  on  Constantinople.  The  whole  world 
knows  your  great  piety ;  your  edicts  have  been 
received  by  all  the  churches  !  And  now,  what 
will  people  think,  when  they  see  a  stranger 
reverse,  by  a  single  word,  acts  so  solemn  in 
your  own  presence,  in  contempt  df  four  pa- 
triarchs and  a  great  number  of  bishops,  who 
have  come  together  at  your  bidding,  to  cause 
the  edicts  to  be  executed  ?  What  has  become 
of  your  authority,  great  prince,  if  you  cannot 
command  your  subjects  until  they  have  re- 
ceived the  peimission  of  Vigilius?  What 
would  the  empress,  that  virtuous  princess, 
whose  recent  loss  we  mourn,  say,  if  she  saw 
Justinian  so  far  abase  his  royal  dignity,  as 
publicly  to  be  contradicted  by  a  proud  priest  ?" 

This  harangue  changed  the  disposition  of 
the  emperor.  The  edict  against  the  three 
chapters  was  put  in  force,  and  sustained  by 
the  writings  of  Theodore,  who  had  conducted 
the  affair  with  .so  much  address.  On  this  oc- 
casion Vigilius  wished  to  address  his  com- 
plaints to  Justinian  ;  but  the  prince  refused  to 
hear  him.  He  threatened  with  excommuni- 
cation those  who  should  dare  to  break  his 
orders.  They  replied  to  his  menaces,  by  af- 
fixing the  edict  in  all  the  churches.  Then 
the  rage  of  the  pontiff"  vented  itself  in  impre- 
cations. They  despised  his  outrages  as  they 
had  his  threats.     Pushed  to  an  extreme,  he 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


115 


convoked,  in  the  palace  of  Placidius,  all  the  i 
bishops  who  were  in  Constantinople,  the  dea-  ' 
cons,  and  even  the  inferior  clergy.     He  pro-  [ 
tested,  in   their   presence,  against  the  mea-  ' 
sures  of  the  emperor,  ana  launched  terrible 
anathemas  against   those  who  followetl  the  ' 
doctrine  of   the  three  chapters,  and  did  not  , 
submit  to  the  decision  of  the  Western  bishops,  i 
They  no  longer  preserved  any  circumspec-  | 
tion,  and  both  parties  delivered  themselves  ■ 
up  to  all  the  fury  of  fanaticism.     The  pope, 
not  thinking  himself  in  safety  in  the  palace  j 
of  Placidius,  took  refuge  in  the  chuich  of  St. 
Peter,  where  he  composed  the  famous  decree  i 
of  excommunication  against  Theodore,  Men- 
nas,   and  their   adherents.      Still  he  kept  it 
secret,  to  manage  still  some  means  of  safety, 
and  confided  it  to  a  monk  to  publish  it,  in  case 
they  menaced  his  life  or  liberty. 

The  emperor  refused  to  consider  the  church 
of  St.  Peter  an  inviolable  asylum  for  a  crimi- 
nal and  audacious  priest,  who  dared  to  brave 
him  even  on  his  throne.  He  ordered  the 
pra'tor,  charged  with  arresting  robbers  and 
murderers,  to  draw  Vigilius  from  his  retreat, 
and  sent  the  ordinary  officer  of  justice,  with 
a  detachment  of  soldiers,  as  his  guard. 

The  troop  having  penetrated  into  the  church 
with  drawn  swords  and  bended  bows,  ad- 
vanced to  seize  the  pope,  who  was  concealed 
under  the  high  altar,  the  pillars  of  which  he 
embraced.  Then  the  praetor,  on  the  refusal 
of  the  pontiff  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  prince, 
was  obliged  to  employ  violence.  He  ordered 
the  soldiers  to  drive  out  the  deacons  and 
clerks  with  blows  of  their  halberds,  and  to 
bring  forth  the  holy  father  from  his  sanctuary  ; 
drawing  him  by  the  feet,  the  hair  and  the 
beard.  As  Vigilius  was  large  and  vigorous, 
he  broke  two  pillars  of  the  altar  in  the  strug- 
gle ;  so  that,  ludess  the  clerks  had  upheld  the 
holy  table,  it  would  have  fallen  upon  him  and 
crushed  him.  But,  during  the  arrest,  the  peo- 
ple, excited  to  revolt  by  the  priests,  assembled 
in  array,  attacked  the  prtetor  with  fury,  drove 
the  troops  from  the  church,  and  maintained 
Vigilius  in  his  asylum. 

Justinian,  in  his  turn,  was  obliged  to  pro- 
pose terms  of  accommodation.  Three  persons 
of  the  court  came,  in  his  name,  to  represent 
to  the  pontiff  that,  in  taking  refuge  in  a  church, 
lie  had  committed  an  outrage  on  the  emperoi-, 
whom  he  aj)peared  to  regard  as  a  tyrant. 
They  engaged  him  to  repress  the  fanaticism 
of  his  priests,  who  incited  revolts,  and  desig- 
nated tne  prince  to  the  vengeance  of  the  jieo- 
))le.  They  warned  him  that  if  he  should  do 
otherwise,  .lustinian,  to  put  an  end  to  the  dis- 
orders, would  be  compelled  to  employ  more 
violent  means,  and  to  besiege  the  church  of 
St.  Peter.  Finally,  they  promised  the  pontifi', 
if  he  would  consent  to  go  to  the  palace  of  Pla- 
cidius, to  give  all  the  guaranties  and  sur(>ties 
he  should  require.  Vigilius  replied,  that  he 
would  yield  to  their  wishes,  on  condition  that 
they  should  force  neither  him  nor  his  to  ap- 
prove of  articles  of  failh  which  their  con- 
science rejected.  Justinian  consented  to  take 
this  solemn  engagement,  but  the  proud  pontiff 


demanded  to  prescribe  the  terms,  and  the 
clauses  of  the  oath.  It  was  then  signified  to 
him,  that  if  he  were  unwilling  to  accept  the 
conditions  offered  him,  he  would  be  taken 
from  the  church  by  soldiers,  and  condemned 
to  finish  his  days  in  a  dungeon.  This  threat 
determined  him  to  return  to  the  palace  of 
Placidius. 

Scarcely  was  he  installed  in  his  old  resi- 
dence, when,  in  contempt  of  the  pledged  word, 
the  holy  father  was  overwhelmed  with  out- 
rtages,  and  exposed  to  the  most  infamous  treat- 
ment. The  officers  of  the  emperor  tore  him 
from  the  palace,  and  led  him  through  the 
streets  of  the  city,  and  striking  him  on  the 
cheek,  said  to  the  people,  "  Behold  the  chas- 
tisement with  which  our  most  illustrious  em- 
peror punishes  this  rebellious  and  obstinate 
priest ;  this  odious  pontiff,  who  strangled  the 
unfortunate  Silverus;  this  infamous  sodomite, 
who  killed  with  a  club  a  poor  child  who  re- 
sisted him."  After  this  ceremony  he  was 
reconducted  to  the  palace,  and  guarded  as  a 
prisoner  by  the  soldiers  of  the  prince. 

Two  days  before  Christmas  he  managed  to 
deceive  the  vigilance  of  those  who  g-uarded 
him.  He  climbed,  during  the  night,  a  small 
wall  which  had  been  constructed  around  his 
prison,  fled  from  Constantinople,  and  took 
refuge  in  the  church  of  St.  Euphemia  of  Chal- 
cedon.  To  escape  the  wrath  of  the  emperor^ 
he  feigned  to  have  fallen  dangerously  sick. 

As  soon  as  Justinian  was  apprised  of  the 
flight  of  Vigilius,  he  sent  several  persons  of 
distinction  to  induce  him  to  leave  St.  Euphe- 
mia, and  return  to  Constantinople,  where  he 
should  receive  all  the  satisfaction  he  desired. 
This  time  the  pope  rejected  the  ad^-ances  of 
the  prince,  and  threatened  him  with  deciding, 
on  his  own  authority,  the  religious  question 
of  the  three  chapters,  if  he  should  refuse  to 
submit  to  the  judgment  of  a  council  of  bishops 
of  the  West.  In  fact,  he  made  a  decree, 
which  he  called  a  constitution,  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  former  judgment ;  and  in  this  bull, 
addressed  to  the  emperor,  he  revoked  the 
anathemas  he  had  before  launched  against 
those  who  adopted  the  three  chapters.  Another 
proof  that  the  Holy  See  is  not  infallible. 

Notwithstanding  the  absence  of  Vigilius, 
and  his  declared  opposition,  the  fifth  council 
of  Constantinople  continued  its  deliberations, 
condemned  the  three  chapters,  and  rejected 
the  pretensions  of  the  pope  as  outraging  the 
liberty  of  tht^  church.  It  results  from  these 
debates  between  the  bishops  of  the  East  and 
the  holy  fathiM",  that  the  councils  of  the  first 
ages  examined,  frequently  even  rejected  and 
condemned,  the  decisions  of  the  sovereign 
pontiff.  An  evident  proof  that  thev  did  not 
legard  his  decisions  as  clothed  with  the  cha- 
racter of  infallibility. 

Cardinal  Baronins  has  wished  to  contest  the 
authority  of  the  council  of  Constantinople  ; 
but  cardinal  Novis  has  ajiologized  for  it  in  a 
beautiful  and  learned  historical  dissertation, 
in  which  he  notices  several  errors  of  father 
Hallois.  It  is  true  that  an  impartial  author 
would   have  deduced  from   it  consequences 


116 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


still  more  unfavourable  to  the  Holy  See ;  never- 
theless, it  is  curious  to  see  an  adorer  of  the 
Roman  purple,  a  cardinal,  avow  that  the  deci- 
sion of  a  pope  had  been  condemned  by  an 
CEcumenical  council. 

The  three  chapters  having  been  anathema- 
tized, Vigilius  was  pressed  to  subscribe  to  the 
judgment  of  the  fathers ;  and  on  his  refusal, 
the  emperor  condemned  him  to  exile.  His  do- 
mestics were  taken  from  him  ;  the  bishops, 
priests,  and  deacons  of  his  party  were  dis- 
persed in  the  desert,  and  the  pope  was  aban- 
doned, during  six  entire  months,  without  any 
assistance,  to  the  pains  of  the  gravel,  a  disease 
from  which  he  had  suffered  constantly  during 
his  seven  years  sojourn  in  Constantinople. 

Theodore  of  Ceesarea,  guided  by  honoura- 
ble sentiments,  and  desirous  of  elevating  to 
the  Holy  See  a  venerable  man,  announced 
that  Vigilius  was  declared  a  heretic,  and  urged 
upon  the  Romans  to  choose  another  pope;  but 
by  one  of  those  eccentricities  of  the  human 
mind  which  we  see,  without  the  power  of 
explaining,  he  found  the  contempt  they  had 
so  long  borne  for  the  pope  was  changed  into 
respect  and  veneration.  The  Roman  clergy 
and  people  regarded  him  as  a  confessor  of  the 
faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  banished  and  persecuted 
for  the  defence  of  his  church ;  and  they  refused 
to  nominate  a  new  pontilT,  notwithstanding 
the  order  of  Narses,  who  commanded  for  the 
emperor  in  Italy. 

At  length  the  holy  father  was  tired  of  exile. 
The  evils  which  he  sutfered.  surmounted  the 
terror  with  which  the  Latin  bishops  inspired 
him,  and  he  declared  that  he  gave  his  approval 
to  the  council.  We  should  add,  that  this  tardy 
resolution  was  inspired  through  fear  of  seeing 
elevated  to  the  see  of  St.  Peter  the  famous 
deacon  Pelagius,  who,  after  having  defended 
the  three  chapters,  had  made  his  submission, 
and  had  engaged  to  execute  the  will  of  the 
prince. 

Vigilius  wrote  a  letter  to  the  patriarch  £u- 
tychius,  in  which  he  admitted  himself  to  have 
been  wanting  in  charity  in  separating  from 
his  brethren.  He  adds,  that  we  .should  never 
be  ashamed  of  retracting  when  we  have  fallen 
into  error.  He  cites  the  example  of  St.  Au- 
gustin,  and  thus  terminates  his  letter  :  '-We 
advise  the  whole  Catholic  church,  that  we 
condemn  and  anathematize  Theodore  of  Mop- 
suesta,  and  his  impious  writings,  as  well  as 
all  other  heretics;  the  works  of  Theodoret 
against  St.  Cyril,  against  the  council  Ephesus, 
and  those  who  have  written  in  favour  of  Theo- 
dore and  Nestorius,  as  well  as  the  letter  to 
Maris  the  Persian,  which  is  attributed  to 
Ibas.  We  submit  to  the  same  excommunica- 
tion, those  who  maintain  and  defend  the  chap- 
ters, or  who  shall  undertake  to  do  so.  We 
recognize  as  our  brethren  and  colleag-ues  those 
who  condemn  them,  and  we  reverse,  by  this 
new  bull,  all  that  has  been  done  by  ourselves 
or  others,  in  defence  of  the  three  chapters." 

The  letter  of  Vigilius  is  still  found  in  Gre- 
cian works;  but  the  sacred  historians  have 
judged  it  prudent  to  leave  it  in  oblivion.  There 


remains  only  in  Latin  a  constitution,  much  more 
in  detail,  in  which  the  holy  father  condemns 
the  three  chapters.  He  confesses  that  the 
letter  of  St.  Leo  was  not  approved  by  the 
council  of  Chalcedon,  until  after  it  had  been 
e.xamined  and  found  conformable  with  the 
faith  of  preceding  councils;  a  very  important 
avowal,  which  the  priests  now  deny. 

Thus  the  pontiff  accomplished  this  great 
iniquity,  and  solemnly  condemned  the  memory 
of  prelates  who  had  died  in  the  peace  of  the 
church. 

The  testimony  of  nine  Grecian,  Latin,  and 
Arabian  authors,  several  of  whom  wrote  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Justinian,  guarantees  the  au- 
thenticity of  these  facts.  We  will  refer  those 
who  doubt  the  accuracy  of  history,  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  infamy  of  the  holy  father, 
to  the  very  terms  of  the  sixth  general  councilj 
of  which  we  relate  the  substance. 

"  The  emperor  Marcian  approved  of  the 
letter  of  St.  Leo;  Anatolius,  bishop  of  Con- 
stantinople, also  approved  of  it;  and  it  was 
generally  received  by  all  the  council  of  Chal- 
cedon, which  condemned  the  sentiments  of 
Eutyches.  Vigilius  so  understood  it  also,  with 
the  emperor  Justinian,  and  the  fifth  council 
was  convoked  to  anathematize  the  abomina- 
ble libels  which  were  secretly  spread  abroad." 

All  this  testimony  shows  that  Vigilius  for- 
mally condemned  the  three  chapters,  and  ap- 
proved of  the  council  of  Constantinople,  that 
he  might  obtain  permission  to  return  to  Rome, 
and  remount  the  Holy  See.  Before  his  depar- 
ture he  obtained  from  Justinian  a  decree  in 
favour  of  Italy,  in  which  the  prince  confirms 
all  the  donations  made  to  the  Romans  by 
Athalaric,  Almasontus  and  Theodatus,  and 
revoked  those  of  Totila.  He  also  declared 
that  the  marriages  of  ecclesiastics  with  vir- 
gins consecrated  to  God,  were  null  in  the 
eye  of  the  law.  At  this  period  they  were 
unused  to  celibacy,  and  the  priests  even  mar- 
ried nuns. 

Vigilius  was  returning  to  Rome  to  weigh 
down  the  people  under  a  yoke  of  despotism 
and  terror.  Happily  he  did  not  realize  the 
reveries  of  his  ambition.  During  his  journey,  a 
poisoned  beverage  was  given  to  him,  and  he 
died  at  Syracuse  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
555,  after  having  held  the  Holy  See  for  eigh- 
teen years  and  a  half,  carrying  with  him  to 
his  tomb  the  hatred  of  the  Latins  and  the  exe- 
cration of  the  Greeks.  His  body  was  carried 
to  Rome,  and  interred  in  the  church  of  St. 
Marcellus. 

The  ancient  martyrologists  ranked  him 
among  the  saints,  with  the  title  of  martyr; 
but  the  church  has  not  confinned  this  canoni- 
zation. 

The  holy  father,  elevated  to  his  greatness 
by  an  odious  murder,  underwent  in  the  course 
of  his  pontificate  incredible  sufferings,  with- 
out even  exciting  compassion.  His  history  ia 
a  long  catalogue  of  horrors  and  abominations. 
A  knave,  a  miser,  a  suborner,  and  an  assassin, 
Vigilius  died,  abusing  religion  and  deceiving 
men. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


117 


PELAGIUS  THE  FIRST,  SIXTY-SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  557. — Justinian,  Emperor  of  the  East;  and  Childeeert,  King  of  France.] 

Birth  of  Pelas,ms — •S'ee  of  Rome — Politics  of  Pelagius — Pillage  of  Rome  by  Tolila,  king  of 
the  Goths — Pelagius  goes  to  Constantinople — His  fanaticism  against  the  Orige7iistes — Violent 
disputes  between  Pelagius  and  Theodore  of  Alexandria — Pelagius  usurps  the  sovereign  ponti- 
ficate— The  priests  accuse  him  of  poisoning  Vigilius — The  bishops  refuse  to  consecrate  him — 
Pelagius  purges  himself,  by  oath,  of  the  crimes  imputed  to  him — He  distributes  great  largesses 
among  the  people  vnth  the  money  brought  from  Constantinople  by  his  predecessor — The  holy 
father  excites  Narses  to  persecute  the  heretics — Refections  upon  the  genius  of  persecution, 
which  has  alirays  di.'^tinguishcd  Catholicism — Pelagius  sends  relics  to  king  Childebert — Coun- 
cil of  Paris — Death  of  the  sovereign  pontiff. 


Pelagius  was  by  birth  a  Roman,  and  the 
son  of  John,  an  ancient  vicar  of  the  prefecture. 
When  Vigihus  was  compelled  to  leave  Rome  to 
go  to  Constantinople  by  command  of  Justi- 
nian, he  sent  from  Sicily  several  vessels 
laden  with  grain,  to  lighten  the  sutlerings  of 
the  people ;  but  as  the  Goths  were  then  be- 
sieging the  city,  the  vessels  were  captured  at 
Porto,  and  Rome  continued  in  a  state  of  fa- 
mine. Pelagius.  Mho  had  already  made  his 
preparations  to  become  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
seized  upon  this  occasion  to  increase  his  po- 
pularity. He  bought  from  the  Goths  the  grain 
they  had  captured,  and  distributed  it  to  the 
poor  and  sick.  The  Romans,  in  gratitude, 
named  him  chief  of  an  embassy  charged  with 
demanding  from  the  king  of  the  Goths  a  truce 
of  some  days,  at  the  end  of  which  they  would 
surrender  at  discretion,  unless  relieved  from 
Constantinople. 

Totila  refused  to  listen  to  the  offers  of  the 
Roman  deputies — their  embassy  having  put 
him  in  possession  of  their  desperate  situation — 
pushed  the  siege  with  vigour,  and  three  days 
after  stormed  the  city.  Above  all  things,  the 
barbarian  wished  to  enter  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  "to  render,"  as  he  said,  "solemn  thanks 
to  God  for  the  success  of  his  army."  Pela- 
gius received  him  at  the  head  of  the  clergy, 
holding  the  Bible  in  his  hands.  He  prostrated 
himself  at  the  feet  of  the  king,  whilst  the 
priests  exclaimed,  in  mournful  tones,  "  My 
Lord,  spare  your  own  !  The  God  of  armies  has 
submitted  us  to  your  authority.  Spare  your 
subjects."  Totila  listened  to  their  entreaties. 
He  prohibited  the  Goths  from  continuing  their 
massacres  or  violating  females,  and  only  per- 
mitted them  to  pluniler.  He  broke  down  the 
walls  of  the  city,  and  destroyed  many  fine 
buildings.  The  sack  of  Rome  contiinied  forty 
days,  and  the  Goths  retired  from  this  expedi- 
tion on  the  receipt  of  the  intelligence  that  Be- 
lisarius  was  coming,  with  a  powerful  army,  to 
the  succour  of  Italy. 

Pelagius  was  then  sent  by  the  clergy  to 
Constantinople,  to  have  a  surveillance  over 
Vigilius.  He  obtained  at  the  court  of  Justi- 
nian the  title  of  the  nuncio  of  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  was  honoured  with  the  confidence 
of  that  prince.  Soon  after  the  emperor  sent 
him  to  Gaza  with  Ephraim  of  Antioch,  Peter 
of  Jerusalem,  and  Hippacius  of  Ephesus,  to 
carry  the  pallium  to  Paul  of  Alexandria,  and 
to  consecrate  there  Zoilus  patriarch  of  that  city. 


He  acquitted  himself  faithfully  in  his  mis- 
sion, and  returned  to  Constantinople  the  fol- 
lowing month.  During  his  sojourn  in  that  cit}', 
several  monks  presented  to  him  extracts  from 
the  writings  of  Origen,  whence  they  wished 
to  obtain  from  the  emperor  the  condemnation 
of  the  monks  of  New  Lama,  who  had  adopted 
the  singular  opinions  of  this  father  of  the 
Greek  church,  and  who  excited  trouble  in  the 
convents  of  Palestine.  Pelagius,  who  was  the 
avowed  enemy  of  Theodore  of  Cappadocia, 
the  partisan  of  Origen,  and  who  had  constantly 
opposed  his  intrigues  for  the  pontificate,  hast- 
ened to  seize  this  opportunity  of  avenging 
himself.  He  joined  himself  to  Mennas,  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  to  obtain  from  the 
emperor  an  assent  to  the  request  of  the  monks 
of  Palestine,  to  condemn  the  heretics.  But  his 
attempts  were  frustrated  by  Justinian,  who 
published  the  famous  edict  on  the  three  chap- 
ters, composed  by  Theodore  of  Cappadocia. 
Pelagius,  foiled  in  his  revenge,  excited  against 
this  decree  all  the  Catholics  whom  he  could 
find  ready  to  second  him.  Thanks  to  the 
nuncio,  the  scandals  and  disorders  were  so 
great,  that  the  bishop  Theodore  said,  "  that 
Pelagius  and  himself  deserved  to  be  burned 
alive,  for  having  excited  in  the  church  so 
violent  disputes,  and  for  having  made  use  of 
religion,  that  mantle  which  covers  all  sins,  to 
gratify  their  feelings  of  hatred  and  jea- 
lousy." 

Pelagius  was  condemned  to  exile,  and  did 
not  obtain  his  pardon  from  the  emperor  until 
after  he  had  subscribed  to  the  edict,  and  made 
his  submission  to  the  council.  Justinian  then 
restored  him  to  his  favour,  and  promised  to 
cause  him  to  be  consecrated  bishop  of  Rome 
after  the  death  of  Vigilius. 

At  length,  the  sovereign  pontiff,  having  ob- 
tained permission  to  return  to  Italy,  Pelagius 
demanded  penni.ssion  to  accompany  him  on 
his  journey,  and  we  know  that  Vigilius  died 
at  Syracuse  from  the  etfects  of  a  poisoned 
beverage  !  Pelagius  immediately  clothed  him- 
self with  the  pontifical  mantle,  and  without 
waiting  the  result  of  a  reafular  election,  de- 
clared himself  bishop  of  Rome,  by  the  autho- 
rity of  the  emperor  Justinian.  Neverlh<'lcss, 
on  his  arrival  in  the  holy  city,  the  bishops  re- 
fused to  ratify  his  usurpation,  and  publicly 
accused  him  of  the  death  of  his  predecessor. 
The  Roman  cleriry,  the  religiousorders,and  the 
people  refused  the  communion  of  the  pontiff. 


118 


HISTORY"    OF    THE    POPES. 


and  he  found  but  three  priests  who  consented 
to  proceed  with  his  ordination. 

In  tliis  general  abandonment,  Pelagius  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  patrician  Narses,  and 
demanded  his  protection.  The  latter,  in  order 
to  obey  the  orders  of  his  prince,  consented  to 
sustain  the  new  pope.  He  ordained  a  solemn 
procession,  in  which  he  displayed  all  the  luxury 
and  all  the  pomp  of  great  ceremonies,  in 
order  to  attract  a  crowd. 

The  procession,  starting  from  the  church 
of  St.  Pancras,  directed  its  route  towards  that 
of  St.  Peter.  When  it  had  arrived  in  the  in- 
terior of  this  church,  the  holy  father  took  the 
Gospels  in  one  hand,  the  cross  in  the  other, 
placed  them  above  his  head,  and  in  this  posi- 
tion he  mounted  the  pulpit,  in  order  to  be 
seen  by  the  whole  assembly.  Then  he  pro- 
tested his  innocence,  took  God  as  his  witness, 
and  swore  by  the  holy  mysteries  and  the  body 
of  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  was  not  culpable  of 
the  death  of  Vigilius,  and  that  he  had  not 
aided  at  all  in  the  sufferings  he  had  under- 
gone at  Constantinople.  He  besought  the  faith- 
ful to  unite  with  him  to  put  an  end  to  the 
disorders  which  existed  in  the  church,  and 
demanded  from  them  their  children,  in  order 
to  increase  the  number  of  the  clergy. 

Pelagius  then  created  new  otficers,  and 
made  great  largesses  to  the  people,  with  the 
money  which  Vigilius  had  brought  with  him 
from  Constantinople.  Nevertheless,  the  schism 
was  not  healed.  The  supporters  of  the  three 
chapters  were  numerous,  especially  in  Tus- 
cany, Lombardy,  and  the  other  provinces. 
They  did  not  pardon  the  holy  father  for  having 
subscribed  to  the  acts  of  the  fifth  council,  and 
for  having  committed  an  abominable  parri- 
cide, in  order  to  elevate  himself  to  the  ponti- 
ficate. 

In  despite  of  the  clamors  of  the  Romans, 
Pelagius,  sustained  by  the  imperial  authority, 
maintained  himself  on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 
He  gave  the  superintendence  of  the  property 
of  the  church  to  Valentine,  his  secretary,  and 
presented  to  all  the  churches  vessels  of  gold 
and  silver,  as  well  as  the  veils  which  had 
been  carried  off  by  the  priests  during  the  trou- 
bles. He  applied  himself  to  repress  the  here- 
sies in  Italy,  and  incited  Narses  to  persecute 
the  unfortunate  schismatics. 

'■'  Do  not  listen,"  said  he,  "  to  the  idle  talk 
of  timid  men,  who  blame  the  church  when  it 
commands  a  persecution  for  the  purpose  of 
repressing  error,  in  order  to  save  souls.  Schisms 
are  violent  evils,  which  must  be  cured  by 
strong  and  terrible  remedies ;  and  Scripture 
and  the  canons  authorize  us  to  call  in  the  aid 
of  magistrates  to  compel  schismatics  to  re- 
enter into  the  bosom  of  the  church.  Do,  then, 
that  which  we  have  frequently  asked  from 
you  ;  send  to  the  emperor,  well  guarded,  those 
who  have  separated  themselves  from  the 
apostolic  see.  Have  no  fears  for  your  eternal 
safety ;  the  examples  of  the  great  saints  will 
teach  you  that  princes  ought  to  punish  here- 
tics, not  only  by  exile,  but  also  by  the  confis- 
cation of  property,  by  severe  imprisonment, 
and  even  by  torture." 


The  eunuch  Narses,  an  excellent  soldier, 
and  personally  brave,  constantly  opposed  the 
violent  measures  which  the  holy  father  pro- 
posed. He  sought,  on  the  other  hand,  by  his 
mildness  and  tolerance,  to  induce  a  disposi- 
tion more  conformable  to  the  precepts  of  the 
Bible.  In  fact,  it  was  said  that  the  man-of-war 
acted  as  the  shepherd  ]  and  the  shepherd  as 
the  man-of-war.  We  are  about  to  discover 
that  the  clergy  have  always  found  great  plea- 
sure in  swimming  in  blood  and  contemplating 
carnage ;  and  that  they  have  even  surpassed 
kings  in  their  cruelty  when  they  have  pos- 
ses.sed  the  sovereign  power.  It  is  a  truth,  un- 
fortunately established  by  history,  that  reli- 
gious intolerance,  during  more  than  two  thou- 
sand years,  has  depopulated  the  most  flourish- 
ing states,  lighted  among  all  nations  the 
torches  of  fanaticism,  excited  in  all  coun- 
tries butcheries,  murders,  and  incendiarism  j 
and  has,  above  all,  led  to  violations  and  mas- 
sacres. What  is  the  most  deplorable  is,  that 
the  ministers  of  all  these  cruelties  have  veiled 
them  from  the  eyes  of  the  people,  under  the 
specious  pretext  of  maintaining  the  orthodoxy 
of  the  church,  and  have  caused  a  religion 
sublime  in  its  morality  to  be  execrated.  The 
misfortunes  under  which  humanity  has  groan- 
ed, have  had  no  other  origin  than  the  ambition 
of  priests,  or  the  pride  of  sovereigns.  Never- 
theless, the  partizans  of  theocracy  affirm,  that 
the  priests  are  not  persecutors  when  they  force 
men  to  enter  upon  the  true  path  ]  and  they 
rely  upon  the  famous  words  of  the  evangelist, 
"  Constrain  them  to  enter." 

But  from  this  odious  principle  the  orthodox 
furnish  arms  against  themselves  ;  for,  accord- 
ing to  their  own  maxims,  heretics  should  cause 
torrents  of  blood  to  flow  in  those  countries  va. 
which  their  power  is  supreme. 

People  !  repulse  these  impious  men,  whose 
avarice  and  ambition  are  concealed  under  the 
mask  of  hypocrisy.  Return  to  sentiments  more 
elevated,  and  believe,  whatever  may  be  your 
creed,  that  love  and  charity  for  your  brethren 
are  the  only  acts  agreeable  to  God. 

Pelagius,  who  was  entirely  opposed  to  sen- 
timents of  tolerance,  renewed  his  entreaties 
to  Narses  to  second  his  projects  of  vengeance. 
The  heretics,  on  their  side,  excommunicated 
the  Grecian  general,  because  he  seemed  to 
protect  the  infamous  Pelagius.  The  holy  father 
hastened  to  congratulate  Narses  that  Provi- 
dence had  permitted  him  to  be  anathematized, 
in  order  to  cause  the  purity  of  his  faith  to 
shine  forth ;  at  the  same  time  he  induced  him 
to  take  a  brilliant  vengeance  for  the  act,  by 
sending  the  guilty,  and  particularly  Paulinus, 
bishop  of  Aquilea,  whom  he  called  an  usurper, 
bound,  hand  and  foot,  to  Constantinople.  He 
also  pointed  out  to  the  wrath  of  the  patrician 
another  schismatic  bishop  named  Euphrasius, 
who  was  accused  of  homicide  and  incestuous 
adultery. 

To  show  the  effects  of  the  vengeance  of 
the  pontiff,  the  prelates  of  Tuscany  wrote  to 
him  in  justification  of  their  separation.  Pela- 
gius replied  to  them :  "  How  is  it  that  you 
do  not  believe  yourselves  separate  from  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


119. 


communion  of  the  faithful,  when  you  do  not 
recite  my  name  in  your  prayers,  according  to 
the  established  usage  of  the  church  I  For  all 
unworthy  as  I  am,  it  is  in  my  person  that  are 
lodged  the  powers  granted  by  God  to  the  suc- 
cessors of  St.  Peter.  But,  to  put  an  end  to 
the  evil  thoughts  which  must  exist  in  your 
minds,  and  among  your  people,  as  to  the  purity 
of  my  faith,  I  declare  to  you,  that  I  conform 
to  the  decisions  of  the  councils  of  Nice.  Con- 
stantinople, Ephesus,  and  Chalcedon  ;  that  I 
anathematize  all  who  doubt  the  orthodoxy  of 
these  four  cecumenical  assemblies,  as  well  as 
the  letter  of  pope  Leo,  conlirmed  by  the  synod 
of  Chalcedon." 

A  large  number  of  the  bishops  of  Gaul  also 
expressed  theirdiscontent  with  the  holy  father, 
andcomplaiired  to  kingChildebert  of  the  scan- 
dal which  his  condemnation  of  the  three  chap- 
ters caused  in  the  church.  The  prince  charged 
Rufinus,  his  embassador  at  Koine,  to  demand 
an  explanation  of  this  judgment,  in  order  to 
submit  it  to  the  clergy  of  France.  Pelagius 
hastened  to  reply  to  the  king,  and  at  the  same 
time  sent  him  relics  of  the  apostles  and 
martyrs,  which  he  commended  to  his  piety. 
His  profession  of  faith  explained  the  myste- 
ries of  the  Trinity,  and  of  the  incarnation,  as 
well  as  the  dogma  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  In  his  private  letter,  addressed  to  the 
sovereign,  he  praised  the  greatness  of  Childe- 
bert,  and  said  to  him,  •'  that,  according  to  the 
words  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  '•  the  Levites  of 
the  Lord  should  be  in  submission  to  the  powers 
of  the  earth."' 

In  the  third  council  of  Paris,  which  was 
held  the  same  year,  the  fathers  made  several 
canons  to  prevent  the  usurpation  of  church 
property.  At  this  period  of  barbarity  and  igno- 
rance, some  lords  despoiled  their  families, 
through  devotion,  to  enrich  the  monasteries, 
whilst  others  pillaged  monasteries  to  seize  on 
their  wealth.  Among  their  benefactors  the 
monks  cite  duke  Crodin.  According  to  their 
legends,  it  appears  that  this  lord  employed 
his  immense  treasures  in  building,  every  year, 
three  palaces ;  that  he  called  in  the  neigh- 
bouring prelates  to  inaugurate  them ;  and  after 
having  bestowed  on  them  sumptuous  repasts, 
he  distributed  among  them,  not  only  vessels 
of  silver,  rich  hangings,  costly  furniture,  and 
domestics,  but  also  the  palaces,  farms,  lands, 
cultivated  ground,  vineyards,  and  the  serfs 
who  cultivated  them. 

Still,  the  greater  part  of  the  nobles,  far  from 
imitating  the  example  of  the  pious  Crodin, 
seiztnl  upon  the  convents  with  armed  hands, 
pillaged  the  churches,  and  drove  the  priests 
or  the  monks  from  their  residences.  The 
synod  pronounced  the  penalties  of  excommu- 


nication against  those  who  should  retain  the 
property  of  the  clerg}-,  regular  or  secular ;  and 
declared  them  anathematized,  and  murderers 
of  the  poor,  until  they  should  have  restored 
the  domains  of  which  they  had  robbed  them. 
The  laity  were  prohibited  from  taking  pos- 
session of  bishoprics,  under  the    pretext  of 
supervising  the  administration  during  a  va- 
cancy; and  if  the  usurper  resided  in  another 
i  diocese,  the  council  commanded  the  priests  to 
'  address  their  reclamations  to  the  prelates  of 
j  the  province,  to  constrain  the  ravisher  to  re- 
store the  patrimony  of  the  ecclesiastics. 

The  fathers  declared  that  the  bishops  were 
the  guardians  of  the  charters  of  the  churches, 
and  the  protectors  of  the  property  of  the  clergy. 
They  prohibited  the  espousal  of  a  widow  or 
young  girl  ag-ainst  her  consent,  even  with  the 
authority  of  the  prince.  They  condemned 
marriages  between  kinsfolk,  and  persons  con- 
secrated to  God.  They  also  prohibited  the 
ordination  of  bishops  without  the  approbation 
of  the  citizens ;  and  in  case  a  priest  should 
seize  upon  the  see  by  order  of  the  sovereign, 
they  commanded  the  prelates  of  the  province 
to  reject  the  usurper,  under  penalty  of  being 
themselves  excluded  from  the  communion  of 
the  faithful.  Finally,  the  last  canon  sent  back 
to  the  metropolitan,  judginent  on  ordinations 
already  made,  and  which  were  tainted  with 
irregularity.  Such  were  the  important  deci- 
sions of  the  synod  of  Paris. 

Among  the  prelates  who  assisted  at  that 
synod,  one  of  the  most  illustrious  was  St.  Ger- 
main of  Paris,  bishop  of  that  city.  He  was 
born  in  Autun,  of  very  religious  parents,  who 
placed  him,  when  very  young,  in  a  cloister 
in  the  little  city  of  Avalon,  where  he  obtained 
his  early  education.  In  the  course  of  time 
he  was  elevated  by  his  merit  to  the  dignity 
of  abbot  of  St.  Symphorien,  a  monastery  situ- 
ated in  one  of  the  faubourgs  of  Autun.  Then 
his  community  sent  him  to  the  fifth  council 
of  OrleaiKs,  where  his  learning  and  great  piety 
acquired  for  him  the  esteem  of  his  colleag-ues. 
and  procured  for  him  the  episcopal  see  oi 
Paris,  which  was  vacant  through  the  death 
of  Eusebius.  Greatness  did  not  change  the 
habits  of  the  pious  abbot :  he  was  as  simple, 
as  detached  from  the  world,  as  before ;  and  it 
appeared  that  he  had  not  accepted  the  high 
distinction  of  bishop,  but  to  show  to  other 
prelates  that  it  was  possible  to  practise  at 
once,  the  duties  of  the  episcopate  and  the 
austerities  of  the  convent. 

Pelagius  died  in  5r)9.  after  having  reigned 
three  years  and  ten  months,  in  the  midst  of 
schisms,  which  separated  from  his  see  the 
church  of  the  East,  and  a  part  of  that  of  the 
West, 


120 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


JOHN  THE  THIRD,  SIXTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  560. — Justinian  and  Justin  the  Second,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

The  obscurity  of  the  history  of  John  the  Third — Election  of  the  pontiff— Two  bishops  of  Gaul 
condemned  and  deposed  for  their  crimes,  appeal  to  the  pope,  and  are  reinstalled  in  their  sees— 
They  are  a  second  time  condemned  by  the  council  of  Chalons — Death  of  John. 


The  chronicles  of  the  church  towards  the 
end  of  the  sixth  century  are  barren  of  events, 
and  the  history  of  the  pontificates,  the  most 
important  in  their  duration,  is  developed  in  a 
few  pages. 

After  the  death  of  Pelagius,  John,  sur- 
named  Cateline,  was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 
The  new  pontiff  finished  the  churches  of 
St.  Philip  and  St.  James,  commenced  by  his 
predecessor,  and  enriched  them  with  mo- 
saics and  paintings,  whose  subjects  were 
drawn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  dedi- 
cated those  temples  ;  and  it  is  believed  that 
he  instituted  the  fete  of  the  apostles  Philip  and 
James.  The  cemetery  of  the  martyrs  was 
also  increased  by  his  care  ;  and  he  ordained 
that  on  Sundays  the  church  ^f  the  Lateran 
should  furnish  this  oratory  with  bread,  wine, 
and  lights. 

Six  years  after  the  election  of  the  pontiff, 
two  bishops  of  the  kingdom  of  Gontran,  scan- 
dalized the  community  by  their  abominable 
lives.  The  prince  assembled  a  council  at 
Lj'ons,  which  declared  the  two  prelates  de- 
posed for  the  crimes  of  adultery,  rape,  and 
murder. 

Instead  of  submitting  to  this  decision,  these 


unworthy  prelates  accused  the  synod  of  hav- 
ing exceeded  its  powers,  and  appealed  from 
it  to  the  pope,  who  had  the  boldness  to  rein- 
stall them  in  their  sees.  Thus  the  court  of 
Rome  justified  the  most  condemnable  actions, 
when  those  who  committed  them  aided  in 
augmenting  the  pontifical  power  ! 

The  g-uilty  prelates,  finding  themselves  sus- 
tained by  the  Holy  See.  persevered  in  their 
excesses,  and  their  debaucheries  were  such, 
that  the  clergy  of  Burgimdy  anathematized 
them  anew,  in  an  assembly  held  at  Chalons, 
where  they  were  declared  prevaricating  bish- 
ops, traitors  to  their  country,  and  guilty  of 
lese-majesty. 

Some  authors  affirm,  that  John  the  Third 
did  not  approve  of  the  fifth  oecumenical  coun- 
cil. Cardinal  Norris  has  demonstrated  that 
this  is  untrue ;  and  father  Francis  Pagi 
agrees  with  him.  Both  found  their  opinions 
on  the  testimony  of  esteemed  authors,  but 
who  have  not  made  it  as  authentic  as  history 
demands. 

The  pope  died  in  572,  after  a  reign  of  thir- 
teen years,  and  was  interred  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 


BENEDICT  THE  FIRST,  SIXTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  573. — Justin  the  Second,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 
Election  of  Benedict  the  First — Famine  at   Rome — Death  of  the  pontiff. 


After  the  death  of  the  pontiff  John,  the 
Holy  See  remained  vacant  for  ten  months. 
Fleury,  in  his  Church  History,  attributes  this 
long  interregnum  to  the  baneful  effects  of  the 
ravages  which  the  Lombards  then  exercised 
in  Italy.  It  is.  however,  nearer  the  truth  to 
refer  the  cause  to  the  intrigues  which  always 
preceded  the  election  of  the  popes. 

Benedict  the  First,  surnamed  Bonosus,  a 
Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  Boniface,  hav- 
ing triumphed  over  his  competitors,  mounted 


upon  the  see  of  St.  Peter.  During  his  ponti- 
ficate the  misery  of  the  people  was  extreme, 
and  Ronie  would  have  succumbed  to  the  hor- 
rors of  famine,  if  the  emperor  Justin  the  Se- 
cond had  not  sent  from  Egypt  vessels  laden 
with  wheat,  to  succour  the  holy  city. 

The  actions  of  the  holy  father  remain 
enveloped  in  oblivion.  We  only  know  that 
he  died  in  577,  after  having  occupied  the 
apostolic  throne  for  four  years.  He  was  in- 
terred in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   POPES, 


121 


PELAGIUS  THE  SECOND,  SIXTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  577. — Tiberius  the  Second  and  Maurice,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Considerations  on  the  elections  of  popes  during  the  sixth  century — The  emperors  reserve  the 
right  of  confirming  the  nominulio)is  of  prelates — Election  of  Pelagius  the  Second — He 
receives  the  monks  of  Mount  Cassino — llie  pontiff  endeavours  to  reunite  the  church — Obsti- 
nacij  of  the  bishops  of  Istria — 2'hey  are  persecuted  by  order  of  the  pope — The  emperor  pro- 
hibits violence  against  schisnmtics — Gregory  of  Antioch  accused  of  incest — He  justifies  himself 
by  oath — John  tlie  Faster,  archbishop  of  Constantinople,  takes  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop — 
i)eath  of  Pelagius. 


The  pontiffs  of  Rome  had  considerably  aug- 
mented their  wealth  since  the  commence- 
ment ol"  the  sixth  century,  by  declaring  them- 
selves the  dispensers  of  a  fourth  part  of  the 
property  of  the  church;  and  they  were  soon 
able  to  form  a  powerful  party  in  the  holy  city. 
The  elections  then  lost  their  religious  charac- 
ter; the  ambitious,  who  desired  to  elevate 
themselves  upon  the  throne  of  St.  Peter,  were 
prodigal  of  their  gold  to  the  factious,  and  in- 
trigues degenerated  into  seditions. 

Up  to  this  period,  the  princes  had  not  occu- 
pied themselves  in  the  choice  of  the  pontilfs  ; 
but,  seeing  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See  in- 
crease, they  became  alarmed  at  the  power  of 
the  popes,  and  resolved  no  longer  to  permit 
the  clergy  and  people  to  be  independent  in 
the  election  of  their  bishops. 

Under  the  specious  pretext  that  this  liberty 
drew  in  its  train  seditions,  massacres,  and 
that  it  sometimes  even  drove  the  rivals  to 
form  secret  alliances  with  the  enemies  of  the 
state  to  sustain  their  pretensions,  the  empe- 
rors ordered  that  the  prelates  chosen  by  the 
suffrages  of  the  laity  and  clergy,  could  not  be 
consecrated,  nor  exercise  their  sacerdotal 
functions  without  their  approval.  They  re- 
served chiefly  the  right  of  confirming  the 
elections  of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  Ravenna, 
and  Milan,  and  left  to  their  ministers  the  care 
of  the  other  sees. 

Nevertheless,  when  an  eminent  ecclesiastic, 
known  to  be  agreeable  to  the  prince,  had 
been  chosen  by  the  people  as  chief  of  their 
diocese,  he  was  solemnly  consecrated,  without 
waiting  for  the  reply  of  the  emperor.  It  was 
the  same  when  war  or  pestilence  interrupted 
the  commmiication  between  the  East  and  the 
West.  Thus  the  ordination  of  Pelagius,  the 
successor  of  Benedict  the  First,  was  accom- 
plished. Rome,  besieged  by  its  enemies,  was 
so  closely  surrounded  that  no  one  could  leave 
the  city.  The  deplorable  state  of  the  church 
compelled  the  clergy  to  consecrate  their  chief, 
without  waiting  for  the  authority  of  Tiberius. 
After  the  siege  was  raised,  however,  tliey  sent 
the  deacon  Gregory  to  Constantinople  to  ob- 
tain the  approval  of  the  emperor  for  the 
enthroning  of  the  new  pontiff — the  Greek 
emperors  preserving  the  right  of  confirming 
the  elections  of  the  prelates  of  Italy  until  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century. 

Pelairius  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the 
son  of  Vinigildus.  In  the  beginnhig  of  his 
reign,  the  Lombards  ravaged  Italy,  massacred 
the  ministers  of  religion,  and  ruined  the  mo- 

VoL.  I.  Q 


nastery  of  Mount  Cassino.  The  monks  of  this 
convent,  who  escaped  the  swords  of  the  bar- 
barians, found  an  asylum  in  Rome,  where  the 
pope  permitted  them  to  build  a  new  retreat, 
near  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 

To  arrest  the  incursions  of  the  hordes  who 
sacked  the  Latin  cities,  Pelagius  demanded 
troops  from  Tiberius.  LTnfortuuately  the  war, 
which  this  prince  was  maintaining  against  the 
Persians,  rendered  this  negotiation  useless. 
Fearing  that  if  he  should  weaken  his  army 
by  dividing  his  forces,  he  would  not  be  able 
to  defend  the  empire  against  his  formidable 
adversaries,  he  refused  to  send  soldiers  to  the 
succour  of  Italy.  The  pontiff  then  turning  to 
another  side,  sought  the  aid  of  the  Frank 
kings,  and  besought  them  to  declare  war  on 
the  Lombards.  His  projects  failed  in  Gaul, 
as  they  had  done  in  Constantinople ;  and  his 
letters  addressed  to  the  bishop  of  Aries  and 
the  prelates  of  Auxerre,  to  obtain  the  protec- 
tion of  Gontran,  did  not  produce  any  effect. 

After  the  death  of  Tiberius  the  Second,  the 
new  emperor,  Maurice,  w^as  more  favourable  to 
Pelagius  that  his  predecessor.  At  the  solicita- 
tion of  the  deacon  Gregory,  he  sent  troops  to  the 
pontiff,  and  even  made  a  treaty  with  Childe- 
bert  the  Second,  king  of  Austrasia,  by  which 
he  paid  him  fifty  thousand  pennies  of  gold  to 
drive  the  Lombards  from  Italy.  The  Frank 
king  advanced  immediately  against  them,  but 
they  arrested  him  on  his  march,  and  bought 
his  alliance  for  a  sum  double  that  \\hieh  the 
Greek  emperor  had  paid  him.  Chddebert 
accepted  the  bribe,  and  suspended  hostilities, 
under  the  pretence  of  waiting  for  reinforce- 
ments. He  then  returned  into  Gaul,  and  the 
Roman  peninsula  was  delivered  up  to  the 
mercy  of  its  coiuiuerors. 

The  bishops  who  had  separated  themselves 
from  the  communion  of  the  Holy  See  on  ac- 
count of  the  fifth  council,  persevered  in  the 
schism,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  which 
John  the  Third  antl  Benedict  the  First  had 
made  to  bring  them  back  into  unity.  Pelairius 
the  Second,  solieitcd  by  his  deacon  Gregorj'. 
undertook  a  new  contest  with  them,  and  wish- 
ed to  constrain  them  to  return  to  the  bosom  of 
the  church.  He  wrote  to  the  prelates  of  Istria, 
obstinate  heretics,  and  besought  them  to  send 
deputies  to  Rome,  to  settle  a  schism  which 
scandalized  Christianity.  They  replied  that 
they  would  not  reunite  with  the  apostolical 
see,  which  was  dishonoured  by  popes  who 
persisted  in  culpable  errors,  antl  wished  to 
impose  them  on  the  faithfid.     The  metropo- 


122 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


litan  of  Aquileia  accused  the  holy  father  of 
having  betrayed  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  of  ana- 
thematizing the  doctrine  of  the  councils.  This 
primate,  imitating  the  examples  which  his  pre- 
decessors, Paulinus  and  Macedonius,  had  left 
him,  vigorously  opposed  the  pretensions  of 
Pelagius ;  and  in  the  end  his  successor,  Se- 
verus,  was  as  resolute  as  he  in  the  defence 
of  the  three  chapters. 

The  pontiff  having  vainly  displayed  against 
them  the  resources  of  his  eloquence,  and  the 
menace  of  ecclesiastical  thunder,  then  had 
recourse  to  the  temporal  power,  and  Smarag- 
dus,  governor  of  Italy,  seconded  the  criminal 
intolerance  of  the  pope  in  persecuting  the 
clergy  of  Istria.  He  drove  Severus  from  the 
see  of  Aquileia  ;  tore  him  from  his  cathedral, 
and  led  him  a  prisoner  to  Ravenna,  with  three 
other  prelates  and  an  old  man  named  Anthony, 
a  zealous  defender  of  the  church.  These  un- 
fortunate victims  of  the  violence  of  Smarag- 
dus  were  delivered  to  the  hands  of  the  exe- 
cutioners, and  by  force  of  torments  were  ob- 
liged to  commune  M'ith  one  of  the  slaves  of 
the  Holy  See,  John  the  apostate,  bishop  of 
Ravenna,  who  had  himself,  iy  former  times, 
approved  of  the  three  chapters,  and  had  been 
separated  from  the  court  of  Rome  for  that 
crime.  After  their  abjuration,  Severus  and 
the  other  prisoners  obtained  permission  to  re- 
turn to  Grada ;  but  the  schismatical  people 
and  clergy,  regarding  them  as  apostates,  did 
not  wish  to  receive  them  into  the  city,  nor  to 
hold  communion  with  them. 

The  heretics,  convinced  of  the  excellence 
of  their  doctrines,  resisted  with  firmness  the 
persecution  of  Pelagfus,  and  animated  by  reli- 
gious enthusiasm,  they  openly  proclaimed 
themselves  the  defenders  of  the  three  chap- 
ters, in  order  to  obtain  the  palm  of  martyr- 
dom. The  courage  they  exhibited  in  their 
punishments,  determined  the  usurper  to  sus- 
pend the  executions.  He  ordered  Smaragdus 
to  put  an  end  to  the  violence  exercised  against 
them,  and  to  repress  the  fanaticism  of  the 
holy  father,  until  Italy  should  be  delivered 
from  the  Lombards,  and  should  have  recovered 
its  liberty.  He  promised  then  to  convoke  the 
bishops  of  the  West  in  council,  to  judge  the 
guilty  and  to  continue  the  persecutions. 

Three  years  after,  in  589,  Gregory  of  Antioch, 
accused  of  incest  with  his  sister,  by  a  layman, 
exculpated  himself  by  oath  before  a  synod,  held 
at  Constantinople.  The  accuser  of  the  prelate 
was  declared  a  calumniator,  condemned  to  ba- 
nishment, dragged  ignominiously  through  the 
streets  of  the  city,  and  beaten  by  the  execu- 
tioner with  a  thong  of  ox  hide  stuck  with  sharp 
Eoints.  The  assembly  before  which  Gregory 
ad  justified  himself  was  presided  over  by 
John  the  Faster,  patriarch  of  the  imperial 
city,  who  took  the  title  of  universal  bishop,  to 
show  that  the  chiefs  of  the  Eastern  clergy  had 
submitted  to  his  authority.  As  soon  as  Pela- 
gius was  advised  of  the  ambitious  pretensions 
of  John,  he  sent  letters  to  Byzantium,  declar- 
ing that,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  granted  him 
by  St.  Peter,  he  annulled  the  acts  of  the  synod 
of  Constantinople,  and  prohibited  the  deacons 


of  the  emperor  from  assisting  at  divine  ser- 
vice celebrated  by  a  proud  priest,  who  would 
destroy  the  equality  of  the  church,  and  who 
took  a  title  so  contrary  to  episcopal  humility. 

During  that  same  year,  Recaredus,  king  of 
the  Visigoths,  after  having  publicly  adopted, 
in  concert  with  the  grandees  of  his  kingdom, 
the  Catholic  religion,  assembled  a  council  at 
Toledo,  to  which  were  convoked  the  lords  and 
prelates  of  all  the  countries  of  his  sway,  to 
condemn  the  Arian  heresy  with  which  the 
people  were  infected.  Seventy-four  bishops 
and  six  representatives  of  prelates  assisted  at 
this  synod,  over  which  the  king  presided  in 
person.  The  session  was  opened  by  read- 
ing a  profession  of  faith,  subscribed  by  the 
king,  and  queen  Baddo,  his  wife,  in  which 
were  formularies  of  violent  accusations  against 
the  doctrine  of  Arius  and  his  accomplices, 
and  which  terminated  by  a  defence  of  the  four 
great  cecumenical  councils  recognized  by  the 
church.  The  king  then  invited  the  fathers  to 
deliberate  upon  reforms  capable  of  remedying 
the  disorders.  The  council  decreed  that  priests 
and  bishops,  instead  of  living  publicly  wath 
their  wives,  as  they  had  before  done,  should 
maintain  more  mystery  in  their  carnal  inter- 
course, and  should  not  sleep  in  the  same  cham- 
ber with  them.  They  also  prohibited  children 
who  were  the  fruit  of  illicit  unions  from  being 
put  to  death.  He  compelled  the  clergj-,  under 
pain  of  the  most  severe  censures,  not  to  pro- 
secute their  brethren  nor  the  laity,  before  the 
secular  judges ;  but  to  call  them  before  the 
ecclesiastical  tribunals — a  usage  which  soon 
spread  throughout  all  Christendom. 

The  session  of  the  council  had  scarcely 
terminated,  when  a  new  assembly  was  con- 
voked at  Narhonne,  in  the  part  of  Gaul  be- 
longing to  the  Goths,  to  judge  the  Arian  doc- 
trines. Different  decisions  were  made  against 
the  heretics )  amongst  others  they  were  pro- 
hibited from  regarding  Thursday  as  fete  day, 
because  among  the  pagans  it  was  sacred  to 
Jupiter.  They  were  interdicted  from  working 
on  Fridays,  under  penalty,  if  freemen,  of  a 
fine  of  si.x  cents  of  gold ;  and  if  slaves,  of  re- 
ceiving a  hundred  lashes.  The  different  en- 
croachments of  the  clergy  on  the  secular 
power,  show  with  what  readiness  the  priests 
hastened  to  use  the  privileges  granted  them 
by  the  council  of  Toledo. 

At  this  period  the  priests  alreadymaintained 
that  kings  should  learn  from  them  how  to 
govern  their  people.  At  length,  the  fathers 
of  the  council  terminated  their  ridiculous  ses- 
sion by  a  decree  which  ordered  the  faithful 
to  sing  the  Gloria  Patria,  after  the  last  verse  of 
the  psalms,  to  show  that  they  condemned 
Arianism.  Such  were  the  great  acts  which 
illustrated  the  reign  of  Recaredus  the  Catholic. 

Europe  was  then  ravaged  by  a  contagious 
malady  hitherto  unknown,  to  which  they  gave 
the  name  of  the  part  of  the  body  which  was 
affected  by  it.  Pelagius  was  attacked,  and 
died  in  590,  after  having  held  the  Holy  See 
for  twelve  years  and  three  months. 

Yves,  of  Chartres,  and  Gratian,  mention 
several  decrees   as    attributed  to  Pelagius, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


123 


which  Dupin  assures  us  are  authentic.  In  the 
first  of  these  decretals  the  holy  father  pro- 
hibits the  election  of  monks  to  govern  churches, 
regarding  the  functions  of  the  secular  clergy 
as  distinct  from  those  of  the  regular.  Accord- 
ing to  the  opinion  of  the  pontiff,  prelates  liv- 
ing with  the  laity  should  be  well  advised  of 
the  actions  and  interests  of  the  world.  Whilst 
the  religious  orders,  following  the  rules  of  a 
monastic  life  in  the  midst  of  cloisters,  have 
not  acquired  the  necessary  experience,  and 
are  incapable  of  directing  the  faithful.  In  the 
second  decretal  he  permits,  in  consideration 
of  the  small  number  who  dedicate  themselves 


to  clerical  life,  to  bestow  orders  on  those  who 
shall  have  had  children  by  their  servants  after 
the  death  of  their  legitimate  wives,  recom- 
mending that  the  culpable  female  shall  always 
be  shut  up  in  a  convent,  to  perform  penance 
for  the  fault  of  the  priest. 

Historians  affirm  that  thispontiffhasmerited 
the  title  of  saint,  in  consequence  of  his  pos- 
sessing the  greatest  virtues,  which  have  been 
shown  by  those  whom  the  church  has  canon- 
ized ;  and  they  place  him  among  the  mo.st 
commendable  bishops  who  have  filled  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter. 


SAINT  GREGORY  THE  FIRST,  SIXTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  590. — Maurice  and  Phocas,  Emperors.] 

Birth  of  Gregory — His  character — He  retires  into  a  monastery — Knavery  of  the  Benedictines — 
Zeal  of  Gregory  for  the  conversion  of  the  English — He  is  ordained  deacon,  and  sent  ernbassa- 
dor  to  Constantinople — Returns  to  Rome — Governs  his  monastery  u-ith  great  severity — Charity 
to  the  people — Is  elected  pope — Refuses  the  pontificate — Mounts  the  Holy  See — Accused  of 
hypocrisy — His  intolerance — His  quarrel  icith  the  patriarch  of  Constantinoj)le — War  tvilh  the 
Lombards — Rome  is  besieged — Gregory  proposes  peace  to  the  Lombards — The  pope  flatters 
queen  Brunehant — Conversion  of  the  English — Gregory  accused  of  having  poisoned  a  bishop — 
Pomp  of  rclisious  ceremonies — Discovery  of  purgatory — Incontinence  of  the  clergy — Faults 
of  Gregory — The  heads  of  six  thousand  newly  born  children  found  in  the  fish-ponds  of  the 
pope — Death  of  Gregory — His  character — He  persecutes  enchanters  and  sorcerers — He  destroys 
through  fanaticism  the  pagan  monuments — He  burns  the  works  of  prof ane  authors — The  policy 
of  the  priests  covers  the  world  with  the  shades  of  ignorance. 


The  father  of  Gregory,  named  Gordian,  was 
a  member  of  the  senate,  and  was  possessed 
of  immense  wealth ;  his  mother,  Silvia,  since 
canonized  by  the  church,  was  of  a  patrician 
family,  and  descended  in  a  direct  line  from 
pope  Felix  the  Fourth. 

Our  first  historian,  Gregory  of  Tours,  the 
coternporary  of  St.  Gregory,  assures  us  that 
Rome  contained  no  man  better  instructed  than 
this  bishop  in  literature  and  eloquence.  "  From 
his  infancy,"  says  the  historian,  '-he  attached 
himself  to  the  grave  and  profound  maxims  of 
the  ancient  authors.  He  was  pleased  with  the 
conversation  of  the  old,  and  evinced  in  his 
studies  a  mind  and  judgment  very  matured. 
Destined  by  his  birth  to  the  most  important 
dignities  of  the  empire,  he  was  instructed  in 
rhetoric  and  jurisprudence ;  and  when  he  ar- 
rived at  manhood  his  talent  procured  for  him 
the  title  of  senator.  The  skill  which  he  ex- 
hibited in  this  charge,  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  emperor  Justin  the  Second,  who  named 
him  prajtor  of  Rome,  the  principal  magistrate 
of  that  city. 

"  But  Gregory,  wishing  to  unite  the  love  of 
letters  with  that  of  virtue,  cultivated  science 
and  piety  in  the  midst  of  greatness,  hoping 
that  his  soul  would  resist  the  vanities  of 
lu.vury.  But  he  soon  learned  that  it  is  didicult 
to  serve  God  in  the  midst  of  the  pomps  of 
earth,  and  his  thoughts  turned  towards  the 
holy  retreat  of  the  cloisters.  The  death  of 
his  father  having  rendered  hnn  the  possessor 


of  the  great  wealth  which  his  ancestors  had 
for  a  long  time  accumulated,  he  found  him- 
self in  that  situation  of  mind  in  which  the 
world  places  itself  between  God  and  man. 

"Nevertheless,  though  able  to  make  the  most 
illustrious  alliance  in  Rome  and  the  empire, 
and  to  elevate  himself  to  the  very  steps  of 
the  throne,  he  did  not  hesitate  in  his  resolu- 
tion ;  he  laid  aside  his  dress,  glittering  with 
gold  and  precious  stones,  renounced  ]iis  great 
dignities,  employed  his  immense  wealth  in 
founding  convents  in  Sicily,  and  gave  to  the 
inhabitants  of  these  holy  dwellings  the  reve- 
nues, which  they  dispensed  in  alms. 

"  Charmed  by  the  excellence  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  he  distributed  to  the  poor  his  ves- 
sels of  gold  and  silver,  his  precious  furniture, 
his  rich  hangings  ;  he  put  on  the  coarse  habit 
of  a  monk,  and  quitted  the  world — an  action 
more  admirable  than  the  abdication  of  kings, 
who  lay  aside  their  crowns  when  they  can  no 
longer  sustain  the  weight  of  them." 

The  different  religious  orders  have  disputed 
the  honour  of  having  had  this  pontiff  in  their 
rule,  and  the  Benedictines  have  shown  them- 
selves the  most  ardent  in  the  strife.  Baronius 
and  Anthony  Gallon,  a  learned  priest  of  the 
oratory  at  Rome,  have  opposed  the  preten- 
sions of  these  monks,  and  the  polemical  con- 
troversy which  sprung  up  on  this  subject  has 
exposed  the  knavery  of  the  order  of  St.  Be?ie- 
dict.  Father  Gallon  exhumed  from  the  libra- 
ries of  these  monks  a  great  number  of  false 


124 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


deeds,  fabricated  at  the  monastery  of  Mount 
Cassino,  and  printed  at  Venice.  These  title- 
deeds  bear  the  apocryphal  signatures  of  popes 
and  princes,  and  assign  numerous  domains, 
and  even  entire  villages;  to  the  monks  of  that 
convent. 

St.  Gregory  remained  several  years  under 
the  direction  of  Valentius,  whom  he  had  called 
to  him  to  govern  the  cloister  of  St.  Andrew, 
where  he  had  retired  ;  and  his  intention  was 
to  pass  his  whole  life  in  humility  and  obedi- 
ence. Nevertheless,  after  the  death  of  Valen- 
tius, the  brothers  having  chosen  him  superior 
of  the  monastery,  he  yielded  to  their  entrea- 
ties, and  accepted  the  charge  of  the  abbey. 
In  the  fervour  of  his  zeal  for  religion,  he  con- 
demned himself  to  the  rigours  of  the  most  ab- 
solute fasting,  and  he  so  applied  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  sacred  books,  that  he  weak- 
ened his  body,  and  fell  into  a  languor.  His 
mother,  retired  to  a  place  called  the  Cella- 
Neuva,  where  an  oratory  and  the  celebrated 
convent  of  Labas  have  since  been  built,  sent 
to  him  to  nourish  him  raw  vegetables,  soaked 
in  water,  which  were  carried  in  a  cup  of  sil- 
ver. It  is  related  that  Gregory,  having  no- 
thing else  to  give,  offered  them  to  a  poor  man 
who  asked  alms  of  him. 

His  abstinence  soon  caused  him  horrible 
corporal  suffering,  which,  however,  did  not 
hinder  him  from  writing  or  dictating  the  sen- 
timents with  which  the  reading  of  the  sacred 
books  inspired  him. 

One  day.  whilst  traversing  the  slave  market, 
his  attention  was  arrested  by  the  appearance 
of  some  youths  of  remarkable  beauty  and  ex- 
traordinary fairness,  who  were  exposed  for 
sale.  The  saint  demanded  from  what  country 
they  cam.e  ;  the  merchant  replied,  that  he  had 
bought  them  in  Great  Britain,  and  that  they 
were  still  enveloped  in  the  darkness  of  pagan- 
ism. This  reply  excited  a  profound  sigh  in 
Gregory.  "  What  a  cause  for  the  tears  of  a 
Christian,"  he  exclaimed,  "  to  think  that  the 
prince  of  the  abyss  still  enchains  in  his  em- 
pire people  of  form  so  beautiful !  Why  must 
it  be,  that  they  have  a  soul  deprived  of  the 
treasures  of  grace,  which  alone  can  give  men 
true  beauty." 

Then  he  went  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 
and  besought  the  pope  Benedict  to  send  mis- 
sionaries into  England,  to  carry  thither  the 
word  of  God.  No  ecclesiastic  being  willing 
to  embark  on  this  dangerous  mission.  Gregory 
offered  to  the  holy  father  to  go  alone  to  this 
remote  country.  The  pope  only  yielded  to  his 
request  after  an  earnest  petition,  fearing  that 
the  clergy  and  people  would  excite  a  sedition, 
when  they  should  learn  that  Gregory  had  left 
the  holy  city. 

The  venerable  abbot  left  Rome  during  the 
night,  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  any  obsta- 
cles which  might  oppose  his  journey.  Not- 
withstanding his  precautions,  his  absence  be- 
came known  to  the  Romans,  who  assembled 
tumultuously.  After  consultation,  they  formed 
themselves  into  three  threatening  companies. 
to  block  up  the  streets  through  which  Bene- 
dict went  to  the  cathedral,  and  cried  out  on 


his  passage,  "  Have  a  care,  holy  father,  you 
have  offended  the  blessed  apostle  Peter,  and 
caused  the  ruin  of  our  city,  by  permitting 
Gregory  to  quit  our  walls."  Benedict,  af- 
frighted by  these  cries,  and  fearing  a  sedition 
still  more  violent,  pledged  himself  to  send 
couriers  to  recall  the  zealous  missionary.  Gre- 
gory, who  was  only  thirty  miles  from  Rome, 
was  brought  back  in  triumph.  The  following 
year  he  was  named  deacon  of  the  church.  He 
refused,  however,  to  abandon  his  solitude,  and 
remained  within  the  monastery  of  St.  Andrew. 
At  length,  on  the  arrival  of  Pelagius  the  Se- 
cond to  the  pontifical  throne,  having  been 
appointed  embassador  from  the  Holy  See  to 
Constantinople,  to  obtain  from  the  emperor 
succours  against  the  Lombards,  he  quitted  his 
retreat,  and  went  on  his  journey  followed  by 
several  monks  of  his  community. 

On  his  arrival  he  had  to  combat  the  doc- 
trine of  the  patriarch  Eutychius,  who  taught, 
that  after  the  resurrection  our  bodies  cease  to 
be  palpable,  and  become  more  subtle  than  the 
air — a  sentiment  then  regarded  by  the  Latin 
church  as  a  remains  of  the  heresy  of  Origen. 

During  his  residence  at  the  imperial  court, 
the  legate  formed  intimate  friendships  with 
the  most  commendable  personages,  and  at- 
tracted their  esteem  by  the  profundity  of  his 
judgment,  and  the  purity  of  his  morals.  He 
was  then  recalled  to  Rome  by  the  pontiff,  to 
whom  he  rendered  an  account  of  the  pros- 
perous issue  of  his  negotiations. 

Pelagius  wished  through  gratitude  to  attach 
him  to  his  person,  in  the  capacity  of  his  secre- 
tary; but  Gregory  besought  the  holy  father 
to  permit  him  to  return  to  his  retreat  at  St. 
Andrews.  He  then  returned  to  his  monks, 
and  submitted  them  to  a  discipline  so  vigor- 
ous, that  his  severity  degenerated  into  cruelty, 
and  excited  a  rebellion  amongst  them.  The 
abbot  then  returned  to  sentiments  of  humanity, 
and  his  charity  found  infinite  resources  in  so- 
lacing the  miseries  of  the  people  during  the 
scourge  which  transformed  the  holy  city  into 
a  frightful  solitude.  He  pledged  the  property 
of  the  convent  to  sustain  the  citizens  ruined 
by  the  overflow  of  the  Tiber,  and  at  the  head 
of  his  monks  he  traversed  the  streets  to  carry 
off  the  dead  bodies  of  the  unfortunate,  who 
had  fallen  victims  to  the  pestilence. 

Pelagius  the  Second  having  died  of  the  con- 
tagion, the  senate,  clergy  and  people  elevated 
to  the  sovereig-n  pontificate  the  deacon  Gre- 
gory, in  acknowledgment  of  his  ardent  charity 
and  the  services  he  had  rendered  to  Rome. 
But  from  humility  he  refused  this  glorious 
charge.  He  even  wrote  to  the  emperor  not  to 
confirm  his  election,  but  to  cause  them  to  or- 
dain one  more  worthy  in  his  place.  The  holy 
father,  persuaded  that  his  wishes  would  be 
complied  with  by  the  court  of  Constantinople, 
resolved  to  conceal  himself  from  the  eyes  of 
all,  until  after  the  exaltation  of  the  pope,  that 
he  might  be  able  to  return  to  his  monastery 
of  St.  Andrew.  The  governor  of  Rome  inter- 
cepted the  letter  of  Gregory,  and  by  his  orders 
emissaries  spread  themselves  through  the 
country  to  discover  the  retreat  of  the  pontiff. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


125 


At  length  some  shepherds  found  him  in  a  ca- 
vern,and  ledhimbackto  the  city,  where  he  was 
consecrated,  notwithstanding-  his  resistance. 

The  conduct  of  Gregory  has  not  been  able 
to  preserve  him  from  suspicions  of  dissimula- 
tion and  hypocrisy ;  and  respectable  authors 
affirm  that  the  proud  deacon  wished  to  add  to 
the  honour  of  the  supreme  dignity  the  glory 
of  having  refused  it.  Without  admitting  the 
truth  of  this  accusation  against  Gregory,  we 
will  nevertheless  say,  that  the  most  unbridled 
ambition  sometimes  conceals  itself  under  the 
appearance  of  humility. 

The  ceremony  of  the  consecration  took 
place  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  Ro- 
mans placed  on  the  throne  of  the  church  a 
pious  and  enlightened  man,  capable  of  af- 
fording instruction  to  the  faithful,  by  his  writ- 
ings and  his  preaching;  and  whose  skilful 
policy  could  favourably  dispose  the  minds  of 
the  sovereigns  towards  the  temporal  interests 
of  religion. 

At  this  period  bishops,  after  their  ordina- 
tion, sent  their  professions  of  faith  and  synodi- 
cal  letters  to  the  chiefs  of  the  great  sees. 
Gregory,  to  conform  to  this  usage,  convoked 
a  council  and  addressed  letters  to  the  most 
important  prelates  of  the  East  and  W^est. 

From  the  commencement  of  his  pontificate, 
his  solicitude  extended  to  the  clergy  of  Sicily, 
■whom  he  ordered  to  convoke  a  council  every 
year,  to  regulate  ecclesiastical  affairs.  He  then 
wrote  to  Justin,  governorof  that  province,  com- 
plaining of  his  negligence,  and  threatening  to 
accuse  him  before  the  emperor,  notwithstand- 
ing the  friendship  which  united  them,  of  hav- 
ing been  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  an  immense 
city,  from  not  having  furnished  the  grain  des- 
tined for  the  people  of  Rome.  In  those  ages 
of  barbarity,  the  want  of  foresight  in  princes 
and  governors  frequently  occasioned  the  pes- 
tilences and  famines  which  desolated  the  un- 
fortunate people. 

St.  Gregory  w-ished  to  profit  by  the  pro- 
found terror  which  the  scourge  had  e.vcited,  to 
bring  back  the  heretics ;  and  in  his  declama- 
tions exhibited  to  them  the  gates  of  hell  open 
to  receive  them.  His  projects  failed,  however, 
and  his  e.vhortations  on  the  rigor  of  the  judg- 
ments of  God,  did  not  hinder  the  bishops  of 
lt«tria  from  persevering  in  their  disorder  and 
their  schism.  He  also  und(>rtook  to  reform  the 
scandalous  conduct  of  the  priests  throughout 
all  Christendom  ;  but  the  clergy  opposed  in- 
vincible obstacles  to  him  in  Spain,  Lombardy, 
Naples,  and  even  in  France. 

The  pontiff  convoked  a  council  in  the  holy 
city  to  judge  Severus,  patriarch  of  Aquileia, 
whom  the  emperor  IVlaurice  had  ordered  to 
submit  to  the  decision  of  Gregory.  Notwith- 
standing the  dancers  to  which  they  were  e.v- 
posed,  the  bishops  of  the  province  urged 
Severas  to  resist  the  will  of  the  sovereign. 
They  wrote  to  Maurice  that  the  Latin  pontiff 
could  not  be  their  judge,  being  already  their 
accuser.  They  complained  of  the  violence 
used  towards  them,  and  of  his  desiring  them 
to  reject  the  three  chapters,  which  the  fifth 
CBCumenical  assembly  had  approved. 


The  emperor,  fearing  that  the  schismatics 
might  place  themselves  under  the  protection 
of  the  Lombards,  wrote  to  the  pope  that  in  con- 
sequence of  the  confusion  into  which  Italy 
was  plunged,  he  could  not  permit  violence  to 
be  used  towards  the  prelates;  that  they  must 
wait  a  more  fitting  season  to  subdue  them, 
and  he  charged  Romain,  e.xarch  of  Ravenna, 
to  prevent  all  persecution  against  them,  with 
an  express  injunction  to  obey  his  orders.  Gre- 
gory thus  seeing  the  projects  which  he  had 
conceived  for  the  reunion  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  clergy  of  Istria  fail,  exclaimed,  '•  the  arms 
of  the  barbarians  are  less  injurious  to  religion 
than  the  culpable  weakness  of  the  exarch  and 
the  emperor."  Thus  Gregory,  who  had  con- 
demned the  persecution  of  the  Jews,  wished, 
nevertheless,  to  constrain  the  heretics  to  re- 
enter the  bosom  of  the  church  ;  so  much  con- 
tradiction does  the  spirit  of  intolerance  pro- 
duce among  priests ! 

The  paths  of  force  being  closed  to  him,  he 
had  recourse  to  caresses,  seductions,  and  pre- 
sents. He  addressed  letters  to  a  large  num- 
ber of  schismatics,  and  finished  by  obtaining 
their  reunion  with  his  see.  Still,  as  it  is  dif- 
ficult for  men  to  be  consistent  on  subjects 
opposed  to  reason,  he  wished  to  surcharge 
imposts  upon  those  who  refused  to  adhere  to 
his  sentiments,  and  ordered  Colomb,  bishop 
of  Numidia,  and  the  governor  of  Africa,  to 
repress  the  pride  and  insolence  of  the  Dona- 
tists.  He  then  sought  an  alliance  with  the 
Lombards,  to  obtain  their  protection  for  the 
provinces  of  the  West  and  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter.  Finally,  king  Antuaris  being  dead,  he 
wrote  to  queen  Theodelinda,  to  beseech  her, 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  to  consent  to  an  vmion 
with  the  prince  of  Turin,  for  the  purpose  of 
augmenting  the  glory  of  religion  by  convert- 
ing the  monarch  to  the  Catholic  faith. 

Seduced  by  the  charms  of  his  new  spouse, 
the  young  duke  consented  to  embrace  Chris- 
tianity, and  by  his  example  drew  to  his  belief 
those  of  his  subjects  who  were  still  idolaters 
or  Arians. 

Gregory  evinced  an  extreme  joy  on  the  suc- 
cess of  his  policy,  and  in  a  letttM'  addressed 
to  Theolinda,  he  e.xalts  her  virtues,  bestows 
high  eulogiums  on  the  ardor  of  her  zeal,  and 
thanks  her  for  having  destroyed  Arianism,  by 
reattaching  the  Lombards  to  the  Roman 
church. 

At  this  time  the  emperor  made  a  decree  by 
which  he  prohibited  jjublic  functionaries,  as 
well  as  citizens  marked  on  the  right  hand  as 
enrolled  soldiers,  from  entering  the  ranksof  the 
clergy,  secular  or  regular.  The  pope,  always 
alive  to  the  interest  of  the  Holy  See,  wrote  to 
Maurice,  '•'  I,  who  am  less  than  the  worm 
which  buries  itself  in  the  sand,  cannot  avoid 
raising  my  voice  when  I  hear  a  law  proclaim- 
ed which  is  opposeil  to  the  precepts  of  God. 
You  should  know  that  power  has  onlv  been 
granted  to  sovereigns  to  direct  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth,  and  not  the  kinir<lom  of 
heaven ;  nevertheless,  the  orders  which  you 
have  given  touch  upon  sacred  things.  Your 
.  decree,   my  lord,   has  caused  me  profound 


126 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


grief;  still,  submitting  to  the  imperial  deci- 
sion, I  have  sent  your  edicts,  which  I  con- 
demn, through  all  parts  of  the  East  and  West. 
Thus  I  fulfill  the  double  duty  of  a  Christian, 
by  obeying  the  monarch  and  boldly  declaring 
to  him  ray  sentiments  on  the  injustice  of  his 
actions." 

In  the  same  year,  593,  the  holy  father  made 
the  first  use  of  the  authority  which  he  wished 
to  arrogate  over  the  other  churches,  by  re-es- 
tablishing m  his  sacerdotal  functions,  a  priest 
whom  the  metropolitan  of  Milan  had  excom- 
municated, and  by  affirming  that  the  Holy 
See  had  the  surveillance  of  all  elections  be- 
fore they  could  be  regular  or  canonical.  The 
archbishop  of  Milan  submitted ;  but  the  bishop 
of  Raveinia  was  less  obedient ;  he  refused  to 
yield  to  the  warning  of  Gregory,  and  adopted 
for  himself  the  custom  of  carrying  the  pal- 
lium, to  show  that  his  dignity  was  in  no  wise 
inferior  to  that  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  St. 
Gregory  resisted  this  new  pretension,  and  ad- 
dressed two  vehement  letters  to  the  proud 
pastor;  which  did  not,  however,  induce  in  him 
sentiments  more  in  conformity  with  ecclesias- 
tical humility. 

The  publication  of  his  dialogTies  is  placed 
at  the  end  of  the  year  593.  It  is  a  work  un- 
worthy of  sacerdotal  severity,  full  of  gross 
miracles  and  ridiculous  fables,  which  was  re- 
ceived with  enthusiasm  in  the  empire,  and 
especially  in  Italy.  The  Benedictines  aver 
that  they  were  written  at  the  request  of  queen 
Theolinda,  to  convert  the  Lombards,  then 
plunged  in  profound  ignorance,  and  whose 
savage  intelligence  could  not  be  excited  but 
by  strange  prodigies  and  most  extraordinary 
miracles.  VVe  should  blame  Gregory  for  hav- 
ing had  recourse  to  superstition  to  convert 
idolaters,  and  especially  for  having  wished  to 
constrain  even  the  faithful  to  put  faith  in  his 
superstitious  fables.  The  empress  Constantina, 
having  demanded  from  him  the  relics  of 
St.  Paul,  he  replied  to  the  embassador,  that  he 
dared  not  satisfy  her  orders ;  because  it  was 
impossible  to  touch  or  behold  the  body  of  the 
blessed  apostle,  without  being  instantly  pun- 
ished for  the  sacrilegious  temerity.  In  sup- 
port of  his  deceit,  the  holy  father  related  many 
miracles,  to  which  he  appeared  to  accord  full 
credit. 

Some  time  after,  John  the  Faster,  chief  of 
the  clergy  of  Constantinople,  sent  to  the  pon- 
tilf  the  record  of  a  judgment  rendered  against 
a  Greek  priest,  accused  of  heresy.  As  in  the 
recital,  he  took  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop, 
the  pope  wished  to  repress  his  ambition,  and 
prohibited  him,  in  the  name  of  the  church, 
from  elevating  his  see  above  those  of  other 
bishops.  Maurice  wrote  to  the  holy  father  in 
favour  of  the  patriarch,  and  endeavoured  to 
induce  him  to  retract ;  but  he  regarding  this 
question  of  pre-eminence  as  an  article  of  faith. 
denounced  the  title  of  universal  bishop  as  a 
crime  of  usurpation,  and  replied  to  the  prince  : 
"John  the  Faster  will  find  in  me  an  intracta- 
ble adversary,  until  he  shall  renounce  his 
pride."  He  addressed  letters  on  the  same  sub- 
ject to  Eulogius  of  Alexandria  and  St.  Anas- 


tasiusof  Antioch,  prohibiting  them  from  giving 
to  any  prelate  the  title  of  "  universal."  He 
also  wrote  to  the  empress,  to  complain  of 
Maximus  of  Salma,  who  treated  with  con- 
tempt his  prohibitions  and  his  excommunica- 
tions. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  595,  an  affair 
of  more  importance  than  a  struggle  for  the 
title  of  universal,  gave  lively  disquiet  to  the 
pontiff.  The  exarch  of  Ravenna  had  broken 
the  treaty  with  the  Lombards,  and  had 
wrested  from  them  several  important  cities, 
which  so  irritated  Agilulfus,  their  king,  that 
he  left  Pavia.  his  usual' residence,  marched 
with  a  powerful  army  against  Perousa,  sacked 
it,  and  notwithstanding  the  respect  which  he 
entertained  for  the  holy  father,  laid  siege  to 
Rome.  The  pope,  fearful  of  the  efiect  of  the 
vengeance  of  the  emperor,  if  he  should  con- 
sent to  an  alliance  with  the  barbarians,  dared 
not  open  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  resolved 
to  support  the  horrors  of  a  siege.  He  encou- 
raged the  Romans  to  a  vigorous  defence,  to 
gain  time  to  wait  for  the  succours  which  the 
emperor  should  send  from  Greece.  At  length, 
finding  himself  reduced  to  the  last  extremity, 
he  made  to  king  Agilulfus  proposals  for  peace, 
which  w'ere  accepted,  and  the  Lombards  re- 
tired, laden  with  spoil,  carrying  away  all  the 
gold  which  the  holy  city  contained. 

Maurice  severely  blamed  Gregory  for  hav- 
ing treated  with  his  enemies,  in  which  he 
calls  the  confidence  of  the  holy  father  in  his 
veneration  for  his  sacred  person,  simplicity. 
The  pope,  wounded  in  his  vanity,  reproached 
the  monarch  with  vivacity,  for  having  accused 
him  of  ig-norance  and  simplicity. 

His  holiness  then  sent  letters  to  king  Childe- 
bert  and  queen  Brunehaut,  under  the  appa- 
rent pretext  of  recommending  a  priest  whom 
he  sent  to  the  bishops  of  Gaul,  but  in  reality 
to  solicit  their  aid. 

John  the  Faster,  the  irreconcilable  enemy 
of  the  pontiff,  being  dead,  Maurice  elevated 
to  the  see  of  Constantinople  a  priest  named 
Cyriacus,  a  man  of  peaceful  character.  The 
new  patriarch  having,  as  usual,  assembled 
a  council,  sent  his  synodical  letter  and  pro- 
fession of  faith  to  the  holy  father.  The  depu- 
ties were  received  with  honour  by  the  pontiff, 
and  notwithstanding  the  title  of  universal, 
which  the  patriarch  still  bore,  he  repHed 
mildly  to  the  letter,  warning  Cyriacus  to  re- 
nounce the  proud  and  profane  name  of  uni- 
versal bishop.  At  the  same  time,  he  recalled 
from  the  imperial  court  his  legate,  the  deacon 
Sabinianus,  and  sent  to  replace  him  in  this 
difficult  post  the  priest  Anatolius,  whom  he 
prohibited,  however,  from  communing  with 
the  patriarch  until  that  prelate  should  re- 
nounce the  title  of  universal. 

The  epistles  of  Gregory  written  to  the  em- 
peror and  the  chiefs  of  the  clergy  of  Alexan- 
dria and  Antioch,  for  the  purpose  of  justifying 
the  orders  Avhich  he  had  given  to  his  envoy, 
prove  that  he  rejected  as  false,  the  history  of 
Sozomenes,  and  that  he  did  not  approve  of  the 
praises  which  that  author  has  bestowed  on 
Theodore  of  Mopsuesta.    These  letters  leave 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


127 


us  to  suppose  that  he  did  not  believe  in  the 
existence  of  Eudoxus,  the  ancient  chief  of 
the  pure,  whose  sect  dated  buck  to  the  reign 
of  Constantino,  preferring;  through  an  incon- 
ceivable caprice,  to  incur  the  reproach  of  a 
gross  ignorance  of  the  sacred  writers  and  the 
fathers,  to  the  shame  of  recognizing  as  a 
heretic  one  of  the  greatest  luminaries  of  the 
church.  The  actions  of  Gregory,  however, 
establish  in  so  incontestable  a  manner  the  ex- 
tent of  his  knowledge,  that  they  force  us  to 
cast  back  on  his  policy  the  ramblings  of  his 
mind.  an<l  oblige  us  to  believe  that  he  was 
capable  of  daring  every  thing  to  preserve  to 
religion  the  auieole  of  majesty  with  which 
he  wished  to  surround  it. 

When  he  was  only  abbot  of  the  monastery 
of  St.  Andrew,  Gregory  had  already  employed 
all  his  efTorts  to  establish  missions  in  the  Bri- 
tish isles.  When  he  became  chief  of  the 
church,  he  resolved  to  put  his  projects  into 
execution.  England  was  then  troubled  by 
bloody  wars,  excited  by  Ethelbert,  who  reigned 
in  that  country,  and  who  had  demanded  in 
marriage  Aldeberge,  daughter  of  Caribert, 
king  of  France.  This  monarch  had  replied 
that  he  would  con.sent  to  an  alliance  with  him 
when  he  had  overthrown  the  power  of  king 
Ceolin,  whose  vassal  he  was.  Soon  after 
Ethelbert,  having  declared  his  kingdom  of 
Kent  independent,  was  united  to  the  daughter 
of  the  French  monarch.  The  young  princess 
was  a  Christian ;  and  as  it  is  in  the  nature  of 
man  to  yield  to  the  influence  of  woman,  the 
king  soon  showed  a  favourable  disposition  for 
the  new  religion.  Aldeberge  advised  the  court 
of  Rome  of  it,  and  missionaries  received  or- 
ders to  go  into  Great  Britain  to  the  queen. 

After  a  perilous  journey,  Augustine,  abbot 
of  St.  Andrews,  the  chief  of  the  mission,  dis- 
embarked on  the  shores  of  Kent,  and  advised 
Ethelbert  that  he  came  from  a  region  very 
remote  from  his  kingdom,  to  instruct  him  in 
sublime  truths  which  would  assure  him  eter- 
nal happiness.  The  king,  accompanied  by 
his  wife  and  the  officers  of  his  court,  went  to 
meet  the  missionary,  whom  he  did  not  wish 
to  listen  to  but  in  the  open  country,  through 
fear  of  yielding  to  his  sorcery,  which  he  be- 
lieved he  could  prevent  by  this  singular  pre- 
caution. 

•  Augustine  spoke  to  the  sovereign  at  length 
on  the  s;icred  dogmas  of  the  Scriptures.  The 
prince  having  had  the  words  of  the  holy  man 
explained  to  him,  replied  :  "What  I  hear  is 
grand,  and  your  promises  attract  me  to  you  ; 
still  I  have  not  yet  determined  to  abandon  the 
belief  I  have  received  from  my  ancestors, 
especially  for  a  religion  founded  on  the  testi- 
mony of  men  who  are  unknown  to  me.  But 
as  you  have  undertaken  this  long  and  painful 
journey  to  bring  to  my  people  the  good  you 
bidieve  to  be  true,  I  will  not  send  you  away 
without  again  listening  to  you,  and  I  will  take 
care  that  you  shall  be  treated  with  honour  in 
my  dominions.  If  my  subjects,  convinced  by 
your  discourse,  desire  to  partake  of  your  be- 
lief. I  will  not  oppose  their  being  baptized." 

The  missionaries  established  themselves  at 


Canterbury,  and  made  a  great  many  converts. 
Aldeberge,  on  her  part,  pressed  her  husband 
to  inform  himself  in  the  dogrnasof  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  threatened  to  break  ofl  her 
conjugal  relations  with  him  if  he  persevered 
in  his  idolatry.  The  prince,  worn  out  by  the 
entreaties  of  the  queen,  then  consented  to  be 
baptized.  The  example  of  a  chief  has  always 
a  great  influence  over  a  barbarous  people,  and 
the  English  came  in  crowds  to  receive  the 
holy  water,  which  was  to  regenerate  them. 

AugTistine  was  made  the  bishop  of  the 
church  w  hlch  he  had  founded.  In  a  lew  years 
the  success  of  his  conversions  had  recruited 
a  numerous  clergy,  whom  he  desired  to  .'sub- 
mit to  the  authority  of  the  pontifi.  He  then 
assembled  all  the  prelates  of  England  to  ad- 
vise them  of  the  orders  he  had  received  from 
Rome.  In  his  quality  of  legate  he  opened  the 
sitting  without  rising  from  his  seat.  The  as- 
sembly, offended  at  the  impudence  of  Augus- 
tine, ofl'ered  invincible  obstacles  to  his  wishes, 
and  the  celebrated  Dinoth,  abbot  of  Bangor, 
thus  addressed  him : 

"  You  propose  to  us,  proud  prelate,  to  sub- 
mit to  the  throne  of  the  apostle.  Are  you 
then  ignorant  that  we  have  submitted  to  Christ, 
to  your  pope,  and  to  all  Christians,  by  the 
liens  of  love  anil  charity  ?  We  seek  after  evan- 
gelical humility  v/ith  ardor ;  we  employ  all 
our  care  in  succouring  men,  and  causing  them 
to  become  the  children  of  God,  and  we  know 
of  no  other  duty  we  have  to  fulfil  toward 
him  whom  you  call  holy  father. 

"What  need  have  we  to  seek  for  a  superior 
at  Rome,  since  we  are  governed  under  the 
power  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  bishop  of  Cacr- 
leon,  whom  we  have  chosen  to  direct  our 
churches  and  our  consciences  ?  Insist  no  more 
upon  it.     We  refuse  your  supreme  chief." 

Augustine,  despairing  of  overcoming  their 
resistance,  after  a  long  discussion,  exclaimed, 
"Since  you  refuse  the  peace  which  I  propose 
with  )"Our  friends,  abbot  Dinoth.  you  shall  have 
war  with  your  enemies,  and  their  swords 
shall  put  you  to  death."  These  words  have 
been  interpreted  as  a  prediction,  which  was 
accomplished  in  the  massacre  of  the  monks 
of  Bangor.  Still,  in  supposing  the  reality  of 
this  prophecy,  it  is  very  probable  that  Italian 
vengeance,  or  that  which  is  called  the  hatred 
of  the  priests,  had  concurred  in  accomplishing 
the  pretliction  of  the  prelate. 

Gregory  wrote  to  queen  Brunehaut.  to  thank 
him  for  the  charity  which  she  had  exercised 
towards  Augustine.  In  all  the  letters  which 
the  pontiff  addressed  to  that  execrable  female, 
he  overwhelmed  her  with  emphatic  praises, 
affirming  that  France  was  the  happiest  of  na- 
tions, in  possessing  a  queen  endowed  with  the 
rarest  virtues  ami  the  most  brilliant  quali- 
ties. ...  It  is  the  truth  to  say,  that  Brunehaut, 
allying  superstition  to  cruelty,  expended  im- 
mense sums  on  the  clergy,  for  the  purpose  of 
appeasing  divine  vengeance.  Churches  and 
monasteries  multiplied  by  her  orders,  and  she 
bent  her  forehead  to  the  dust  whenever  she 
entered  into  church  to  ask  from  God  pnrdon 
for  her  poisonings  and  her  infanticides  !  !  ! 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


About  the  same  time  Remain,  the  exarch, 
died  at  Ravenna.  The  pope,  having  no  longer 
to  fear  the  scrutiny  of  a  man  who  had  op- 
posed ail  his  projects  of  aggrandizement, 
established  friendly  relations  with  the  Lom- 
bards, and  concluded  a  treaty  with  king  Agi- 
lulfus,  which  assured  the  Holy  See  of  his 
powerful  protection. 

Gregory  then  received  deputies  from  the 
faithful  of  Capri.  The  bishop  of  that  island, 
situated  at  the  bottom  of  the  gulf  of  Venice, 
complained  that  he  had  been  drawn  into  the 
schism  of  the  prelates  of  Istria  in  the  defence 
of  the  three  chapters,  and  testified  his  desire 
to  reunite  himself  with  the  see  of  Rome  •  but 
before  even  receiving  the  reply  of  the  holy 
father,  he  changed  his  mind.  Then  his  peo- 
ple, who  were  favourably  disposed  towards 
unity,  sent  to  demand  from  the  pontiff  another 
director.  The  pope  wrote  to  Marinianus,  the 
m.etropolitan  of  Ravenna,  charging  him  to  or- 
dain another  bishop  for  Capri,  if  the  titular 
one  refused  his  communion,  and  enjoining  on 
him  solemnly  to  depose  the  heretic,  without 
disquieting  himself  about  the  orders  of  the 
emperor  Maurice,  who  had  prohibited  vio- 
lence against  schismatics. 

Gregory  employed  all  the  resources  of  his 
policy  to  "bring  about  the  reunion  of  the  here- 
tics with  the  throne  of  St.  Peter.  Anatolius, 
his  legate  at  the  court  of  Maurice,  had  orders 
to  listen  favourably  to  the  Christians  who 
went  to  Constantinople  to  abjure  the  schism 
of  Istria  ;  and  he  was  also  recommended  to 
solicit  for  them  the  protection  of  the  emperor, 
and  to  obtain  pensions  for  new  converts. 
Thus  interest  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  fear 
of  torture  on  the  other,  seconded  the  views 
of  the  pontiif  and  produced  numerous  con- 
versions. 

The  bishop  Maximus  alone,  despising  the 
gold  and  the  thunder  of  the  Holy  See,  per- 
sisted m  his  heresy,  continued  the  exercise 
of  his  episcopal  functions  in  the  city  of  Salona, 
and  even  accused  Gregory  of  having  poisoned 
bishop  Malchus,  who  also  opposed  his  de- 
signs. TJie  pope  replied,  that  the  prelate  had 
suddenly  died  on  the  day  of  his  excommuni- 
cation, in  the  house  of  the  notary  Boniface,  to 
which  he  had  been  conducted  after  his  con- 
demnation. Then  Maximus  called  the  holy 
father  a  traitor  and  a  hypocrite,  a  poisoner  and 
a  murderer.  He  renewed  hisaccusation,  otfer- 
ing  to  furnish  proof  that  Malchus  had  been 
sacrificed  to  the  hatred  of  the  holy  father. 

Gregory,  pushed  on  by  insatiable  ambition, 
wished  to  extend  the  pontifical  authority  over 
all  Christendom.  He  sent  Cyriacus,  abbot 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Andrew,  into  Gaul  to 
assemble  the  clergy  of  that  province,  and  to 
dispose  them  to  recognise  his  authority.  The 
prelate  being  about  to  stop  at  Marseilles,  the 
pope  wrote  to  Serenus,  the  bishop,  '-We  send 
to  you  our  embassador,  beseeching  you  to  re- 
ceive him  with  all  the  honours  due  to  our 
see." 

"We  praise  you  in  Jesus  Christ,  my  very 
dear  brother,  for  the  zeal  which  you  have 
shown  in  breaking  the  images  which  your 


people  adored  ;  and  we  applaud  you  for  hav- 
ing cast  forth  from  the  holy  place  the  idols 
made  by  the  hands  of  men,  since  they  usurp 
the  adoration  due  only  to  the  Divinity. 

"Still  your  ardor  has  carried  you  too  farj 
you  should  have  transformed  them  by  some 
mutilations  into  holy  representations  of  our 
martyrs,  and  preserved  them  in  the  temples. 
For  it  is  permitted  to  place  pictures  in  the 
churches,  that  the  common  people  may  learn 
the  divine  mysteries  of  our  religion,  which 
they  are  unable  to  study  in  the  holy  books." 

Serenus.  on  the  reading  of  this  letter,  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  at  the  singular  doctrine 
which  the  bishop  of  Rome  expounded  in  it. 
"It  was  not  thus,  thought  the  fathers,"  he 
said  to  the  envoy  of  Gregory.  "  Moses  has 
formally  prohibited  us  from  making  modelled 
or  painted  images;  nor  to  attach  any  conse- 
quence to  the  material,  .so  as  not  to  occupy 
the  minds  of  men  but  by  subjects  which  are 
conceived  by  intelligence,  without  the  aid  of 
our  corporeal  senses.  St.  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria affirms  that  we  are  expressly  prohibited 
from  exercising  a  proper  art  in  deceiving  men, 
or  in  making  any  representation  of  that  which 
is  in  heaven,  on  the  earth,  or  in  the  water ; 
'because,'  said  he,  'he  who  adores  visible 
gods,  and  the  numerous  generations  of  those 
gods,  is  more  contemptible  than  the  objects 
of  his  worship.'  Did  not  St.  Epiphanius  break 
in  pieces  the  statues  of  silver  and  gold  which 
represented  Christ  and  the  Virgin?  Has  not 
Origen  proscribed  the  worship  of  images  from 
the  mere  consideration  that  they  are  the  works 
of  men  of  bad  morals?  What  would  all  those 
great  saints  say,  if  they  saw  as  we  do,  ex- 
posed in  our  churches,  to  the  insensate  adora- 
tion of  the  crowd,  statues  of  our  Saviour, 
which  are  the  exact  portraits  of  the  thieves 
who  have  served  as  models  to  the  painters ; 
or  paintings  of  the  Virgin,  which  represent 
the  features  of  infamous  prostitutes?  Finally." 
added  the  pious  bishop,  "  has  not  the  holy 
council  of  Eluria  decreed,  that  objects  of 
worship  should  not  be  seen  on  the  walls? 
This  categorical  decision  is  the  law  which  I 
must  follow  ;  it  is  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers 
and  of  the  primitive  church."  The  abbot 
Cyriacus  replied  to  him,  "that  Evaginus,  in 
his  ecclesiastical  history,  relates,  that  Jesus 
himself  had  sent  to  king  Abgarus  his  portrait, 
painted  in  heaven ;  and  that  this  image  had 
saved  the  city  of  Edessa  from  the  fury  of  the 
Persians,  during  the  reign  of  Justinian."  This 
authority  did  not  appear  unanswerable  to  the 
prelate,  who  persisted  in  his  opinion,  and  pro- 
scribed images  in  his  church. 

But  the  people  of  Marseilles,  then  plunged 
in  profound  ignorance,  opposed  the  reforms 
of  the  bishop,  and  even  abandoned  the  com- 
munion of  Serenus. 

The  abbot  Cyriacus  then  went  to  Autun,  to 
place  in  the  hands  of  Staginus,  bishop  of  that 
city,  the  letter  of  the  pope,  which  granted  to 
him  the  pallium,  and  gave  to  his  see  the  first 
rank  in  the  province  after  the  metropolitan 
see  of  Lyons.  The  holy  father  recommended 
to  the  prelates  of  Gaul  to  assemble  the  clergy 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


1;:9 


frequently  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  eccle- 
siastical affairs.  He  prohibited  priests  from 
keeping  in  their  houses  other  women  than 
those  authorized  by  the  canons,  and  con- 
demned simoniacal  ordinations,  as  well  as  the 
elevation  of  the  laity  to  episcopal  functions. 

After  having  fultilled  divers  missions  in 
Gaul,  Cyriacus  went  to  Spain,  to  which  coun- 
try he  carried  several  letters.  One  was  ad- 
dressed to  St.  Leander,  another  to  Claudius, 
a  person  of  great  piety,  and  a  skilful  soldier, 
and  the  third  was  destined  for  the  sovereign 
of  the  country,  named  Recaredus.  Gregory 
passed  great  eulogiums  on  the  prince  for  the 
zeal  \\  hich  he  had  manifested  for  religion  in 
the  conversion  of  the  Goths,  his  subjects,  and 
especially  because  he  had  refused  the  gold 
which  the  Jews  offered  him  in  exchange  for 
the  revocation  of  the  cruel  laws  enforced 
against  them.  The  pontiff  terminated  his 
letter  by  advising  him  the  most  odious  policy. 
'•  Be  careful,  prince,"  said  he,  "  not  to  allow 
yourself  to  be  surprised  by  anger,  and  not  to 
execute  too  promplJy  that  which  your  power 
permits.  In  chastising  the  giiilty,  anger  should 
walk  after  reflection,  and  obey  it  as  a  slave. 
AVhen  reason  governs  the  actions  of  a  king, 
it  knows  how  to  make  the  most  implacable 
cruelty  pass  for  justice,  and  keeps  the  people 
in  subjection." 

To  thank  Recaredus  for  the  rich  presents 
which  he  had  made  to  the  pontifical  church,  the 
pope  sent  him  a  small  key  made  out  of  the 
iron  of  the  chains  of  St.  Peter,  a  crucifix  in- 
closing some  wood  of  the  true  cross,  and  some 
hairs  of  St.  John  the  Baptist!  !  ! 

About  the  same  time  Gregory  wrote  to  John 
of  Syracuse,  on  the  subject  of  the  religious 
ceremonies  practised  at  Rome,  and  which  he 
wished  him  to  adopt  in  his  church.  This  re- 
markable epistle  witnesses,  that  they  had 
already  reformed  the  celebration  of  divine 
worship,  and  had  introduced  very  many 
abuses  into  the  Christian  religion.  The  wor- 
ship founded  by  the  apostles  on  the  simplicity 
of  the  primitive  ages,  has  been  encompassed, 
since  the  sixth  century,  with  the  pomp  of 
the  ceremonies  of  paganism;  and  St.  Gregory, 
who.se  policy  consisted  in  dazzling  the  senses 
of  men  to  bind  them  to  the  church  in  the 
bonds  of  superstition,  materialized  the  wor- 
ship even  more  than  his  predecessors  had  yet 
done.  He  ordered  new  religious  practices, 
whosi;  splendor  imposed  on  the  common  peo- 
ple ;  he  filled  the  churches  with  tableaux  and 
jneclous  ornaments,  and  even  temporized  with 
the  belief  of  idolatrous  nations,  by  introducing 
ihelr  rites  and  their  dogmas  into  the  religion 
of  Christ. 

Eilucated  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
authors,  he  had  learned  from  Virgil,  "that 
human  souls  are  enclosed  in  the  obscure  pri- 
son of  the  body,  where  they  acquire  a  carnal 
defilement,  and  that  they  preserve  some  cor- 
ruption even  after  they  have  left  the  life  of 
the  world."  The  poet  had  said,  '-To  purify 
them,  they  must  suffer  different  kinds  of  pun- 
ishment ;  some,  suspended  in  the  air,  are  the 
sport  of  the  tempests  ;  others  expiate  their 

Vol.  I.  R 


crimes  in  the  abyss  of  waters ;  flames  devour 
the  most  guilty ;  none  are  exempt  from  chas- 
tisement. 

There  are  some  shades  placed  in  the  deli- 
cious plains  of  Elysium,  where  they  wait, 
until  a  long  revolution  of  years  has  purified 
them  from  the  dehlements  of  their  terrestrial 
existence,  and  has  re-established  them  in 
their  first  purity.  Supreme  essence,  emanation 
from  divinity.  After  a  thousand  springs  spent 
in  this  profound  sojourn,  they  quit  it.  and  God 
recalls  them  to  the  borders  of  Lethe." 

In  the  dialogues,  and  in  the  psalms  of  peni- 
tence, Gregory  thus  expresses  himself:  --When 
the}' are  ilelivered  from  their  terrestrial  prison 
by  death,  the  guilty  souls  are  condemned  to 
punishment,  whose  duration  is  infinite.  Those 
who  have  committed,  during  their  passage 
through  the  world,  but  light  faults,  arrive  at 
life  eternal  after  having  been  regenerated  by 
purifying  flames  .  .  .  ."  In  recalling  these  two 
passages,  one  evidently  sees  that  the  holy 
father  took  from  paganism  his  doctrine  of  pur- 
gatory, which  was  unknown  to  the  apostles 
and  the  early  Christians,  and  of  which  we 
find  no  trace  in  the  works  of  the  doctors  of 
the  church,  not  even  in  the  prayers  for  the 
dead,  which  were  in  use  in  the  time  of  Ter- 
tullian. 

St.  Gregory,  always  faithful  to  his  policy  of 
encroachment,  skilfully  profited  by  the  ha- 
bits of  the  pagans  to  lead  them  to  Christianity, 
as  he  himself  testifies  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
Augustine,  the  apostle  of  England.  After  dif- 
ferent considerations  of  the  manner  in  which 
prelates  ought  to  consecrate  profane  temples 
for  divine  service,  he  says  to  him  :  "  Do  not 
overthrow  these  edifices ;  it  suffices  to  break 
in  pieces  the  idols  which  they  contain,  and  to 
purify  the  enclosure  with  holy  water.  You 
can  then  rear  Christian  altars,  and  deposit  the 
relics  under  the  consecrated  roof.  Recollect, 
also,  that  we  should  tear  from  the  devil  the 
monuments  of  his  worship,  and  not  destroy 
them.  Besides,  by  preserving  them,  you  will 
do  an  useful  act  to  the  cause  of  God ;  for  the  pa- 
gans, whose  steps  freciuently  crowd  the  thresh- 
holds  of  these  houses,  will  become  converts 
for  the  purpose  of  praying  still  in  places  ac- 
customed to  their  voices;  and  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  immolate  victims  to  the  infer- 
nal deity,  will  be  turned  from  their  impious 
sacrilege  by  the  splendor  of  your  religious 
ceremonies. 

"On  the  day  of  the  dedication,  or  of  the 
death  of  the  holy  martyrs,  who.se  sacred  re- 
mains shall  be  deposited  in  the  new  church, 
you  will  make  tabernacles  of  branches  of  trees 
about  the  church,  and  the  festival  will  be 
celebrated  by  pious  banquets.  In  these  so- 
lemnities you  will  permit  the  people  to  im- 
molate animals  according  to  ancient  use,  that 
they  may  return  thanks  to  God,  and  not  to 
evil  spirits.  You  will  preserve  some  of  their 
ancient  customs,  and  thus  they  will  more  rea- 
dily consent  to  practise  the  new  worship 
which  we  wish  to  impose  on  them." 

The  pontiff  also  applied  hiinself  to  reform 
the  psahnody  of  the  church.     He  composed 


130 


HISTORY    OF. THE    POPES. 


the  famous  Gregorian  chant,  on  which  ec-  | 
clesiastical  writers  have  passed  the  highest  , 
eulogium.  Some  authors  even  affirm  that 
there  is  nothing  more  admirable  than  the  con-  | 
ception  of  his  Antiphonal.  Notwithstanding 
tha  sufferings  he  endured,  and  the  occupa- 
tions of  government,  he  himself  regulated  the 
music  of  the  psalms,  orisons,  verses,  canticles, 
epistles,  the  Scriptures,  and  the  Lord's  prayer. 
He  instituted  an  academy  for  singing ;  where 
the  clergy  studied  religious  music,  up  to  the 
period  of  their  entry  on  the  diaconate.  The 
holy  father  was  the  principal  professor  in  it, 
and  there  was  preserved,  in  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  for  a  long  time,  the  bed  on  which, 
being  sick,  he  taught  the  chant  of  the  sacred 
hymns,  and  the  whip  with  which  he  threat- 
ened the  young  clergy  and  the  children  of  the 
choir  who  did  not  keep  time. 

Gregory  havmg  learned  that  a  council  had 
been  convoked  at  Constantinople  by  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Holy  See,  hastened  to  warn  the 
principal  bishops  of  the  ambitious  projects  of 
Cyriacus.  He  exhorted  them  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  Rome  over  Byzantium,  and  to 
refuse  to  the  patriarch  the  j)roud  title  of  uni- 
versal bishop. 

At  the  same  time  he  wrote  to  the  emperor 
Maurice,  to  thank  him  for  the  thirty  pounds 
of  gold  he  had  sent  to  the  poor  of  Rome  : 
'•  We  have,"  said  his  holiness,  '•'  faithfully  di- 
vided your  alms  among  the  unfortunate  fami- 
lies, the  necessitous  ecclesiastics,  and  the 
religious  females,  whom  we  have  received 
into  our  city,  and  who  fly  persecution.  Also, 
to  put  an  end  to  the  murmurs  of  the  soldiery, 
and  to  draw  upon  you  their  thanks,  we  have 
paid  them  the  money  which  has  been  due  to 
them  for  several  months." 

In  the  following  year  (600)  the  pontiff  as- 
sembled a  spiod  to  condemn  the  sect  of  the 
Agoneta.  These  heretics  maintained  that 
Jesus  Christ,  by  his  incarnation,  had  taken 
human  nature,  enjoyed  the  same  faculties  as 
other  men,  and  that  during  the  course  of  his 
mortal  life  he  could  not  obtain  the  gift  of  lan- 
guages, nor  the  revelation  of  the  last  judg- 
ment. Eulogius  of  Alexandria,  equally  de- 
clared himself  against  the  new  heresy,  and 
Gregory  wrote  to  him  on  this  subject:  "I 
have  admired  your  doctrine,  whose  conformity 
to  that  of  the  fathers  has  made  me  under- 
stand that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  revealed  in  the 
same  manner  in  all  idioms.  Thus  it  is  mani- 
fest, that  a  man  who  is  not  a  Nestorian  cannot 
be  an  Agoneta.  Do  not  alloAV  your  zeal  for 
orthodoxy  to  languish  •  you,  to  whom  health 
of  body  gives  power  to  accomplish  the  de- 
sires of  the  will,  courageously  proscribe  here- 
tics. As  for  me,  I  feel  that  1  am  succumbing 
under  the  sufferings  which  bear  me  down ; 
for  two  years  my  feet  have  not  touched  the 
earth;  on  the  day  of  solemn  feasts,  I  can 
scarcely  remain  standing  for  a  few  minutes 
to  celebrate  divine  service.  My  life  is  a  bur- 
then to  me.  I  wait  for,  and  call  on  death  as 
the  only  remedy  for  my  ills." 

In  fact,  the  sufferings  of  the  holy  father, 
which  were  the  consequences  of  the  austeri- 


ties he  had  imposed  upon  himself,  augmented 
daily,  and  he  wrote  to  a  Roman  lady  named 
Justinicerna,  tormented  by  the  illness  which 
rent  him  :  '•  You  know  how  powerful  was  my 
stature,  and  how  vigorous  my  health ;  never- 
theless, the  frightful  evil  of  the  gout  has  con- 
sumed me  like  the  worm  of  the  sepulchre. 
If  these  incessant  pains  have  been  thus  able 
to  impoverish  my  body,  what  would  become 
of  your's,  already  so  frail,  before  this  cruel 
malady." 

Still  Gregory,  notwithstanding  his  constant 
sufferings,  did  not  cease  to  watch  over  the 
interests  of  the  Roman  church ;  he  prohibited 
bishops  from  diminishing  the  domains  or  the 
revenues,  or  from  altering  the  title  deeds  of 
monasteries;  and  he  took  from  them  juris- 
diction over  the  convents  of  their  dioceses. 
He  ordered  the  monks  to  submit  themselves 
to  all  the  severities  of  their  rules,  and  made 
a  decree,  commanding  priests  to  separate 
from  the  women  with  whom  they  lived.  The 
severity  of  the  pontiff  produced  terrible  con- 
sequences, and  a  prodigious  number  of  in- 
fanticides. 

An  historian  relates,  that  a  year  after  the 
publication  of  this  edict,  Gregory,  having  given 
orders  to  fish  in  the  ponds  which  he  had  con- 
structed to  preserve  the  fish,  six  thousand 
heads  of  new-born  children  were  drawn  from 
the  water.  The  holy  father  thus  learned  that 
his  decree  Avas  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature. 
He  immediately  revoked  it,  and  imposed  a 
severe  penance  to  obtain  from  God  pardon  for 
the  abominable  cruelties  of  which  the  priests 
of  his  church  were  guilty,  and  of  which  he 
was  the  first  cause. 

At  this  period  Gregory  sent  back  into  Eng- 
land the  ecclesiastic  Lawrence,  whom  bishop 
Augustine  had  deputed  to  Rome  three  years 
before.  He  charged  him  with  replies  to  the 
questions  which  had  been  addressed  to  him 
by  the  prelate  of  Canterbury,  and  sent  by 
him  letters  for  the  king  of  Kent  and  his  wife 
Bertha,  who  is  called  Aldeberge.  He  thanks 
this  princess  for  the  protection  she  accorded 
to  Aug-ustine ;  he  compares  her  to  St.  Helena, 
the  mother  of  Constantine,  whom  God  had  em- 
ployed as  a  means  to  convert  the  Romans  to 
Christianity;  he  exhorts  her  to  strengthen  the 
king  her  spouse,  in  religion,  and  urgeshertooc- 
cupy  herself  above  all  things  in  converting  her 
subjects  to  Christianity.  "  Your  good  works," 
he  said  to  her,  '■'  are  known  not  oidy  in  our 
apostolic  city,  where  they  pray  with  ardor  for 
the  duration  of  your  reign,  but  even  at  Con- 
stantinople, where  their  renown  has  carried 
them  even  to  the  throne  of  the  emperor. 

He  recommends  to  king  Ethelbert  to  pre- 
serve faithfully  the  grace  which  he  had  re- 
ceived in  baptism;  to  abolish  the  worship  of 
idols,  to  which  his  people  yet  showed  them- 
selves attached ;  to  establish  good  morals  at 
his  court,  by  employing  menaces  and  caresses, 
and  principally  by  his  example.  Finally,  he 
beseeches  him  to  give  his  entire  confidence 
to  bishop  Augustine,  and  to  follow  faithfully 
the  instructions  of  the  church. 
In  the  following  year  (603)  he  wrote  in 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


131 


these  tf>rms  to  the  prelates  of  the  province  of  I 
Bvzniitium:    "It  is   commendable,  my  bre- 
thren, to  respect  superiors;  still  the  fear  of 
God  does  not  authorize  us  to  hide  their  faults. 
I  have  known  for  a  long  time  of  accusations  ' 
a^inst  Clement,  your  primate,  and  I  have  not  ' 
been  able  to  test  the  truth  of  them.   The  care  ' 
of  my  people,  and  the  vigilance  I  have  found 
necessary  to  employ  airainst  the  enemies  who  | 
environ  us,  have  not  left  me  any  time  to  ex-  | 
amine  into  complaints  so  weighty.  We  exhort  ' 
you  zealously  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of 
your  brother.     If  he  is   guilty,  he  must  be 
punished  according  to  the  canons  ;  if  iniio-  ' 
cent,  it  is  your  duty  to  acquit  him.    He  amoiig 
you  who  shall  show  m  this  trial  cowardice  or 
weakness,  how  does  he  know  but  that  God 
will  condemn  him  for  the  same  crimes  which 
h3  shall   have  wished  to  conceal  from  our 
justice."  I 

In  France,  queen  Brunehaut  and  king  Theo-  ' 
doric,  her  grandson,  sought  the  mediation  of 
Gregory  to  conclude  a  peace  with  the  empire. 
The)'  also  consulted  the  holy  father  upon  a  | 
point  of  discipline  in  relation  to  a  bishop  of 
France,  who  suffered  such  violent  pains  in 
his  head  as  to  render  him  insensate,  and  pre- 
vented him  from  filling  his  episcopal  functions. 
The  pontiff  gave  instructions  to  the  metropo- 
litan of  Lyons  as  to  the  course  which  he 
should  pursue  towards  his  suffragan  in  this 
particular  circumstance.  In  his  reply  to  Brune- 
haut he  followed  his  habitual  policy  towards 
the  powers  of  the  day,  addressing  high  eulo- 
giums  to  this  princess  on  her  piety,  and  gross 
Batteries  upon  the  munificence  which  she  dis- 
played towards  the  clergj-.  He  informed  her 
at  the  end  of  his  letter,  that  he  granted  the 
privileges  asked  for  the  two  monasteries 
which  she  had  founded  at  Autun.  The  deeds 
of  these  convents  contain  clauses  so  singular, 
that  they  have  been  declared  apocr}'phal  by 
a  great  number  of  historians. 

In  the  East,  Phocas  had  seized  upon  the 
imperial  throne,  after  having  murdered  Mau- 
rice and  his  children.  The  usurper  sent  his 
portrait  to  Gregory,  who  placed  it,  with  that  of 
the  empress  Leontia,  in  the  oratory  of  St.  Ccc- 
sar,  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  His  holiness 
then  wrote  to  the  monarch  to  congratulate  him 
on  his  happy  advent  to  the  throne.  INTaim- 
bourg,  after  having  traced  a  frightful  picture  of 
the  crimes  of  Phocas,  thus  expresses  himself 
on  the  policy  of  Gregory;  '-T  avow  that  all 
who  shall  read  these  three  epistles,  addrcs.sed 
to  this  prince  and  to  Leontia  his  wife,  will 
feel  an  indignation  equal  to  that  which  I  en- 
tertain towards  the  Roman  pontiff.  The 
shameful  cause  of  these  flatteries  was  the  de- 
claration made  by  the  emperor  IMaurice  in 
favour  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  in 
the  contest  raised  by  the  holy  father  for  the 
title  of  universal  bishop.  The  death  of  the 
legitimate  sovereign  affording  the  pope  a  hope 
of  gaining  the  new  sovereign,  he  employed  all 
the  resources  of  his  mind  and  his  policy  to 
gain  from  Phocas  a  decree  elevating  his  see 
above  that  of  Byzantium." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  j-ear  604,  queen 


Theodelinda  advised  the  court  of  Rome  of  the 
birth  and  baptism  of  her  son  Adoaldus  ;  at 
the  same  time  she  submitted  to  the  holy  father 
some  observations  of  the  abbot  Secondinus, 
upon  the  fifth  council,  and  besought  him  to 
resolve  the  questions  which  the  prelate  ad- 
dressed to  him.  Gregory  congratulated  the 
queen  on  havingbaptized  in  a  Catholic  church, 
a  prince  destined  foreign  over  the  Lombards; 
and  he  thus  terminated  his  reply:  "I  am  so 
worn  down  by  suffering  from  the  gout,  that  I 
can  no  longer  walk,  as  your  deputies  will  af- 
firm to  you.  If  God  shall  grant  me  a  few 
days  less  painful,  I  will  reply  more  at  length 
to  the  requests  of  the  abbot  Secondinus.  I 
send  to  him,  however,  the  decisions  of  the 
council  held  during  the  reign  of  Justinian;  in 
reading  them  he  will  recognise  the  falsity  of 
the  assertions  made  against  the  Holy  See.  God 
preserves  us  from  falling  into  the  error  of  any 
heretic,  and  from  separating  ourselves  from 
the  sentiments  of  St.  Leo,  and  the  four  coun- 
cils. 

■'I  send  to  prince  Advoldus,  your  son,  a  cru- 
cifix made  of  the  wood  of  the  true  cross,  and 
to  the  princess,  your  daughter,  a  bible  en- 
closed in  Persian  wood,  and  three  consecrated 
rings.  Return  thanks  to  the  king,  your  hus- 
band, for  us  for  the  peace  which  he  has  given 
us,  and  beseech  him  to  preserve  it." 

This  is  the  last  letter  which  Gregory  wrote. 
He  died  on  the  12th  of  March  604,  after  a 
reign  of  thirteen  years  and  some  months.  His 
body  was  deposited  without  pomp,  near  to  the 
ancient  sacristy  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  at 
the  extremity  of  the  great  portico,  where  were 
already  placed  the  sepulchres  of  several  pon- 
tiffs. His  remains  have  been  preserved,  with 
'  his  pall,  the  reliquary  which  he  wore  around 
!  his  neck,  and  the  girdle  which  he  wore  in  the 
'ceremonies  of  the  church. 
I  The  deacon  John  has  left  us  a  portrait  of 
I  Gregory,  which  w^as  traced  from  the  ancient 
j  paintings  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Andrew, 
W'here  the  pope  was  represented  with  his 
father  and  mother.  "His  height  was  well 
'proportioned  and  elegant;  his  face  united  the 
length  of  his  father's  to  the  roundness  of  his 
mother's ;  his  beard  was  light-colored  and 
thin.  He  was  bald ;  nevertheless  there  re- 
mained on  the  very  top  of  his  forehead  two 
locks  of  hair,  which  curled  naturally,  and 
which  he  suffered  to  fall  on  his  temples.  He 
had  a  vast  forehead  ;  his  eyebrows  were  long, 
elevated,  and  straight ;  his  eyes  were  well 
opened,  though  not  large  ;  the  pupil  of  his  eye 
was  red  ;  his  nose  strongly  aquiline,  and  his 
nostrils  large  ;  his  mouth,  vermilion  ;  his  lips, 
strong :  his  chin  raised,  and  his  complexion 
livid  ;  his  aspect  was  mild  ;  his  hands  beauti- 
ful, and  his  fiuirers  rounded  and  well  placed 
for  writing.  The  painter  has  represented  him 
clothed  in  a  brown  chasuble  over  his  dalma- 
tic. He  holds  in  his  left  hand  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Evnngelists,  and  his  modesty 
prevented  him  from  allowing  to  be  placed 
above  his  head  the  luminous  aureole  given  to 
the  saints  fo  distinguish  them  from  the  other 
faithful!" 


132 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


As  to  the  qualities  of  his  mind;  all  histo- 1 
rians  agree  in  saying,  that  Gregory  was  inge-  | 
nious  in  setting  forth  Christian  morality,  and  , 
in  causing  heretics  and  idolaters  to  adopt  it.  1 
He  possessed  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  ascetic 
thoughts,  and  expressed  them  in  a  noble  man- 
ner, by  periods,  rather  than   by  sentences. 
What  he  said  was  always   true,  solid ;  but 
common  places  and  vulgar  maxims  abound  in 
them.     He  is  frequently  diffuse  in  his  long 
dissertations,  and  assuming  in  his  allegories ; 
finally,  we  constantly  find  the  style  of  the 
rhetorician  in  the  writings  of  the  pontiff. 

Some  authors  affirm,  that  he  was  gifted  with 
an  extreme  modesty,  and  that  he  was  sin- 
cerely grieved  at  the  literary  renown  which 
he  acquired.  Having  learned  that  his  uncle 
Maurice,  bishop  of  Ravenna,  publicly  recited 
at  the  night  services  his  commentaries  on  the 
book  of  Job,  he  complained  of  it  to  that  pre- 
late, and  prohibited  the  priests  from  reading 
any  of  his  works  in  the  churches.  It  is  also 
recounted,  as  a  proof  of  his  modesty,  that  he 
wrote  to  Eulogius.  patriarch  of  Alexandria : 
"Your  beatitude  tells  me,  you  will  execute 
that  which  I  have  commaiided.  I  beseech 
you  retract  the  word  command,  for  I  know 
who  you  are  and  who  I  am.  You  are  my 
brother  in  dignity  and  my  father  in  merit.  I 
have  not  given  orders ;  I  have  simply  apprised 
you  of  that  which  seemed  to  me  useful  for 
religion.  I  never  shall  glorify  myself  in  that 
which  shall  strike  a  blow  at  the  grandeur  of 
my  brethren,  and  my  glory  is  that  of  the 
church." 

Other  reliable  authors  assure  us,  on  the 
contrary,  that  he  exhibited  jealousy  of  his  re- 
putation as  a  writer.  They  relate  that  a  Gre- 
cian monk,  named  Andrew,  who  was  confined 
in  a  cell,  near  to  the  church  of  St.  Paul,  com- 
posed several  discourses  in  the  name  of  the 
pontifl^,  in  order  to  give  them  greater  import- 
ance;  and  that  his  knavery  having  been  dis- 
covered, Gregory,  irritated  that  he  had  attri- 
buted to  him  such  language,  punished  the 
forgery  with  the  greatest  rigor. 

According  to  the  rule  established  in  the  or- 
thodox churches  of  the  East,  the  pontiff 
divided  the  revenues  of  the  Holy  See  into  four 
parts:  the  first  pertained  to  himself;  the  se- 
cond was  given  to  the  priests;  the  third  to  the 
poor ;  and  the  last  to  the  church-building.  In 
replying  to  several  questions  addressed  to 
him  by  Augustine,  bishop  of  the  English,  he 
confirms  the  division  before  approved  by  seve- 
ral popes,  and  adds  that  the  part  of  the  reve- 
nue set  aside  for  the  prelate  did  not  belong  to 
himself  alone,  but  to  all  his  servants;  and 
that  it  should  serve  for  the  expenses  of  hospi- 
tality, then  in  use  in  episcopal  dwellings. 

St.  Gregory  recommended  to  the  people  sub- 
mission to  their  superiors;  nevertheless,  he 
added,  that  obedience  did  not  draw  after  it  a 
blind  approbation  of  the  orders  of  princes. 
''  We  should  warn  the  people,"  he  wrote,  "  not 
to  push  too  far  the  deference  which  they  owe 
to  their  chiefs,  from  the  fear  that  they  may  be 
carried  away  to  respect  the  crimes  of  their 
kings."    This  principle,  in  which  he  was  fre- 


quently wanting  himself,  has  appeared  of 
so  great  a  necessity,  that  it  has  been  placed 
as  a  rule  in  the  canon  law.  Thus  the  church 
admits  of  resistance  to  unjust  power  ;  it  calls 
indiscreet  obedience  that  which  is  not  autho- 
rised by  the  apostles,  and  decides  that  we 
should  judge  of  the  actions  of  kings,  and  re- 
fuse to  obey  measures  contrary  to  the  great 
interests  of  humanity. 

Paul  and  John,  two  deacons,  who  wrote  in 
the  ninth  century  the  history  of  Gregory  the 
First,  relate,  devoutly,  that  this  pontiff,  struck 
with  the  exactness  which  the  emperor  Trajan 
had  shown  in  rendering  justice,  prayed  for 
the  repose  of  the  soul  of  this  great  prince; 
and  that  he  obtained  from  Christ  permission 
for  him  to  leave  the  infernal  regions  to  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ! 

They  also  guarantee  the  reality  of  that 
other  miracle,  which  took  place  in  the  church 
of  St.  Peter.  A  Roman-  woman  having  ap- 
proached the  holy  table,  the  pontiff  recited  to 
her  the  ordinary  formula  in  presenting  to  her 
the  eucharist :  "  The  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  may  it  give  you  remission  from  all 
your  sins,  and  eternal  life."  These  sacra- 
mental words  having  made  the  communicant 
smile,  the  holy  father  drew  back  the  conse- 
crated bread  which  he  presented  to  her,  and 
gave  it  to  the  deacon  to  replace  upon  the  altar. 
After  having  celebrated  divine  service,  he 
called  to  him  this  woman,  who  was  the  keeper 
of  the  pantry  of  the  church,  and  demanded 
from  her  what  guilty  thought  had  entered  into 
her  mind  at  the  very  moment  of  receiving  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar.  She  replied,  "  I  could 
not  repress  a  smile,  on  hearing  you  give  to  a 
piece  of  bread,  which  I  myself  had  made,  the 
name  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Gregory,  seeing  the  incredulity  of  this  wo- 
man prayed,  and  asked  the  people  to  pray 
with  him.  His  prayer  being  finished,  he  rose 
up,  uncovered  the  host  placed  under  the  com- 
munion cloth,  and  found  it  changed  into  flesh, 
with  spots  of  blood.  "Approach  now,"  he 
said  to  the  sinning  woman,  "  and  regard  the 
consecrated  bread  which  I  give  you,  which 
is  really  the  blood  and  the  body  of  Christ." 
Then  he  ordered  the  assistants  to  prostrate 
themselves,  and  ask  from  God,  that  the  bread 
of  the  eucharist  might  retake  its  ordinary 
form,  that  the  woman,  who  had  appeared 
moved  by  the  prodigy,  might  commune  :  and 
'  a  new  miracle  was  accomplished  at  the  bid- 
ding of  the  pontiff. 

Dom  Denis  of  St.  Martha,  who  refuted  the 
fable  of  the  salvation  of  Trajan,  cites  this  as 
an  irrefutable  proof  of  transubstantiation. 
The  same  monk  combated  the  imputations 
of  historians  who  accused  Gregory  of  having 
been  superstitious,  resting  his  opinions  on  this 
command  of  the  holy  father  .  "  I  am  apprised 
that  there  are  spread  among  the  faithful  the 
errors  of  the  Jews,  relative  to  the  prohibition 
of  labouring  on  Saturday.  If  we  must  ob- 
serve to  the  letter  the  precept  of  the  Sabbath, 
we  must  also  practise  circumcision,  notwith- 
standing the  will  of  the  apostle  St.  Paul.  .  .  " 

Not  only  was  the  pontiff  superstitious  and 


HISTORV    OF    THE    POPES. 


133 


trustful  in  magicians,  but  he  also  was  intole- 
rant, and  persecuted  enchanters  and  sorcerers. 
Maximus.  bishop  of  Syracuse,  as  ignorant  as 
were  all  the  bishops  of  that  period,  had  found 
in  his  diocese  some  Greeks  infected  with 
witchcraft ;  he  attributed  their  imaginary 
power  to  the  devil ;  caused  them  to  be  im- 
prisoned, and  commenced  a  process  against 
them.  He  died  before  judging  them.  The 
pope  wrote  to  the  deacon  Cyprian  to  continue 
the  trial.  "Send  us  those  guilty  ones,"  he 
said,  "  when  you  shall  have  convicted  them 
of  their  crimes.  If  the  resources  of  their  in- 
fernal art  conceal  from  you  the  truth,  punish 
them  severely;  even  although  the  secular 
judge  shall  oppose  himself  to  your  justice. 
VVe  must  strike  without  pity  all  those  who  are 
attainted  by  the  spirit  of  darkness." 

The  intolerance  of  the  pontiff  equally  re- 
vealed itself  in  acts  of  cruelty  and  Vandalism; 
he  destroyed  the  monuments  of  Roman  mag- 
nificence ;  he  set  fire  to  the  Palatine  library, 
founded  by  Augustus;  and  he  burned  in  the 
public  square  the  works  of  Titus  Livy,  be- 
cause that  author  opposed  in  his  writings 
superstitious  worship.  He  destroyed  the  works 
of  Afranius,  NcEvius,  Ennius,  and  other  Latin 
poets,  of  whom  there  only  remain  fragments. 
He  constantly  showed  himself  the  declared 


enemy  of  all  the  human  sciences  ;  proscribed 
at  Rome  pagan  books,  and  pushed  his  hatred 
against  the  learned,  even  to  the  e.vcommuni- 
cation  of  Didier,  archbishop  of  Vienne,  be- 
cause the  holy  prelate  permitted  grammar  to 
be  taught  in  his  diocese. 

Thus  the  historians  of  this  period  affirm, 
that  the  priests  were  more  baneful  to  letters 
than  the  wars  of  the  Goths  and  Vandals ;  and 
that  we  owe  to  their  fanaticism  that  profound 
ignorance  which  spread  itself  for  several  cen- 
turies over  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire. 
Gregory  not  only  destroyed  the  works  of  the 
philosophers  of  Alexandria  and  Rome,  who 
showed  the  knavery  of  the  leading  Christian 
ministers,  and  who  could  enlighten  the  na- 
tions :  but  the  church  militant  following  the 
example  of  its  chief,  attacked  with  fury  every 
thing  which  bore  the  name  of  science  and 
art.  The  rarest  manuscripts  were  burned; 
pictures  of  an  inestimable  price  were  de- 
stroyed ;  the  master-pieces  of  sculpture  were 
broken  or  mutilated,  and  splendid  buildings 
fell  before  the  axes  of  the  priests,  Finally, 
the  new  religion  established  its  throne  on  the 
ruins  of  the  noblest  treasures  of  antiquity,  to 
found  its  power  upon  the  ignorance  and  bru- 
tality of  the  people  !  ! 


THE    SEVENTH   CENTURY. 


SABINIANUS,  THE   SIXTY-SEVENTH   POPE. 

[A.  D.  602. — Phocas,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Sabinianus — His  harshness  to  the  poor — He  acatscs  St.  Gregory  of  having  bought 
the  title  of  saint — He  endeavours  to  condemn  as  heretical  the  books  of  his  predecessor — St. 
Gregory  appears  to  the  pontiff,  and  strikes  him  dead. 


DcRiNG  the  seventh  century,  the  bishops  of 
Rome  commenced  extending  their  dominion, 
spiritual  and  temporal,  employing  by  turns 
craft  and  audacity;  they  humbly  bow  the 
head  before  the  masters  of  the  empire  when 
these  latter  are  powerful,  and  revolt  against 
their  authority  when  they  see  them  conquered 
by  their  enemies,  or  unable  to  punish  them. 
It  is  true  that  the  emperors  drew  upon  them- 
selves, by  their  faults,  the  hatred  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  contempt  of  the  clergy;  first,  by 
abasing  themselves  to  sustain  theological 
theses,  and  then  by  espousing  the  most  ridi- 
culous quarrels  on  the  dogmas  of  Catholicism ; 
and  finally,  by  doing  that  which  was  most 
odious,  by  pushing  the  violence  of  their  con- 
troversies even  lo  the  persecution  of  the  un- 
fortunate, who  hold  adverse  opinions  to  theirs. 
In  the  midst  of  those  idle  disputes,  the  ma- 
terial interests  of  the  provinces  were  neglect- 
ed, and  the  citizens  who  were  separated  from 
the  creed  of  the  monarch,  naturally  accus- 
tomed themselves  to  regard  him  as  an  enemy, 
and  sought  to  free  themselves  from  his  yoke. 


The  popes  profited  by  this  infatuation  of 
the  emperors  for  religious  questions,  and  ren- 
dered the  disputes  between  them  and  their 
subjects  more  violent  and  bitter,  now  by  rang- 
ing themselves  on  the  side  of  the  princes, 
now  by  adopting  the  opinion  of  the  subjects. 
They  thus  acquired  a  real  power,  which  they 
knew  how  to  render  more  and  more  formida- 
ble, by  leaning  it  for  support  on  superstition 
and  fanaticism. 

The  consequence  of  this  state  of  things 
was,  that  the  shades  of  ignorance  covered  the 
entire  world.  The  popes  even  prohibited  the 
faithful  from  learning  to  read,  under  penalty 
of  excommimication.  By  their  orders  the 
monuments  of  antiquity  fell  under  the  axes 
of  the  priests ;  the  most  precious  manuscripts 
were  cast  into  the  fiamcs  by  Vandals,  wearing 
the  tiara,  and  humanity  can  only  veil  its  face 
to  deplore  the  rich  treasures  snatched  from 
her. 

Thus  the  sublime  doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ 
became  trampled  upon,  despised,  spit  upon. 
Thus  the  intention  of  the  Revealer  was  inter- 


134 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


preted  !  The  popes  substituted  their  caprices 
for  the  Jaws  of  the  Bible,  and  preserved  the 
authority  they  had  usurped  by  fraudulently 
employnig  the  name  of  Christ  to  oppress  men. 
At  length  their  boldness  became  such,  that 
they  dared  to  say,  "  People,  listen  !  We,  who 
are  the  interpreters  of  Supreme  Wisdom, 
declare  to  you,  that  truth  flows  from  our 
mouth  ]  that  we  have  the  right  to  impose  on 
you  our  belief  ]  and  he  who  shall  not  preach 
and  teach  that  which  we  preach  and  teacfi, 
shall  be  excommunicated,  were  he  Jesus 
Christ  himself!  !" 

The  pontitf  who  commences  the  series  of 
Roman  bishops  of  the  seventh  century,  was 
the  Tuscan,  Sabinianus,  the  son  of  Bonus,  who 
was  of  illustrious  birth,  and  who  had  drawn 
upon  himself  the  contempt  of  the  Romans  for 
his  dissolute  morals.  Anastasius.  the  libra- 
rian, informs  us  that  he  was  the  nuncio  of 
Gregory  at  the  court  of  Maurice  ;  and  that  he 
was  chosen  by  the  clergy,  not  as  the  most 
worthy  to  govern  the  church,  but  as  the  most 
capable  of  augmenting  the  power  of  the 
priests,  and  the  splendour  of  the  pontifical 
throne. 

His  conduct  was  very  different  from  that 
of  his  predecessor ;  for  in  a  famine  which  de- 
solated the  pontifical  cit)',  he  sold  the  grain 
which  Gregory  had  distributed  as  a  gratuity. 
As  the  poor  could  not  pay  a  penny  of  gold 
for  thirty  measures  of  grain,  and  were  dying 
of  hunger  close  by  the  abundant  granaries  of 
the  Holy  See,  the  principal  people  Avent  in 
procession  to  the  palace  of  Sabinianus,  to 
beseech  him,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  not  to 
suffer  those  to  perish  miserably,  whom  he 
should  nourish  in  the  monasteries  during  the 
afflictions  of  the  dearth.  But  without  even 
listening  to  them,  the  pontiff  drove  them  from 
his  presence,  exclaiming,  '-Turn  from  me,  ye 
wretches.  Do  you  suppose  me  willing  to  imi- 
tate the  conduct  of  the  last  pope,  and  pur- 


chase from  you  the  title  of  .saint  by  my  pro- 
digalities." 

Nero  also  blamed  his  ancestors  for  having 
drained  the  public  treasury  by  excessive  lar- 
gesses to  the  citizens !  Strange  aberration  of 
the  human  mind  !  A  Sabinianus  and  a  Nero 
dared  to  make  themselves  censors  of  the  con- 
duct of  their  predecessors,  as  if  they  had  no 
cause  to  fear,  in  turn,  the  judgment  of  their 
posterity ! 

Sabinianus.  the  possessor  of  the  treasures 
of  St.  Peter,  not  content  with  showing  himself 
as  hard  to  the  poor  as  Gregory  had  been  cha- 
ritable, wished  to  destroy  the  witnesses  wliich 
had  procured  for  him  so  great  a  reputation, 
and  pretended  that  they  were  full  of  heresy. 
The  synod  convoked  by  the  holy^father,  had 
already  given  an  order  to  deliver  them  to  the 
flames,  when  a  deacon,  named  Peter,  rose  from 
his  seat,  and  affirmed  with  an  oath,  that  dur- 
ing the  life  of  Gregory  he  had  seen  the  Holy 
Spirit,  under  the  form  of  a  dove,  light  upon 
the  head  of  the  saint,  and  dictate  to  him  his 
works.  This  strange  incident  prevented  Sa- 
binianus from  executing  his  desire ! 

At  length,  the  harshness  of  the  pontiff  and 
his  insatiable  avarice,  rendered  him  so  odious 
to  the  Romans,  that  a  plot  was  formed  against 
his  life.  Several  priests  penetrated  secretly 
into  his  apartments,  and  assassinated  him. 

An  author  of  the  time  relates  another  ver- 
sion of  his  death.  He  affirms  that  at  the  mo- 
ment when  Sabinianus  was  occupied  in 
counting  his  treasures  in  a  secret  chamber, 
St.  Gregory  appeared  to  him,  reproached  him 
with  the  misfortunes  of  Rome,  and  ordered 
him  to  change  his  conduct ;  and  that  on  his 
refusal  he  struck  him  on  the  head  with  so 
much  violence,  that  the  holy  father  died  of 
his  wound,  on  the  15th  of  February,  605,  after 
having  reigned  six  months.  It  is  believed 
that  his  body  was  cast  without  the  walls  of 
the  holy  city. 


BONIFACE  THE  THIRD,  SIXTY-EIGHTH  POPE. 


Election  of  Bonifacc- 


[A.  D.  606.— Phocas,  Efnperor  of  the  East.] 

-His  ambition — Phocas  gives  him  the  title  of  universal  bishop — Council 
at  Ro7nc — Despotism  of  Boniface — His  death. 


The  struggles  and  intrigues  which  followed 
the  death  of  Sabinianus,  prolonged  for  a  whole 
year  the  vacancy  of  the  see  of  Rome. 

At  length  the  faction  of  Boniface  the  Third 
prevailed.  He  received  the  episcopal  ordina- 
tion, and  was  elevated  upon  the  apostolical 
chair.  Born  in  the  holy  city,  and  deacon  of 
this  church,  he  had  been  sent,  during  the  pon- 
tificate of  Gregory,  to  the  court  of  the  empe- 
ror, in  the  quality  of  nuncio.  This  proud  pope 
was  the  first  who  dared  to  bear  the  title  of 
universal  bishop,  so  long  refused  by  the  Ro- 
man pontiffs  to  the  Greek  patriarchs. 


At  this  period  Phocas  governed  the  empire. 
This  prince,  irritated  against  Cyriacus,  who 
had  refused  him  admission  into  the  church 
after  the  murder  of  the  empress  Constantina 
and  her  daughter,  resolved,  in  order  to  avenge 
himself  on  that  prelate,  to  elevate  the  see  of 
Rome  above  that  of  Byzantium,  and  nomi- 
nated Boniface  as  universal  bishop  of  all  the 
churches  of  Christendom. 

The  pontiff  immediately  convoked  a  sjTiod, 
and  caused  it  to  confirm  the  title  which  the 
emperor  had  given  him,  by  declaring  the  pre- 
ponderance of  Iris  see  over  that  of  Constauti- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


135 


uople.  This  same  council  prohibited  the  re- 
newal of  the  intriarues  which  took  place  for  the 
election  of  the  popes,  and  orclpred  that  the 
clergy,  the  grandues,  and  the  people;,  should 
assemble  three  days  after  the  death  of  the 
bishops  of  Rome,  to  name  their  successors. 

Boniface  also  decreed  that  the  nomination 
of  prelates,  in  all  the  kingdoms,  should  not  be 
canonical  until  after  confirmation  by  the  court 
of  Rome.  His  bull  commences  in  these 
words :  "  We  will  and  ortlain  that  such  an 
one  be  bishop ;  and  that  you  shall  obey  him 


without  hesitation  in  all  he  shall  command 
you.  ..." 

Thus  the  authority  of  the  successors  of  the 
fisherman  Simon  increased  in  a^single  day  by 
the  will  of  an  execrable  murderer,  and  the 
popes  raised  themselves  from  obedience  to 
despotism. 

But  Boniface  did  not  long  enjoy  his  absolute 
power ;  he  died  in  the  very  year  of  his  elec- 
tion, on  the  12th  of  November,  606.  His  re- 
mains were  deposited  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  at  Rome. 


BONIFACE  THE  FOURTH,  SIXTY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  607. — Phocas  and  Heraclius,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Boniface  the  Foitrth — The  Pantheon  changed  into  a  Christian  temple — A  council 
declares  that  manks  can  be  ■promoted  to  the  episcopacy — The  pope  changes  his  residence  to  a 
monastery — His  death. 


The  disorders  which  were  the  precursors 
of  the  election  of  a  pontiff  recommenced  on 
the  death  of  Boniface  the  Third,  notwith- 
standing the  decrees  of  the  last  council,  and 
retarded  for  six  months  the  nomination  of  a 
new  pope.  At  length  intrigue  and  simony 
elevated  to  the  pontifical  throne  a  priest  of 
the  Roman  church,  who  took  the  name  of 
Boniface  the  Fourth.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
physician  named  John,  and  had  been  educated 
from  his  youth  by  the  monks,  who  had  in- 
structed him  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures.  Thus,  to  show  his  thanks  to  his 
old  companions,  he  overwhelmed  them  with 
riches,  and  spread  his  favours  over  all  the 
religious  orders. 

The  tyrant  Phocas,  desirous  of  preserving 
the  aid  of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  offered  to  Bo- 
niface the  Pantheon,  built  by  Marius  Agrippa. 
son-in-law  of  Augustus,  thirty  years  before 
the  Christian  era,  and  consecrated,  formerly, 
to  all  the  divinities  of  paganism.  The  pontiff 
thankfidly  accepted  the  offer  of  the  emperor, 
and  transformed  this  splendic}  building  into  a 
Christian  church,  which  he  solemnly  dedi- 
cated to  the  Virgin,  mider  the  name  of  our 
Lady  of  the  Rotunda. 

Mellitus,  bishop  of  London,  came  at  this 
period  to  Italy,  and  assisted  at  a  council  held  by 
Boniface,  in  610.  to  determine  rules  for,  and  the 
form  of,  government  of  the  English  churches. 


Holstenius  maintains,  that  the  sjTiod  made 
a  decree  authorising  monks  to  be  named  bi- 
shops, and  to  discharge  the  sacerdotal  func- 
tions. The  same  authority  cites  a  letter  from 
Boniface  the  Fourth  to  king  Ethelbert,  in 
which  he  threatens  with  excommunication  the 
successors  of  the  prince  who  should  oppose 
the  ordination  of  monks.  "  The  monastic  pro- 
fession," adds  the  2:)ontitr,  •'  is  the  most  fa- 
vourable to  prepare  men  for  the  ministry  of 
Christ.  By  the  sanctity  of  a  cloistered  life, 
they  deserve  to  be  compared  to  angels;  and 
as  angels  are  the  messengers  of  God  in  heaven, 
so  should  the  monks  be  his  ministers  upon 
earth.  Besides,  do  they  not  resemble  the  glo- 
rious cherubims  in  their  external  forms  ?  The 
cowl,  which  covers  their  heads,  resembles 
two  brilliant  wings;  the  long  sleeves  of  their 
tunics  form  two  others;  and  we  may  affirm 
that  the  extremities  of  the  garment  which 
envelopes  their  body,  represent  two  more 
wings.  They  have  thus  six  win^s  like  the 
seraphims,  and  belong  to  the  highest  hieiarchy 
of  the  angels  !  !" 

The  holy  father  pushed  his  monastic  fanati- 
cism so  far  as  to  change  his  patei'nal  mansion 
into  a  convent.  At  length  he  died,  in  614, 
after  a  pontificate  of  seven  years.  Like  his 
predecessor  he  was  buried  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter. 


DEODATUS  THE  FIRST,  SEVENTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  614. — Heraclius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  the  pontiff— Ilis  oripn — Letters  attributed  to  him — Uncertainty  of  the  duration  of 
his  pontificale — Death  of  the  pope. 

After  the  death  of  Boniface  the  Fourth,  I  son  of  a  sub-deacon  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
Deodatus  arrived  at  the  papacy.    He  was  the    who  had  given  him  a  pious  education.    From 


136 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


his  very  youth  he  had  acquired,  by  his  hu- 
miUly  and  regular  morals,  a  great  reputation 
for  sanctity. 

Soon  after  his  elevation  to  the  throne  of 
the  church,  an  epidemical  leprosy  extended 
its  ravages  among  the  poor,  who  were  always 
numerous  in  the  holy  city.  This  cruel  malady 
communicated  itself  without  touch,  and  mere- 
ly by  the  breath  of  those  who  were  infected 
with  it.  Notwithstanding  the  danger,  the  vir- 
tuous pontifi'  visited  the  sick,  and  showed  an 
evangelical  charity  in  solacing  their  suffer- 
mgs. 

A  pious  legend  adds,  that  "  One  day,  Dqo- 
datus,  desirous  of  encouraging  the  clergy  to 
imitate  his  example,  kissed  a  leper  on  the 
forehead,  and  the  sick  man  was  immediately 
cured."  We  are  entirely  ignorant  of  the  other 
actions  of  the  pontiff. 

A  letter  addressed  to  Gordianus,  bishop  of 
Seville,  is  attributed  to  him.  But  it  is  evi- 
dently apocryphal,  as  the  see  of  that  city 
was  occupied  by  Isidore,  from  600  to  636,  an 
interval  which  includes  the  reign  of  Deoda- 
tus.  The  author  of  this  piece  declares  that, 
according  to  the  decree  of  the  Holy  See,  the 
husband  and  wife  who  held  their  childreii  at 
the  sacred  fount  of  baptism,  should  be  sepa- 
rated, under  pain  of  excommunication.  He 
adds,  however,  that  after  having  accomplished 


the  penance  imposed  by  the  church,  they 
could  be  reunited  by  submitting  anew  to  the 
sacrament  of  marriage. 

We  are  ignorant  of  the  exact  period  at 
which  Deodatus  came  to  the  apostolical  throne. 
The  duration  of  his  pontificate  is  not  more 
certain,  and  it  is  believed  that  he  died  in  the 
month  of  November,  in  the  year  617.  His 
body  was  placed  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

Deodatus  has  left  the  reputation  of  a  wise 
and  virtuous  man ;  and  the  affection  which 
he  always  exhibited  for  the  poor  has  justly 
merited  for  him  the  name  of  saint.  He  was 
the  first  pontiff  whose  bulls  were  sealed  with 
lead. 

During  his  reign  the  Persians  conquered 
Jerusalem  and  all  Palestine.  They  immolated, 
by  thousands  priests,  monks,  and  nuns.  They 
burned  all  the  churches,  seized  upon  an  innu- 
merable quantity  of  the  sacred  vases  and  pre- 
cious shrines,  and  led  into  slavery  the  pa- 
triarch Zachary,  and  very  many  people.  But 
that  M'hich  above  all  spread  universal  grief 
among  the  Christians,  was  the  loss  of  the 
precious  cross  of  gold,  which  enclosed  a  model 
of  the  true  cross.  This  sacred  relic  was  taken 
away  from  the  adoration  of  the  faithful.  There 
remained  of  all  the  instruments  of  the  pas- 
sion of  our  Saviour,  but  the  sponge  and  the 
lance,  which  had  been  sent  to  Constantinople. 


BONIFACE  THE  FIFTH,  SEVENTY-FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  617. — Heraclius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  the  pontiff— His  letters — Conversion  of  the  princess  Ethelberge  and  her  brother 
Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent — Boniface  sends  presents  to  the  king  and  queen  of  Northumberland — 
He  makes  churclies  a  place  of  asylum  for  the  u'icked — His  death — 3Iiracles  published  by  John 
3Ioschus. 


Boniface  the  Fifth  was  originally  from 
Naples,  and  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  order  of 
St.  Sixtus.  He  was  chosen  to  succeed  Deo- 
datus the  First,  in  the  month  of  December  of 
the  year  617.  We  are  ignorant  of  the  greater 
part  of  his  actions. 

Bede  reports  three  letters  which  the  pope 
wrote  during  his  reign.  One  is  addressed  to 
Justus,  metropolitan  of  Canterbury;  he  con- 
gratulates the  prelate  on  the  success  of  his 
apostolical  labours,  and  exhorts  him  to  perse- 
vere in  his  missions  for  the  conversion  of  the 
people  of  England.  He  grants  to  him  the 
power  of  ordaining  bishops  to  facilitate  the 
propagation  of  the  gospel ;  and  as  a  recom- 
pense for  his  zeal,  he  sends  him  the  pallium. 

At  this  time  Edwin,  the  fifth  sovereign  of 
Northumberland,  espoused  the  princess  Ethel- 
berge, sister  of  Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent.  The 
principal  condition  of  the  marriage  was,  that 
the  young  queen,  who  had  already  embraced 
the  Christian  religion,  should  be  accompanied 
by  monks,  charged  to  explain  to  the  monarch 
the  new  dogmas,  for  the  purpose  of  convert- 
ing him.     But,  if  the  prince  persisted  in  the 


belief  of  his  ancestors,  she  was  to  enjoy  entire 
liberty  of  conscience,  and  to  be  allowed  to 
hold  intercourse  with  the  priests  of  her  suite, 
and  to  practise  her  acts  of  devotion. 

Boniface  being  apprised  of  the  favourable 
disposition  of  Edwin,  wrote  to  him,  ''King  of 
Northumberland,  I  thank  the  true  God  for 
having  enlightened  your  mind,  by  making  you 
comprehend  the  vanity  of  idols.  May  your 
soul  soon  be  stricken  with  the  rays  of  his 
grace,  so  that  your  example  may  draw  after 
it  the  other  princes  of  England,  and  cause 
them  to  abandon  the  superstitions  of  pagan- 
ism, to  lay  down  at  the  feet  of  Christ  their 
wisdom  and  power." 

Another  letter  of  the  holy  father  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  queen.  He  congratulated  her 
on  having  joined,  as  well  as  her  brother  Ethel- 
bert, the  ranks  of  the  faithful.  He  exhorted 
her  to  apply  herself  by  her  example  and  per- 
suasion, to  convince  the  sovereign,  her  hus- 
band, of  the  truth  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  and 
to  render  him  more  ardent  for  the  propagation 
of  the  faith.  He  sent  to  them,  as  presents,  in 
the  name  of  the  holy  apostle  Peter,  the  pro- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


IST 


lector  of  the  kingdom  of  Northumberland,  a 
shirt  embroidered  with  gold,  and  a  rich  man- 
tle to  king  Edwin.  Ethelberge  received  a 
silver  mirror,  and  an  ivory  comb,  enriched 
with  carvings,  and  embossments  in  gold. 

The  pope  wishing,  as  his  predecessors,  to 
make  religion  subservient  in  extending  the 
temporal  authority  of  the  Holy  See,  published 
in  all  Christian  states  a  bull,  providing  that 
malefactors,  whatever  might  be  their  crimes, 
could  not  be  dragged  from  the  churches  where 
they  had  taken  refuge.  The  churches  had 
already  become  a  place  of  inviolable  asylum 
for  all  the  wicked  ;  but  Boniface  the  Fifth  was 
the  first  who  converted  into  a  law  this  usage, 
established  by  the  policy  of  the  priests. 

The  holy  father  died  on  the  25th  of  Octo- 
ber, 625,  after  having  occupied  the  pontifical 
chair  for  seven  years  and  si.x  months.  He  was 
mterred  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Peter,  at  Rome. 

During  his  pontificate  appeared  the  famous 
book  of  John  Mo.schus,  called  the  Spiritual 
Meadow,  in  which  the  burlesque  contends 
with  the  cynical.  This  John  was  an  Egyptian 
anchorite,  who,  after  having  been  saved, 
when  his  country  was  invaded  by  the  Per- 
sians, had  obtained  the  government  of  a  con- 
vent at  Rome.  In  his  work  he  professes  to 
be  an  eye-witness  of  all  the  marvels  he  re- 
lates. It  is  well,  in  order  to  know  the  spirit 
of  that  century,  to  give  a  literal  translation 
of  some  of  his  miracles.  "  In  a  journey  which 
I  made  to  Cilicia,"  says  the  legendary,  "I 
contracted  a  friendship  with  a  priest  who  saw 
the  Holy  Spirit  descend  upon  the  altar  at  the 
hour  of  divine  service.  This  priest  resolved 
never  again  to  celebrate  mass,  until  he  was 
visited  by  this  glorious  person  of  the  Trinity ; 
so  that  if  the  Holy  Spirit  was  engaged,  he 
waited  until  afternoon  prayers  before  perform- 
ing the  ceremony.  Near  to  ^gina,  in  Cili- 
cia, I  was  witness  to  another  very  singular 
miracle,  which  confounded  the  enemies  of  our 
holy  religion.    A  Catholic  monk  sent  to  be- , 


seech  a  monk  of  the  Severian  communion  to 
send  him  a  consecrated  wafer,  consecrated  by 
a  priest  of  his  communion.  The  latter  be- 
lieving that  he  had  made  a  convert,  hastened 
to  carry  him  a  wafer  himself.  Then  the  Ca- 
tholic heated  some  water  in  our  presence, 
and  when  the  liquid  was  in  a  boiling  state, 
cast  in  the  wafer,  which  immediately  dis- 
solved. Then  he  took  an  imperceptible  part 
of  a  wafer,  consecrated  by  an  orthodox  priest; 
he  cast  it  into  a  boiling  pot,  and  immediately 
the  water  lost  its  heat.  To  avenge  himself 
for  his  defeat,  the  Severian  monk  fell  upon 
his  adversary,  tore  from  him  the  rest  of  the 
wafer,  rolled  it  up  in  his  fingers,  cast  it  on  the 
earth,  and  trampled  it  under  his  feet;  but 
suddenly  a  thunderbolt  annihilated  him,  and 
the  eucharist,  glittering  with  light,  mounted 
gently  towards  heaven."  The  Spiritual  Mea- 
dow is  entirely  composed  of  like  recitals,  as 
burlesque,  obscene,  and  altogether  extraor- 
dinary. John  dedicated  his  work  to  his  dear 
disciple  Sophronius,  which  has  led  some  his- 
torians to  cite  this  latter  as  the  author  of  the 
collection.  After  his  death  his  body  was 
transported  to  Jerusalem,  and  deposited  in  the 
monastery  of  the  abbot,  saint  Theodosius. 

In  France,  flourished  another  monk,  named 
St.  Riquier,  founder  of  the  famous  monastery 
of  Centula.  This  pious  cenobite,  who  had 
been  converted  to  the  Christian  religion  by 
two  Irish  priests,  named  Caidoc  and  Friscor, 
pushed  so  far  the  fanaticism  of  penance,  that 
he  only  ate  barley  bread,  spread  with  ashes, 
twice  a  week,  and  only  slept  one  night  in 
four.  This  existence  made  so  great  a  noise 
in  the  province,  that  the  faithful  came  to- 
gether from  all  parts  to  receive  his  benedic- 
tion. Among  other  visits,  it  is  said  he  re- 
ceived that  of  Dagobert,  who  came  to  ask 
absolution  for  his  sins ;  but  the  saint  refused 
to  grant  his  request,  and  declared  to  him  that 
the  gates  of  heaven  would  never  open  before 
kings,  oppressors  of  the  people. 


HONOKIUS  THE  FIRST,  SEVENTY-SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  625. — Heraclius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

The  election  of  IFonorius — Conversion  of  kin^  Edivin — Honorivs  addresses  letters  to  the  Scotch — 
Festival  of  the  exaltation  of  the  cross — History  of  Monothelism — The  pope  becomes  a  here- 
tic— The  council  condemns  the  pontiff— Infallibility  of  the  Holy  See — Death  of  Honorius. 

HoNORius,  the  son  of  a  consul  named  Pe- 
troneus,  was  originally  from  Campania.  He 
had  scarcely  been  installed  in  the  Holy  See, 
when  he  learned  that  the  Lombards  had  driven 
away  their  king,  Adahvadus,  an  orthodox 
prince,  and  had  proclaimed  Ariovaldus,  an 
Arian,  in  his  place. 

Fearinir  the  influence  of  the  new  monarch 
on  the  religion  of  his  people,  the  pontiff  wrote 
to  Isacius,  exarch  of  Ravenna,  that  he  should 
re-estab]i.«ih  the  dethroned  king,  and  order  the 
Italian  bishops  who  had  approved  of  this  re- 

VOL.  I.  S 


volution,  to  go  to  the  court  of  Rome  to  be 
judged  and  condemned,  according  to  the  ca- 
nons of  the  church.  But  the  exarch,  wiser 
than  the  holy  father,  did  not  even  reply  to 
his  request,  and  made  a  treaty  with  Ario- 
valdus. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  625,  the  king 
of  Northumberland,  yielding  to  the  solicita- 
tions of  queen  Ethelberge,  and  the  preaching 
of  the  metropolitan  of  Canterbury,  and  of 
Paulinus  of  York,  determined  to  embrace  the 
Christian  religion.      Honorius    recompensed 


138 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


these  two  prelates  for  this  brilliant  conversion, 
by  authorising  them  to  bear  the  pallium.  He 
then  addressed  a  letter  to  Edwin  to  exhort 
him  to  inform  himself  in  the  dogmas  of  reli- 
gion, and  to  proimgate  it  among  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk.  He  also  wrote 
to  the  Scotch,  to  induce  them  to  follow  in  their 
ceremonies  the  customs  of  Rome,  and  to  con- 
form to  the  decision  of  the  council  of  Nice, 
in  celebrating  the  festival  of  Easter. 

In  the  interval,  the  emperor  Heraclius  con- 
quered the  Persians  and  re-entered  Constanti- 
nople in  triumph,  leading  back  the  Christians 
who  were  in  captivity,  and  to  whom  he  had 
restored  their  liberty.  He  also  brought  back 
the  true  cross  which  Chosroes  had  carried 
away  from  Jerusalem  fourteen  years  before. 
This  precious  relic  was  deposited  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  Constantinople,  until  the  emperor 
could  carry  it  back  to  Jerusalem.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
spring,  Heraclius  embarked  for  Jerusalem, 
to  thank  God  for  his  victories,  upon  the  very 
spot  of  his  passion.  When  he  entered  the 
holy  city,  the  patriarch  Zachary  came  to  meet 
him  at  the  head  of  his  clergy,  and  received 
from  his  hands  the  cross  of  the  Saviour,  which 
was  then  enclosed  in  its  case  of  gold,  as  it 
had  been  carried  away.  The  holy  prelate  ex- 
amined the  seals,  discovered  that  they  were 
unbroken,  and  after  having  opened  the  case 
with  the  keys,  he  drew  from  it  the  sacred 
wood,  to  show  to  his  assistants.  The  Latin 
church  celebrates  this  glorious  event  on  the 
14th  day  of  September,  under  the  name  of 
the  exaltation  of  the  cross.  The  Grecian 
church  celebrates  on  the  same  day  an  analo- 
gous festival ;  not  in  honour  of  the  return  of 
the  holy  cross,  but  to  recall  the  recollection 
"of  the  apparition  of  the  Labarum  to  Constan- 
tine  the  Great.  This  last  version  has  induced 
the  supposition,  that  the  true  cross  had  been 
really  destroyed  by  the  Persians,  and  that  the 
act  attributed  to  Heraclius  was  but  an  inven- 
tion of  the  bishops  of  Rome. 

The  heresy  of  the  Monothelites  soon  caused 
a  new  scandal  in  the  church,  in  consequence 
of  the  publication  of  the  famous  Ectheses  of 
the  emperor  Heraclius.  It  commenced  in 
these  words:  "Wishing  to  conform  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  holy  fathers,  we  recognise  in 
Jesus  Christ,  the  true  God,  but  one  will  .  .  .  " 
This  bold  proposition  cast  the  church  into  a 
frightful  confusion,  and  we  will  say  Avith  St. 
Augustine,  that  in  these  times  of  darkness, 
religion  was  obscured  by  the  multitude  of 
scandals  Avhich  raised  themselves  against  it. 
Cyrus,  the  venerable  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
desirous  of  putting  an  end  to  the  disputes, 
convened  a  great  council,  which  examined  the 
sentiments  of  the  Monothelites,  and  decreed 
that  their  opinions  were  in  conformity  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  orthodox.  They  summed  up 
the  decision  of  the  assembly  in  nine  articles. 
The  seventh,  which  is  the  most  remarkable, 
establishes,  that  the  fathers  recognise  with 
Sergius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  that  there 
exists  in  Jesus  Christ  but  one  will  or  opera- 
tion.    This  opinion  was  adopted  by  the  pre- 


lates, under  the  specious  pretext  of  leading 
back  the  Severites  to  unity. 

Sergius,  on  his  part,  convoked  a  sjiiod  in 
his  diocese,  and  approved  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  council  held  by  Cyrus.  But  Sophonius, 
a  monk  of  Jerusalem,  condemned  this  error, 
which  he  treated  as  a  heresy,  and  wished  to 
constrain  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria  and 
Constantinople  to  a  solemn  retraction.  Sergius, 
who  was  aware  of  the  mischief-making  spirit 
of  the  monks,  addressed  himself  to  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  to  oblige  this  monk  to  keep 
silence  upon  questions  which  might  make 
streams  of  blood  to  flow  in  the  East. 

Honorius  replied  to  the  patriarch:  "Your 
letter  informs  us  of  new  disputes  from  words 
started  by  a  certain  Sophronius,  formerly  a 
monk,  now  bishop  of  Jerusalem.  We  approve 
of  our  brother  Cyrus,  bishop  of  Alexandria, 
who  teaches  with  you,  that  there  is  but  a  single 
operation  in  Jesus  Christ ;  and  we  severely 
blame  this  monk  for  having  gone  near  you  to 
combat  your  doctrines,  and  whose  pride  has 
been  humbled  by  the  force  of  your  eloquence. 
The  letter  which  you  have  addressed  to  us, 
shows  that  your  decisions  are  the  dictates  of 
much  circumspection  and  foresight,  and  we 
praise  you  for  having  abridged  the  new  word, 
which  might  scandalize  simple  minds. 

In  accordance  with  your  example,  we  con- 
fess a  single  Avill  in  Christ,  because,  by  his 
incarnation  he  did  not  receive  original  sin  ;  he 
took  only  the  nature  of  man  as  it  was  created 
before  sin  had  corrupted  it.  The  Avisdom  of 
councils  and  the  Scriptures,  does  not  authorize 
us  to  teach  one  rather  than  tAvo  operations, 
and  our  intelligence  does  not  concei\'e  of  this 
double  faculty  in  the  divine  and  human  Avill 
of  Christ. 

"  We  should  reject  the  word  operation,  be- 
cause it  appears  to  express  at  once,  cause  and 
effect,  and  may  lead  the  faithful  to  confound- 
ing the  Avork  Avith  the  Avill,  Avhich  has  pro- 
duced it.  Still,  if  I  condemn  the  double  sense 
of  this  Avord,  it  is  on  account  of  the  scandal 
Avhich  it  Avould  introduce  into  the  church,  by 
permitting  common  minds  to  confound  us  Avith 
the  Nestorians  and  Eutychians  ;  for  it  Avould 
import  but  little  to  admit  the  word  operation. 
We  profess  these  sentiments  to  you,  that  you 
may  teach  them  in  unison  Avith  us. 

"Those  Avho  attribute  one  or  tAvo  natures 
to  Christ,  and  aflirm  that  it  accomplishes  one 
or  tAvo  operations,  outrage  the  majesty  of  God; 
for  the  Creator,  not  having  been  created,  can- 
not have  one  or  two  natures.  I  declare  to  you 
this  principle,  to  shoAv  the  conformity  of  my 
faith  Avith  yours,  and  that  Ave  may  remain 
ahvays  animated  by  the  same  spirit. 

"  We  have  Avritten  to  our  brothers  Cyrus  and 
Sophroneus,  to  put  an  end  to  their  iclle  quar- 
rels, and  not  insist  upon  noAv  terms,  Avill  or 
operation.  We  invite  them  to  say  Avith  us, 
that  Christ  is  an  only  God,  AA'ho,  by  the  aid 
of  tAA'O  natures,  does  that  Avhich  is  divine,  or 
that  Avhich  is  human.  We  have  also  com- 
manded the  envoys  AA'ho  brought  us  the  sy- 
nodical  letter  from  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem, 
not  to  speak  in  future  of  tAvo  operations;  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


139 


they  have  promised  to  conform  to  our  will  if 
the  patriarch  of  Alexandria  ceased  to  write 
or  speak  on  the  unity  of  the  operation  of  Jesus 
Christ."' 

The  letters  of  the  pontiff  were  received 
without  opposition  from  the  bishops  of  the 
East,  and  the  heresy  of  the  Monothelites,  sus- 
tained by  the  entire  Greek  church,  found 
itself  still  more  powerful  under  the  protection 
of  Honorius  the 'First. 

The  pope  died  in  638,  after  a  pontificate  of 
twelve  years,  according  to  the  chronology  of 
Anastasius  the  Librarian. 

Honorius,  according  to  an  Arabic  version, 
gave,  during  his  reign,  an  orthodox  patriarch 
to  the  Maronites. 

Vicelinus  assures  us,  that  this  pope  was 
disting-uished  for  the  purity  of  his  morals  and 
his  charities  to  the  poor.  He  conformed,  at 
least,  to  the  spirit  of  his  age,  which  made  the 


virtues  and  merits  of  the  pontiffs  to  consist 
in  their  love  for  founding  churches  and  mo- 
nasteries ;  for  he  gave  more  than  three  thou- 
sand Roman  pounds  to  convents ;  he  covered 
the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  with  copper  plates, 
which  he  took  from  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ca- 
pitolinus,  and  renewed  the  sacred  vases  of 
that  cathedral. 

Honorius,  dead  in  the  odour  of  sanctity,  was 
not  at  first  censured  by  any  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority ■  but  some  years  after  the  sixth  gene- 
ral council  declared  that  this  pontiff  wholly 
particii)ated  in  the  impiety  of  Sergius.  His 
letters  were  publicly  given  to  the  flames,  with 
those  of  other  Monothelites,  and  the  fathers 
exclaimed,  "Anathemas  upon  Honorius  the 
heretic."  The  seventh  and  eighth  cccumeni- 
cal  s}aiods  confirmed  this  judgment,  and  de- 
clared that  popes  were  not  mfallible !  ! ! 


SEVERINUS,  THE  SEVENTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  639. — Heraclius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Severinus — He  is  besieged  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran — The  soldiers  pillage  the 
treasury  of  the  Holy  Sec — The  pope  suspected  of  being  a  Monotholite — His  character — His 
death — Vacancy  in  the  Holy  See. 


After  the  death  of  Honorius,  a  bishop 
named  Severinus,  a  Roman  by  birth,  arrived 
at  the  sovereign  pontificate;  but  he  could  not 
exercise  the  sacerdotal  functions  until  the 
following  year,  his  election  not  having  been 
confirmed  by  the  emperor. 

The  holy  father,  by  his  steadiness  in  re- 
fusing his  approbation  to  the  Ectheses  of  He- 
raclius, having  excited  the  wrath  of  the  car- 
tulary Maurice,  the  latter  assembled  the 
soldiers  and  thus  addressed  them :  "  Com- 
rades, Honorius  died  without  paying  you  the 
arrears  due  to  you,  and  the  treasures  have 
been  increased  by  sums  sent  from  Constanti- 
nople for  the  pay  of  the  troops.  The  succes- 
sor of  this  avaricious  priest,  in  contempt  of 
solemn  engagements,  refuses  to  pay  a  legiti- 
mate debt,  and  repels  our  just  reclamations. 
Now,  if  we  wish  to  receive  the  price  of  the 
blood  which  we  shed  for  the  empire,  we  have 
but  one  way,  that  of  employing  force  and  of 
doing  justice  to  ourselves." 

Rendered  furious  by  this  discourse,  the  sol- 
diers seized  their  arms  and  hastened  to  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran  to  })illage  it;  the  mas- 
sive gates  resisted  their  eflbrts  for  three  days, 
and  Severinus,  at  the  head  of  his  clergy, 
courageously  defended  the  treasures  of  the 
church.  At  length,  worn  out  with  fatigue 
and  wounds,  the  servants  of  the  pope  de- 
manded a  capitulation.  Maurice  suspended 
the  combat,  calmed  the  sedition,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  judges  of  Rome,  penetrated 
beneath  the  roof  of  this  rich  edifice.  They 
placed  seals  on  the  vestry,  upon  the  saloons 
of  ornamentSj  vases,  and  crowns;  upon  the 


{ treasure  chamber,  upon  the  bullion  chamber, 
and  upon  the  galleries,  filled  with  immense 
1  treasures,  sent  by  emperors  and  kings,  or  de- 
'  posited  by  patricians  and  consuls,  to  nourish 
the  poor,  or  to  bring  back  the  captive.  Then 
they  discovered  how  the  intentions  of  the 
pious  donors  had  been  treated  with  contempt, 
since  their  presents,  .shut  up  in  the  treasury 
of  the  popes,  served,  not  to  solace  the  mise- 
ries of  men,  but  to  indulge  the  luxury  and 
debauchery  of  the  Roman  clergy. 

The  cartulary  wrote  to  the  exarch  at  Ra- 
venna, to  render  him  an  account  of  what  he 
had  done,  and  Isalius  immediately  came  to 
Rome,  to  confirm,  as  he  said,  the  election  of 
Severinus  to  the  episcopal  see  of  that  city. 
He  drove  off  the  principal  clergy,  who  might 
have  been  able  to  excite  the  populace  against 
acts  of  military  despotism,  and  sent  them 
into  exile  in  different  provinces.  Then  he 
made  his  troops  hem  in  the  approaches  to  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  during  eight  days, 
the  soldiers  were  employed  in  carrying  off  the 
gold,  furniture,  ornaments,  and  precious  vases, 
which  filled  the  dwelling  of  the  pontiffs. 
Severinus  at  length,  discerning  that  the  power 
of  the  sword  was  still  more  redoubtable  than 
that  of  the  cross,  determined  to  subscribe  to 
the  Ectheses  of  the  emperor;  and,  in  return, 
received  from  the  exarch  authority  to  govern 
the  church. 

Some  historians  maintain  that  the  pontiff 

I  was  not  a  Monothelite,  and  that  he  did  not 

I  partake  of  the  heresy  of  the  prince.     Others 

rely  upon  irresistible  proofs,  and  cite  a  letter 

^  from  Cyrus,  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  wliich 


140 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


indicates  positively  the  sending  of  the  Ecthe- 
Bes  of  Heraclius  to  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and 
of  his  forced  adhesion  after  the  attack  on  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  by  the  soldiers  of 
Maurice.  Thus  it  is  proved,  that  Severinus 
was  a  heretical  pope,  were  it  not  for  the  ob- 
jection that,  not  having  been  ordained  at  the 
time  of  his  abjuration,  the  Holy  Spirit  had  not 
been  able  to  communicate  to  him  the  light  of 
infallibility,  which  would  then  submit  the 
divine  will  to  the  caprice  of.princes. 

Apart  from  this,  the  pontiff  was  esteemed 
for  his  virtues,  his  mildness,  his  love  for  the 
poor,  and  the  care  which  he  took  in  renewing 
the  famous  Mosaics  of  the  roof  of  the 
cathedral.  The  duration  of  his  reign  has  not 
been  exactly  determined;  still,  the  general 
opinion  places  the  epoch  of  his  death  in  the 
year  640.  He  was  interred  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter  at  Rome. 

After  the  death  of  Severinus,  the  Holy  See 
remained  vacant  for  four  months  and  twenty- 
nine  days,  in  consequence  of  the  intrigues  of 
Heraclius,  who  protracted  the  elections  to  gain 
time  to  submit  the  Greeks  and  Latins  to  his 
Ectheses.  Still,  the  difficulty.for  the  emperor 
was  not  to  cause  his  belief  on  Monothelism 
to  be  accepted  by  the  Christians  of  the  East, 
sufficiently  prompt  of  themselves  to  cling  to 
decisions  formerly  made,  and  always  disposed 
to  discuss  and  seek  for  modifications  of  dog- 
mas, but  he  wished  besides  to  impose  his 
opinions  on  the  Latm  bishops. 


These  finding  themselves  sustained  by  the 
nobility  and  the  people,  rejected  the  adoption 
of  the  Ectheses,  and  sought  to  name  a  pontiff 
who  partook  of  their  sentiments.  The  agents 
of  the  emperor  on  their  side,  in  conformity 
with  the  orders  they  had  received,  put  in- 
trigue and  corruption  to  work,  and  rejected 
the  candidates  who  refused  to  engage  m  ad- 
vance to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  Heraclius. 
St.  Sophroneus,  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and 
one  of  those  wdio  had  most  strongly  opposed 
the  prince,  engaged,  in  consequence  of  this, 
in  a  violent  polemical  controversy  with  the 
Monothelites.  He  had  traversed  the  East  to 
examine  the  libraries,  and  had  already  made 
three  enormous  volumes,  with  passages  from 
the  fathers,  favourable  to  his  opinions;  when, 
at  the  very  moment  he  was  about  to  go  to 
Rome  to  present  his  labours  to  the  Italian 
clergy,  he  fell  dangerously  sick  and  foresaw 
that  his  end  was  approaching.  He  then  called 
to  Jerusalem,  Stephen  of  Dora,  the  first  of  his 
suffragans;  he  climbed  with  him  on  Calvary, 
and  after  having  made  him  swear  by  the  con- 
secrated host,  that  he  would  obey  him  faith- 
fully, he  said  to  him,  "go  to  the  bishops  of 
Italy  and  do  not  cease  to  press  on  them  the 
condemnation  of  the  impious  novelties  which 
Heraclius  wishes  to  introduce  into  Catho- 
licism." Stephen  of  Dora  obeyed  his  me- 
tropolitaUj  and  immediately  embarked  for 
Rome. 


JOHN  THE  FOURTH,  SEVENTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  640. — Heraclius  and  Constantine,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Eledion  of  John — Birth  of  the  pontiff — Ectheses  of  the  emperor  Heraclius — John  condemns  the 
heresy  of  the  Monothelites — Disputes  between  the  monks  and  the  priests — Death  of  John  the 
Fourth. 


John  the  Fourth,  the  son  of  the  scholastic 
Venantius  was  born  in  Dalmatia.  He  was 
named  bishop  of  Rome  by  the  people,  the 
clergy,  and  the  grandees;  and  his  election 
having  been  conlirmed  by  the  chief  of  the 
empire,  he  immediately  mounted  the  Holy 
See. 

Before  pursuing  the  recital  of  the  religious 
wars,  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  definition  of  the 
Ectheses  of  Heraclius,  which  then  caused  so 
great  disorders  in  the  church.  This  famous 
edict  commenced  by  a  profession  of  the  ortho- 
dox faith  in  the  Trinity ;  then  it  explained  the 
incarnation  by  establishing  the  distinction  of 
the  two  natures,  and  preserving  the  unity  of 
the  two  persons.  The  author  thus  concludes : 
<'  We  attribute  to  the  word  of  God,  that  is  to 
say,  to  the  incarnate  Word,  all  the  divine  and 
human  operations  of  Christ.  From  the  doc- 
trine of  the  councils,  we  say  that  a  single 
power  executes  these  two  operations;  and  that 
they  both  proceed  from  the  incarnate  Word, 
without  division,  confusion,  or  succession. 


"We  do  not  employ  the  term,  'a  single 
operation,'  but  as  it  is  found  in  the  writings 
of  the  fathers ;  because  it  might  seem  strange 
to  common  minds  ;  and  because  we  fear  that 
our  enemies  might  seize  upon  it  to  combat 
the  established  belief  in  the  double  nature  of 
Jesus  Christ.  We  reject  the  term,  'two  ope- 
rations,' because  this  expression  is  not  found 
in  the  works  of  the  doctors  of  the  church;  and 
because  it  would  admit  being  interpreted, 
to  recognize  in  Christ  two  contrary  wills ;  that 
is  to  say  two  persons,  the  one  wishing  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  sacrifice  of  the  cross,  the 
other  opposing  itself  to  the  punishment — an 
impious  thought  and  opposed  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  fathers. 

"The  heretic  Nestorius,  in  dividing  the  in- 
carnation, did  not  dare  to  say  that  the  two 
Sons  of  God,  imagined  by  him,  had  two  wills: 
he  recognized,  on  the  contrary,  a  single  voli- 
tion in  these  two  persons.  Thus  the  Catho- 
lics, who  do  not  conceive  but  a  single  nature 
in  Christ,  cannot  admit  in  him  two  powers 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


141 


which  are  combative.  Then,  we  confess, 
Avith  the  fathers,  a  single  will  in  the  incarnate 
word ;  and,  we  believe,  that  his  flesh,  ani- 
mated by  a  soul,  possessing  activity  with  rea- 
son, has  never  accomplished  a  particular 
action,  and  opposed  the  divine  Spirit  which  is 
united  to.him  hypostatically." 

This  formula  of  JMonothelism  was  composed 
by  the  patriarch  Sergius,  and  published  in  the 
name  of  the  emperor  Heraclius,  who  support- 
ed it  with  all  his  authority  until  his  death.  ! 
After  the  death  of  this  prnice,  the  political 
iace  of  affairs  changed  in  the  East.  Hera- 
clius had  left  the  empire  to  his  son  Constan- 
tine;  but,  before  he  was  fairly  seated  on  his 
throne,  the  empress  Martina,  sustained  by  the 
patriarch  Pyrrhus,  poisoned  the  young  prince, 
to  elevate  to  his  place  her  younger  son.  The 
senate  and  people  puni.-5hed  the  assassins, 
placed  a  new  emperor  on  the  throne,  and 
forced  Pyrrhus  to  resign  the  see  of  Constanti- 
nople in  favour  of  the  patriarch  Paul,  a  fa- 
natical supporter  of  Monothelism. 

The  church  of  the  West  renewed  its  efforts 
to  extinguish  the  schism,  and  lanched  terri- 
ble anathemas  .igainst  the  Greeks.  John  the 
Fourth,  at  the  instigation  of  Stephen  of  Dora, 
assembled  a  numerous  council  and  condemn- 
ed the  Ecthesis,  as  well  as  all  its  favourers 
and  adherents.  The  bishops  of  Africa  has- 
tened to  follow  this  example,  and  the  pastors 
of  the  provinces  of  Byzacenum,  Numidia,  and 
Mauritania,  did  not  spare,  in  their  sentences, 
neither  the  ancient  ^lonophysites,  nor  those 
who  had  succeeded  therri. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  council,  the 
pope  hastened  to  expedite  its  proceedings  to 
the  court  of  Constantinople,  with  an  apostoli- 
cal letter,  in  which  his  holiness  sought  to  at- 
tenuate the  enormity  of  the  heresy  of  his 
predecessor  Honorius.  admitting  all  the  while 
that   he  had  partaken  of  the  errors  of  the 


schismatics.  This  smgular  apolog}-,  in  which 
the  most  authentic  proceedings  were  denied 
by  pope  John,  thus  terminated :  "  We  have 
learned  that  there  has  been  sent  from  Con- 
stantinople an  edict,  to  constrain  the  bi.shops 
of  the  West  to  condemn  the  council  of  Chal- 
cedon  and  the  letter  of  St.  Leo;  but  the  efibrts 
of  the  enemies  of  God  have  been  fruitless, 
and  we  trust  that  the  emperor,  inspired  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  will  declare  himself  ni  favour  of 
orthodoxy,  and  publicly  cancel  the  infamous 
Ecthesis  of  Heraclius,  which  is  yet  afiixed  to 
the  gates  of  all  the  churches  of  new  Rome,  to 
the  great  scandal  of  the  faithful." 

During  the  following  year,  641,  John  sent 
the  abbot  jMartin,  a  pious  and  faithful  man, 
to  ransom  the  Christian  captives  who  were  in 
slavery.  He  instructed  him  at  the  same  time 
to  transport  from  Illyria  and  Dalmatia,  the 
relics  of  the  holy  martyrs  Venantius,  Anasta- 
sius,  and  Maur;  and  when  the  sacred  re- 
mains were  brought  to  Rome,  he  received 
them  with  great  pomp,  and  interred  them  in 
an  oratory  which  he  had  constructed  in  the 
midst  of  the  church  of  the  Lateran. 

During  this  pontilicate,  violent  religious 
quarrels  occurred  between  the  secular  and 
regular  clergy,  who  pursued  each  other  with 
an  implacable  hatred.  The  ecclesiastics,  not 
being  able  to  endure  that  the  monks  should 
have  the  right  of  placing  priests  in  churches 
which  had  been  given  to  them  by  the  bishops, 
complained  to  the  pope  of  the  scandal  of  this 
abuse ;  but  the  politic  John  refused  to  admit 
their  claims,  and  solemnly  confirmed  the 
privileges  granted  to  the  monks,  in  considera- 
tion of  the  services  they  had  always  rendered 
to  the  Holy  See. 

This  pontiff  died  at  Rome  in  641,  after  a 
reigTi  of  eighteen  months  and  some  days,  and 
was  interred  in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Peter. 


THEODORE  THE  FIRST,  SEVENTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  641. — CoNSTANTius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  the  pontiff — His  letter  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople — He  condemns  the  Ecthesis 
of  Heraclius — Paul  of  Constantinople  treats  iL'ith  contempt  the  remonstrances  vf  the  pope — The 
pope  appoints  Stephen  of  Dora  his  vicar  in  Palestine — Retraction  of  Pyrrhus — Profession  of 
faith  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople — Condemnation  of  Pyrrhus — Excommunication  of 
Paid  of  Constantinople — Death  of  Theodore  the  First. 


Theodore  obtained  the  Holy  See  some 
time  after  the  death  of  John  the  Fourth;  his 
election  was  confirmed  by  the  exarch  of  Ra- 
venna. This  pope  was  by  birth  a  Greek,  and 
the  son  of  a  patriarch  of  Jerusalem.  At  the 
commencement  of  his  pontificate,  he  received 
synodical  letters  from  Paul,  recently  elected 
to  the  see  of  Constantinople,  and  from  the 
bishops  who  had  ortlained  him. 

The  holy  fatlrer  replied  to  the  patriarch  in 
these  terms:  -'The  reading  of  your  letters, 
my  dear  brother,  has  apprised  us  of  the  pu- 


rity of  your  faith;  but  we  are  surprised  that 
they  do  not  condemn  the  edict  allixed,  to  the 
great  scandal  of  the  faithful,  in  all  the  streets 
of  your  city.  The  dogmas,  confinned  by  so 
many  councils,  should  not  be  corrected  by 
Heraclius  nor  Pyrrhus, — for  thus  the  fathers, 
who  prescribed,  would  have  usurped  the 
name  of  saints,  and  should  be  deprived  of 
their  celestial  beatitude. 

"Our  astonishment  is  increased  by  learning 
that  the  bishops  who  consecrated  you  have, 
three   times,   called   the   heretical  Pyrrhus, 


142 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


holy.  This  unworthy  priest  made;  as  a  pre- 
text for  quitting  the  see  of  Constantinople,  his 
great  age  and  his  infirmities ;  whilst  we  know 
that  he  obeyed  the  terror  with  which  the  ha- 
tred of  the  people  inspired  him.  Thus,  this 
voluntary  abandonment  of  his  church,  does 
not  deprive  him  of  his  episcopate,  and  during 
his  Avhole  life,  unless  he  is  regularly  con- 
demned, you  may  expect  a  schism,  or  fear 
lest  he  should  lay  pretensions  to  the  see 
which  you  occupy. 

'•Still,  through  a  sentiment  of  affection  for 
your  person,  we  have  given  instructions  to  the 
archdeacon  Siricus,  and  to  Martin  our  deacon 
and  nuncio,  to  represent  us  in  a  council, 
which  you  will  assemble,  to  examhie  canoni- 
cally  the  case  of  this  heretic.  Do  not  defer 
his  examination  under  the  pretext  that  you 
cannot  equitably  judge  an  absent  bishop;  his 
presence  at  the  synod  is  not  necessary,  since 
you  have  his  writings.  Besides,  have  not  his 
excesses  brought  scandal  on  the  faithful? 
Has  he  not  praised  Heraclius'?  An  abominable 
crime,  since  that  prince  has  censured  the 
faith  of  the  fathers.  Has  he  not  approved  of 
the  subscription  to  the  infamous  Ecthesis, 
which  encloses  a  pretended  symbol?  Has  he 
not  surprised  the  vigilance  of  many  bishops, 
by  inducing  them,  by  his  example,  to  sub- 
scribe to  this  condemnable  letter?  Finally, 
has  he  not  insolently  caused  it  to  be  put  up 
in  the  streets  of  Constantinople,  in  contempt 
of  the  severe  warnings  of  our  predecessor. 

"  Thus,  when  you  shall  have  examined  these 
accusations  in  your  assembly,  you  will  ex- 
communicate him,  and  depose  him  from  the 
priesthood,  not  only  for  the  preservation  of 
the  faith,  but  even  the  security  of  your  own 
ordination.  If  his  partizans  offer  obstacles  to 
your  justice,  and  wish  to  excite  a  schism,  you 
will  render  their  efforts  impotent  by  obtaining 
from  the  emperor  an  order  which  will  con- 
strain the  guilty  to  appear  before  us,  as  we 
have  already  demanded  from  the  prince." 

The  opinions  of  Theodore  were  not  listened 
to.  and  the  patriarch  Paul  affected  even  a 
contemptuous  disdain  for  the  remonstrances 
of  the  Holy  See. 

Sergius,  metropolitan  of  the  island  of  Cy- 
prus, wrote  to  the  pontiff,  complaining  of  the 
conduct  of  the  clergy  of  Constantinople.  For 
himself;  he  declared  that  he  recognized  the 
primacy  of  the  church  of  Rome,  founded  on 
the  power  given  to  the  apostle  Peter.  He 
boasted  of  his  attachment  to  the  faith  of  St. 
Leo,  and  anathematized  the  Ecthesis  affixed 
in  the  Grecian  capital.  "Until  to-day,"  says 
he  in  his  letter,  "  we  have  preserved  silence 
on  the  errors  of  our  brethren,  hoping  that  they 
would  abandon  their  heresy  to  return  to  the 
Catholic  faith;  but  their  obstinacy  has  forced 
us  to  break  with  them,  to  follow  the  opinions 
of  Arcadius  our  holy  uncle,  by  conforming  to 
the  orthodox  communion  of  your  greatness. 
Such  are  our  own  sentiments,  as  well  as  those 
of  our  clergy  and  province  !" 

Stephen,  chief  of  the  diocese  of  Dora,  and 
first  suffragan  of  Jerusalem,  also  addressed 
complaints    to   the   pope   on    the    disorders 


which  the  faction  of  Paul  of  Constantinople 
caused  in  Palestine.  "Sergius,"  he  wrote, 
"bishop  of  Joppa,  after  the  retreat  of  the 
Persians,  seized  upon  the  vicariate  of  Jeru- 
salem, without  any  ecclesiastical  form,  and  is 
only  sustained  by  the  secular  magistrates: 
he  has  even  ordained  several  bishops,  de- 
pendant on  that  see.  Still,  these  latter,  though 
well  knowing  that  their  election  was  irregu- 
lar, and  desirous  of  being  maintained  in  their 
bishoprics,  have  not  attached  themselves  to 
the  patriarch  of  the  imperial  city  by  ap- 
proving of  the  new  doctrine." 

The  pontiff,  to  thank  Stephen  for  his  sub- 
mission, named  him  his  vicar  in  Palestine; 
and,  by  the  same  letters,  he  granted  him 
power  to  arrest  the  disorders  of  the  churches 
of  that  province,  by  deposing  the  prelates 
irregTilarly  appointed  by  Sergius  of  Joppa. 
Stephen  executed  the  orders  of  the  holy  fa- 
ther; still,  he  refused  to  nominate  to  the  va- 
cant sees;  not  recognizing  in  Theodore  the 
right  to  create  bishops  without  the  permission 
of  the  prince. 

The  prelates  of  Africa  then  declared  against 
Monothelism,  and  addressed  their  letters  to 
the  court  of  Rome.  The  abbot  Maximus,  a 
man  celebrated  for  the  sanctity  of  his  morals 
and  the  purity  of  his  faith,  undertook  the 
conversion  of  Pyrrhus,  and  the  force  of  his 
reasoning  was  such,  that  in  a  conference  he 
compelled  the  latter  to  retract.  Ten  years 
later,  the  venerable  Maximus  expiated  his 
attachment  to  the  church  by  an  atrocious 
punishment,  and  the  executioner  was  a  pon- 
tiff of  Rome  !  The  converted  heretic  quitted 
Africa  and  came  to  Italy  to  demand  from  God 
pardon  for  his  sins.  According  to  custom,  he 
performed  his  devotions  at  the  tomb  of  the 
apostles.  He  was  then  admitted  to  present 
to  the  holy  father  a  writing,  in  which  were 
anathematized  the  doctrines  that  he  or  his 
predecessors  had  sustained  against  the  faith. 

This  public  manifestation  of  the  return  of 
Pyrrhus  to  orthodoxy,  filled  Theodore  with 
joy.  He  opened  to  him  the  treasures  of  St. 
Peter,  to  make  largesses  to  the  people,  and 
seated  him  on  one  side  of  the  altar,  honouring 
him  as  bishop  of  Constantinople.  The  holy 
father  defrayed  all  his  expenses,  and  furnish- 
ed him  with  the  means  necessary  to  main- 
tain, with  pomp,  the  dignity  of  patriarch. 

Thus  Pyrrhus,  having  voluntarily  descended 
from  his  see,  soon  repented  of  having  abdi- 
cated his  power,  and  abjured  his  belief  to 
return  to  greatness  !  So  ardent  is  the  desire 
for  rule  among  priests,  and  so  many  inexpli- 
cable contradictions  does  the  ecclesiastical 
spirit  offer. 

His  apostacy  induced  the  defection  of  other 
oriental  bishops.  The  three  primates,  Colom- 
bus  of  Numidia,  Stephen  of  Byzacenum,  and 
Reparatus  of  Mauritania,  addressed  a  synodi- 
cal  letter  to  the  pontiff,  with  the  approbation 
of  all  their  suffragans,  in  favor  of  Pyrrhus, 
and  reclaimed  his  reinstallation  in  the  see  of 
Constantinople. 

Paul,  menaced  by  a  deposition,  and  urged 
by  the  legates  of  the  pontiff  who  exhorted 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


143 


him  to  explain  in  what  sense  he  understood 
the  symbol  of  a  single  will  in  Jesus  Christ, 
resolved  then  to  send  to  the  court  of  Rome,  a 
dogmatical  letter,  for  the  purpose  of  deciding 
the  question  which  divided  Christendom. 
After  having  glorified  his  own  charity  towards 
the  faithful,  and  his  patience  towards  his 
enemies,  who  overwhelmed  him  with  inju- 
ries and  calumnies,  he  declared  his  faith  in 
the  incarnation,  and  added,  '-we  believe  that 
the  will  of  Christ  is  single,  because  our  intel- 
ligence rejects  the  idea  of  attributing  to  God 
a  double  action,  and  of  teaching  that  he  him- 
self combatted  himself  by  admitting  persons 
into  himself. 

'•  Still  we  do  not  wish  to  confound  these  two 
natures,  in  order,  by  establishing  the  one,  to 
revoke  the  existence  of  the  other.  But  we 
will  say,  that  his  flesh,  animated  by  a  reason- 
ble  spirit,  and  enriched  with  all  its  divine 
power  by  the  personality,  has  a  volition  in- 
separable from  that  of  the  Word,  which 
caused  it  to  accomplish  all  its  actions. 

"  Thus  the  flesh  does  not  perform  any  opera- 
tion natural  to  it,  and  cannot  act  by  its  own 
impulse  against  the  order  of  the  Word ;  it  was 
obedient  to  its  law,  and  only  produced  the 
phenomena  which  emanate  from  him.  We 
do  not  wish  to  blaspheme  the  humanity  of 
Christ  by  saying,  that  it  was  ruled  by  the  ne- 
cessities of  nature,  and  that  in  rejecting  the 
sufferings  of  the  cross,  it  merited  the  same 
reprimand  as  the  apostle  St.  Peter. 

"  Behold  the  sense  in  which  we  interpret  the 
refusal  of  the  passion,  and  these  words  of  the 
evangelist,  •'!  descended  from  Heaven,  not  to 
do  my  will,  but  that  of  Him  who  sent  me.' 
We  are  taught  by  these  words  negatively : 
we  believe  that  Christ  does  not  say  who  he 
is,  but  only  who  he  is  not,  as  in  this  passage, 
'I  have  committed  neither  sin  nor  iniquity.' 
Paul,  to  give  more  force  to  his  decisions,  cites 
in  his  own  favour  the  authority  of  the  fathers, 
and  thus  closes.  'The  bishops  Sergius  and 
Honorius,  the  one  of  the  new,  the  other  of  the 
ancient  capital  of  the  empire,  were  of  the 
opinion  which  I  profess.'  "  He  names  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  before  the  Roman 
pontiff,  to  show  the  supremacy  of  the  Greek 
metropolis  over  the  Holy  See. 

This  letter  did  not  appease  the  discontent 
of  the  pope,  nor  suspend  the  complaints  of 
the  bishops  of  the  West,  and  of  Africa.  Then 
Paul  besought  the  prince  to  arrest  the  disor- 
der.';, by  publishing  an  ettict  which  should  put 
an  end  to  the  disputes  and  impose  silence  on 
the  two  parties. 

In  this  decree,  called  Typus,  the  emperor 
first  .stated  the  question,  then  cited  summarily 
the  reasons  for  and  against  INIonothelism,  and 
then  added,  "we  prohibit  our  Catholic  sub- 
jects from  disputing  upon  the  dogmas  of  one 
will  and  one  operation,  or  of  two  wills  and 
two  operations.  We  approve  of  the  decisions 
of  th(^  fathers  upon  the  incarnation  of  the 
Word,  ordering  all  to  follow  the  doctrines 
taught  by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the  ODcumeni- 
cal  councils  and  the  works  which  are  the  rule 
of  the  church.    We  prohibit  from  adding  any 


thing  to  the  dogmas,  and  of  desiring  to  inter- 
pret them  according  to  irreligious  sentiments 
or  private  hiterests. 

•'We  desire  that  the  state  of  tranquillity, 
which  reigned  before  these  discussions  com- 
menced, should  be  re-established,  as  if  they 
had  never  been ;  and  to  leave  no  pretext  to 
those  who  wish  to  dispute  without  any  termi- 
nation we  order  the  writings  affixed  to  the 
vestibule  of  the  cathedral  of  Constantinople, 
and  of  the  other  metropolises  of  the  empire, 
to  be  taken  down. 

"Those  who  shall  dare  to  contravene  the 
present  ordinance,  will  he  submitted  to  the 
terrible  judgment  of  God,  and  will  encounter 
our  indignation.  Patriarchs,  bishops,  and 
other  ecclesiastics,  shall  be  deposed;  monks 
excommunicated  and  driven  from  their  mo- 
nasteries; the  great  shall  lose  their  digiiities 
and  places ;  the  principal  citizens  shall  be 
despoiled  of  their  property,  and  others  corpo- 
rally punished  and  banished  from  our  states." 

The  emperor  Constantius  was  no  more  fortu- 
nate than  his  predecessors,  and  could  not  ar- 
rest the  troubles  of  the  church,  for  the  priests 
are  obstinate  in  evil ;  they  maintain  the  most 
extravagant  and  ridiculous  errors,  and  when 
they  have  been  a  long  time  debated,  they 
adopt  them  as  articles  of  faith,  and  impose 
them  on  human  credulity. 

Theodore  evinced  great  intolerance  in  the 
theological  discussions  about  Monotholism ; 
and  upon  the  simple  suspicion  that  Pyrrhus 
retired,  since  his  retraction,  to  Ravenna,  pro- 
fessed the  heresy  anew,  he  assembled  some 
bishops  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  pro- 
nounced a  terrible  anathema  against  him. 

We  are  assured  that  he  2:)rofaned  the  wine 
of  the  consecrated  cup  by  mixing  with  it  the 
ink  which  he  used  to  sign  the  condemnation 
of  Pyrrhus.  Ecclesiastical  authors  justif\-  this 
sacrilegious  act,  under  the  pretext  that  this 
use  was  confined  to  Greek  prelates.  The 
existence  of  this  custom  proves,  at  least,  that 
the  Christians  of  the  East  did  not  yet  admit 
the  dogina  of  the  real  presence  in  tne  eucha- 
rist,  and  did  not  believe  in  transubslantiation. 
If  they  believed  that  the  bread  and  wine  were 
the  body  and  blood  of  Gotl,  would  the  pontiff 
have  dared,  in  the  presence  of  a  synod,  to 
mingle  the  Christ  with  profane  matter? 

Cardinal  Baronius  maintains,  that  Theodore 
condemned  in  a  new  council  the  formulary 
of  the  emperor  Constantius.  and  anathematized 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Still,  authors 
who  have  narrated  the  holding  of  this  assem- 
bly, do  not  speak  of  the  Typus.  nor  of  the  ex- 
communication of  Paul,  which  induces  us  to 
presume  that  he  was  anathematized  shortly 
after,  and  only  when  the  holy  father  had 
learned  that  the  letters  and  warnings  of  his 
legates  were  unable  to  lead  him  back  to  the 
Roman  faith. 

As  soon  as  Paul  was  apprised  of  his  deposi- 
tion, he  closed  the  church  of  the  Orthodox,  situ- 
ateil  ill  the  jialaceof  Placidins;  he  prohibited 
the  nuncios,  who  inhabited  this  magniticent 
I  residence,  from  celebrating  divine  .service, 
I  and  pursued  them  with  bitterness,  as  well  as 


144 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


the  Catholic  bishops  and  the  simple  faithful. 
Some  were  banished,  and  others  thrown  into 
prison ;  and  some  were  beaten  and  rent  with 
blows  from  rods. 

Whilst  his  embassadors  were  exposed  to 
the  fury  of  his  enemies,  the  pontiif  was  occu- 
pied with  transferring  the  bodies  of  the  holy 
martyrs  Primus  and  Felician  into  the  mag- 
nificent church  of  St.  Stephen,  and  erected  an 
oratory  to  St.  Sylvester  in  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  and  another  to  the  blessed  martyr 
Euplus,  beyond  the  gate  of  St.  Paul's. 

Notwithstanding  the  care  which  he  gave  to 
his  controversy  with  the  INIonothelites,  and 
which  absorbed  almost  all  his  time,  Theodore 
did  not  neglect  any  occasion  of  extending  the 
inlluence  of  the  see  of  Rome  over  the  church- 
es of  the  West.  He  entered  into  active  inter- 
course with  the  Spanish  clergy,  and  hisopinions 
ruled  the  seventh  council  of  Toledo.  He  also 
corresponded  with  the  ecclesiastics  of  Gaul, 
and  directed   the  third  council  which  was 


held  in  that  country  by  order  of  Clovis  the 
Second.  By  his  instigation  the  creed  of 
Nice  was  approved  of,  and  thus  the  JMonothe- 
lite  heresy  was  prevented  from  being  propa- 
gated in  France. 

Theodore  even  carried  his  solicitude  to  the 
provinces  of  the  Low  Countries,  where  St. 
Omer  laboured  for  the  conversion  of  the  infi- 
dels with  Mommolin,  Eberitan,  and  Bertin. 
It  was  by  his  councils  that  these  missionaries 
converted  some  influential  lords,  and  founded 
different  religious  houses;  amongst  other,  the 
celebrated  monastery  of  Sithien  or  Saint  Ber- 
tin, in  which,  a  century  later,  the  usurper 
Pepin  the  Gross  confijied  the  last  heir  of  the 
Merovingian  dynasty. 

In  the  midst  of  this  active  life,  the  pontiff 
was  attacked  by  a  grievous  malady,  of  which 
he  died  in  649,  after  a  reign  of  about  eight 
years.  He  was  interred  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter. 


MARTIN  THE  FIRST,  SEVENTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  649. — CoNSTANTius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Martin  the  First — His  birth  and  education — Council  at  Rome — Discourse  of  the 
pope — Second  session  of  the  council  of  the  Lateran — Examination  of  the  Ectheses — Judgment 
of  the  council — Letter  of  the  pope  to  the  emperor — The  prince  wishes  to  arrest  the  pontiff — 
Corruptions  of  the  clergy — 3Iartin  is  carried  off  from  Rome — hisidts  offered  to  the  pontiff — 
Paid  of  Constantinople  obtains  the  favour  of  the  pope — Martin  the  First  sent  into  exile — His 
death. 


Martin  the  First  was  of  a  distinguished 
birth,  and  originally  from  Tudertum  or  Todi, 
in  the  province  of  Tuscany.  From  his  early 
infancy  he  had  been  confided  to  skillful  mas- 
ters, who  developed  his  aptitude  for  study. 
He  terminated  his  philosophic  course,  and 
acquired  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  art  of 
eloquence;  still,  his  piety  having  led  him  to 
examine  the  vanity  of  human  afiairs,  he 
learned  that  the  wisdom  of  an  orator  and  a 
philosopher,  was  a  dangerous  rock  for  the 
safety  of  the  soul.  He  then  determined  to 
renounce  the  grandeurs  of  the  age,  and  to 
consecrate  himself  entirely  to  God,  by  em- 
bracing the  ecclesiastical  state,  in  which,  be- 
sides, he  hoped  to  obtain  an  honourable  post. 

In  all  the  functions  which  he  performed, 
the  holy  minister  exhibited  a  great  zeal  for 
religion,  and  was  distingTiished  for  his  ability 
and  profound  wisdom.  In  a  month  and  a  half 
after  the  death  of  Theodore,  in  spite  of  the 
intrigues  of  his  rivals,  he  was  nominated  as 
pontiff  by  the  people,  the  clergy,  and  the 
grandees  of  Rome,  and  his  election  was  im- 
mediately confirmed  by  the  emperor  Constans, 
who  ordered  his  agents  to  use  all  their  influ- 
ence to  render  the  new  head  of  the  church 
favourable  to  the  Typus.  But  the  purity  of 
his  faith,  and  the  councils  of  St.  Maximus, 
who  was  then  in  the  holy  city,  determined 
him  to   take  a  contrary  resolution;  and  to 


destroy  the  last  hopes  of  the  heretics,  he  as- 
sembled in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Saviour,  called  Constantienne,  a 
council  of  five  hundred  bishops,  and  submit- 
ted to  their  judgment  all  the  religious  ques- 
tions which  troubled  the  churches. 

The  synod  remained  together  several 
months,  and  held  five  sessions,  which  are 
each  called  "secretarium,''  in  the  style  of  the 
day,  perhaps  from  the  place,  perhaps,  be- 
cause, the  convoked  prelates  alone  had  the 
right  of  entering  the  assembly.  The  first 
sitting  took  place  on  the  5th  of  October,  649 ; 
Theophylactus,  prothonotary  of  the  Roman 
church,  spoke  and  besought  the  pontifl'  to  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  the  convocation  of  the 
council.  Martin  thus  expressed  himself,  '-My 
brethren,  we  have  to  examine  the  errors  in- 
troduced into  Christianity  by  the  patriarchs 
of  Alexandria  and  Constantinople,  Cyrus  and 
Sergius,  and  by  their  successors  Paul  and 
Pyrrhus.  Eight  years  have  passed  since  the 
publication  of  this  bull  of  scandal,  in  which 
Sergius  decided  in  nine  diflerent  propositions, 
that  there  existed  in  Jesus  Christ  but  a  single 
person,  in  which  the  divinity  and  humanity 
blended  themselves;  a  condemnable  heresy 
which  fortified  the  errors  of  the  Acephalites. 
This  patriarch  then  pronounced  an  anathema 
against  those  who  did  not  partake  of  his  cul 
pable  belief;   and  not  only  did  he  spread 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


14tr 


abroad  this  doctrine,  but  he  even  composed, 
in  the  name  of  the  emperor  Heraclius,  that 
famous  Ectheses  of  scandal.  It  maintains, 
with  the  impious  ApoHinarius.  that  there  exists 
in  Christ  but  a  single  will  as  the  conse(iuence 
of  a  single  operation;  he  dared  to  alHx  this 
sacrilegious  bull  on  the  gates  of  his  church, 
and  caused  it  to  be  approved  by  several  chiefs 
of  the  clergy,  whose  religion  he  overreached. 

'•'Pyrrhus,  the  successor  of  this  patriarch, 
also  subscribed  to  this  culpable  edict,  and 
through  the  influence  of  his  example,  illus- 
trious prelates  were  drawn  into  the  schism. 
Later,  repentance  led  him  to  our  feet;  he 
presented  a  petition,  written  with  his  own 
hand,  abjuring  the  heresy  which  he  and  his 
predecessors  had  maintained  against  the  Ca- 
tholic faith;  but,  he  has  since  returned  like 
a  dog  to  his  vomit,  and  we  have  been  obliged 
to  punish  his  crime  by  a  canonical  deposition. 

'•The  new  patriarch  openly  accepts  the  Ec- 
theses of  Sergius,  and  has  undertaken  to 
prove  its  orthodoxy.  As  a  punishment  for  his 
audacity,  we  have  pronounced  our  anathema 
against  him.  In  imitation  of  Sergius,  he  has 
overreached  the  religion  of  the  prince,  and 
has  persuaded  him  to  publish,  under  the 
name  of  Typos,  a  decree,  whicli  destroys  the 
Catholic  faith,  by  prohibiting  the  faithful  from 
employing  the  terms,  'one  or  two  wills,'  and 
which  leaves  us  to  suppose  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  witliout  will,  and  has  not  accomplished  any 
operation.  Still  further,  far  from  being  touch- 
ed with  repentance  on  learning  his  deposition, 
he  has  given  way  to  sacrilegious  violence  ;  has 
closed  our  church  in  the  palace  of  Placidius ; 
has  plunged  into  prison  the  legates  of  our  see ; 
has  stricken  with  rods  orthodox  priests;  and 
has,  finally,  condemned  to  the  torture  a  great 
number  of  monks. 

•'Our  predecessors  displayed  all  Christian 
charity  and  prudence,  by  using  prayers  and 
reprimands  towards  the  bishops  of  Constanti- 
nople; but  these  prelates  liave  closed  their 
minds  against  apostolical  counsel  and  remon- 
strance. I  have  then  thought  it  necessary  to 
assemble  you,  that  all  being  assembled  iu  the 
presence  of  God,  who  sees  and  judges  us,  we 
might  deliberate  upon  the  guilty  and  their 
sacrilegious  errors.  ]May  each  one  then  pro- 
nounce freely,  according  to  the  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Spirit." 

The  letter  of  the  metropolitan  of  Ravenna, 
who  e.vcused  himself  for  not  being  able  to 
come  to  the  synod,  was  publicly  read;  then 
they  regidated  the  forms  by  which  to  proceed 
to  the  condenniation  of  the  iVIonothelitcs. 

The  second  session  was  held  on  the  eighth 
of  the  same  month.  The  holy  father  ordered 
that  the  accusation  against  the  heretics  should 
be  drawn  in  proper  form  by  the  parties  in- 
terested, or  by  ihe  dean  and  notary  of  the 
Roman  church.  Theophylactus  thus  spoke; 
"I  announce  to  your  beatitude,  that  Stephen, 
bishop  of  Dora,  first  suflVagan  of  Jerusalem, 
is  at  the  door  of  the  church  in  which  we  are 
assembled,  and  asks  permission  to  present 
himself  before  you."'"  The  pontiflTgave  orders 
to  admit  him  to  the  council. 

Vol.  I.  T 


The  doors  were  opened  and  the  prelate,  in- 
troduced by  the  master  of  ceremonies,  pre- 
sented his  request  to  the  synod.  The  notary, 
Anastasius,  read  the  address,  translating  it 
from  Greek  into  Latin.  It  contained  an  ex- 
planation of  the  first  troubles  in  the  East;  the 
articles  published  by  Cyrus  of  Alexandria ;  the 
letter  of  St.  Sophronius,  who  ordered  him  to 
come  to  Rome  to  condemn  the  heretics ;  and 
finished  by  recalling  the  complaints  which 
had  been  already  made  to  Theodore  agxiinst 
Sergius  of  Joppa.  We  will  cite  the  last  words 
of  his  request.  -'I  have  executed  the  orders 
of  the  defunct  holy  father  agauist  heretical 
prelates,  and  I  have  not  consented  to  admit 
them  to  the  orthodox  communion,  until  I  re- 
ceived a  retraction  written  with  their  own 
hand.  All  these  abjurations  have  been  re- 
mitted to  pope  Martin  the  First. 

'•Still,  I  beseech  you,  my  brethren,  to  be 
willing  to  listen  to  the  demand  which  my  hu- 
mility addresses  to  you,  in  the  name  of  the 
prelates,  the  Catholic  people  of  the  East,  and 
the  glorious  Sophronius.  We  beseech  you 
to  dissipate,  by  your  wisdom,  the  remains  of 
the  heresy,  and  cause  evangelical  charity  to 
succeed  the  blind  fanaticism  which  impels 
the  faithful  into  interminable  wars." 

The  synod  also  received  the  complaints  of 
many  abbots  and  Greek  priests,  or  monks, 
who  asked  for  the  condemnation  of  the  JMo- 
nothelites.  The  old  petitions,  addressed  to 
the  Holy  See,  against  Cyrus,  Sergius,  and 
their  adherents,  were  then  read.  ^  Then  the 
pontiff,  rising  from  his  chair,  thus  expressed 
himself:  "There  are  enough  complaints,  my 
brethren,  against  these  culpable  wretches. 
Time  would  fail  us  to  produce  before  you  all 
the  remonstrances  which  have  been  addressed 
to  us  by  Catholics.  We  are  sufficiently  in- 
structed in  the  guilt  of  the  heretics,  and  we 
can  remit  to  the  coming  session  the  canonical 
examination  of  the  writings  of  each  of  the 
accused." 

The  assembly  having  met  nine  days  after- 
wards, the  sitting  was  commenced  by  an  ex- 
amination of  the  works  of  Theodore,  bishop 
of  Pharan.  IMartin  cited  several  passages 
from  the  fathers,  which  condemned  the  errors 
of  this  prelate.  The  seven  articles  of  Cyrus 
of  Alexandria,  were  then  examined,  as  well 
as  the  letter  of  Sergius  of  Constantinople, 
which  approved  of  them,  by  pronouncing  an 
anathema  against  those  who  did  not  recognize 
in  Jesus  Christ  a  single  theandric  operation. 
They  commented  on  the  passage  of  St.  Denis, 
bishop  of  Athens,  cited  by  Cyrus,  and  drawn 
from  the  letter  of  Caius.  He  fuiished  thus: 
"Finally,  Chri.st  has  done  neither  divine  ac- 
tions as  a  God,  nor  human  operations  as  a 
man;  but  he  has  shown  to  the  world  a  new 
species  of  operation  of  an  incarnate  being, 
which  we  must  call  theandric  acts." 

These  words  were  in  reality  those  of  St. 
Denis  the  Areopagite;  and  the  pontiiT  not 
being  able  to  explain  tliem,  accused  Cyrus 
and  Sergius  of  having  falsilied  this  passage, 
by  placing  in  the  seventh  article  the  ^^  ords, 
"new  operation,"  instead  of  '-theandric  ope- 


146 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ration,"  which  should  he  placed  there.  He 
endeavoured  to  show  that  Sergius  had  de- 
stroyed the  sense  of  these  words,  by  suppress- 
ing, in  his  letter,  the  word  "theandric,"  in 
order  to  write  only  that  of  "operation."  Re- 
marks worthy  of  the  most  subtle  theologian  ! 

Thus  were  the  faithful  edified  by  prolong- 
ed and  violent  disputes,  founded  upon  terms 
which  the  sophistical  spirit  of  the  Greeks  had 
introduced  into  the  language  of  the  church. 
Martin,  after  having  maintained  that  the  word 
"theandric,"  included,  necessarily,  the  idea 
of  two  operations,  added,  ''If  this  expression 
signifies  a  single  operation,  it  would  say  that 
it  is  simple  or  compound — natural  or  personal. 

"  If  simple,  the  Father  also  possesses  it,  and 
he  will  be  like  Christ,  God  and  man.  By 
admitting  this  operation  as  compound,  we 
declare  the  Son  to  be  of  another  substance 
from  the  Father,  who  cannot  comprise  a  com- 
pound operation.  If  we  call  it  natural,  we 
declare  the  flesh  to  be  substantial  with  the 
Word,  since  it  executes  the  same  operation — 
thus,  in  place  of  the  trinity,  we  should  pro- 
claim the  quaternity.  When  we  admit  the 
theandric  operation  to  be  personal,  we  sepa- 
rate, on  the  contrary,  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
since  they  are  distinguished  by  individual 
operations. 

"  Finally,  the  heretics  maintain  that  the 
union  of  the  divine  and  human  nature,  brings 
back  the  theandric  operation  to  unity;  in  other 
words,  they  avow  that  the  Word,  before  its 
union  witl^  the  flesh,  possessed  two  opera- 
tions: and  that,  after  its  hypotheosis,  it  only 
accomplished  one;  and,  consequently,  they 
cirrtail  it  of  one  of  its  operations  by  confound- 
ing them  together.  These  contradictions  prove 
that  St.  Denis,  by  the  word  compound,  which 
he  used,  has  wished  to  designate  the  union 
of  two  operations  in  the  same  person;  and, 
that  he  has  wisely  said,  that  Jesus  Christ  ac- 
complished neither  divine  actions  as  God,  nor 
human  actions  as  a  man;  but,  that  he  has 
shown  the  perfect  union  of  operations  and  na- 
tures. The  sublimity  of  this  union  is  the 
execution,  humanly,  of  divine  actions;  and, 
divinely,  of  human  actions :  for,  the  flesh  of 
Christ,  animated  by  a  reasonable  soul,  and 
united  personally  to  him,  performed  miracles 
which  made  an  impression  on  the  people; 
and,  by  his  all-powerful  virtue,  he  submitted 
voluntarily  to  the  sufferings  which  have  given 
to  us  the  life  of  heaven.  Thus,  he  possessed 
that  which  is  natural  to  us,  in  a  super-human 
manner;  and,  we  will  say  with  St.  Leo,  that 
each  operation  performed  in  Christ  its  own 
jKirticular  part;  but,  with  the  participation  of 
the  other." 

This  singular  explanation  of  the  theandric 
operation,  was  approved  of  by  the  assembly 
without  opposition.  They  then  read  the  Ec- 
theses  of  Heraclius,  and  declared,  the  extracts 
from  the  two  councils  of  Constantinople,  held 
by  the  patriarchs  Sergius  and  Pyrrhus,  which 
atlrrmed  that  the  Ectheses  had  been  approved 
of  by  the  pontiff  Severinus,  to  be  false  and 
deceitful. 

The  fourth  sitting  of  the  synod  was  held  on 


the  19th  of  October.  Martin  noticed  the  con- 
tradictions which  resulted  from  the  pieces 
which  had  been  read  in  the  preceding  session, 
and  explained  the  articles  in  which  Cyrus 
anathematizes  those  who  do  not  say  with 
him,  that  Jesus  Christ  acts  by  a  single  opera- 
tion. "Sergius  and  Pyrrhus  approve  of  this 
doctrine,"  added  he,  "and  still  these  three 
prelates  adhere  to  the  Ectheses,  which  pro- 
hibits the  use  of  the  terms,  one  or  two  opera- 
tions. Thus  they  cast  themselves  out  from 
the  bosom  of  the  church,  since  it  is  a  contra- 
diction to  speak  of  an  operation,  and.to  pro- 
hibit deciding  upon  it." 

The  sovereign  pontiff  fell  into  a  grievous 
error ;  for  he  attributed  to  the  Ectheses  a  pro- 
hibition which  was  found  in  the  Typos ;  and, 
either  through  ignorance  of  the  question,  or 
through  an  oratorical  ruse,  he  placed  the 
heretics  in  contradiction  to  themselves,  whilst 
the  edict  of  Heraclius  supported  Monothelism, 
and  these  prelates  had  been  able  to  approve 
of  it  without  contradicting  themselves,  and 
without  anathematizing  themselves. 

At  length,  in  the  last  session,  the  pontiff 
brought  in  the  books  of  the  fathers  and  caused 
passages  to  be  read  from  them,  in  opposition 
to  the  heresy ;  and,  after  this  reading,  he  said, 
"My  friends,  it  is  known  to  all  the  world, 
that  innovators  calumniate  the  fathers  and 
the  councils,  who  have  taught  two  wills,  two 
operations,  and  two  natures  in  Jesus  Christ ; 
the  fathers  have  not  only  decided  this,  but 
they  have  proved  it  by  the  number,  the  name, 
the  pronouns,  the  qualities,  the  properties — by 
all  possible  means.  We  approve  of  this  doc- 
trine without  adding  to,  or  taking  away  any 
thing  from  it." 

In  order  to  render  more  apparent  the  con- 
formity of  the  sentiments  of  the  innovators  with 
the  heretics,  the  pope  compared  the  words  of 
one  with  the  other,  and  concluded  by  saying, 
that  the  first  were  more  culpable  than  the 
second,  since  they  wished  to  persuade  ordi- 
nary minds  that  they  followed  the  writings 
of  the  fathers,  whilst  the  heretics  openly  de- 
clared that  they  opposed  them.  He  fortified 
his  conclusions  by  the  authority  of  St.  Cyril 
and  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzes,  and  demon- 
strated that  Christ,  by  his  incarnation,  had 
taken  human  nature  entire ;  and,  consequent- 
!)'•,  with  it,  the  will  which  is  essential  to  a 
reasonable  soul. 

After  a  long  deliberation,  the  council  ren- 
dered its  judgment  in  twenty  canons;  it  con- 
demned all  those  who  did  not  confess  the 
trinity  and  the  incarnation  of  the  Word  ;  who 
refused  to  recognize  Mary  as  the  mother  of 
God,  and  Christ  as  consubstantial  with  the 
Father  and  the  Virgin  his  mother.  The  fa- 
thers decided  that  Jesus  Christ  was  himself 
of  one  nature  with  his  incarnate  word ;  that 
two  distinct  natures  existed  in  him,  which 
were  united  hypostatically,  and  preserved  their 
properties;  and,  that  he  executed  two  wills 
and  two  operations,  the  one  divine,  the  other 
human.  Finally,  they  condemned  those  who 
rejected  these  dogmas,  or  who  did  not  pro- 
nounce anathemas  agamst  the  heretics  who 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES- 


147 


attacked  the  trinity  and  the  incarnation. 
Sabellius,  Arius,  Orijjen,  Didymus,  Erager, 
Theodore  of  Pharan,  Cyrus  of  Alexandria, 
Sergius  of  Constantinople,  and  his  successors 
Pyrrhus  and  Paul,  were  excommunicated; 
terrible  anathemas  were  lanched  against  those 
who  accepted  the  Ectheses  of  Ileraclius,  or 
the  Typos  of  Constantius;  against  priests  who 
submitted  to  orders  given  by  the  impious, 
who  were  infected  with  Monothelism;  and, 
against  the  heretics  who  should  maintain  that 
their  doctrine  was  similar  to  that  of  the  fa- 
thers, or  who  should  produce  new  formulas 
of  belief  about  the  incarnation.  The  sub- 
scription of  the  decree  is  conceived  in  these 
terms :  '•  I.  Martin,  by  the  grace  of  God. 
bishop  of  the  Catholic  and  apostolic  church 
of  the  city  of  Rome,  have  subscribed,  as 
judge,  the  definition  which  confirms  the  or- 
thodox faith,  as  well  as  the  condemnation  of 
Theodore  of  Pharan,  Cyrus  of  Alexandria, 
Sergius  of  Constantinople,  the  patriarchs 
Pyrrhus  and  Paul  his  successors,  with  their 
heretical  writings,  with  the  Ectheses,  and  the 
impious  Typos  wnich  has  been  published  at 
Byzantium." 

The  proceedings  of  the  council  were  writ- 
ten in  Latin  and  Greek,  on  the  request  of  the 
monks  of  Palestine,  and  the  pontiff  sent  them 
to  the  churches  of  the  East  and  West,  with 
several  synodical  letters.  He  addressed  cir- 
culars to  all  the  faithful  of  Christendom  to 
inform  them  of  the  errors  of  the  Monothelites, 
and  of  the  necessity  of  assembling  a  council  to 
condemn  this  heresy.  ''We  send,"  he  wrote, 
'•the  proceedings  of  the  synod  to  all  Chris- 
tians to  justify  our  conduct  before  God,  and 
to  render  inexcusable  those  who  shall  refuse 
the  obedience  they  owe  us.  Do  not  listen  to 
the  innovators,  and  do  not  fear  the  power  of 
those  crowned  men  whose  life  passes  as  the 
herb  which  withereth,  and  none  of  whom  has 
been  crucified  for  us." 

He  then  informed  the  emperor  of  the  deci- 
sions of  the  council,  saying  to  him:  "Our  ad- 
versaries, my  lord,  have  dared  to  write  to  the 
bishops  of  Africa  that  you  have  published  the 
Typos,  to  arrest  the  violence  of  our  theologi- 
cal discussions,  and  to  give  to  truth  time  to 
establish  itself.  The  fault  of  these  discords 
should  fall  on  those  who  have  departed  from 
the  precepts  of  the  church;  for  the  fathers 
affirm,  that  the* least  change  in  the  exposition 
of  divine  truth,  is  condemnable  in  the  eves  of 
God.  We  address  to  you  the  proceedings  of 
our  council,  translated  into  Greek,  and  we 
beseech  you  to  read  them  attentively,  in  or- 
der that  your  pious  laws  may  proscribe  here- 
tics, and  cause  the  doctrines  of  the  holy 
fathers  and  the  councils  to  triurriph." 

At  this  period,  the  new  liishop  of  Thessa- 
lonica,  Paul,  sent  his  synodical  letters  to  the 
court  of  Rome;  the  pontiff  pronounced  them 
Monothelitical:  still,  at  the  request  of  the 
deputies,  he  consented  to  suspend  the  effects 
of  the  excommunication  which  the  prelate 
liad  incurred;  he  only  noticed  the  error  into 
which  he  had  fallen,  and  sent  to  him  by  his 
legates    the    profession   of    faith  which  he 


should  follow.  Paul  fearing  lest  his  submis- 
sion to  the  holv  father  might  draw  on  him 
the  enmity  of  tlie  bishops  of  the  East,  de- 
ceived the  deputies  of  INlartin,  and  sent  back 
by  them  an  exposition  of  his  belief,  in  which, 
in  speaking  of  the  will  and  the  operation  of 
Christ,  in  which  he  had  left  out  the  word 
"natural,"  as  well  as  the  formula  of  the  ana- 
thema pronounced  against  heretics. 

The  legates  of  the  court  of  Rome,  seduced 
by  the  artifices  and  the  flatteries  of  the  bishop 
of  Thessalonica,  accepted  this  writing,  which 
they  carried  to  the  pontiff.  Martin,  having 
discovered  the  trickery,  was  enraged  at  his 
envoys,  called  them  traitors,  sacrilegious,  in- 
famous, and  shut  them  up  in  a  monastery, 
clothed  in  sackcloth,  with  their  heads  covered 
with  ashes.  He  then  wrote  to  Paul  this  threat- 
ening letter: 

'•  Know,  knavish  and  deceitful  bishop,  that 
thou  art  deposed  from  all  sacerdotal  dignity, 
until  thou  shalt  have  confirmed,  by  writing, 
without  any  restriction  or  omission,  that 
which  we  have  decided  in  our  council ;  and 
thou  shalt  have  anathematized  these  new 
heretics,  their  sacrilegious  Ectheses,  and  their 
odious  T}'pos.  If  thou  shalt  desire  to  re-enter 
into  our  communion,  thou  must,  at  the  same 
time,  repair  the  injury  thou  hast  committed 
against  the  canons,  in  not  recognizing  thyself 
as  the  subject  and  vicar  of  the  Holy  See." 
Martin  addressed,  at  the  same  time,  an  order 
to  the  clergy  of  Thessalonica,  prohibiting  all 
communication  with  Paul  if  he  persisted  in 
his  heresy,  and  also  to  nominate  another 
bishop. 

Amandu."?,  or  St.  Amand.  prelate  of  Maes- 
tritch,  sent  a  letter  to  the  pope,  advising  him 
of  the  ecclesiastical  disorders  of  his  diocese, 
and  of  his  desire  to  abandon  his  see  to  avoid 
the  scandals  which  he  could  not  hinder.  J\Iar- 
tin  replied  to  him:  "We  have  been  apprised 
that  priests,  deacons,  and  other  clergy  fall 
into  the  shameful  sins  of  fornication,  sodomv, 
and  bestiality.  Those  among  these  wretch- 
es who  shall  be  taken  but  a  single  time  in 
sin,  after  having  received  sacred  orders,  shall 
be  deposed,  without  hope  of  being  reinstated, 
and  shall  pass  their  lives  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  a  severe  penance.  Have  no  com- 
passion on  the  guilty,  for  we  do  not  wish  be- 
fore the  altar  any  minister  whose  life  is  not 
pure. 

"  But  you  are  not  permitted  to  abandon  the 
functions  of  your  dignity  to  live  in  retreat, 
because  of  the  sins  of  others:  j-ou  should,  on 
the  contrary,  govern  your  affliction,  and  re- 
main upon  the  episcopal  see  for  the  edification 
of  the  Christians  of  Gaul. 

'•We  send  you  the  acts  of  the  last  svnod, 
and  our  circular,  that  you  may  apprise  all  the 
bishops  of  your  juri.sdiction  of  them  ;  they 
must  approve,  without  examination,  that 
which  we  have  decided  to  be  the  true  faith, 
and  should  address  to  us  this  confirmation, 
subscribed  with  their  own  hand. 

"  Induce  king  Sigebert  to  send  us  bishops 
who  will  consent  to  go  as  a  legation  from 
the  Holy  See  to  the  emperor,  to  carry  to 


148 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


that  prince  the  proceedings  of  our  council 
and  those  of  )"our  assembly. 

"  We  have  given  to  your  deputy  the  relics 
you  asked  from  us.  As  for  the  books,  our  li- 
brary being  poor,  it  has  not  been  in  our  power 
to  remit  tiiem  to  your  legate  ;  and  his  pre- 
cipitate departure  has  prevented  us  from 
having  copies  of  the  works  in  our  archives 
transcribed." 

Martin  addressed  letters  to  Clovis  the 
Second,  to  beseech  him  to  send  to  Rome  two 
prelates  of  his  kingdom,  who  should  accom- 
pany an  embassy  to  Constantinople,  to  which 
he  wished  to  give  a  character  of  solemnity. 
The  two  prelates  who  had  first  been  designed 
by  the  prince  to  go  to  the  pope,  could  not  ful- 
fil this  mission,  as  reasons  of  state  recalled 
them  to  Gaul. 

Whilst  executing  these  reforms,  the  holy 
father  had  not  foreseen  the  storm  which  his 
zeal  had  raised  in  the  East.  The  emperor 
Constantius,  advised  that  the  pontift'  was  seek- 
ing aid  against  his  authority,  resolved  to  put 
his  edict  of  the  Typos  in  force  in  his  Italian 
provinces,  and  then  to  humble  the  pride  of 
the  court  of  Rome.  He  sent  01}Tnpius,  his 
favourite,  in  the  quality  of  exarch,  with  orders 
to  assure  himself  of  the  army,  and  to  seize 
upon  Martin.  If  he  found  resistance  among 
the  soldiers,  he  was  to  temporize,  to  seduce 
them  little  by  little  by  largesses  and  distinc- 
tions •  and,  finally,  when  the  time  appeared 
favourable,  he  was  to  seize  the  pontiff  in  his 
palace  and  send  him  to  Constantinople. 

Olympius  debarked  for  Italy  during  the 
sitting  of  the  council  of  the  Lateran;  at  first, 
according  to  his  instructions,  he  invited  a  part 
of  the  bishops  to  separate  themselves  from 
the  communion  of  the  pope ;  all  his  efforts 
having  failed,  and  not  daring  yet  to  employ 
violence,  he  had  recourse  to  treason.  At  the 
moment  when  the  holy  father  was  presenting 
to  him  the  communion  in  the  church  of  St. 
Maria  Majora,  the  exarch  made  a  precon- 
certed signal,  and  his  esquire  drew  his  sword 
to  slay  the  pontiff.  By  a  miracle,  add  the 
sacred  historians,  Martin  became  invisible 
and  the  esquire  blind.  Olympius,  alarmed  by 
this  prodigy,  prostrated  himself  at  the  feet  of 
the  pontiff  and  revealed  to  him  the  orders  he 
had  received  from  the  emperor.  He  then 
passed  over  into  Sicily  to  combat  the  Sara- 
cens, and  formed  an  independent  kingdom. 

The  exarch  was  secretly  assassinated  some 
time  after,  and  Constantius  named  to  succeed 
him,  two  oflicers,  Theodore,  surnamed  Callio- 
pas,  and  a  domestic  of  the  palace,  also  named 
Theodore,  and  whose  surname  was  Pellares. 
They  had  orders  to  carry  off  the  pope  by 
force  by  accusing  him,  before  the  people,  of 
heresy  and  of  crimes'  of  state,  and  by'  re- 
proaching him  wilh  not  honouring  Mary  as 
the  mother  of  God,  and  with  having  sent 
letters  and  money  to  the  Saracens. 

Martin,  informed  by  his  spies  of  their  pro- 
jects, retired  with  his  clergy  into  the  church 
of  the  Lateran  on  the  same  day  on  which  the 
officers  of  the  empire  entered  Rome.  He  did 
not  visit  the  exarch,  and  making  the  state  of 


his  health  a  pretext,  sent  some  priests  to 
compliment  him.  The  latter  replied  to  them, 
"That  he  wished  to  adore  the  pontiff  con- 
formably to  usage,  and  that  on  the  next  day, 
Sunday,  the  Lord's  day,  he  would  come  to 
the  patriarchal  palace,  Avhere  he  hoped  to  see 
him."  The  term,  "adore."  at  this  period, 
did  not  represent  the  idea  which  we  bestow 
upon  it  in  our  language ;  it  signified,  simply, 
to  honour ;  and  the  custom  of  a  real  and  sacri- 
legious adoration,  as  now  practised  at  Rome, 
was  unknown  to  the  bishops  of  the  first  ages. 

The  next  day  mass  was  celebrated  in  the 
church  of  the  Lateran  by  the  holy  father , 
but  the  exarch,  fearing  the  fury  of  the  people, 
did  not  dare  attempt  the  abduction,  notwith- 
standing the  number  of  his  troops.  He  only 
sent  his  cartulary  with  some  soldiers,  on 
Monday  morning,  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
to  complain  of  the  distrust  exhibited  towards 
him.  "They  accuse  you,  holy  father,"  said 
the  officer  to  him,  "'of  concealing  arms  and 
stores  for  your  defence,  and  of  having  placed 
soldiers  in  your  pontifical  palace." 

Martin  immediately  took  him  by  the  hand 
and  made  him  visit  his  dv.-elling,  that  he 
might  bear  witness  of  the  falsity  of  these  ac- 
cusations ;  "our  enemies,"  added  the  pontiff, 
"have  always  calumniated  us;  on  the  arrival 
of  Olpnpius  we  were  accused  of  being  sur- 
rounded by  armed  men,  to  repulse  force  by 
violence.  He  soon  learned  that  we  placed 
all  our  trust  in  God." 

The  exarch,  reassured  as  to  the  dangers  of 
an  arrest,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
troops  and  surrounded  the  church.  At  the 
approach  of  the  soldiers,  the  pontiff,  although 
sick,  placed  himself  on  a  bed  at  the  very 
door  of  the  church.  The}',  without  any  re- 
gard for  the  venerable  old  man,  nor  to  the 
sanctity  of  the  place,  penetrated  into  the  tem- 
ple, broke  the  lights,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
terror  and  the  noise  of  arms,  Calliopas,  show- 
ing to  the  priests  and  deacons  the  order  of  the 
emperor,  commanded  them  to  depose  Martin 
as  unworthy  of  the  tiara,  and  to  ordain  an- 
other bishop  in  his  place. 

A  gesture,  a  word,  of  the  holy  father  and 
blood  would  have  flowed.  Martin  calmly 
raised  himself,  and  leaning  on  two  young  ec- 
clesiastics, walked  gently  from  the  church. 
The  priests  immediately  cast  themselves  upon 
the  guards,  exclaiming,  "No,  the  holy  father 
shall  not  go  from  these  walls !  Anathemas 
against  you,  mercenaries  of  a  tyrant,  destroy- 
ers of  the  christian  father !  Anathemas  against 
you !"  The  pontiff  extended  his  hand  and  the 
obedient  clergy  ranged  themselves  at  his 
side. 

Martin  then  delivered  himself  up  to  the 
soldiers  of  the  exarch;  but,  at  the  moment 
when  they  were  preparing  to  lead  him  away, 
the  priests  and  deacons  cast  themselves  anew 
on  the  troops,  and  surrounding  the  holy  father, 
exclaimed:  "We  will  not  abandon  him,  he  is 
our  father;  we  will  live  or  die  with  him." 
Then  the  pontiff  addressed  this  entreaty  to 
Calliopas:  "My  lord,  permit  those  of  my 
clergy  who  love  me,  to  follow  me  into  sla 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


149 


very."  All  accompanied  him  to  his  palace, 
which  was  on  the  moment  changed  into  a 
prison,  and  of  which  all  the  doors  were 
guarded  by  the  soldiers  of  the  exarch  Theo- 
dore. 

The  following  night,  whilst  the  clergy  were 
plunged  in  sleep,  they  carried  off  the  holy 
lather  from  Kome,  accompanied  by  only  six 
devoted  servants.  His  abduction  was  so  hur- 
ried, that  they  were  unable  to  take  any  of 
the  necessaries  for  a  long  journey,  except  a 
drinking  cup.  His  escort,  embarked  on  the 
Tiber,  arrived  on  Wednesday  the  19th  of 
June,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  Porto, 
from  whence  it  started  again  the  same  day, 
and  on  the  lirst  of  July  arrived  at  Mycena. 
The  pontiff  was  then  conducted  into  Calabria, 
from  thence  to  different  islands,  and  finally  to 
the  isle  of  Naxos,  where  he  remained  an  en- 
tire year. 

During  the  whole  of  the  journey,  Martin, 
enfeebled  by  a  horrid  dysentery,  could  not 
leave  the  vessel  which  had  become  his  prison. 
The  bishops  and  faithful  of  Naxos  sent  him 
presents  to  solace  his  misfortunes'  but  the  sol- 
diers who  guarded  him  seized  upon  the  pro- 
visions, overwhelmed  him  with  outrages,  and 
even  beat  the  citizens,  angrily  repulsing  them, 
and  saying:  -'Death  to  those  who  love  this 
man  :  they  are  enemies  of  the  state  !" 

At  length  Constantius  gave  orders  to  bring 
him  to  Constantinople,  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  month  of  September,  in  the  year  654,  the 
holy  father  entered  the  port  of  the  imperial 
city.  During  a  whole  day  Martin  remained 
on  the  vessel,  lying  on  a  wretched  linen  bed 
exposed  as  a  sight  to  the  populace,  who 
called  him  an  heretic,  an  enemy  of  God,  of 
the  virgin,  and  of  the  prince.  During  the 
night  a  scribe,  named  Sagoleve,  and  several 
guards,  led  him  from  the  bark  and  took  him 
to  a  prison,  called  Prandearia,  where  he  re- 
mained, without  assistance,  for  three  months. 

It  is  believed  that  he  wrote  in  his  prison 
the  two  letters  which  have  descended  to  us. 

In  the  first,  he  justifies  himself  to  the  em- 

Eeror  from  the  accusations  brought  against 
im,  and  invokes  the  testimony  which  the 
Roman  clergy  had  rendered  in  the  presence 
of  the  exarch,  of  the  purity  of  hjs  faith ;  he 

grotests  that  he  will  defend  the  decisions  of 
is  council  as  long  as  life  shall  be  spared  to 
him.  "I  have  sent,"  he  wrote,  "neither  let- 
ters nor  money  to  the  Saracens ;  I  have  only 
given  aid  to  some  servants  of  God  who  came 
from  that  country  to  ask  alms  for  unfortunate 
Christians.  I  believe  in  the  glorious  Mary, 
virgin  and  mother  of  Christ ;  and  I  declare 
anathematized,  in  this  world  and  the  next, 
those  who  refuse  to  honour  and  adore  her 
above  all  creatures."  He  terminates  his  se- 
cond letter  by  saying:  ''It  is  forty  days,  mv 
lord,  since  I  nave  been  able  to  obtain  a  bath 
for  my  enfeebled  body.  I  feel  myself  nipped 
by  suffering  ;  for  the  sickness  which  devours 
my  entrails  has  left  me  no  repose  on  sea  or  on 
land.  My  strength  gives  way  under  it,  and 
when  I  ask  for  salutary  nourishment  which 
may  revive  me,  I  undergo  an  insulting  refu- 


sal. Still,  I  pray  God,  when  he  shall  liave 
taken  me  from  this  life,  to  seek  those  who 
persecute  me  to  lead  them  to  repentance." 

He  was  finally  brought  from  his  prison  and 
taken  before  the  senate,  which  was  assembled 
to  interrogate  him.  The  cartulary  Bucoleon, 
who  presided  over  the  council,  having  com- 
manded him  to  rise  up,  .some  officers  support- 
ed him  in  their  arms,  and  he  was  addressed 
by  the  president  in  these  harsh  words: 
'•Miserable  wretch!  Has  our  sovereign  op- 
pressed thy  person,  has  he  seized  upon  the 
riches  of  thy  church,  or  has  he  only  sought 
to  take  from  thee  the  dignity  of  Bishop  ?" 
The  pontiff  preserved  silence. 

Bucoleon  continued,  with  a  menace  :  '-'Since 
thy  voice  cannot  raise  itself  among  us,  that 
of  thy  accusers  will  reply  to  us."  Then  Do- 
rotheus,  patrician  of  Cilicia,  several  soldiers, 
Andrew  the  secretary  of  OljTnpius,  and  some 
guards  of  the  suite  of  that  exarch,  advanced 
into  the  midst  of  the  council  chamber.  At 
the  moment  when  the  Bible  was  opened  to 
receive  their  oath,  Martin  said  to  the  magis- 
trates, "I  beseech  you,  lords,  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  who  hears  us,  to  allow  these  men  to 
speak  without  swearing  them  on  the  Holy 
Scriptures;  let  them  say  against  me  that 
which  is  commanded  them,  but  let  them  not 
lose  their  souls  by  a  damnable  oath." 

The  witnesses,  however,  swore  to  inform 
the  judges  of  the  truth.  Dorotheus  first  ex- 
pressed himself,  in  these  terms :  -'If  the  pon- 
tiff^ had  fifty  heads,  they  should  fall  under  the 
sword  of  the  laws,  as  a  chastisement  for  his 
crimes ;  for,  I  swear,  he  has  corrupted  the 
West,  and  rendered  himself  the  accomplice 
of  the  infamous  01)"mpius,  the  mortal  enemy 
of  our  prince  and  of  the  empire."  Pressed 
with  questions  by  Bucoleon,  the  pope  re- 
plied, "  If  you  wish  to  know  the  truth,  I  will 
tell  you.  When  the  Typos  was  sent  to 
Rome — ."  The  prefect  Troilus  interrupted 
him  by  exclaiming,  "We  accuse  j-ou  of  crimes 
against  the  state ;  do  not  speak  of  the  faith  j 
it  is  not  the  question  before  this  assembly,  for 
we  are  all  Christians  and  as  orthodox  as  the 

Romans ."     "  You  lie,"  replied  the  holy 

father;  "and,  at  the  terrible  day  of  judgment, 
I  will  rise  up  between  God  and  you,  to  pro- 
nounce anathema  and  malediction  against 
your  abominable  heresy." 

Troilus,  smothering  his  wrath,  continued: 
"Audacious  prelate,  when  the  infamous  OUtti- 
pius  executed  his  guilty  projects,  why  didst 
thou  receive  the  oath  of  the  soldiers  of  this 
traitor]  Whv.  instead  of  lending  to  him  the 
aid  of  thy  authority,  didst  thou  not  denounce 
his  perfidies  by  opposing  thy  power  to  his 
will  ?" 

The  pope  replied  to  the  prefect:  "In  the 
last  revolution,  my  lord,  when  the  monk 
Georges,  who  became  prefect,  quitted  the 
camp  and  penetrated  into  Constantinople  to 
accomplish  nis  bold  designs,  where  were  you 
— you  and  those  who  hear  me  ?  Not  only  did 
you  not  resist  this  seditious  person,  but  you 
even  applauded  his  harangues,  and  you  drove 
.  from  the  palace  those  whom  he  ordered  you 


150 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


to  expel.  Why,  when  Valentin  ■wiis  clothed 
with  the  purple  and  had  seized  upon  the 
throne,  instead  of  opposing  your  power  to  his, 
did  you  submit  to  his  commands  I  In  your 
tuni  avow  that  we  cannot  resist  force. 

"How  then  could  I  oppose  Olympius,  who 
commanded  all  the  armies  of  Italy  ?  Is  it  I 
Avho  was  exarch"?  Is  it  I  to  whom  was  given 
the  troops,  treasures,  and  sovereign  power,  on 
the  Roman  peninsula  1  But  words  are  useless ; 
my  destruction  is  resolved  upon ;  permit  me 
then  to  keep  silence.  I  beseech  you  for  it  • 
dispose  of  my  life  according  to  your  inten- 
tions, for  God  will  give  me  a  holy  recom- 
pense."' 

The  president  declared  the  sitting  at  an 
end,  and  went  to  the  palace  to  make  his  re- 
port to  the  emperor.  Martin  was  carried  from 
the  hall  of  council  and  placed  in  the  court 
yard,  close  by  the  stables  of  the  prince,  in  the 
midst  of  the  guards ;  then  they  carried  him 
upon  a  terrace,  that  the  sovereign  might  see 
liim  through  the  hangings  of  his  apartment,  the 
soldiers  carrying  him  in  their  arms  on  to  the 
midst  of  the  platform,  in  the  presence  of  all 
the  people  and  of  an  innutnerable  crowd. 
Bucoleon,  having  come  from  the  apartments 
of  the  prince,  approached  Martin  to  advise 
him  of  his  sentence.  "  Bishop  of  Rome,"  said 
he,  "behold  how  God  has  delivered  you  into 
our  hands ;  you  have  wished  to  resist  the  em- 
peror— you  have  become  his  slave.  You  have 
abandoned  Christ — lo,  he  abandons  you." 
Then  addressing  himself  to  the  executioner, 
he  said,  "Strip  off  the  mantle  of  the  pontitT 
and  the  strings  of  his  hose'"  and  turning  to- 
wards the  soldiers,  he  added,  "I  dehver  him 
up  to  you :  tear  his  garments  to  pieces."  Then 
he  commanded  the  crow'd  to  ill-treat  him. 
Some  wretches  alone  cried  out.  Anathema 
upon  the  pope !  and  the  other  assistants,  low- 
ering their  heads,  retired,  overwhelmed  with 
sadness. 

The  executioners  took  from  him  his  sacer- 
dotal pallinum  and  liis  other  ecclesiastical  orna- 
ments, which  they  divided  among  themselves, 
leaving  him  only  a  tunic  without  a  girdle, 
which  they  tore  on  both  sides,  to  leave  his 
body  entirely  exposed  to  the  injurious  effects 
of  the  air.  and  to  the  greedy  inspection  of  the 
mob  of  Constantinople.  They  placed  an  iron 
collar  around  his  neck,  which  was  attached 
to  the  arm  of  an  executioner,  to  show  that  he 
was  condemned  to  death.  He  was  led  in  this 
apparel,  the  chief  executioner  carr}-ing  before 
him  the  sword  of  death,  from  the  palace  to 
the  pretors  house;  there  he  was  loaded  with 
chains,  and  cast  into  a  prison  with  murderers; 
an  hour  afterwards  he  was  transferred  to  the 
prison  of  Diomede.  During  the  passage,  his 
keeper  drew  him  along  with  such  violence, 
that  in  climbing  up  the  stairs  his  legs  were 
torn  upon  the  stones  and  stained  the  flags 
with  blood.  He  fell,  panting,  and  made  vain 
efibrts  to  raise  himself;  then  the  soldiers 
stretched  him  out  upon  a  bench,  where  he 
remained,  almost  naked,  exposed  to  severe 
cold.  Finally,  two  wives  of  the  jailers,  taking 
pity  upon  him,  took  him  away  from  the  prison; 


dressed  his  wounds,  and  placed  him  in  a  bed 
to  reanimate  his  torpid  members ;  he  remain- 
ed until  night  without  being  able  to  speak, 
and  without  recovering  the  sentiment  of  ex- 
istence. 

The  eunuch  Gregor3^  prefect  of  the  palace, 
having  been  informed  of  the  cruelties  exer- 
cised towards  the  holy  father,  was  touched 
with  compassion,  and  sent  him  some  nourish- 
ment by  his  steward ;  he  himself  escaping 
from  the  palace,  went  to  his  prison,  took  oil' 
the  collar  and  chains,  and  exhorted  him  to  re- 
take courage  and  hope  for  a  better  lot.  In 
fact,  the  next  day,  the  emperor,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  counsels,  went  to  the  patriarch 
Paul,  whose  life  was  terminating  in  the  suf- 
ferings of  a  severe  illness,  to  inform  him  of 
the  punishment  of  the  pontilT,  and  to  ask  if 
he  should  proceed  to  put  him  to  death.  Paul, 
far  from  applauding  the  cruelty  of  the  prince, 
heaved  a  deep  sigh,  turned  towards  the  wall 
and  preserved  silence ;  then  he  munnured 
these  words:  "The  tomients  of  this  unfortu- 
nate man  augment  those  of  my  condemna- 
tion." The  emperor  asking  him,  why  he 
spoke  thus,  the  prelate  raising  his  head,  said 
to  him,  "Prince,  it  is  deplorable  to  exercise 
such  severity  against  priests  whom  God  has 
delivered  into  your  power.  In  the  name  of 
Christ  I  adjure  you  to  put  an  end  to  the  scan- 
dal and  the  cruelties  of  your  justice,  or  fear  to 
burn  in  eternal  flames."  These  words  alarm- 
ed Constantius,  and  determined  him  to  order 
them  to  put  an  end  to  the  severities  exercised 
ag-ainst  Martin. 

The  patriarch  having  died  some  days  after, 
Pyrrhus  wished  to  remount  the  see  of  Byzan- 
timn ;  but  the  act  of  retraction  which  he  had 
given  to  pope  Theodore  was  published  by 
the  grandees  and  the  priests,  who  opposed 
his  reinstallation^  judging  him  unworthy  of 
the  sacerdotal  office,  who  had  been  anathe- 
matized by  both  the  Greek  and  Latin  metro- 
polis. Before  making  a  decision,  the  emperor 
wished  to  learn  the  conduct  of  this  prelate 
during  his  sojourn  at  Rome,  and  sent  Demos- 
thenes, an  officer  of  the  treasury,  with  a 
writer,  to  interrogate  the  holy  father  in  his 
prison,  and  to  ask  of  him  what  had  been  the 
actions  of  the  patriarch  Pyrrhus  in  Italy. 

Martin  replied  to  the  envoys  of  the  prince: 
"The  i^atriarch  came  to  our  apostolic  see, 
without  having  been  cited  there  ;  after  hav- 
ing subscribed  with  his  hand  the  abjuration 
of  his  heresy,  he  was  humbly  presented  to 
Theodore,  our  predecessor,  who  received  him 
as  bishop,  restored  to  him  his  rank  in  the 
church,  and  maintained  him  in  his  dignity, 
placing  at  his  disposal  the  treasures  of  St.  Pe- 
ter."    After  this  reply  the  officers  retired. 

The  pontiff  remained  three  months  longer 
in  the  prison  of  Diomede.  Then  Sagoleves, 
one  of  the  principal  magistrates  of  Constanti- 
nople, came  one  morning  to  say  to  him, 
"Holy  father,  I  have  orders  to  transfer  you  to 
my  home,  to  conduct  you  to-night  to  a  place 
which  the  cartulary  Avill  indicate  to  me." 
Martin,  addressing  himself  to  those  who  were 
nearj  exclaimed:  "My  brethren,  the  moment 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


151 


of  parting  has  arrived,  give  me  the  kiss  of 
peace;"  then  extending  his  trembling  hands, 
ne  gave  them  his  benediction,  ancl  added, 
'•Do  not  mourn,  but  rejoice  for  the  glory 
which  God  prepares  for  me." 

At  night  the  officers  came  to  take  him  from 
the  house  of  the  magistrate,  and  conducted 
him  to  the  port,  where  they  embarked  on 
Doard  a  vessel  which  sailed  for  the  peninsula 
of  Chersonesus.  A  month  after  his  arrival, 
Martin  wrote  to  an  ecclesiastic  of  Constanti- 
nople, complaining  of  the  absolute  destitution 
in  which  he  was.  '-'He,  to  whom  I  confide 
this  letter,"  said  the  holy  father,  "is  about  to 
rejoin  you  at  Byzantium,  and  his  presence 
has  afforded  me  great  joy,  notwithstaniling 
the  disappointment  I  suffered  iu  learning  that 
he  brought  me  no  aid  from  Italy.  Still  I 
praise  God,  who  measures  out  to  us  our  suf- 
ferings as  seems  fit  to  him ;  but  do  not  forget, 
my  brother,  that  I  am  destitute  of  food,  and 
the  famine  is  so  great  in  this  country,  that  I 
cannot  obtain  bread  at  any  price.  Warn  my 
friends  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  live,  if 
they  do  not  speedily  send  me  subsidies  and 
provisions. 

"  I  am  still  more  sensitive  to  the  indifTer- 
ence  of  the  Roman  clergy,  as  I  have  not  com- 
mitted any  act  which  justifies  the  indifference 
they  show  for  my  person.  Besides,  holy  Pe- 
ter, who  nourished  indiscriminately  all  stran- 
gers, cannot  leave  me  to  die  of  famine;  I, 
Avho  am  in  exile  and  affliction  for  having  de- 
fended the  doctrines  of  the  church  of  which 
I  was  the  chief. 

"I  have  designated  the  things  necessary  for 
my  wants ;  I  beseech  yoa  to  buy  them  and 
send  them  to  me  with  your  usual  promptitude, 
for  I  have  nothing  with  which  to  struggle 
against  my  frequent  maladies." 

In  another  letter  he  utters  his  complaints 


Avith  grievous  bitterness.  "  I  am  not  only  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  the  Avorld,  but  I  am  even 
deprived  of  spiritual  life;  for  the  inhabitants 
of  tliis  country  are  all  pagans,  and  have  no 
compassion  for  my  sulierhigs.  The  vessels 
which  come  here  to  load  with  salt,  do  not 
bring  us  any  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  I 
can  buy  only  a  single  measure  of  com  for 
four  pennies  of  gold.  Those  who  formerly 
prostrated  themselves  before  me  to  obtain 
dignities,  do  not  now  trouble  themselves  about 
my  fate.  The  priests  of  Rome  show  for  their 
chief  a  deplorable  ingratitude  and  insensibili- 
ty, and  leave  me  without  assistance  in  exile. 
There  is  money  in  heaps  in  the  treasury  of 
the  church;  corn,  wine,  and  other  subsidies 
are  accumulating  in  its  domains,  and  yet  I 
remain  in  almost  entire  destitution !  With  what 
terror  then  are  all  seized,  that  prevents  them 
from  obeying  the  command  of  God !  Am  I 
then  their  enemy  ?  And  how  will  they  dare 
appear  before  the  tribunal  of  Christ,  if  they 
forget  they  are,  like  me,  formed  of  dust? 

"Nevertheless,  I  forgive  them  my  suffer- 
ings, and  pray  to  God  to  preserve  them  steady 
in  the  orthodox  faih,  and  particularly  the  pas- 
tor who  now  governs  them.  I  abandon  the  care 
of  my  body  to  God  ;  and  I  trust,  that  in  his  in- 
exhaustible pity,  that  he  will  not  delay  de- 
livering me  from  terrestrial  pains." 

In  fact,  the  pontiff  died  on  the  16th  of  Sep- 
tember, 655,  and  was  interred  in  a  temple 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  city  of  Chersonesus,  where  his  me- 
mory was  long  held  in  great  veneration.  The 
Greek  church  regards  INlartin  as  a  confessor, 
and  the  Latin  has  placed  him  in  the  rank  of 
martyrs.  Some  authors  allirm  that  his  relics 
were  carried  to  Rome,  and  deposited  in  a 
church,  which  had  been  consecrated  for  a 
long  time  to  St.  JNIartin  of  Tours. 


EUGENE  THE  FIRST,  SEVENTY-SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  655. — CoNSTANTius,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

The  emperor  causes  Eugene  to  be  chosen  ponliff—The  legates  of  the  pope  commune  with  the 
3Ionothclitcs— Firmness  of  the  abbot  iLutimus — Letter  upon  the  persecution  of  tvhich  he  zvas 
a  victim — Death  of  Eugene. 


Eugene,  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of 
Rufiuian,  had  been  elevated  to  the  Holy  See 
by  the  order  of  the  emperor  Constantius,  at  the 
time  when  Martin  was  plunged  into  the  pri- 
sons of  Constantinople.  The  prince  desiring 
that  the  election  of  the  new  pontiff  should  be 
canonically  consecrated,  endeavoured  to  in- 
duce INlartin  to  give  in  his  own  demission  as 
chief  of  the  apostohc  church.  On  his  refusal 
he  went  on,  and  the  election  of  Euirene  was 
celebrated  with  pomp  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter. 

Some  authors,  thinking  to  reinstate  the  me- 
mory of  this  pontiff,  have  supposed  that  INIar- 
tin  the  First  sent,  from  the  island  of  JN'a.xos, 


authority  to  consecrate  in  his  place,  the  bi- 
shop who  should  be  chosen ;  but  the  letters 
of  the  orthodox  ))oiitiff,  on  the  contrary,  show 

I  the  falsity  of  this  o])inion. 

After  his  ordination,  Eugene  sent  legates 

[  with  secret  instructions,  to  enter  into  an  ac- 
commodation Willi  the  INIonothelites  of  Con- 
stantinople. 

]  St.  Maximus,  the  illustrious  abbot  of  Cluy- 
sople,  always  ojtposed  a  courageous  resist- 
ance to  the  progress  of  the  heresy.  He  was  ar- 

j  rested  by  the  orders  of  the  prince,  and  after 
some  months  of  rigorous  incarceration,  was 
led  before  the  magistrates  to  undergo  an  ex- 

I  amiuatioa.     The  judge  having  ordered  him 


152 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


to  explain  Avhat  would  be  his  conduct  in  case 
the  Komans  were  reunhed  to  the  Byzantines, 
he  replied,  "  If  you  do  not  confess  two  wills 
and  two  operations  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  envoys 
from  the  holy  city  will  not  commune  with 
you.  Besides,  if  they  should  be  guilty  of  a 
sacrilegious  action,  by  communing  with  you, 
the  faith  of  the  apostolic  see  would  preserve 
its  purity,  for  they  are  not  the  bearers  of  sy- 
nodJcal  letters." 

The  judges  replied,  "  You  alone  are  in  error 
and  darkness.  The  nuncios  of  the  pontifl' 
Eugene  have  been  since  yesterday  within  our 
walls'  and  to-morrow,  on  the  Lord's  day,  in 
the  presence  of  the  people,  will  commune 
with  the  chief  of  our  clergy;  and  all  will 
learn  that  you  alone  pervert  the  faithful  of 
the  West,  since  they  commune  with  us,  when 
you  are  no  more  among  them.  Return  to  wiser 
thoughts,  and  let  the  example  of  Martin  teach 
you  to  fear  the  justice  of  the  emperor." 

The  abbot  Maximus  firmly  replied,  '•'  The 
rule  which  I  wish  to  follow  is  that  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  anathematises  by  the  mouth  of 
the  apostle,  popes  and  even  angels,  if  they 
wish  to  teach  another  faith  'than  that  which 
was  preached  by  Jesus  Christ." 

His  disciple  Anastasius,  advised  of  the  order 
which  the  pope  had  given  to  excommunicate 
His  master,  and  to  put  him  to  death  if  he  per- 
sisted in  condemning  the  error  of  the  Mono- 
thelites,  wrote  to  the  monks  of  Cagliari,  in 
Sardinia,  '■'•  Our  adversaries  have  at  length  re- 


solved not  to  follow  the  doctrine  of  the  fathers ; 
and  in  their  ignorance  are  floating  on  an  ocean 
of  contradictions.  After  having  for  a  long 
time  maintained,  that  we  must  speak  neither 
of  one  or  two  operations,  they  now  recognise 
two  and  one  ;  that  is  to  say,  three. 

'•None  of  the  heretics  who  have  preceded 
them  have  dared  to  defend  this  gross  error, 
which  the  fathers,  the  councils,  and  mere  rea- 
son proscribe.  Still  they  have  caused  it  to  be 
approved  by  the  legates  of  the  uuAvorthy  pope 
Eugene,  and,  in  his  name,  persecute  the  faith- 
ful who  oppose  the  destruction  of  the  faith." 

Maximus  became,  in  fact,  the  victim  of  his 
attachment  to  the  orthodoxy  of  the  church. 
The  emperor,  at  the  instigation  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  ordered  that  he  should  be  publicly 
flogged  through  all  the  streets  of  the  city,  and 
that  after  this  flagellation  they  should  cut  off 
his  tongue  and  his  right  hand. 

The  other  actions  of  this  pope  remain  en- 
tirely in  oblivion.  He  died  on  the  2d  of  June 
658,  and  was  interred  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  where  the  priests  afiirm  his  body  is 
preserved.  The  PortugTiese  monks  maintain, 
on  the  contrary,  that  his  relics  were  long  since 
transported  into  their  province.  Ecclesiastical 
authors  have  passed  great  eulogiums  on  the 
lofty  piety  of  Eugene,  and  his  liberality  to 
the  churches.  The  refonners  of  the  Martyro- 
logy  have  also  decreed  to  him  the  honours  of 
canonization ! 


VITALIAN,  THE  SEVENTY-EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  658. — CoNSTANS  and  Constantine,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Vifalian — Sends  envoys  to  Constantinople — Places  organs  in  the  churches  of  Rome — 
The  emperor  Constantius  comes  into  Italy — He  pillas;cs  Ro7ne — The  church  of  England — Letter 
of  tJie  pontiff — The  pope  sends  an  archbishop  to  England — The  bishop  of  Ravenna  treats  with 
contempt  the  orders  of  the  pope — Vitalian  excommunicates  the  bishop  of  Ravenna — 2'Ac  bishop 
excommunicates  the  pope — His  death. 


The  pontiff  Eugene  being  dead,  Vitalian, 
the  son  of  Anastasius,  born  at  Signia  in  Cam- 
pania, was  chosen  to  succeed  him.  After  his 
exaltation,  the  new  pope  sent  legates  to  Con- 
stantinople to  remit  to  the  prince  his  profes- 
sion of  faith ;  the  clergy  also  addressed  a  sy- 
nodical  letter  to  beseech  the  emperor  to  con- 
firm the  election.  Father  Pagi  aihrros,  that 
Vitalian  did  not  write  to  the  patriarch  Peter, 
then  chief  of  the  clergy  of  Byzantium.  Fleury 
is  of  a  contrary  opinion.  In  both  cases  these 
authors  agree  that  the  envoys  of  the  holy 
father  approved  of  the  Typos  of  the  prince, 
and  were  received  with  honour  at  the  impe- 
rial court.  Constantius,  flattered  by  this  mark 
of  condescension,  became  favourable  to  the 
church  of  Rome.  He  put  an  end  to  the  per- 
secution against  the  orthodox,  augmented  the 
privileges  of  the  pontifls,  and  gave  to  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  a  copy  of  the  Bible  covered 
with  gold,  and  adorned  with  precious  stones. 


The  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  a  zealous 
Monothelite,  testified,  by  marks  of  munifi- 
cence, the  joy  which  he  experienced  at  his 
union  with  the  poj^e ;  and  in  a  letter  which 
he  wrote  to  him,  he  cited  different  passages 
from  the  fathers,  which  he  had  altered  to 
establish  the  unity  of  the  will  of  operation  in 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  660  the  pontiff"  introduced  into  the 
churches  the  use  of  organs,  to  augment  the 
eclat  of  religious  ceremonies. 

Two  years  after,  in  662,  the  emperor  Con- 
stantius resolved  to  pass  over  into  Italy,  to  place 
the  seat  of  government  beyond  the  attempts 
of  the  enemies  of  the  empire,  who  pushed 
their  excursions  up  to  the  very  walls  of  By- 
zantium. He  went  to  Tarentum ;  thence  to 
Naples :  but  having  failed  in  an  attempt  on 
Benevento,  which  held  out  for  the  Lombards, 
he  fell  back  on  the  apostolical  city.  The  pope, 
at  the  head  of  his  clergy,  went  to  meet  the 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


153 


prince,  who  made  his  offerings  at  St.  Peter's, 
and  remained  twelve  days  in  the  ancient  ca- 
pital of  the  Caisars.  Then,  in  his  quality  of 
chief  of  the  state,  he  proceeded  regularly  to 
the  pillage  of  Rome,  to  engross  the  treasures 
which  had  been  spared  by  the  wars.  He  car- 
ried off  from  the  temples  all  the  ornaments  of 
gold  and  silver;  the  statues,  balustrades,  and 
even  the  brass  of  the  porticoes.  He  tore  off 
even  the  covering  of  the  church  of  St.  Mary 
of  the  Martyrs.  The  greater  part  of  these 
spoils  were  carried  into  Sicily,  where  the 
prince  had  resolved  to  establish  his  residence. 

At  the  same  period,  Egbert  king  of  Kent, 
and  Oswi,  king  of  Northumberland,  sent  de- 
puties to  the  Holy  See,  to  consult  the  pope 
on  some  points  of  religious  discipline;  and 
amongst  others,  on  the  period-of  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  festival  of  Easter.  They  also  in- 
formed him  of  the  death  of  the  metropolitan 
of  Canterbury,  and  besought  him  to  send  a 
prelate  to  fill  the  vacant  see. 

The  embassadors  were  instructed  to  beseech 
the  holy  father  to  put  an  end  to  the  dissen- 
sions excited  by  his  representatives,  who 
wished  to  subject  the  churches  of  England  to 
the  Roman  ritual.  Wigard,  chief  of  the  de- 
putation, well  knowing  the  avarice  of  the  pon- 
tiff, assisted  his  demands  by  rich  presents  and 
considerable  sums,  enclosed  in  vases  of  gold 
and  silver.  The  pontiff  hastened  to  reply  to 
king  Oswi ;  but,  whilst  praising  his  zeal  for 
religion,  exhorted  him  to  conform  to  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  apostolic  church,  not  only  in  the 
celebration  of  the  festival  of  Easter,  but  in 
other  religious  ceremonies.  "We  send  you," 
added  he,  "as  thanks  for  your  offerings,  relics 
of  the  blessed  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul ;  of  the 
martyrs  St.  Lawrence,  St.  John,  St.  Gregory, 
and  St.  Pancrace ;  and  we  present  to  the 
queen,  your  wife,  a  cross  of  gold,  and  a  key 
forged  from  the  iron  of  the  chains  of  St.  Pe- 
ter! !"'  A  violent  pestilence  then  ravaged 
Italy ;  Wigard  and  the  other  deputies  of  the 
kings  of  Kent  and  Northumberland  having 
fallen  victims  to  it,  the  pope  was  obliged  to 
send  his  reply  by  legates. 

Some  years  after  these  events,  John,  bishop 
of  Lappe,  in  the  island  of  Crete,  came  to  Rome, 
to  beseech  Vitalian  to  render  him  justice,  by 
reforming  a  sentence  pronounced  against  him 
by  his  metropolitan  Paul,  and  the  other  pre- 
lates of  Crete. 

The  holy  father  held  a  sjTiod  in  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  to  examine  the  cause  of  the 
bishop,  as  well  as  the  proceedings  of  the  coun- 
cil which  had  condemned  John.  The  assem- 
bly unanimously  declared,  that  the  judgment 
was  irregular.  It  blamed  the  rigor  of  which 
the  bishop  had  been  the  victim,  and  accused 
Paul  of  rebellion,  for  having  refused  to  his 
suffragan  to  pennit  an  appeal  to  the  court  of 
Rome.  "Thiscrime  alone,"  added  the  Italian 
ecclesiastics,  "merits  anathema,  and  would 
weaken  the  authority  of  the  wisest  delibera- 
tions." 

John  was  reinstalled  in  his  see,  and  the 
pontiff  ordered  the  archbishop  Paul  to  efl'ace 
the  scandal  of  tliis  unjust  deposition  by  a 

Vol.  I.  U 


striking  act  of  reparation  to  the  prelate  of 
the  church  of  Lappe.  The  latter,  having  so- 
lemnly declared  his  innocence,  was  reinstalled 
in  his  honours.  On  his  departure  from  the 
holy  cit}-,  Vitalian  gave  him  two  letters ;  one 
to  Varrus,  chamberlain  and  cartulary  of  Con- 
stantinople, the  other  to  George,  bishop  of 
Syracuse,  that  these  lords  might  present  him 
to  the  emperor  during  his  sojourn  in  Sicily. 

Vitalian  then  employed  himself  in  the  no- 
mination of  a  prelate  for  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury, in  accordance  with  the  request  which 
Egbert,  king  of  Kent,  had  made  of  him.  He 
brought  to  Rome,  Adrian,  abbot  of  the  con- 
vent of  Neridan,  near  Naples,  to  offer  him  the 
diocese  of  Canterbury,  because  this  monk 
had  been  pointed  out  to  him  as  well  informed 
in  the  dogmas  of  religion,  skilled  in  all  points 
of  discipline  of  the  clergy,  regular  or  secular, 
and  understanding  perfectly  the  Greek  and 
Latin  langTiages.  Adrian,  a  philosopher  rather 
than  a  monk,  declined  this  important  dignity, 
and  proposed  in  his  own  stead  Andrew,  a 
monk  of  his  convent,  a  man  venerable  for  the 
excellence  of  his  doctrine,  and  by  the  gravity 
of  his  age.  He  also  declined  it,  declaring 
that  his  corporal  iniirmities  prevented  him 
from  accepting  the  mission  of  the  holy  father. 

Then  Adrian  presented  another  monk, 
named  Theodore,  born  at  Tarsus,  in  Cilicia. 
This  Benedictine  had,  by  profound  study,  ac- 
quired great  learning  in  divine  and  human 
literature.  He  spoke  with  purity  the  Greek 
and  Latin,  and  joined  to  irreproachable  morals^ 
habits  of  passive  obedience  to  the  orders  of 
his  superiors.  Theodore  was  named  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  Adrian  consented 
to  accompany  him  into  England  to  teach  the 
people  of  that  island,  and  to  endeavour  to 
cause  them  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  church. 

Vitalian  induced  St.  Benedict  Biscop,  who 
was  making  his  fourth  pilgrimage,  to  return  to 
his  country,  to  conduct  thither  the  new  prelate 
Theodore,  and  to  serve  him  as  an  interpreter. 
Biscop  obeyed  the  orders  of  Vitalian,  and 
quitted  the  holy  city  on  the  27th  of  JNIay  668, 
taking  the  route  for  England,  with  the  metro- 
politan of  Canterbury  and  the  abbot  Adrian. 

They  disembarked  at  Marseilles,  and  went 
to  Aries  to  give  to  the  archbishop  John  the 
letters  which  the  pontilF  had  addressed  to 
him.  The  prelate  received  the  travellers  with 
favour,  and  kept  them  in  his  diocese  until 
they  received  from  Ebroin,  mayor  of  the  pa- 
lace, permission  to  traverse  Gaul. 

As  soon  as  the  king  of  Kent  was  apprised 
that  the  envoys  of  the  holy  father  were  com- 
ing towards  his  kingdom,  he  sent  an  em- 
bassador to  the  court  of  the  French  monarch, 
to  obtain  authority  to  conduct  them  to  the 
port  of  Quentavia,  in  Ponthieu,  now  called 
St.  Josso-.sur-mer. 

Theodore,  sick  from  the  fatigue  of  his  jour- 
ney, was  obliged  to  remain  some  months  in 
this  citv.  Then  he  passed  over  into  England, 
where  he  took  possession  of  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury. He  governed  this  church  for  the 
space  of  twenty-one  years.    Tliis  prelate  ob- 


154 


HISTORY   OF   THE  POPES. 


tained,  in  the  end,  the  supremacy  of  his  see 
over  the  other  churcheS;  though  the  arch- 
bishop of  York  had  before  been  declared  in- 
dependent by  Gregory  the  First.  Theodore 
terminated  the  rehgious  discords  of  the  coun- 
try, by  inducing  the  English  to  consent  to  re- 
ceive the  Roman  ritual.  Throughout  his  pon- 
tificate, he  ruled  princes  and  priests — made 
them  comprehend  the.  advantages  of  educa- 
tion, and  founded  schools,  in  which  he  taught 
himself.  Science,  made  general  by  his  ef- 
forts, increased  under  the  cloudy  skies  of 
England,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  social 
existence  of  this  great  nation. 

A  contrary  revolution  was  in  operation  in 
the  East.  A  theological  mania  had  seized 
upon  the  minds  of  the  Greeks,  and  was  car- 
ried by  them  to  such  extravagance,  that  on 
the  arrival  of  their  new  emperor,  Constantine 
Pogonatus,  they  had  imperiously  demanded 
that  his  two  brothers  should  be  crowned  at 
the  same  time  as  himself.  This  triple  conse- 
crated unction  and  obedience  to  three  princes 
at  once,  being  in  their  view,  a  rigorous  con- 
sequence of  their  belief  in  the  holy  Trinity, 
and  of  the  adoration  of  the, three  divine  per- 
sons. Constantine,  who  thus  saw  himself 
divested  of  a  part  of  the  supreme  authority, 
in  consequence  of  religious  ideas  in  which 
he  did  not  partake,  wished  to  lead  them  back 
to  a  belief  more  in  accordance  with  his  inter- 
ests. As  a  consequence,  he  persecuted  the 
Monothelites,  and  favoured  their  adversaries; 
and  Peter,  patriarch  of  Constantinople  being 
dead,  he  named  as  his  successor,  Thomas, 
deacon  of  St.  Sophia,  who  was  all  devotion  to 
the  court  of  Rome.  The  invasions  of  the  Sa- 
racens interrupting,  however,  all  communica- 
tion between  the  Latin  and  Greek  churches, 
the  new  patriarch  could  not  send  to  the 
pope,  nor  to  the  Latin  bishops,  his  synodical 
letter. 

Shortly  after  took  place  the  celebrated  dis- 
putes between  the  pontiff  of  Rome  and  bishop 
Maurice.  Vitalian  had  ordered  the  metropo- 
litan of  Ravenna  to  come  to  the  court  of  Rome, 
to  be  there  examined  on  his  actions  and  his 
faith;  but  the  prelate,  supported  by  the  fa- 
vour of  the  exarch,  had  refused  to  appear,  and 
the  pontiff  having  declared  him  deprived  of 
his  honours,  and  debarred  from  the  commu- 
nion of  the  faithful;  he,  in  his  turn,  had  pro- 


nounced a  terrible  anathema  against  the 
pope. 

Vitalian,  furious  at  finding  himself  excom- 
municated by  an  ecclesiastic  whom  he  re- 
garded as  his  vassal,  summoned  in  the  case 
all  the  bishops  of  Italy,  and  in  a  great  coun- 
cil, deposed  JNIaurice  from  his  sacerdotal  func- 
'  tions. 

The  metropolitan  was  unwilling  to  have  re- 
course to  the  pontifical  clemency.  He  opposed 
a  contemptuous  disdain  to  the  thunder  of  the 
apostolic  church,  and  prohibited  his  clergy 
from  submitting,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
j  to  the  decrees  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  He 
also  published  a  bull  of  excommunication, 
in  which  he  accused  the  proud  successor  of 
St.  Peter  of  desiring  to  annihilate  the  liberties 
of  the  church,  to  found  a  culpable  tyranny ; 
and  he  even  announced  that  he  would  employ 
temporal  force  to  oppose  himself  to  the  over- 
shadowing ambition  of  the  Roman  bishop. 

Vitalian  bent  before  the  firmness  of  the  pre- 
late of  Ravenna ;  and  fearing  lest  the  spirit 
'  of  emancipation  might  spread  among  the 
clergy,  he  suspended  the  effects  of  his  resent- 
ment, and  appeared  to  forget  the  revolt  of  the 
audacious  Maurice. 

The  Benedictines  attribute  to  the  pope  an 
apocrj'phal  letter,  beyond  doubt  written  by 
the  monks,  for  the  purpose  of  legitimatizing 
the  possession  of  houses,  and  immense  es- 
tates, which  they  claimed  in  the  province  of 
Sicily.  This  is  the  language  which  they  make 
Vitalian  hold  :  "  My  brethren,  I  have  learned 
with  great  affliction,  that  your  monasteries 
and  property  have  been  ruined  by  the  ravages 
of  the  Saracens,  and  that  many  among  you 
have  fallen  under  the  .sword  of  that  impious 
people.  I  send  to  console  you,  some  monks 
from  Monte- Cassino.  I  exhort  you  to  obey 
them ;  to  labour  with  them  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  your  abbeys,  and  to  repair  the 
disorders  of  your  domains " 

This  orthodox  and  ambitious  pontiff  died 
in  672,  after  a  reign  of  thirteen  years,  and  was 
interred  at  St.  Peter's. 

John,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  had  re- 
established the  name  of  the  bishop  of  Rome 
in  the  sacred  writings;  but  Theodore,  who 
succeeded  him,  obtained  from  Constantine 
Pogonatus  authority  to  blot  out  Vitalian's  from 
the  sacred  catalogue. 


DEODATUS  THE  SECOND,  SEVENTY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  672. — Constantine  Pogonatus,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Origin  of  the  pontiff— His  election — He  gives  great  privileges  to  the  abbey  of  St.  Martin  of 
Tours — Character  of  the  pontiff — His  death. 

Deodatus,  whom  some  authors  called  the  tion.     Later,  out  of  gratitude  to  the  monks 

pontiff  Adeodatus,  the  God-given,  was  a  Ro-  who  had  brought  him  up,  he  increased  the 

man  by  birth,  and   the  son  of  Jovian.     He  buildings  of  the  convent,  and  org-anized  the 

was  placed,  when  very  young,  in  the  monas-  community,  which  he  placed  under  the  go- 

tery  of  St.  Erasmus,  situated  on  Mount  Celius,  vernment  of  an  abbot, 

where  the  monks  took  charge  of  his  educa-  After  the  death  of  Vitalian,  the  senate,  the 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


155 


clergy,  and  the  people  chose  him  as  the  suc- 
cessor to  the  throne  of  St.  Peter.  The  em- 
peror coulirnied  the  election^  and  he  was  im- 
mediately ordauied  bishop  of  the  holy  city. 

History  is  silent  as  to  the  acts  of  his  ponti- 
ficate. The  chronicles  only  relate  that,  dur- 
ilng  his  reign,  St.  Agiric,  priest  and  abbot  of 
the  monastery  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  per- 
fonned  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  to  present  to 
the  pope  a  charter  which  Robert,  metropolitan 
of  his  diocese,  had  granted  to  the  regular 
clergy,  and  of  which  he  asked  the  confirma- 
lion. 

Deodatus,  not  wishing  to  raise  to  equal  au- 
thority with  the  bishops,  the  convents  which 
were  dependencies  of  their  churches,  at  first 
rejected  the  demand  of  St.  Agiric.  But  the 
monk  having  showed  him  in  the  archives  of 
the  apostolical  court  several  examples  of  this 
abuse  of  power,  he  yielded  to  his  prayers,  and 
approved  of  the  charter  of  Robert. 


This  authority  does  not  include  the  clauses 
then  in  use,  in  order  to  assure  to  the  monks  the 
liberty  of  living  independent,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  their  rules.  Therefore,  Lamoye  has 
rejected  this  piece  as  apocrj-phal,  relying  his 
opinion  on  the  formula  reported  by  ISlarculfe, 
and  used  at  this  period  for  rehgious  charters. 
Nevertheless,  father  Lecoiutre,  whose  eru- 
dition and  exactness  make  him  authority  with 
some,  has  not  hesitated  to  aliirm  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  privilege  of  the  abbey. 

Deodatus,  according  to  the  opinion  of  Ana- 
stasius  the  Librarian,  was  charitable  to  the 
poor,  accessible  to  the  unfortunate — of  a  cahn 
character,  and  extreme  goodness. 

He  consecrated  fourteen  priests,  two  dea- 
cons, and  forty-six  bishops  at  a  single  ordina- 
tion ;  and  this  is  all  we  know  of  the  actions 
of  his  pontificate,  which  lasted  about  five 
years.  He  died  in  676,  and  was  interred  m 
the  church  of  St.  Peter,  at  Rome. 


DOMNUS  THE  FIRST,  EIGHTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  677. — CoNSTANTius  PoGONATUSj  Empcror  of  the  East.] 

The  election  of  the  pontiff— The  patriarch  of  Constantinople  writes  to  him  in  favour  of  Mono- 
thclism — Uncertainty  of  the  reply  of  the  holy  father — The  bishop  of  Ravenna  sub^nits  to  the 
jjope — The  emperor  convokes  a  general  council — Letter  from  the  prince  to  the  pope — Death  of 
Domnus. 

After  the  death  of  Deodatus,  the  Holy  See 
remained  vacant  several  months :  the  clergjj, 
the  people,  and  the  lords  of  Rome  being  di- 
vided by  the  rivalries  of  priests  greedy  of  the 
supreme  authority.  At  length,  their  suff'rages 
fell  upon  Domnus ;  and  when  he  had  received 
the  imperial  sanction  he  mounted  upon  the 
throne  of  the  church.  Onuphrus  gives  to  the 
pontiff  the  name  of  Dominus,  and  says  he  was 
a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  the  priest 
Maurice. 

Theodore,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  who 
had  declared  in  favour  of  the  heresy  of  the 
JNIonothelites,  did  not  address  his  s^iiodical 
letter  to  the  new  pope,  to  congratulate  him  on 
his  election.  He  only  wrote  to  him  to  know 
what  were  his  opinions  in  relation  to  a  reunion 
of  the  churches  of  the  East  and  West.  The 
reply  of  Domnus  has  been  destroyed  by  the 
priests,  which  induces  us  to  presume  that  it 
was  not  orthodox. 

Besides,  the  pontiff  showed  an  extreme  in- 
dulgence in  regard  to  heretics.  At  Rome,  even, 
he  granted  a  signal  favour  to  the  Syrian  monks 
of  the  monastery  of  Bcece,  who  openly  pro- 
fessed the  errors  of  the  Nestorians ;  and  his 
indecision  upon  the  dogma  was  such,  th^,  ac- 
cording to  several  ecclesiastical  historians,  his 
holiness  declared  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  pronounce  on  the  question  which  di- 
vided the  cliurch,  without  emitting  contradic- 
tory or  erroneous  propositions.  And  Platinus 
himself  says,  that  Domnus  candidly  avowed 
to  the  priests,  who  composed  his  council,  that 


he  could  not  comprehend  how  the  Son  of  God 
could  have  two  natures,  two  wills,  and  two 
operations ;  because  such  a  doctrine  was  en- 
tirely at  variance  with  the  unity  taught  in  the 
Bible,  and  which  they  avowed  to  be,  at  the 
same  time,  the  essence  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ. 

Towards  the  commencement  of  the  year 
678,  the  emperor  having  concluded  a  peace 
with  the  Saracens,  was  desirous  of  putting  an 
end  to  the  disorders  wliich  troubled  Chris- 
tianity; but  foreseeing  the  obstacles  which 
the  ignorance  and  obstinacy  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  bishops  would  oppose  to  his  conciliatory 
efforts,  he  called  to  his  aid  wise  counsellors, 
to  deliberate  with  them  upon  the  measures 
necessary  to  be  taken  to  bring  back  calm  to 
the  church. 

Following  their  advice,  he  ordered  the  two 
titulars  of  the  first  sees  of  the  empire,  Theo- 
dore, chief  of  the  clergy  of  Byzantium,  and 
Macaire,  patriarch  of  Antioch,  to  come  to 
court,  to  infomi  him  of  the  errors  which  had 
for  so  long  a  period  divided  the  ministers  of 
reliirion. 

The  two  prelates,  led  to  sentiments  of  equity 
by  the  noble  conduct  of  the  monarch,  forgot 
their  rivalry  and  their  disputes,  and  avowed 
to  the  prince  that  the  spirit  of  controversy  na- 
tural to  the  Greeks  had  led  them  to  ultra  con- 
seciuences  on  the  dogmas  or  the  mysteries  of 
religion,  and  had  led  them  to  adopt  false  in- 
teqiretations  of  the  dogmas  taught  by  the 
fathers.    They  aflbmed  that  the  terms  em- 


156 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ployed  in  iheological  discussions  were  only 
pretexts  which  enabled  prelates  to  excite  the 
schisms  which  separated  the  churches  ]  and 
that  an  oecumenical  assembly  would  remedy 
all  these  evils. 

Constantine  then  resolved  to  convoke  a  ge- 
neral council,  and  wrote  to  the  pope  :  "  We 
beseech  jou,  holy  father,  to  send  to  us  calm 
and  well-informed  men.  They  should  bring 
with  them  the  works  whose  authority  will  be 
necessary  to  decide  all  religious  questions 
with  the  patriarchs  Theodore  and  Macaire.  We 
promise  you  entire  surety  for  their  liberty  and 
life,  whatever  may  be  the  decisions  of  the 
council  which  we  wish  to  call  together. 

"We  hope  to  be  justified  in  the  judginentof 
God,  because  of  the  sincerity  of  our  zeal  for 
religion.  We  place  in  him  all  our  trust ;  and 
we  beseech  him  to  bless  the  eflbrts  we  are 
making  to  obtain  union  among  the  Christians 
of  the  empire.  Still  we  will  employ  no  other 
power  for  conviction  but  that  of  arg-ument, 
and  we  contlemn  those  who  would  use  vio- 
lence to  bring  into  subjection  the  consciences 
of  men. 

"The  chief  of  our  clergy  has  demanded 
from  us  authority  to  efface  from  the  sacred 
chronicles  the  name  of  the  pontiff  Vitalian, 
and  preserve  that  of  Honorius.  We  have  not 
approved  of  this  request,  being  desirous  of 
maintaining  an  entire  equality  between  the 


ecclesiastics  of  the  East  and  the  West ;  and 
to  show  that  we  regard  them  both  as  orthodox, 
until  the  questions  raised  between  them  shall 
be  decided  by  the  authority  of  our  synod. 

"  An  order  has  been  given  by  us  to  the  pa- 
triarch Theodore,  the  exarch  of  Italy,  to  de- 
fray all  the  expenses  of  the  prelates  and 
doctors  whom  you  shall  send  to  Constantino- 
ple, and  to  give  them  vessels  of  war  to  escort 
them,  if  that  step  shall  be  judged  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  their  persons." 

This  letter  did  not  reach  the  pontiff  Dom- 
nus.  The  holy  father  died  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  678,  before  the  embassadors  of  the 
prince  had  arrived  at  Rome. 

During  his  reign,  the  pope  obtained  the  sub- 
mission of  the  new  archbishop  of  Ravenna, 
Reparatus,  who,  gained  secretly  by  presents 
from  the  pontiff',  had  demanded  permission  to 
return  to  his  obedience  to  the  court  of  Rome. 
The  holy  father  had  consequently  solicited 
from  the  emperor  the  abrogation  of  the  de- 
cree which  rendered  the  metropolitan  church 
of  Ravenna,  independent  of  the  Holy  See, 
which  met  with  no  opposition. 

Domnus  paved  with  marble  and  surrounded 
with  columns  the  court  of  honour,  which  was 
before  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  The  church 
of  the  Apostles,  situated  on  the  Actian  way, 
and  that  of  St.  Euphemia,  on  the  Appian  way 
were  also  repaired  by  his  care. 


AGATHON,  THE  EIGHTY-FIRST,  POPE. 

[A.  D.  678. — Constantine  Pogonatus,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Origin  of  Agathon — His  education — His  election  as  pontiff — Disorders  in  the  chvrch  of  En- 
gland— Wilfrid,  bishop  of  York,  is  driven  from  his  church — His  journey  to  Rome — He  is  re- 
installed in  his  see — Agathon  receives  the  letter  addressed  to  Domnus  the  First  by  Constan- 
stine — Reply  of  the  holy  father  to  the  prince  and  his  brothers,  Heraclius  and  Tiberius — Letter 
from  the  council  of  Rome,  on  the  ignorance  of  the  clergy — Arrival  of  the  legates  in  the  East — 
Council  of  Constantinople — Excommunication  of  Honorius  the  First — Remarkable  history  of 
eighteen  sessions — Death  of  Agathon. 


Agathon,  the  Neapolitan,  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  monasteries ;  he  regarded  them  as  the 
schools  where  the  study  of  pious  practices, 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  dogmas  of  religion 
were  best  taught.  The  senators,  the  clergy, 
and  the  Roman  people  gave  their  suffrages  for 
him  ;  and,  in  the  end,  he  fully  justified,  by  his 
fitness,  the  preference  they  had  bestowed 
upon  him. 

After  his  exaltation,  the  new  pope  bestowed 
his  attention  on  the  church  of  England,  trou- 
bled by  the  ambition  and  disorder  of  its  priests, 
who  had  driven  from  his  see  Wilfrid,  bishop 
of  York.  The  illustrious  persecuted,  resolved 
to  demand  justice  from  the  holy  father  against 
his  suffragans,  and  undertook  the  journey  to 
Rome.  The  fatigues  of  his  pilgrimage  were 
assuaged  by  the  generous  cares  of  Algisus, 
king  of  the  people  of  Frigia  and  of  Berchter, 
sovereign  of  the  Lombards,  who  gave  him 
escorts  to  preserve  him  from  the  snares  and 


'  dangers  of  which  he  might  have  become  the 
!  victim.  <The  pontiff,  already  informed  of  the 
unjust  condemnation  by  the  English  bishops, 
listened  favourably  to  his  complaints,  and  con- 
voked a  council  of  fifty  bishops,  to  examine 
the  judgment,  and  to  consolidate  at  the  same 
time,  by  a  vigorous  action,  the  rule  which  the 
Holy  See  was  commencing  to  exercise  over 
the  clergy  of  Great  Britain. 

Andrew  of  Ostia,  and  John  of  Porto,  were 
charged  to  examine,  with  other  ecclesiastics, 
into  the  process  against  St.  Wilfrid.  When 
their  labour  was  finished  they  infonned  the 
asseHibly  of  it,  thus  expressing  themselves : 
"My  brethren,  we  do  not  find  Wilfrid  guilty 
of  any  crime  which  deserves  the  punishment 
which  he  has  undergone  from  the  royal  sen- 
tence; and,  on  the  contrary,  we  admire  the 
sage  conduct  which  he  has  exhibited  towards 
his  sovereign.  He  has  not  sought  to  excite 
sedition  to  maintain  himself  in  his  bishoprioj 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


157 


and  is  content  to  appeal  to  the  court  of  Rome, 
where  Jesus  Christ  has  established  the  pri- 
macy of  the  priesthood  and  a  supreme  tribu- 
nal for  all  the  members  of  the  clergy,  as  well 
as  for  the  laity  of  all  ranks." 

The  pope  ordered  that  Wilfrid  should  be  in- 
troduced into  the  hall  of  the  synod,  in  order 
to  hear  his  complaints.  The  latter,  after  hav- 
ing read  his  petition,  in  which  he  took  the 
title  of  bishop  of  Saxony,  repelled  the  royal 
sentence  which  had  declared  him  deposed. 
''I  will  not  accuse,"  said  he,  "the  metropo- 
litan Theodore  of  having  listened  too  lightly 
to  false  reports,  because  he  has  been  sent  into 
our  province  b}'  the  Holy  See,  and  because  I 
regard  as  infallible  those  whom  the  holy 
father  has  chosen  from  among  his  liock.  Thus, 
my  fathers,  I  take  before  you  a  solemn  en- 
gagement, that  if  your  assembly  recognizes 
my  deposition  as  equitable,  1  will  submit 
humbly  to  its  will.  If  my  condemnation,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  judged  to  be  contrary  to  the 
sacred  canons,  I  beseech  you  to  drive  from 
my  diocese  the  impostors  who  govern  it,  and 
to  order  that  the  suffragans  of  an  archiepis- 
copal  see  shall  be  chosen,  for  the  future,  from 
among  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  same  church." 

The  council  replied,  by  acclamation,  that 
he  should  be  reinstalled  in  his  bishopric,  and 
that  the  prelates  charged  with  supporting  with 
him  the  heavy  weight  of  ecclesiastical  func- 
tions, should  be  named  in  a  sjTiod  composed 
of  his  own  clergy,  and  should  be  consecrated 
by  Theodore.  They  pronounced,  at  the  same 
time,  an  anathema  against  clergy  and  laity,  no 
matter  what  their  dignity — even  against  kings, 
who  should  oppose  the  execution  of  this  judg- 
ment. 

W'ilfrid  returned  into  his  province,  carrying 
with  him  very  many  relics  of  saints,  apostles, 
and  martyrs,  for  the  edification  of  the  faithful 
in  Great  Britain. 

St.  Benedict  Biscop  made  his  fifth  pilgrim- 
age to  Rome  in  the  following  year,  to  obtain 
from  the  pontiff  a  privilege  which  should  as- 
sure him  of  the  independence  of  his  monas- 
tery, and  authorize  him  to  teach  the  Gregorian 
chant  to  his  monks,  and  to  celebrate  the  mass 
with  Italian  ceremonies.  John,  first  singer  of 
the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  abbot  of  St.  ]Mar- 
tin's.  was  deputed  to  accompany  Bi-scop  to 
teach  sacred  music  to  the  English  monks,  and 
to  assure  himself,  at  the  same  time,  of  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  churches  of  the  kingdom. 
They  quitted  the  holy  city,  carrying,  like  Wil- 
frid, a  prodigious  quantity  of  relics,  of  pious 
books,  and  of  images,  which  they  were  to  ex- 
pose to  the  adoration  of  the  faithful  in  the 
new  church,  which  the  indefatigable  pilgrim 
had  consecrated  to  the  blessed  apostle  Peter. 

The  letter  which  Constantine,  during  the 
preceding  year  had  sent  to  Domnus  the  First, 
was  sent  back  to  the  pontiff  by  Epiphanus, 
secretary  to  the  prince.  The  holy  father  im- 
mediately assembled  a  council  to  reply  to  the 
emperor.  There  remain  but  two  letters  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  assembly:  one  from  Aga- 
thon  :  the  other  is  written  in  the  name  of  the 
B\-nod,  and  both  are  addressed  to  Constantine 


and  his  brothers  Heraclius  and  Tiberius,  who 
bore  the  name  of  Augxisti.  '-'We  have  re- 
ceived," wrote  the  holy  father,  '•  the  despatch- 
es which  you  addressed  to  our  predecessor, 
to  exhort  him  to  examine  the  orthodoxy  of 
the  faith.  In  our  desire  to  resolve  this  im- 
portant question,  we  have  sought  for  ecclesi- 
astics capable  of  pronouncing  wisely  on  the 
dogma  of  the  incarnation ;  but  we  have  not 
encountered,  in  all  Italy,  but  plain  men  ;  such 
as  the  unfortunate  state  of  the  times  permits 
us  to  find  them. 

'•  Having  then  taken  counsel  of  all  our  bre- 
thren, we  have  resolved  to  send  you  as  the 
best  informed  of  our  church,  the  venerable 
bishops  Abundautius  and  John  :  our  dear  bre- 
thren Theodore  and  George,  priests ;  John, 
deacon,  and  Constantine,  sub-deacon;  Theo- 
dore, priest  and  legate  from  the  see  of  Ra- 
venna, and  several  monks,  who  will  assist  at 
the  general  sjTiod  which  you  have  convoked 
in  your  imperial  city.  We  do  not  desire  to 
represent  them  to  you  as  the  lights  of  the 
church ;  for  we  cannot  find  an  exact  know- 
ledge of  the  sacred  Scriptures  among  those 
who  live  among  barbarous  nations,  and  who 
purchase  the  food  of  each  day  by  the  labour 
of  their  hands. 

'•  But,  if  we  are  ignorant  in  the  learning  of 
the  sacred  texts,  as  a  recompense  therefor,  we 
guard  with  religious  simplicity  the  primitive 
faith  which  our  predecessors  have  left  us,  by 
askmg  from  God,  as  the  chief  light,  to  pre- 
serve in  our  hearts  the  remembrance  of  their 
words,  and  of  their  decisions.  We  have  point- 
ed out  to  our  deputies  some  passages  from  the 
holy  fathers,  in  the  hooks  themselves,  that 
they  should  be  presented  to  you.  when  you 
demand  them.  Thus,  the  religion  of  this  apos- 
tolical church,  your  spiritual  mother,  will  be 
explained  to  you,  not  with  profane  eloquence, 
of  which  our  envoys  are  ignorant,  but  with 
the  sincerity  and  conviction  of  belief  which 
we  have  professed  since  the  cradle.  We  sa- 
luteyou  in  Jesus  Christ." 

The  pontiff  then  explains  his  faith  on  the 
trinity  and  the  incarnation.  He  affirms,  that 
the  three  divine  persons  have  but  a  single  na- 
ture and  a  single  will ;  and  that  the  word  hav- 
ing been  clothed  with  a  human  form,  under 
the  name  of  Jesus,  possesses  two  natures,  two 
wills,  and  two  operations.  He  cites  several 
;  passages  of  Scripture,  commented  on  by  the 
1  fatliers,  and  relates  the  definitions  of  the  coun- 
I  cil  of  Chalcedon  and  that  of  the  fifth  cpcu- 
[menical  assembly.  He  assures  them  that  the 
Holy  See  has  never  sustained  heresy;  that  it 
has  never  departed  from  the  path  of  Christian 
'  truth,  and  that  its  decisions  have  always  been 
i  received  as  the  divine  word  of  St.  Peter.  He 
,  finally  finishes  this  long  letter  by  exhorting 
]  the  emperor  to  use  his  power  to  maintain  the 
integrity  of  tlie  Catholic  faith,  and  to  deliver 
j  the  church  from  its  enemies.  "  If  the  bishop 
of  Constantinople,"  added  he,  <•' teaches  our 
;  doctrine,  there  will  be  no  more  division  among 
ithe  faithful.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  em- 
braces Monothelism,  he  will  render  an  ac- 
[  count  to  the  judgment  of  God  '' 


158 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


In  their  synodical  letter,  the  prelates  who 
composed  the  assembly,  addressed  themselves 
to  the  princes,  and  thus  spoke  :  "  Lords,  you 
have  ordered  us  to  send  to  Byzantium  eccle- 
siastics Avhose  morals  are  exemplary,  and 
whose  intelligence  hasbeen  nourished  byread- 
ing  the  sacred  texts. 

"  How  edifying  soever  may  appear  to  be  the 
external  actions  of  priests,  we  cannot  answer 
for  the  purity  of  their  private  life;  still  we 
hope  that  the  conduct  of  our  deputies  will  be 
m  conformity  with  Christian  morality.  As  to 
their  learning,  it  is  reduced  to  the  practices 
of  their  religion ;  for  in  our  age  the  shades  of 
ignorance  cover  the  world,  and  our  provinces 
are  constantly  devastated  by  the  fury  of  na- 
tions. In  the  midst  of  the  invasions,  combats 
and  brig-andage  of  barbarous  people,  we  cannot 
even  teach  our  young  clergy  to  read.  Our 
days  are  full  of  affliction,  and  we  cultivate  a 
soil  red  with  the  blood  of  men.  Finally  there 
remains  to  us  nothing  but  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
as  all  our  property  and  all  our  light." 

The  legates  of  the  pontiff  having  arrived  in 
Rome,  Constantine  received  them  in  the  ora- 
tory of  St.  Peter,  at  the  imperial  palace.  They 
presented  to  him  the  letter  from  the  court  of 
Rome,  and  the  sui^prise  of  the  monarch  was 
great,  when  he  discovered,  on  a  first  exami- 
nation, the  gross  ig-norance  of  the  priests  of 
the  Latin  church.  Nevertheless,  he  exhorted 
them,  in  conformity  with  the  instructions 
which  they  had  received  from  the  pope,  to 
prepare  the  questions  which  the  council  should 
examine,  and  to  discuss  them  calmly,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  of  justice.  He  assigned  to 
them  the  palace  of  Placid  i  us  for  their  resi- 
dence, and  gave  orders  to  the  cartulary  to  fur- 
nish them  with  the  sums  necessary  to  sustain 
their  dignity. 

Some  days  after  they  were  invited  to  go  to 
the  church  of  our  lady  of  Blaquernes,  and  the 
■prince,  desirous  of  showing  all  his  deference 
for  the  Holy  See,  sent  them  horses  richly  ca- 
parisoned, and  a  numerous  cortege.  The  synod 
then  met  in  the  palace  of  the  sovereign,  in 
the  saloon  of  the  dome.  Thirteen  of  the  prin- 
cipal officers  of  the  crown  surrounded  the 
emperor,  who  himself  presided  over  the  as- 
sembly. 

One  of  the  legates  of  the  court  of  Rome  first 
spoke,  and  expressed  himself  in  these  terms  ; 
"Half  a  century  has  already  passed,  my  bre- 
thren, since  Sergius,  patriarch  of  this  city,  in- 
troduced into  the  language  of  religion  new 
expressions,  which  changed  the  purity  of  the 
faith.  His  error  has  been  condemned  by  the 
Holy  See,  and  the  pontiffs  have,  without  ceas- 
ing, exhorted  the  prelates  who  professed  it,  to 
reject  it  as  impious  and  sacrilegious.  Still,  in 
spite  of  the  anathemas  of  the  popes,  the  error 
has  propagated  itself  even  to  our  day,  in  the 
Greek  church. 

"  Nevertheless,  we  hope  it  will  cease  to  trou- 
ble Christianity,  and  we  beseech  our  magni- 
ficent emperor  to  order  the  clergy  of  Constan- 
tinople to  give  a  formula  of  their  belief  on  the 
incarnation  of  the  Word,  that  we  may  be  able 
to  combat  it."    The  bishops  of  Byzantium  and 


Antioch  developed  their  views,  and  read  from 
the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Ephesus  in 
favour  of  their  conclusions. 

In  the  second  session,  the  assembly  inform- 
ed itself  of  the  decisions  of  the  council  of 
Chalcedon,  which,  according  to  the  legates, 
were  entirely  opposed  toMonothelism.  In  the 
third,  they  recognized  as  apocryphal  an 
epistle  of  Menas,  addressed  to  pope  Vigilius, 
and  of  which  the  heretics  had  availed  them- 
selves to  prove,  by  the  authority  of  this  an- 
cient patriarch  of  Constantinople,  that  there 
really  existed  but  one  will  in  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  following  sessions  they  read  the  let- 
ters of  pope  Agathon ;  but  the  bishop  of  An- 
tioch victoriously  opposed  to  the  arguments  of 
the  pontiff  two  volumes  of  passages,  extracted 
from  the  fathers.  The  deacon  of  Ravenna, 
rising  from  his  seat,  addressed  the  emperor — 
"  Remark,  my  lord,  that  in  all  these  citations, 
Macaire,  Stephen  his  disciple,  Peter  bishop 
of  Nicomedia,  and  Solomon  of  Clanea,  have 
not  produced  any  text  that  establishes  the 
single  will  of  the  trinity  and  of  Clirist.  They 
have  even  altered  or  left  out  the  passages 
which  condemn  the  Monothelites.  We  be- 
seech you.  then,  to  have  brought  from  the  pa- 
triarchal palace  of  this  city,  the  original  books, 
and  we  will  show  the  assembly,  by  comparing 
the  extracts  produced  before  them,  that  they 
have  been  mutilated  and  interpolated. 

"In  our  turn,  we  will  cite  the  works  of  the 
fathers,  and  will  clearly  prove  two  wills  and 
two  operations  in  the  Word,  after  its  hypos- 
tatic union  with  human  nature." 

The  patriarchs  George  and  Macaire  de- 
manded, in  the  seventh  session,  a  copy  of  the 
letters  of  pope  Agathon,  to  verify  the  texts 
upon  which  he  founded  his  conclusions.  Then 
they  submitted  two  discourses  attributed  to 
the  pontiff  Vigilius,  and  addressed  to  the  em- 
peror Justinian  and  the  empress  Theodora. 
They  contained  these  words:  "We  anathe- 
matise Theodore  of  JMopsuesta,  who  refuses 
to  recognize  Jesus  Christ  as  one  hypostasis,  one 
person,  and  performing  a  single  operation." 
Stephen,  a  monk  and  priest  of  Rome,  having 
risen,  exclaimed,  "  This  writing  is  an  imposi- 
ture.  For,  if  Vigilius  had  taught  the  unity  of 
volition,  and  the  council  had  approved  of  it, 
he  would  have  employed  the  term  '  one  ope- 
ration,' in  the  definition  of  the  synod." 

In  the  following  session,  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople  also  gave  his  opinion.  "  I  have 
compared  with  the  works  which  are  in  my 
archives,  the  decisions  of  pope  Agathon,  and 
of  the  prelates  of  the  West ;  and  I  must  say, 
that  the  testimony  of  the  fathers  is  there  re- 
ported with  religious  exactness.  I  avow,  then, 
openly,  that  I  profess  to  believe,  without  re- 
striction, all  they  contain." 

The  assembly  expressed  its  adhesion  to 
these  sentiments,  by  loud  acclamations.  They 
then  examined  the  general  doctrine  of  the 
heretics,  and  the  council  rendered  this  judg- 
ment :  "  After  having  examined  with  profound 
attention  the  dogmatical  letters  of  Sergius  of 
Byzantium,  to  Cyrus  of  Alexandria,  and  the 
replies  of  the  pontiff  Honorius  the  First   to 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


159 


Ser^ius,  we  declare  that  we  have  found  them 
contradictory  of  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles ; 
the  decrees  of  crcumenical  assemblies;  the 
sentiments  of  the  fathers  of  the  church,  and 
confomxed  in  all  points  to  the  false  science 
taught  by  the  heretics. 

'•We  condemn  them  as  capable  of  cormpt- 
ing  the  souls  of  the  faithful ;  and  in  rejecting 
these  impious  dogmas  we  anathematize  their 
authors  Sergius,  Cyrus,  Pyrrhus,  Paul,  Peter, 
Theodore,  and  the  pontiff  Honorius  the  First, 
as  heretics,  impious,  and  sacrilegious " 

This  condemnation  of  Honorius  has  been 
the  stumbling-block  of  pontifical  infallibility. 
As  the  partizansof  the  papacy  could  not  deny 
#ie  regularity,  nor  the  authenticity  of  a  sen- 
tence confirmed  by  the  court  of  Rome,  and 
rendered  under  the  gTiidance  of  the  legates  of 
the  Holy  See,  by  an  orthodox  s3'nod,  they  have 
endeavoured  to  establish  that  this  pope  had 
not  erred.  '■'  In  admitting  even  as  patent  the 
condemnation  of  Honorius,"  say  some  of  their 
historians,  '•  it  is  always  the  truth  to  say,  that 
he  was  not  the  inventor  of  the  heresy ;  that 
he  did  not  define  it ;  and  that  he  never  pro- 
po.sed  it  as  a  teaching  of  the  universal  church. 
The  glory  of  the  apostolical  see  is  especially 
in  the  privilege  granted  to  St.  Peter  and  his 
successors,  of  acting  with  a  prudent  skill 
which  leads  them  to  define  nothmg,  from  the 
fear  of  putting  forth  decisions  contrary  to  the 
faith."'  This  is  indeed  the  tactics  which  the 
popes  have  always  employed,  since  Honorius, 
to  preserve  their  orthodoxy. 

In  the  fourteenth  session  they  discovered 
that  the  acts  of  the  fifth  council  were  filled 
with  alterations  and  interpolations.  Finally, 
they  pronounced  an  anathema  against  the  JNlo- 
nothelite,  Polychronus,  who  had  the  impu- 
dence to  propose  to  justify  his  faith  by  the  re- 
surrection of  a  dead  man. 

Constantine,  a  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Apa- 
mea,  having  desired  to  give  his  opinion  on 
religious  tolerance,  was  accused  of  Maniche- 
ism,  and  driven  from  the  assembly. 

The  definition  of  the  faith  of  the  synod  was 
published  at  the  last  meeting,  in  the  presence 
of  the  emperor  and  the  principal  officers  of 
his  court.    It  was  declared  that  they  adhered 


to  the  five  preceding  councils;  and  they 
quoted  the  creeds  of  Nice  and  Constantino- 
ple. The  letters  of  pope  Agathon  were  ap- 
proved as  being  in  conformity  with  the  deci- 
sions of  the  cpcumenical  assembly  of  Chalce- 
don,  and  with  the  doctrine  of  St.  Leo  and  St. 
Cyril.  The  mystery  of  the  incarnation  was 
explained  by  the  fathers,  who  demonstrated 
the  existence  in  Jesus  Christ  of  two  natural 
wills  and  two  operations.  They  prohibited 
the  teaching  of  any  other  doctrine,  under  pain 
of  interdiction  and  excommunication  for  the 
clero}',  and  of  anathema  for  the  lait}'. 

They  terminated  the  discussions  of  the 
council  after  nineteen  sessions.  Constantine, 
to  assure  the  execution  of  these  decrees, 
made  an  ordinance  conceived  in  these  terms: 
"He  who  shall  contravene  the  present  consti- 
tution, if  he  is  a  bishop,  clerk,  or  monk,  shall 
be  deposed  ;  if  he  is  in  possession  of  dignities, 
he  shall  be  deprived  of  them,  and  his  pio- 
perty  confiscated  :  if  he  is  a  mere  citizen,  he 
shall  be  banished  from  Constantinople,  and  all 
the  cities  of  the  empire." 

Some  ecclesiastical  authors  affirm,  that  this 
prince  merited  the  honours  of  canonization  in 
sustaining  the  faith  of  the  Holy  See,  and  giv- 
ing to  orthodox  priests  the  power  of  exercising 
a  salutary  rigour  towards  heretics.  They  also 
praise  him  for  having  granted  to  the  legates 
of  the  pontiff  a  rescript,  which  diminished 
the  sums  the  popes  paid  to  the  Greek  mo- 
narchs  at  the  time  of  their  ordination. 

Some  months  after  this  triumph,  Agathon 
was  attacked  with  a  severe  illness,  of  which 
he  died  on  the  1st  of  December,  G81.  He  had 
reigned  about  four  j^ears.  His  body  was  bu- 
ried in  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

The  legendaries  speak  with  great  venera- 
tion of  the  purity  of  his  morals,  of  his  hu- 
mility, his  extraordinary  charity,  and  above 
all,  of  the  gift  of  miracles  with  which  he  was 
endowed.  They  call  him  Agathon  the  Wonder- 
worker, and  relate  that,  during  a  violent  pes- 
tilence which  ravaged  Italy,  whilst  he  was 
the  treasurer  of  the  exchequer  of  St.  Peter,  he 
cured,  by  a  simple  imposition  of  his  hands,  a 
multitude  of  the  sick,  and  resuscitated  a  great 
number  of  the  dead  ! 


LEO  THE  SECOND,  EIGHTY-SECOND  TOrE. 

[A.  D.  682. — Constantine  Pogonatus,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Origin  of  Leo — Ilis  education — His  election — Receives  the  legates  on  their  return  from  Constan- 
tinople— Letter  from  the  emperor — The  pope  sends  the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Constan- 
tinople to  the  churches  of  Spain — He  anathcmaiizcs  his  predecessor,  the  pontiff  Honorius — 
His  death. 


Lko  was  born  in  Cedella,  a  small  city  of 
the  thither  Abruzza.  His  father,  named  Paul, 
was  a  physician.  Destined  from  his  youth  to 
theecclesiasfic.'il  state,  Loo  was  occupied  with 
the  study  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  by  an 
assiduous  application,   acquired  a  profound 


knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  especially 
for  the  age  of  ignorance  in  which  he  lived. 

After  the  death  of  Agathon,  the  clergy, 
people,  and  grandees  of  Rome  raised  him  to 
the  throne  of  St.  Peter  as  the  onlv  priest  who 
was  capable  of  worthily  filling  the  pontifical 


160 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


chair.  The  first  us3  which  he  made  of  his 
authority,  was  to  assemble  a  synod  to  receive 
and  approve  of  the  decisions  of  the  general 
council  of  Constantinople,  which  had  been 
brought  to  him  by  the  legates  of  the  Holy 
See. 

The  letter  of  the  emperor  terminated  with 
these  words :  "  We  have  caused  the  writings 
of  your  predecessor  to  be  publicly  read  ;  they 
have  been  judged  conformable  to  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  to  the  decrees  of  councils,  and  the 
works  of  the  fathers. 

"  Thus  we  have  received  his  word  as  that 
of  the  apostle  himself,  and  our  assembly  has 
been  unanimous  in  its  acclamation.  Never- 
theless, JMacaire,  patriarch  of  Antioch,  has 
obstuiately  refused  to  submit  to  the  authority 
of  the  decisions  of  pope  Agathon ;  and  we 
ha,ve  been  obliged  to  depose  him  from  his  see. 
But  he  and  his  adherents  have  besought  us  to 
send  them  to  your  court,  to  appeal  to  your 
wisdom  and  knowledge  from  the  judgment 
pronounced  against  them.  We  have  granted 
their  request,  and  leave  it  to  your  paternal 
judgment  to  punish  or  to  recompense  them." 

Instead  of  listening  to  the  protestations  of 
the  Monothelites,  Leo  caused  them  to  be  shut 
up  in  prison,  and  put  to  the  torture.  Anasta- 
sius,  priest,  and  Leontius,  deacon  of  Byzanti- 
um, overcome  by  the  tortures,  consented  to  ana- 
thematize those  who  had  partaken  of  their  be- 
lief •  and  on  the  day  of  the  Epiphany  they  so- 
lemnly received  the  communion  of  the  pontiff, 
after  having  remitted  to  him  on  their  knees  a 
profession  of  faith  written  with  their  own 
hands.  It  was  not  thus  with  the  patriarch 
Macaire ;  this  courageous  ecclesiastic  was  un- 
conquerable, and  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
cruel  tortures  he  constantly  refused  to  abjure 
his  belief. 

The  envoys  of  the  Spanish  clergy  came  at 
the  same  period  to  present  to  the  court  of 
Rome,  the  proceedings  of  the  twelfth  council 
of  Toledo,  and  to  ask  the  approval  of  the  pope 
to  the  great  changes  which  had  taken  place 
in  their  country.  Behold  what  had  passed. 
Wamba,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  at  the  termi- 
nation of  frightful  convulsions  produced  by 
an  empoisoned  beverage,  which  his  son  Everi- 
giis  had  administered  to  him,  became  crazy, 
and  was  confined  in  a  monastery,  dependent 
on  the  diocese  of  Toledo.  As  he  had  then  re- 
covered his  reason,  they  feared,  lest  he  should 
take  a  notion  to  reclaim  the  throne,  and  the 
embassadors  came  to  beseech  his  holiness  to 
confirm  the  abdication  which  had  been  wrest- 
ed from  him  in  his  state  of  madness,  and  to 


declare  holy  and  legitimate  the  usurpation  of 
Everigus,  his  prisoner  and  successor. 

In  return  for  this  act  of  complaisance,  the 
embassadors  were  instructed  to  offer  to  Leo  a 
large  sum  of  money.  His  holiness  granted  all 
they  asked,  and  as  a  mark  of  his  communion 
sent  to  the  new  king  and  his  clergy  several 
letters,  to  inform  them  of  the  decisions  made 
by  the  council  of  Constantinople.  '-This  ge- 
neral assembly,"  wrote  Leo,  '-has  justly  con- 
demned the  memory  of  the  heretics  Sergius, 
Theodore,  Pyrrhus,  Cyrus,  Peter,  and  particu- 
larly that  of  the  infamous  pope  Honorius  the 
First,  who,  instead  of  extinguishing  in  its  birth 
the  flame  of  heresy,  as  the  dignity  of  the  apos- 
tolical see  demanded,  kindled  it  b}' hisapostacj* 

'■  We  do  not  send  the  proceedings  of  the 
sjiiod,  because  they  have  not  yet  been  com- 
pletely translated  from  the  Greek  to  Latin  ; 
still  we  remit  the  definition  of  the  council  and 
the  edict  of  confirmation  rendered  by  prince 
Constantine.  We  beseech  you  to  iiilorm  the 
prelates  and  people  of  your  province  of  them, 
and  to  cause  them  to  be  approved  by  the  bi- 
shops, and  to  give  to  our  legate  your  subscrip- 
tions, to  deposit  them  near  to  the  confession 
of  the  blessed  St.  Peter." 

Constantine,  regionary  sub-deacon  of  the 
Holy  See,  who  had  assisted  at  the  sixth  coun- 
cil, was  sent  to  Constantinople  as  nuncio.  The 
letter  Avhich  he  was  commanded  to  present  to 
the  emperor  contained  this  remarkable  pas- 
sage :  "  Prince,  the  edict  rendered  by  your 
greatness,  has  been  very  agreeable  to  us ;  it 
gives  great  power  to  the  decisions  of  an  a'cu- 
menical  assembly,  and  forms  a  two  edged 
sword  to  exterminate  heretics." 

Leo  the  Second  died  some  time  after,  whilst 
he  was  occupied  in  the  translation  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  general  council  of  Constanti- 
nople. He  was  hiterred  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter. 

The  historians,  Anastasius  and  Platinus, 
place  the  period  of  his  death  towards  the  end 
of  the  year  683. 

Baillet,  in  his  work  on  the  life  of  the  Saints, 
assures  us  that  the  pontiff  was  full  of  piety. 
He  equally  praises  the  firmness  he  exhibited 
m  prohibiting  the  inhabitants  of  Ravenna  from 
celebrating  the  anniversary  of  ]\Iaurice,  their 
former  metropolitan,  who  had  freed  himself 
from  the  authority  of  the  Roman  church ;  and 
he  even  afHrnis  that  Leo  compelled  the  suc- 
cessors of  that  prelate  to  give  up  to  the  Holy 
See  the  ordinance  they  had  obtained  from  the 
emperor,  wliich  assured  to  them  their  inde- 
pendence. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


161 


BENEDICT  THE  SECOND,  EIGHTY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  684. — CoNSTANTiNE  PoGONATUS,  EmperoF  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  the  pontiff— The  emperor  slants  to  him  a  privilege  which  assures  the  independence 
of  the  popes — Council  of  Toledo — The  patriarch  Macaire  perseveres  in  his  heresy — Death  of 
the  pontiff — Miraculous  conversion  of  a  young  lord,  Ansbcrt. 

exile,  and  for  six  weeks  he  was  brought  daily 
from  his  prison  to  enter  into  controversy  with 
St.  Boniface,  who  endeavoured  to  induce  him 
to  abjure  his  heresy.  The  prelate  opposing 
a  steady  resistance  to  promises  and  menaces, 
rejected  all  the  advances  of  the  Holy  See,  and 
strove  to  maintahi,  during  his  life,  his  belief 
in  Monothelism.  The  pontiff  occupied  the 
apostolical  throne  during  only  six  months,  and 
died  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  685.  His 
body  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

Anastasius  the  Librarian  relates,  that  Bene- 
dict the  Second  affected  a  great  humility ;  that 
he  was  mild,  patient,  liberal,  and  repaired  the 
churches  of  St.  Peter  and  of  St.  Lawrence  of 
Lucina.  He  also  added  many  embellishments 
to  those  of  St.  Valentin  and  St.  Mary  of  the 
Martyrs;  and  that  he  left  thirty  pounds  of 
gold  to  the  clergy  and  monasteries  of  Rome. 
The  martyrology  places  him  in  the  number 
of  saints  whose  memory  the  church  cele- 
brates. 

At  this  period  took  place  the  wonderful  con- 
version of  St.  Ansbert,  and  his  retreat  into  the 
monastery  of  Fontenelle.  This  holy  man,  ac- 
cording to  the  version  which  the  Bollandists 
have  left  us,  was  born  at  Chaussy,  a  village  of 
Vexin.  His  personal  qualities,  and  tlie  influ- 
ence of  his  family,  opened  to  him  a  brilliant 
career ;  and  the  chancellor  Robert  was  so  de- 
lighted with  his  merits,  that  he  wished  him 
to  espouse  his  daughter  Angadreme.  This 
young  lady,  vho  did  not  partake  of  the  ideas 
of  her  father,  and  who  desired  to  consecrate 
herself  to  God,  passed  several  nights  in  prayer, 
and  obtained  from  heaven  the  privilege  of 
having  her  face  covered  with  leprosy.  Ansbert 
refused  to  take  her  for  his  wife.  Then  she  was 
enabled  to  enter  into  the  convent  of  the  Oratory^ 
where  she  received  the  veil  from  the  hands  of 
St.  Ouen. 

As  for  Ansbert,  he  continued  to  frequent  the 
society  of  the  young  lords  and  beautiful  la- 
dies of  the  court,  who  obtained  for  him  the 
successorship  to  Robert  in  the  post  of  chan- 
cellor. He  then  sought  anew  to  marry,  and 
demanded  the  hand  of  a  daughter  of  a  rich 
lord.  But  scarcely  was  he  betrothed  to  her, 
when  the  face  of  this  beautiful  person  was 
covered  with  an  horrible  leprosy.  The  young 
lord  affrighted,  at  once  quitted  the  court,  and 
concealed  himself  in  the  abbey  of  Fontenelle, 
with  the  fixed  resolution  to  consecrate  lumself 
to  God.  He  sold  his  immense  estates,  and 
employed  the  proceeds  in  founding  monaste- 
ries and  hospitals. 

His  reputation  for  sanctity  soon  extended 

into  all  the  provincesof  the  kingdom,  and  the 

Episcopal  church  of  Rouen  becoming  vacant, 

I  the  inhabitants  of  that  city  demanded  him  for 


The  successor  of  Leo  the  Second  was  a 
Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  a  citizen 
named  John.  Attached  to  the  church  from 
his  infancy,  the  young  Benedict  directed  his 
studies  towards  profane  sciences,  but  without 
neglecting  the  Sacred  Scriptures  and  religious 
singing.  He  w'as  chosen  bishop  of  Rome  by 
the  assembly  of  the  ecclesiastics,  grandees, 
and  people  ;  but  could  not  exercise  the  ponti- 
fical functions  for  eleven  months  after  his  no- 
mination, because  the  court  of  Constantinople 
had  not  yet  confirmed  his  election. 

Benedict  wrote  to  the  emperor  to  address 
to  him  the  complaints  of  the  clergy  on  the 
delays  which  hindered  the  confirmation  of 
bishops,  when  the  barbarians  intercepted  the 
communications  between  the  two  cities.  The 
prince,  seduced  by  the  praises  and  flatteries 
of  the  holy  father,  who  called  him  "Shining 
light  of  the  world ;  regenerator  of  the  faith. 
&c.,"  acceded  to  his  request,  and  'made  a  de- 
cree which  permitted  the  clergy,  the  citizens, 
and  the  army,  to  consecrate  a  pope  without 
waiting  for  the  approval  of  the  emperors. 

As  soon  as  the  pontiff  saw  his  authority  es- 
tablished in  the  East,  he  wrote  to  his  legate 
in  Spain,  ordering  him  to  assemble  a  council 
at  Toledo,  that  the  prelates  of  that  country 
might  approve  of  the  decisions  of  the  oecume- 
nical council  of  Constantine  Pogonatus.  The 
seventeen  bishops  of  the  Carthaginian  pro- 
vmce  having  assembled,  examined  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  general  council  of  Constanti- 
nople. The  fathers  gave  their  approbation  to 
the  decrees  of  the  council,  and  sent  to  Bene- 
dict the  Second  a  synodical  letter,  explanatory 
of  their  belief.  The  holy  father  having  re- 
marked in  this  profession  of  faith  the  expres- 
sions, "the  will  engenders  the  will,"  and 
"there  are  three  substances  in  Jesus  Christ," 
addressed  representations  to  his  legate,  to 
cause  them  to  retract  these  errors.  But  the 
prelates  replied  they  could  not  modify  them  ; 
for  such  were  their  opinions;  and  tliat  the  ob- 
servations of  the  pope  had  not  changed  their 
convictions. 

During  the  following  year,  the  emperor,  to 
manifest  his  friendship  to  the  pope,  sent  to  the 
court  of  Rome  the  hair  of  his  sons  Heraclius 
and  Justinian.  The  pontifl  received  the  pre- 
sent of  the  monarch  favourably  in  the  name  of 
St.  Peter,  and  regarded  himself  from  that  time 
as  the  adopted  father  of  the  young  princes, 
according  to  the  usage  of  ancient  times. 

Benedict  the  Second,  at  the  solicitation  of 
the  envoys  of  Constantine,  undertook  the  con- 
version of  Macaire.  ]iatriarch  of  Antioch,  who 
persevered  in  his  schism,  notwithslaiuliiiif  the 
persecutions  and  tortures  to  which  iie  had 
been  submitted.  He  recalled  him  from  his 
Vol.  L  y 


162 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


their  bishop.  Ansbert,  promoted  to  this  see, 
devoted  himself  entirely  to  preaching  the 
gospel,  and  solacing  the  poor  ;  and  condemned 
with  an  eloquent  voice  the  prodigalities  and 
disorders  of  the  court.  Pepin  Heristal,  mayor 
of  the  palace,  discontented  at  the  severity  of 


the  holy  prelate,  caused  him  to  be  torn  from 
his  church  by  his  satellites,  who  conducted  him 
to  the  monastery  of  Hahiaut,  where,  by  order 
of  the  prince,  the  monks  inflicted  on  him  such 
cruel  treatment,  that  he  died  a  few  months 
after  his  arrival. 


JOHN  THE  FIFTH,  EIGHTY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  685. — ^Justinian  the  Second,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  and  ordination  of  John — His  character — The  churches  of  Sardinia  return  under  the 
depcndancy  of  the  Holy  See — Death  of  the  pontiff. 


John  the  Fifth,  the  son  of  Cypriacus,  was 
born  in  Syria,  in  the  province  of  Antioch.  Dur- 
ing the  reign  of  Agathon  his  ability,  firmness, 
and  moderation  had  procured  for  him  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  legate  to  assist  at  the  oecume- 
nical council  of  Constantinople.  After  the 
death  of  Benedict  the  Second  he  was  chosen 
pope,  and  ordained  by  the  bishops  of  Ostia, 
Porto,  and  Velitia. 

His  infumities,  and  a  chronic  malady,  con- 
fined him  to  his  bed  during  the  entire  dura- 
tion of  his  pontificate.  In  the  solemn  festivals 
he  could  scarcely  be  carried  to  divine  service. 
He  nevertheless  showed  much  energy  and 
great  activity  in  governing  the  church,  and 
vigorously  opposed  the  bishops  of  Cagliari, 
who  had  usurped  the  right  of  confirmmg  the 
elections  of  the  prelates  of  Sardinia. 

The  metropolitan  Citonatus,  having  ordain- 
ed Novellus  as  bishop  of  the  church  of  the 
Lands,  without  having  obtained  the  authority 
of  Rome,  John  the  Fifth  hunted  up  in  the  ar- 
chives of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  a  decree 
of  the  pope  St.  Martin,  which  interdicted  the 
archbishops  of  Cagliari  from  nominating  their 
suffragans  ;  and  he  assembled  a  council  which 
constrained  Novallus  to  place  himself  under 
the  control  of  the  Holy  See,  by  an  authentic 
proceeding. 


Notwithstanding  his  great  sufferings  he 
stood  upright  to  ordain ;  and  during  the  year, 
which  was  the  duration  of  his  reign,  he  con- 
secrated thirteen  bishops. 

He  also  maintained  active  relations  with  the 
churches  of  the  East  and  West.  And  authors 
relate  that  he  addres.sed  several  letters  to  the 
principal  bishops  of  France,  who,  since  the 
death  of  St.  Ouen,  the  glorious  disciple  and 
faithful  companion  of  St.  Eloi  were  in  discord. 
He  also  replied  to  St.  Julian  of  Toledo,  who 
addressed  to  him  the  proceedings  of  a  new 
council,  held  in  that  city,  and  who  had  re- 
mitted to  him  his  treatise  on  prognostics,  or 
considerations  on  things  to  come. 

This  work,  which  has  come  down  to  our 
days,  is  a  strange  and  I'idiculous  dissertation 
on  the  origin,  nature,  and  effects  of  the  flames 
of  purgatory.  It  was  regarded  as  very  or- 
thodox by  John  the  Fifth,  who  even  wished  to 
order  the  study  of  it  in  the  ecclesiastical 
schools.  At  length,  the  intensity  of  the  sick- 
ness which  afhicted  the  pontiff  having  redou- 
bled, he  fell  into  a  state  of  moral  depression, 
which  permitted  him  no  longer  to  occupy  him- 
self with  the  affairs  of  this  world.  He  died 
in  686,  and  was  interred  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter. 


CONON,  THE  EIGHTY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  686. — Justinian  the  Second,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

The  clergy  and  army  dispute  in  Rome  the  election  of  pontiff — The  old  Conon  is  elevated  to  the 
throne  of  St.  Peter — Letter  from  the  emperor  to  the  new  pope — Weakness  of  the  holy  father — 
Pilgrimage  of  St.  Killian — Vengeance  of  the  missionary  against  the  family  of  duke  Gosbert — 
Death  of  the  pope. 


The  emperor  Constantino,  in  giving  to  the 
-see  of  Rome  the  liberty  of  choosing  its  chief, 
was  desirous  of  assuring  the  tranquillity  of  the 
church,  and  of  preventing  the  scandalous 
schisms  which  were  caused  by  the  disgrace- 
ful intrigues  of  the  popes.  His  edict  produced 
a  very  different  result.  It  gave,  on  the  contrary, 
a  new  aliment  to  the  ambition  of  the  eccle- 


siastics,  and   multiplied   disorders  and   dis- 
putes. 

After  the  death  of  John,  two  priests,  Peter 
and  Theodore,  were  prodigal  of  gold  to  the 
factious,  and  excited  violent  seditions  to  ob- 
tain the  pontifical  throne.  Peter  assembled 
the  leaders  of  the  army  in  the  church  of  St 
Stephen ;  sent  soldiers,  who  drove  his  com- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


163 


petitor  from  the  church  of  the  Lateran,  and 
closed  the  gates.  The  latter  assembled  his 
partizans,  and  wished  the  clergy  to  proceed 
to  his  election,  under  the  very  porch  of  the 
temple. 

A  collision  appeared  imminent ;  the  bishops 
of  the  two  parties  entered  into  the  episcopal 
palace  •  and  to  shun  all  controversy  between 
the  rivals,  they  united  their  suffrages  upon 
Conon,  a  venerable  old  man,  of  a  peaceful  and 
.simple  spirit,  and  proclaimed  him  pope.  As 
soon  as  the  new  pope  was  proclaimed,  the 
magistrates  and  principal  citizens  came  to 
salute  him  with  their  acclamations.  The  army 
alone,  yet  deferred  to  approve  of  his  election. 
But,  seeing  that  the  clergy  and  people  had 
sanctioned  it,  the  soldiers  abandoned  the  in- 
terests of  Theodore,  and  conlu'med  the  choice 
which  haxl  been  made  of  Conon. 

The  pontiff,  horn  in  Sicily,  was  of  a  family 
originally  from  Thrace.  He  had  constantly 
filled  subaltern  offices  in  the  church;  and  his 
intellect,  always  employed  in  the  details  of 
religious  practices,  rendered  him  incapable  of 
comprehending  the  political  maxims  of  a  go- 
vernment so  Machiavelian  as  that  of  the  see 
of  Eome.  Still,  he  knew  how  to  gain  the  good 
graces  of  the  emperor ;  and  Justinian  the 
Second,  at  his  solicitation,  rendered  several 
successive  decrees  in  favour  of  the  church. 
He  first  renounced  the  capitation  tax,  which 
the  patrimonies  of  Brutium  and  Lucania  had 
paid  him  ;  then  he  ordered  the  military  to  re- 
store the  fiefs  and  domains  in  Italy  and  Sicily, 
■which  the  leaders  had  seized  as  pledges  for 
services  rendered  to  the  court  of  Rome.  At 
last,  the  prince  pushed  his  deference  for  the 
Holy  See  so  far  as  to  write  the  following  letter : 
"  Having  learned  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
sixth  council  were  in  the  hands  of  officers  of 
our  crown,  and  thinking  that  the  guardian- 
ship of  pieces  so  .sacred  should  be  confided 
to  magistrates,  we  have  taken  them  from 
them. 

"We  convoked  the  patriarchs,  the  legate  of 
your  beatitude,  the  senate,  the  metropolitans, 
the  bishops,  the  officers  of  the  palace,  our 
guards,  the  chiefs  of  the  different  armies  who 
are  in  Constantinople,  and  have  caused  to  be 
read  in  their  presence  the  decisions  of  the 
oecumenical  council.  These  proceedings  have 
been  sealed  up  in  their  presence,  that  they 
might  not  be  altered  by  heretics.  We  advise 
your  holiness  of  the  measures  we  have  deem- 
ed it  necessary  to  take,  to  assure  the  main- 
tenance of  orthodoxy  in  the  Eastern  church." 

Some  months  after  the  reception  of  these 
letters  Conon  named,  as  rector  of  the  patri- 


mony of  Sicily,  Constantine,  deacon  of  Syra- 
cuse. This  ecclesiastic,  by  his  scandalous 
exactions,  excited  the  uidignation  of  the  peo- 
ple, who  rose  against  him.  The  governor  of 
the  province  was  obliged  to  cast  the  guilty 
rector  into  prison  to  appease  the  people  and 
to  carry  his  complaints  to  the  imperial  court, 
not  only  again.st  the  rector,  but  even  against 
the  head  of  the  Roman  church. 

The  pilgrimage  of  Killian  to  the  holy  city  is 
placed  at  about  this  period.  The  pope  having 
approved  of  the  faith  and  doctrine  of  the  Irish 
bishop,  gave  him,  in  the  name  of  St.  Peter, 
power  to  instruct  and  convert  infidel  nations. 
Killian  then  returned  to  Wirtzberg,  where  he 
instructed  in  the  Christian  faith  duke  Gosbert, 
caused  him  to  abandon  the  worship  of  his  an- 
cestors, and  in  defiance  of  his  family  baptized 
him.  The  duchess  Gelania  of  Gosbert,  alarmed 
at  the  prodig-alities  of  her  husband,  who  was 
dissipating  all  the  heritage  of  his  children  in  pi- 
ous foundations,  or  in  presents  to  monasteries, 
addressed  violent  reproaches  on  the  subject  to 
the  missionary.  The  latter,  in  order  to  avenge 
himself  on  the  princess,  and  to  bring  her 
within  the  reach  of  his  anger,  used  tlie  control 
which  he  exercised  over  the  mind  of  the  duke ; 
and  to  induce  him  to  consent  to  a  divorce, 
persuaded  him  that  his  union  with  Gelania 
was  incestous,  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
church  ;  because  she  was  his  relative  within 
the  sixth  degree.  The  new  convert,  ruled  by 
the  Irish  priest,  promised  to  obey,  and  only 
asked  to  defer  this  painful  sacrifice  until  after 
his  return  from  an  expedition  he  was  about  to 
make  against  the  people  beyond  the  Maine. 
But,  during  the  absence  of  her  husband,  Ge- 
lania profited  by  the  opportunity;  ordered  the 
missionary  to  leave  her  estates,  and  upon  his 
refusal  beheaded  him.  The  chronicle  adds, 
that  God  permitted,  in  vengeance  for  the  death 
of  St.  Killian,  this  guilty  female  to  be  stricken 
suddenly  with  a  strange  disease,  which  caused 
such  frightful  pangs" that  .she  ate  her  hands 
in  a  paroxysm  of  pain.  That,  besides,  duke 
Gosbert,  on  his  return,  was  massacred  by  his 
domestics.  That  Hetan,  his  eldest  son.  was 
driven  from  his  states  by  the  eastern  Franks ; 
that  his  other  children  were  massacred,  and 
that  there  remained  no  descendant  of  this  cri- 
minal race. 

The  health  of  Conon,  already  tottering,  be- 
came daily  more  feeble  since  his  election. 
He  soon  succumbed  under  the  weight  of  the 
episcopal  functions,  and  died  in  the  beginning 
of  the  year  687,  after  a  reign  of  eleven  months 
and  three  days.  He  was  interred  in  the  church 
of  St.  Peter. 


164 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


SERGIUS  THE  FIRST,  EIGHTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  687. — Justinian  H.,  Leontius  and  Tiberius  III.,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Schism  in  the  Roman  church — Sedition  at  the  election  of  a  pontiff — Three  popes  proclaimed  at 
once  in  the  holy  city — Sergius  purchases  the  pontificate,  and  pledges  the  crovns  of  gold  of  St. 
Peter — Origin  and  education  of  the  pontiff — He  avenges  himself  on  Paschal,  his  competitor — 
Baptism  and  death  of  king  Cadwallon — Council  of  Toledo — The  famous  council  of  TruUo 
makes  several  decrees  against  the  ambition  of  the  pontiff — Marriage  of  the  priests  maintaijied 
by  the  council — Jurisdiction  of  bishops — Decrees  tn  relation  to  monks,  marriages,  and  dress — 
The  bishops  of  the  council  prohibit  the  faithful  from  espousing  their  mothers  or  sisters — Sergius 
rejects  the  council — The  emperor  comes  to  take  Sergius  from  Rome — The  army  of  Ravenna  pro- 
tects the  pontiff — Conversion  of  the  people  of  Frisia — The  pope  is  accused  of  adultery — Vitiza, 
king  of  Spain,  refuses  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  the  see  of  Rome — Death  of  Sergius. 


During  the  last  sickness  of  Conon,  the  arch- 
deacon Paschal  having  seized  upon  the  riches 
which  the  pope  had  bequeathed  to  the  clergy 
and  monasteries,  offered  to  John,  exarch  of 
Ravenna,  to  surrender  them  to  him  if  he 
would  aid  his  election.  The  latter  easily  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  seduced  by  the  glitter  of 
gold,  and  sent  his  troops  to  Rome  to  surround 
the  city  and  favour  the  ambitious  projects  of 
the  archdeacon. 

Nevertheless,  after  the  death  of  the  holy  fa- 
ther, the  people  were  divided  into  several  fac- 
tions. The  arch-priest  Theodore,  at  the  head  of 
his  faction,  penetrated  into  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  and  caused  himself  to  be  chosen  pon- 
tiff. Paschal,  on  his  side,  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  the  successorofConon  to  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  Each  party  assembled  in  arms, 
ready  to  sustain,  by  force,  the  bishop  whom 
it  had  nominated.  The  strife  had  even  com- 
menced in  the  court  of  the  church  of  Julius, 
when  the  principal  magistrates,  the  greater 
part  of  the  clergy,  the  militia,  and  the  ho- 
nourable citizens  determined  to  act  in  the 
same  manner  as  they  had  done  on  the  death 
of  John  the  Fifth.  They  went  to  the  im- 
perial palace,  and  proclaimed  as  pontiff  a 
priest  named  Sergius,  who  belonged  to  nei- 
ther of  the  two  factions.  Sergius  seized  his 
two  competitors.  Paschal  and  Theodore, 
and  constrained  them  to  swear  obedience  to 
him. 

He  was  himself  soon  driven  from  the  holy 
city  by  the  friends  of  Theodore,  and  obliged 
to  take  refuge  in  Ravenna.  John  Platinus, 
then  exarch,  proposed  to  the  holy  father  to 
"einstall  him  on  the  pontifical  throne,  if  he 
would  consent  to  give  him  the  treasures 
promised  by  his  competitor,  Paschal.  Ser- 
gius, greedy  of  power,  consented  to  the  bar- 
gain, and  was  led  back  in  triumph  to  the 
city  of  Rome,  in  the  midst  of  the  troops  of  the 
exarch. 

To  fulfil  his  promises,  his  holiness  despoiled 
the  churches  of  their  ornaments,  sold  a  great 
part  of  the  vases,  chandeliers,  pyxes,  and 
pledged  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews  even  the 
crowns  of  gold  which  were  suspended  over 
the  altar  of  St.  Peter.  Then  Sergius  thought 
to  get  rid  of  his  old  rivals.  The  archdeacon 
Theodore  being  the  most  redoubtable,  he  ac- 
cused him  of  witchcraft,  enchantments,  sor- 
cery, relations  with  an  evil  spirit,  and  caused 


him  to  be  shut  up  in  a  monastery,  where  he 
died  of  poison. 

Sergius,  son  of  Tiberius,  was  bom  at  Pa- 
lermo, in  Sicily.  He  had  first  served  the  church 
as  a  child  of  the  choir ;  then  as  an  acolyte,  and 
had  finally  been  ordained  a  priest  of  the  order 
of  St.  Susanna,  by  Leo  the  Second.  The  sa- 
cred Scriptures  and  the  works  of  the  fathers 
were  almost  unknown  to  the  new  pope,  who 
passed  the  greatest  part  of  his  life  in  chanting 
the  psalmody  of  the  church,  and  in  celebrat- 
ing divine  service  in  the  oratories  of  the  ce- 
meteries of  the  holy  city. 

During  the  enthronement  of  the  new  pope, 
St.  Wilfrid  arrived  in  England,  and  presented 
to  Egfred,  king  of  Northumbria,  the  decree 
of  the  Holy  See,  which  reinstalled  him  in  his 
bishopric.  The  prince  who  had  deposed  him, 
refused  to  restore  to  him  his  dignities,  and  as- 
sembled the  principal  lords  of  his  kingdom, 
clerical  and  lay,  to  reform  the  decisions  of  the 
court  of  Rome.  By  the  decisions  of  the  as- 
sembly, the  proceedings  of  the  Italian  synod 
were  obliterated;  Wilfrid  declared  a  rebel- 
lious subject  and  cast  into  prison.  The  chro- 
nicles relate,  that  the  soldiers  who  guarded 
the  holy  bishop  heard,  every  night,  the  voice 
of  angels,  who  sang  with  him  the  sacred 
psalms,  and  saw  shining  lights  in  his  prison. 
Egfred,  alarmed  by  this  miracle,  restored  the 
saint  to  liberty,  and  wished  to  reinstall  him 
in  his  bishopric ;  but  the  metropolitan  Theo- 
dore boldly  opposed  the  will  of  the  sovereign, 
declaring  that  Wilfrid,  before  remounting 
his  see,  should  renounce  the  decree  of  the 
pope.  The  prelate  replied,  that  gratitude  com- 
pelled him  to  refuse  the  marks  of  clemency 
from  the  king ;  and  that  he  preferred  death  to 
apostacy,  of  which  he  would  render  himself 
guilty,  by  abandoning  the  sacred  rights  of  the 
pontiff  and  of  the  Holy  See. 

At  this  period  Cadwallon,  king  of  Wessex, 
led  on  by  religious  fanaticism,  solemnly  aban- 
doned the  sovereign  dignity,  and  undertook  a 
pilgrimage  to  Rome,  to  receive  baptism  before 
the  sepulchre  of  the  apostles.  When  the 
prince  had  arrived  at  the  gates  of  the  holy  city, 
the  pontiff  Sergius  went  to  meet  him  with 
a  large  retinue  of  clergy ;  and  having  accom- 
panied him  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  he 
poured  the  regenerating  water  on  the  forehead 
of  the  monarch,  in  the  presence  of  the  sena- 
tors, the  bishops,  and  an  immense  concourse 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


165 


of  people.  Some  days  after  this  ceremony, 
Caclwallon,  attacked  by  an  unknown  disease, 
died  suddenly.  The  pope  seized  upon  the 
immense  wealth  the  prince  had  brought  with 
him,  to  perform  magnificent  obsequies,  and 
engraved  Latin  and  Greek  epitaphs  upon  the 
marble  which  covered  his  tomb. 

This  same  year  (688)  the  fifteenth  council  of 
Toledo  assembled  in  Spain,  to  hear  the  reading 
of  a  long  discourse  on  complaints  addressed  to 
the  Spanish  prelates  by  pope  Benedict  the  Se- 
cond. St.  Julian,  who  presided  over  it,  spoke  in 
these  words  :  "  In  the  profession  of  faith  which 
we  sent  to  Rome,  the  pontiff  is  scandalized  at 
the  expression,  'the  will  engenders  the  will,' 
and  has  demanded  of  us  an  explanation.  We 
declare  then,  that  we  intended  thus  to  desig- 
nate the  faculty  which  engenders  volition  and 
the  accomplished  act,  which  is  called  the  will, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  Word  is  the  wisdom 
of  the  wisdom ;  or  the  realization  of  the 
thought  of  God.  As  to  the  second  proposition, 
'there  are  three  substances  in  Jesus  Christ,' 
we  wish  to  teach  by  these  words,  that  the 
Saviour  is  composed  of  Divinity,  soul,  and 
body ;  or  of  three  principles,  which  are  united 
together  by  his  incarnation.  Still  we  agree, 
that  one  cannot  recognize  but  two — the  Divine 
and  human  principle ;  and  that  the  soul  and 
body  are  confounded,  to  form  a  single  sub- 
stance— that  of  humanity. 

"Our  decisions  are  inconformity  with  those 
of  the  fathers  ■  and  we  hope  they  will  be  con- 
firmed by  the  new  clergy  of  Rome,  if  there 
yet  remains  any  knowledge  of  the  holy  books 
in  that  church.  But,  in  any  case,  we  should 
refuse  tlie  retraction  which  an  ignorant  pontiff 
demands."  The  proceedings  of  this  synod 
were  approved  by  Sergius,  as  Robert,  metro- 

fiolitan  of  Toledo,  testifies  in  the  works  he  has 
eft  us. 

In  692  took  place  the  death  of  the  cele- 
brated Theodore,  who  aspired  to  free  himself 
from  the  rule  of  the  bishop  of  Rome.  The 
pope  designated  to  replace  him  in  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Canterbury.  Birthwald,  abbot  of 
the  monastery  of  Rolfh,  in  Kent.  This  ec- 
clesiastic was  the  first  Englishman  who  occu- 
pied this  see.  He  governed  the  clergy  of 
Great  Britain  for  thirty-seven  years. 

The  two  last  oecumenical  assemblies  hav- 
ing separated  without  publishing  the  canons. 
the  Greek  patriarchs  addressed  representa- 
tions to  the  emperor  Justinian,  to  authorize 
the  holding  of  a  new  assembly,  which  should 
be  considered  as  the  continuation  of  the  ]a.st 
synod  to  complete  the  proceedings  of  the 
councils.  Paul  of  Constantinople,  Peter  of 
Alexandria,  Anastasius  of  Jerusalem,  George 
of  Antioch.  Basil  of  Gortyna,  the  leg-ates  of 
the  Holy  See,  and  more  than  two  hundred  bi- 
shops, assembled  in  the  imperial  palace,  in 
the  saloon  of  the  dome  called  in  Latin,  Trullus. 
It  gave  its  name  to  the  synod  known  in  the 
church,  under  the  title  of  the  Council  in  Trullo. 
"The  fathers  proposed  to  determine  the  de- 
crees which  should  serve  as  rules  to  regu- 
late the  discijiline  of  the  churches  of  the 
East  and  West;   and  after  having   rejected 


the  constitutions  attributed  to  St.  Clement, 
they  approved  of  the  canons  of  Nice,  An- 
cyra,  Neocesarea,  Gangres,  Antioch,  Laodi- 
cea,  Constantinople,  Ephesus,  Chalcedon,  Sar- 
dis,  and  Carthage,  as  well  as  the  canonical 
epistles  of  St.  Denis  and  St.  Peter  of  Alexan- 
dria, of  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzus,  of  St.  Am- 
philocus,  and  of  several  other  fathers  of  the 
Greek  church." 

An  illustrious  prelate  then  spoke  on  the  im- 
portant question  of  the  marriage  of  priests. 
^' My  brethren,"  said  he,  '•!  recall  to  your  at- 
tention, that  we  have  now  to  occupy  ourselves 
with  a  subject  whose  importance  is  extremely 
grave,  and  which  demands  profound  medita- 
tion. It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  your  as- 
sembly should  express  itself  in  a  positive 
manner  upon  a  question  which  divides  the 
churches  of  the  East  and  West,  and  that  we 
should  develope  the  reasons  which  have  de- 
termined your  wisdom  to  render  a  decree 
contrary  to  the  opinions  of  the  see  of  Rome. 

"The  Roman  ecclesiastics  attach  them- 
selves to  the  letter  of  the  rule ;  and  the  By- 
zantians  buid  themselves  by  interpreting  it 
according  to  its  spirit.  To  shun  the  excess  of 
both,  we  should  seek  to  establish  equitable 
laws,  which  assure  purity  of  morals  in  the 
clei^)',  by  showing  us  at  all  times  less  rigid 
than  the  church  of  Rome — more  severe  than 
that  of  Constantinople. 

"  We  will  order  that  the  clergy  who  have 
been  twice  married,  and  who  are  yet  under 
the  yoke  of  their  second  marriage,  should  be 
deposed.  Those  whose  marriages  have  been 
broken  off,  shall  preserve  their  dignity,  but 
remain  interdicted  from  all  sacerdotal  func- 
tions. 

"The  canons  shall  prohibit  the  consecra- 
tion, as  bishops,  priests,  or  deacons  of  those 
who  have  contracted  a  second  marriage,  or 
who  live  with  concubines,  or  who  have  mar- 
ried a  widow,  or  divorced  wife,  a  courtezan, 
a  slave,  or  an  actress.  In  the  canons  of  the 
apostles,  readers  and  chanters  are  permitted 
to  marry  after  their  ordination.  This  authority 
will  extend  for  the  future  to  subdeacons,  dea- 
cons, and  even  to  priests. 

"  Before  consecrating  a  clerk,  the  Latin 
clergy  make  him  promise  to  break  off  all  inti- 
mate relations  with  his  wife;  whilst  we,  on 
the  contrary,  will  conform  ourselves  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  ancient  apostolic  canon.  We 
will  maintain  the  marriage  of  those  who  are 
in  sacred  orders,  and  we  will  not  deprive 
them  of  their  companions.  If  they  are  judged 
worthy  to  belong  to  the  church,  they  shall  not 
be  excludeil  because  they  are  in  a  legitimate 
bond.  We  will  not  make  them  promise  to 
preserve  celibacy,  which  would  be  to  condemn 
matrimony,  which  God  himself  has  instituted 
and  blessed  by  his  presence. 

"  Thus  the  bishops,  who,  in  contempt  of 
the  apostolic  canons,  shall  dare  to  deprive  an 
ecclesia.stic  of  the  rights  of  legitimate  union, 
shall  be  depcsed  and  anathematized.  The  se- 
paration shall  exist  for  prelates  only,  and  their 
wives  shall  be  obliged  to  inhabit  a  monastery 
at  a  distance  from  their  residence.     We  will 


166 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


also  prohibit  the  bishops  of  Africa  and  Sp-ia  i 
from  keeping,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  peo- 
ple, in  the  interior  of  their  palaces,  the  con- 
cubines who  inhabit  them." 

In  the  other  canons  the  council  prohibits 
the  clergy  from  keeping  taverns  or  hostelries) 
from  assisting  at  horse  races,  or  scenic  repre- 
sentations ;  from  having  in  the  city,  or  on  a 
journey,  other  garments  than  those  proper  for 
their  station  j  and  from  wearing  their  hair 
long,  like  the  laity. 

The  fathers  permitted  the  entrance  into 
convents  of  children  of  the  age  of  ten  years, 
though  St.  Basil  did  not  authorize  it  until  they 
were  seventeen ;  and  they  declared  that  men 
lost  through  debauchery,  robbers  as  well  as 
murderers,  could  be  received  in  the  monaste- 
ries, which  were  pious  retreats,  founded  for 
penitents,  whatsoever  might  be  their  crimes. 
They  prohibited  females  who  had  taken  the 
vows,  from  wearing  rich  garments  and  jew- 
elry. Finally,  they  anathematized  as  sacri- 
legious the  laity  who  changed  the  destination 
of  cloisters  consecrated  by  the  authority  of  a 
bishop. 

They  maintained  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
chiefs  of  dioceses  over  the  country  churches, 
and  confirmed  the  decision  of  the  council  of 
Chalcedon,  which  gave  to  the  see  of  Constan- 
tinople, the  same  privileges  as  that  of  Rome. 
They  declared  that  prelates  dispossessed  by 
the  incursions  of  the  Mussulmans,  should  still 
preserve  their  dignity,  their  rank,  and  their 
power  of  ordaining  clergy,  and  of  presiding 
in  the  church.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
bishops  in  partibus. 

Then,  in  accordance  with  the  rules  laid 
down  by  St.  Basil  to  Amphilocus.  they  propor- 
tioned penance  to  the  sins  and  the  strength  of 
the  guilty ;  and  they  decreed  that  heretics 
who  should  present  their  abjuration,  sub- 
scribed with  their  own  hands,  might  re-enter 
ihe  church,  after  having  been  anointed  with 
holy  oil  upon  their  forehead,  nose,  eyes,  mouth, 
and  ears. 

They  prohibited  the  celebration  of  the  litur- 
gy and  of'  baptism  in  private  oratories,  with- 
out the  permission  of  the  bishop,  and  ordained 
the  following  provisions  :  "  The  priests  shall 
not  receive  any  salary  for  administering  the 
holy  communion ;  and  the  faithful  shall  not 
receive  the  eucharist  in  a  vase  of  gold,  or  of 
any  other  expensive  material;  but  it  shall  be 
deposited  in  their  hands,  crossed  one  over  the 
other,  because  the  world  contains  no  sub- 
stance so  precious  as  the  body  of  man,  which 
is  the  true  temple  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  shall 
not  give  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  holy  table 
to  the  dead ;  for  the  Saviour,  in  instituting 
the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  said  to  his  apos- 
tles, '  Take,  eat :  this  is  my  flesh  and  my 
blood  ;'  and  a  dead  body  cannot  perform  the 
command  contained  in  these  divine  words. 

"  Bunches  of  grapes  shall  not  be  given  with 
ihe  eucharist ;  they  shall  be  blessed  separately 
as  first  fruits ;  and  honey  and  milk  shall  not 
be  offered  on  the  altar. 

"It  is  forbidden  to  mix  water  with  wine  at 
the  communion ;  to  come  into  the  temple  with 


cooked  food :  to  eat  eggs  and  cheese  on  the 
Saturdays  and  Sundays  of  Lent,  and  to  eat 
the  blood  of  any  animal  whatsoever,  under 
pain  of  deposition  for  clergy,  and  of  anathema 
for  laity.  The  week  of  Easter  should  be  passed 
in  festivals  and  devotion,  and  they  should  not 
assist  at  public  spectacles. 

"We  condemn  the  repasts  called  love-feasts, 
because  in  these  banquets,  in  which  glowing 
cups  are  emptied  in  honour  of  Christ,  the 
Virgin,  and  the  saints,  under  the  very  roof  of 
the  church,  licentiousness  has  taken  the  place 
of  the  charity  which  the  first  Christians 
brought  to  these  religious  festivals.  We  pro- 
hibit from  selling  in  the  churches,  as  is  done, 
food,  drink,  and  all  other  kinds  of  merchan- 
dize; and  we  pronounce  anathema  on  the 
man  and  woman  whose  criminal  embraces 
shall  render  them  adulterers  in  the  sanctuary. 
We  prohibit  bringing  a  brute  into  the  house 
of  God,  except  on  a  journey,  and  from  abso- 
lute necessity,  to  protect  it  in  a  storm. 

"  We  prohibit  from  blotting  or  tearing  the 
books  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  of  the  fathers, 
or  from  selling  them  to  perfumers,  unless  they 
should  be  incorrect  or  already  destroyed  by 
vermin.  The  mark  of  the  cross  shall  not  be 
made  in  flag  stones  or  on  the  earth  trodden  by 
the  feet  of  man,  and  it  is  expressly  ordered  to 
represent  Christ  under  a  human  form,  as  being 
preferable  to  that  of  a  lamb,  which  painters 
and  sculptors  still  give  him. 

"  They  shall  chant  in  the  temple  without 
elevating  the  voice.  The  canticles  shall  only 
contain  proper  expressions;  and  they  shall  no 
more  read  scandalous  legends  of  confessors 
and  martyrs;  fables  invented  by  the  enemies 
of  the  truth,  who  wish  to  dishonour  the  me- 
mory of  holy  men,  whom  the  church  vene- 
rates." 

The  synod  then  prohibited  games  of  hazard, 
dancing  at  the  theatres,  bufiboneries,  combats 
between  animals,  and  the  juggleries  of  the 
mountebanks,  who  pretended  to  be  possessed 
with  the  devil.  It  condemned  to  six  years  of 
repentance,  conjurors,  bear-keepers,  fortune- 
tellers, and  vagabonds,  who,  under  the  frock 
of  the  Eremites  wore  long  hair  and  black  gar- 
ments. The  fathers  refused  to  tolerate  the 
usage  of  comic,  satirical,  and  tragical  dis- 
guises. They  proscribed  the  public  dancing 
of  the  courtezans,  the  invocations  which  the 
people  addressed  to  Bacchus  at  the  period  of 
the  maturity  of  the  grapes,  and  the  baccha- 
nals which  the  vintagers  executed  after  the 
labours  of  the  day.  They  also  prohibited  the 
lighting  at  new  moons  of  stubble  fires  before 
the  dwellings,  an  ancient  custom  which  the 
people  respected.  They  abolished  the  custom 
of  giving  cake  at  the  festival  of  Christmas 
to  celebrate  the  blessed  delivery  of  the  Virgin, 
maintaining  that  the  fathers  and  the  occume- 
nical  assemblies  had  decided  that  Mary  be- 
came a  mother  without  going  through  the  act 
of  delivery.  They  prohibited  a  priest  from 
blessing  incestuous  unions  between  a  father 
and  his  daughters;  between  brothers  and 
sisters;  between  those  who  held  children 
at  the  baptismal  font ;  between  brothers-in- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


167 


law  and  sisters-in-law;  between  catholics  and 
heretics.  Finally,  the  a.ssembly  prohibited, 
under  pain  of  excommunication,  making  im- 
moral pictures,  curling  the  hair,  and  bathing 
with  courtezans. 

Ju.stinian  subscribed  with  his  own  hand  all 
the  canons  passed  by  the  council.  The  place 
of  the  sub-scription  of  the  pope  was  alone  left 
in  blank.  The  patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  Con- 
stantinople, Antioch,  all  the  bishops,  and  even 
the  legates  of  the  court  of  Rome,  affixed  their 
signatures  to  the  foot  of  the  proceedmgs.  The 
decrees  were  then  addressed  to  the  holy  fa- 
ther, who  refused  to  approve  of  them,  declar- 
ing them  derogatory  to  the  authority  and  dig- 
nity of  his  see. 

The  emperor,  furious  at  the  resistance  of 
the  pontiff,  who  thus  rendered  useless  some 
months  of  great  labour,  sent  Zachary.  his  pro- 
tospathary,  to  bring  away  Sergius.  But  the 
pope,  informed  of  his  plan,  distributed  money 
to  the  militia  of  Ravenna,  the  duchy  of  Pen- 
tapolis,  and  the  neighbouring  provinces;  and 
with  their  aid  undertook  to  oppose  himself  to 
the  will  of  Justinian.  The  soldiers,  always 
docile  and  submissive  to  those  who  pay  them, 
followed  faithfully  the  instructions  of  the  pon- 
tiff. On  the  very  day  of  the  arrival  of  the 
protospathary,  they  entered  the  holy  city, 
filling  the  air  with  their  clamors,  and  menacing 
the  envoys  of  the  prince,  even  under  the  win- 
dows of  his  palace.  Zachary,  alarmed  at  this 
manifestation,  escaped  from  his  residence, 
ran  to  the  Vatican,  and  took  refuge  in  the 
chamber  of  the  holy  father,  beseeching  him, 
with  tears,  to  save  him  from  the  fury  of  the 
troops. 

At  the  same  moment  the  army  of  Ravenna, 
which  had  also  received  orders  from  the  clergy, 
entered  by  the  gate  of  St.  Peter,  and  advanc- 
ing even  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  de- 
manded, with  loud  clamor,  to  see  Seigius.  The 
gates  having  been  closed  al  the  approach  of 
the  soldiers,  they  threatened  to  break  them 
open.  The  protospathary  then  seeing  no  mode 
of  escaping  the  danger,  precipitated  himself 
under  the  bed  of  the  pontiff,  and  cowered 
closely  in  the  most  remote  corner.  The  pope 
reassured  the  unfortunate  Zachary.  He  then 
ordered  the  militia  to  enter  the  court  of  the 
palace,  and  presenting  himself  at  the  door-sill 
of  the  church  of  Theodore,  went  towards  the 
chair  of  the  apostles,  that  all  the  world  might 
perceive  him.  He  received  with  honour  the 
citizens  and  soldiers  ;  appeased  their  minds, 
and  thanked  the  troops,  assuring  them  that 
his  liberty  was  no  longer  threatened.  Still  the 
tumult  did  not  entirely  cease  until  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  envoy  of  the  emperor. 


Some  years  after  these  events,  Pepin  Heris- 
tal,  mayor  of  the  palace,  at  the  court  of  Dago- 
bert  the  Third,  undertook  to  convert  lo  Chris- 
tianity the  people  of  Friesland  ;  and  for  this 
purpose  sent  to  the  holy  city  Wilbrod,  a  zea- 
lous apostle,  to  be  ordained  bishop  of  these 
barbarous  nations.  Sergius,  having  received 
the  presents  and  letters  of  Pepin,  consecrated 
Wilbrod,  metropolitan  of  Utrecht,  under  the 
name  of  Clement,  and  sold  him  a  great  num- 
ber of  images  and  relics  to  expose  them  to 
the  adoration  of  the  multitude  in  the  pagan 
temples,  which  were  already  transformed  into 
churches. 

At  the  same  period,  Vitiza,  king  of  Spain, 
refused  to  the  pontiff  the  tiibute  which  the 
sovereigns  of  that  country  paid  to  the  Holy 
See.  He  prohibited  his  subjects,  under  pe- 
nalty of  death,  from  recognizing  the  authority 
of  the  popes ;  and  Sergius.  whose  skill  led 
back  the  archbishop  of  Aqudeia,  failed  before 
the  firmness  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  whose 
churches  no  more  looked  up  to  the  Latin  me- 
tropolis. 

We  will  not  tenninate  the  life  of  Sergius, 
without  recounting  as  a  new  example  of  the 
impudence  and  knavery  of  the  monk.s,  the 
illustrious  miracle  of  which  St.  Adlielme  pre- 
tends he  was  a  witness,  during  a  sojourn  wliich 
he  made  at  the  court  of  the  holy  father, 
and  which  he  thus  relates  in  his  acts :  "  The 
pope  was  accused  of  incontinence,  and  even 
adultery,  by  some  heretical  priests,  who  ofler- 
ed  to  furnish  the  proofs  of  the  crime,  and  to 
produce  the  young  mm  whom  he  had  abused. 
But  God  enabled  him  to  confound  the  ca- 
lumny of  these  wretches  ;  and  as  they  brought 
in  a  child  eight  days  old,  whom  they  affirmed 
to  be  his  son.  the  pope  deposited  him  in  my 
hands,  and  sprinkled  the  regenerating  water 
upon  his  forehead.  The  ceremony  of  baptism 
having  been  finished,  he  ordered  me,  in  the 
presence  of  all  his  assistants,  to  ask  of  the 
child  who  was  his  father.  I  interrogated  the 
new-born  with  a  heart  full  of  zeal,  and  by  the 
will  of  God  he  replied  to  me,  '  The  poutifi" 
Sergius  is  not  my  father !!!...'"' 

The  pope  died  in  the  month  of  September, 
701,  after  a  reigir  of  fourteen  j^ears.  He  was 
int(>rred  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  Several 
authors  assure  us  he  was  the  first  pontiff  who 
caused  to  be  sung  in  the  canon  of  the  mass 
these  words:  "Lamb  of  (Jod  who  fakeet 
away  the  sins  of  the  world,  have  pity  on 
us.'"  Ho  repaired  several  churches,  and  in 
one  of  them  he  constructed  a  magnificent 
tomb,  in  which  he  deposited  the  body  of  the 
blessed  St.  Leo. 


]68 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


THE    SEVENTIJ   CENTURY. 

MAHOMED. 

Moses,  Jcsns,  31ahom.ed,  descendants  of  Abraham — History  of  Mahomed — His  country  and  fa- 
mily— Marrias^c  of  the  prophet — His  journeys  and  studies — He  places  the  black  stone  in  the 
temple  of  the  Kaabah — Jealousy  of  the  chiefs  of  his  tribe — Apparition  of  the  angel  Gabriel — 
Mahomed  receives  from  God  the  mission  to  preach  the  Koran — Persecutions  of  the  prophet — 
His  predictions — The  Kore'eschites  ivish  to  assassinate  him — Flight  of  Mahomed,  or  the  He- 
gira — Mahomed  at  Medina — Wars  and  victories  of  the  prophet — He  seizes  upon  Mecca,  and 
destroys  the  idols  in  the  temple  of  the  Kaabah — His  death — He  is  sanctified  by  his  followers — 
His  doctrine — Voluptuous  paradise  of  Mahomed. 


During  the  seventh  century,  the  empire, 
divided  by  numerous  schisms,  weakened  by 
incessant  wars  with  enemies  around  it,  suf- 
fered the  power  which  it  preserved  over  the 
Roman  peninsula  to  be  annihilated.  The  odi- 
ous policy  of  the  pontiffs,  and  the  incursions 
of  the  barbarians,  subjugated  to  the  sway  of 
the  Holy  See,  Spain,  Gaul,  England,  and  a 
great  number  of  kingdoms. 

But,  whilst  paganism  is  falling  to  pieces  in 
the  West  to  make  way  for  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, the  East  sees  a  new  •belief  arise.  Soon 
the  Koran  and  the  Bible  will  divide  the  world, 
and  Mahomed,  like  Christ,  sprung  from  that 
ancient  nation  of  nomade  shepherds,  the  de- 
scendants of  Abraham,  will  effect  in  the  East 
the  most  surprising  of  religious  revolutions. 

Moses,  Jesus,  Mahomed  !  All  three  child- 
ren of  the  Shemitic  race,  and  sons  of  Abra- 
ham, have  come  to  reveal  sublime  religions, 
which  have  led  the  people  to  the  belief  in  the 
Bible,  the  Evangelists,  and  the  Koran — sacred 
books — which  are  themselves  but  the  de- 
velopements  and  the  application  of  the  pre- 
cepts traced  by  the  finger  of  Jehovah,  on 
Mount  Sinai,  on  the  tables  of  stone. 

Moses,  the  legislator  of  the  Hebrews,  has 
niled  for  twenty-four  centuries  ;  and  his  dog- 
mas have  spread  throughout  the  world  with 
the  remains  of  the  Jewish  people.  Mahomed 
is  regarded  as  the  prophet  by  the  people  who 
live  under  a  burning  sky,  and  Christ  has  be- 
come the  God  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colder 
zones. 

Before  passingjudgmentonthe  moral  causes 
which  led  to  the  fall  of  Christianity  in  the 
East,  and  in  order  to  be  enabled  to  follow  the 
usurping  and  perfidious  policy  of  the  pontiffs 
of  Rome  in  the  West,  it  is  indispensable  to 
know  the  history  of  the  prophet. 

Mahomed  or  Mahommed  was  born  at  Mec- 
ca, towards  the  year  570.  He  was  of  the  fa- 
mily of  the  Koreish,  descendants  of  Ishmael, 
who  possessed,  for  a  long  period  of  years,  the 
sovereignty  of  their  city,  and  the  superinten- 
dance  of  the  Kaabah,  a  temple  founded  by  the 
patriarch  Abraham  himself,  according  to  an- 
cient traditions.  The  infancy  of  the  prophet 
was  surrounded  by  prodigies,  which  the  Ara- 
bian legendaries  are  pleased  to  relate.  An 
orphan  from  his  cradle,  he  was  brought  up  by 
his  uncle  Abon  Thaleb,  who  taught  him  the 
business  of  a  merchant.  At  twelve  years  of 
age  he  conversed  with  the  Christian  monks, 
and  astonished  them  by  the  profundity  and 


wisdom  of  his  discourse.  Some  years  after 
he  made  his  first  essay  in  arms,  in  a  war  in 
which  his  tribe  was  engaged,  and  surpassed 
the  old  warriors  in  coolness  and  courage. 

Arrived  at  the  age  of  manhood,  he  espoused 
a  rich  widow  called  Khadijah,  and  occupied 
himself  with  the  care  of  extending  his  com- 
mercial relations  in  Abyssinia.  Egypt,  and 
even  in  Palestine.  He  himself  directed  his 
caravans  from  the  plains  of  Yemen,  even  to 
Syria ;  and  in  his  numerous  journeys  he  ac- 
quired an  exact  knowledge  of  the  manners 
and  genius  of  the  population  which  crowds 
the  sands  of  Arabia.  Frequently,  in  traverse 
ing  the  desert,  he  quenched  his  burning  thirst 
with  the  briny  water  which  springs  from  the 
foot  of  the  rare  clusters  of  palm  trees,  and 
dried  dates  were  his  only  nourislmient  during 
the  long  days  of  the  march. 

This  laborious  life  added  great  wealth  to 
the  fortune  of  his  wife  ;  then  Mahomed  aban- 
doned the  labours  which  had  increased  his 
wealth  to  give  himself  up  entirely  to  the  study 
of  Arabian  poetry,  and  to  comment  on  the 
writings  of  the  poets  of  that  nation. 

At  this  period,  the  first  citizens  of  Mecca 
reconstructed,  with  their  own  hands,  the  Kaa- 
bah, which  had  been  burned  by  the  impru- 
dence of  a  woman.  The  edifice  having  been 
built,  there  took  place  a  struggle  between  the 
chiefs,  who  pretended  to  the  honour  of  placing 
in  the  exterior  angle  of  the  temple,  the  pledge 
of  alliance  which  God  made  with  men,  or 
the  black  stone  which  the  patriarch  Abra- 
ham had  before  deposited  in  the  Kaabah. 
Swords  were  drawn  and  blood  was  about  to 
flow  on  the  sacred  steps,  when,  by  a  heavenly 
inspiration,  they  agreed  to  choose,  as  arbiter 
of  their  difference,  the  first  man  whom  chance 
should  conduct  to  the  mosque.  Mahomed  ap- 
peared, and  was  declared  arbitrator. 

The  prophet  ordered  four  sheiks  of  the  tribe 
to  place  the  stone  upon  a  rich  tapestry,  and  to 
raise  it  as  high  as  their  heads,  each  holding 
one  of  the  corners  of  the  precious  tissue.  He 
then  took  it  and  placed  it  himself  in  the  angle 
consecrated  to  receive  it.  This  bold  action 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  tribes.  The  Ko- 
reish, furious  at  seeing  him  thus  elevate  him- 
self to  the  power  which  they  exercised  over 
the  people,  swore  his  death,  and  pointed  him 
out  as  an  ambitious  man,  who  sought  to  ob- 
tain supreme  power. 

To  escape  their  vengeance,  and  to  put  an 
end  to  their  calumnies,  Mahomed  resolved  to 


0'i 


^i 


liili  ef  Wagner  (^  jB'Oui^un.  J'A/ut^  " 


Jlliiluiiud , 


\ 


»M/ 


r 


^^ 


*-} 


172 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


THE   EIGHTH   CENTURY. 


JOHN  THE  SIXTH,  EIGHTY-SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  705. — Tiberius  the  Third,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Picture  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  the  eighth  century — Profound  ignorance  of  the  clergy — Elec- 
tion of  John  the  Sixth — Disorders  in  Italy — State  of  the  English  church — Journey  of  St. 
Wilfrid  to  Rome — A  council  examines  the  accusations  against  him — He  is  justified — The  pope 
obliges  him  to  return  to  England — Death  of  John  the  Sixth. 


The  farther  we  advance  into  ecclesiastical 
history,  the  more  are  we  scandalized  by  the 
conduct  of  the  pontiffs  of  Rome,  and  by  the 
oblivion  into  which  they  consign  the  sage 
precepts  of  the  apostles  and  the  maxims  of 
the  first  Christians,  in  order  to  adopt  the  cus- 
toms of  paganism  and  a  crowd  of  superstitious 
practices  opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  Christ. 
Thus  the  eighth  century  will  astonish  us  as 
much  by  the  infamy  of  the  princes  who  go- 
verned the  people,  as  by  the  proud  audacity  of 
the  popes  who  were  seated  in  the  holy  city. 

The  kingdoms  of  the  West  are  ravaged  by 
the  Saracens,  who,  after  having  conquered 
Asia  and  Africa,  subjugate  also  a  part  of  Eu- 
rope. Disastrous  wars  succeed  between  kings ; 
all  the  empires  are  in  a  state  of  revolution. 
To  increase  the  calamity,  the  clergy  light  the 
torch  of  fanaticism,  drive  men  to  the  practice 
of  an  incredible  superstition,  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  general  desolation  seek  to  rule  the  whole 
world. 

The  popes,  instead  of  maintaining  ecclesi- 
astical discipline  and  the  purity  of  the  faith, 
authorize  by  their  example  the  debauchery 
of  the  clergy  and  the  monks.  The  Holy  See 
pursues  its  policy  of  encroachment,  not  to  put 
an  end  to  the  misfortunes  of  the  people,  but 
to  establish  over  the  nations  a  tyranny  still 
more  dreadful  than  that  of  kings.  The  Gre- 
cian emperors  are  already  obliged  to  implore 
the  aid  of  the  pontiffs  to  maintain  themselves 
in  Italy,  and  the  Lombard  kings  seek  the  same 
protection  to  preserve  their  conquests. 

After  the  death  of  Sergius  the  First,  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  remained  vacant  for  fifty 
days,  and  was  then  occupied  by  John  the 
Sixth;  a  priest  of  Grecian  origin.  The  empe- 
ror Apsiraarus  sent  to  the  new  pontiff  the  pa- 
trician Theophylactus,  the  exarch  of  Ravenna, 
to  engage  him  to  maintain  the  interests  of  the 
court  of  Constantinople  against  the  king  of  the 
Lombards.  But  the  arrival  of  the  embassador 
excited  a  violent  sedition  among  the  Romans. 
Soldiers  surrounded  his  residence  in  order  to 
seize  upon  his  person  and  put  him  to  death 
from  hatred  to  the  emperor.  John  the  Sixth 
went  into  the  midst  of  the  tumult,  addressed 
exhortations  to  the  crowd,  and  endeavoured 
to  suspend  the  effects  of  the  fury  of  the  peo- 
ple. Theophylactus,  availing  himself  of  a  mo- 
ment of  calm,  embarked  upon  the  Tiber,  and 
returned  in  disgrace  to  Constantinople. 

Some  time  after,  the  pontiff,  gained  over  by 
the  presents  of  Apsimarus,  dared  to  express 
sentiments  favourable  to  the  empire,  Gilulph, 


duke  of  Benevento,  determined  to  bring  him 
back,  through  fear,  to  the  party  of  the  Lom- 
bards. He  immediately  invaded  Campania, 
sacked  the  cities,  ravaged  the  country,  burned 
up  the  domains  of  the  clergy,  and  led  a  great 
number  of  the  citizens  into  captivity.  The 
holy  father,  unable  to  repress  this  violence, 
besought  the  duke  of  Benevento  to  grant  him 
peace.  The  embassadors  were  the  bearers 
of  considerable  sums  which  they  offered  him 
to  purchase  his  alliance,  and  to  obtain  the 
liberty  of  the  citizens  who  had  been  torn  from 
their  fire-sides  and  their  families. 

During  the  following  year  the  church  of 
England  was  still  troubTed  by  St.  Wilfrid,  who, 
from  his  attachment  to  the  court  of  Rome,  re- 
fused to  obey  the  metropolitan  of  Canterbury, 
under  the  pretext  that  his  see  was  indepen- 
dent, by  virtue  of  a  privilege  or  a  grant  which 
the  pontiff  Agathon  had  given  to  him.  Wil- 
frid, condemned  by  an  assembly  of  the  bishops 
of  Great  Britain,  appealed  from  their  decision 
to  the  pope,  passed  the  sea  a  second  time, 
followed  by  some  of  his  suffragans,  and  came 
to  lay  his  complaint  before  John  the  Sixth, 
who  received  him  with  great  honours.  Whilst 
they  were  examining  his  cause,  the  deputies 
of  Berthvvold,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
arrived  in  Italy,  and  laid  also  before  the  Holy 
See  an  accusation  against  Wilfrid. 

A  council  having  been  convened  to  listen 
to  the  complaints  of  the  two  parties,  the  ac- 
cused appeared  before  the  fathers  and  thus 
addressed  them;  "The  holy  pope  Agathon 
made  a  decree  which  his  pious  successors, 
Benedict  and  Sergius,  confirmed,  which  as- 
sures our  authority  over  the  see  of  York,  and 
over  the  monasteries  of  the  kingdoms  of 
Northumbria  and  Mercia.  We  have  offered, 
in  full  synod,  to  render  to  the  metropolitan 
Berthwold,  the  respect  which  is  due  to  him 
as  the  primate  of  England,  established  in  this 
high  dignity  by  the  Holy  See ;  but  we  have 
canonically  refused  to  submit  to  a  judgment 
of  deposition,  pronounced  against  us  without 
referring  it  to  your  light." 

After  having  heard  the  envoys  of  the  me- 
tropolitan of  Canterbury,  and  examined  all 
parts  of  the  judgment,  the  assembly  declared 
Wilfrid  fully  justified  and  sent  him  back  ab- 
solved. The  pope  then  wrote  to  kings  Ethel- 
red  and  Alfred — "Princes  of  Mercia  and 
Northumbria,  we  request  you  to  inform  bishop 
Berthwold  that  we  have  rejected  his  calum- 
nious accusation  against  Wilfrid,  and  that  this 
last  is  maintained  by  our  authority  in  all  the 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


173 


rights  which  our  predecessors  have  granted    pie  and  silk,  as  ornaments  for  the  English 
to  him."  churches. 

The  holy  prelate  of  York  recrossed  the  seas,  John  the  Sixth  died  on  the  10th  of  January, 
carrying  with  him  from  Rome  a  great  number  in  the  year  705,  shortly  after  the  departure 
of  relics,  banners,  images,  and  stuffs  of  pur- ,  of  Wilfrid. 


JOHN  THE  SEVENTH,  EIGHTY-EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  705. — Justinian  the  Second,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  the  pontiff — He  authorizes  by  his  silence  the  proceedings  of  the  council  "m  TrulhoP 
held  at  Constantinople — Aribcrt  gives  the  popes  the  Cottian  Alps — Actions  attributed  to  John 
— His  death. 


When  the  funeral  solemnities  of  John  the 
Sixth  were  terminated,  the  people,  the  gran- 
dees, the  clergy  of  Rome,  assembled  in  the 
church  of  St.  John  of  the  Lateran,  to  choose 
a  pontiff.  All  the  suffrages  united  upon  a 
priest,  a  Greek  by  birth,  who  passed  for  a 
learned  man  in  those  times  of  ignorance  ;  the 
new  pope  was  ordained  under  the  name  of 
John  the  Seventh. 

The  emperor  Justinian,  who  had  remounted 
the  throne,  sent  to  him  two  metropolitans, 
bearing  the  proceedings  of  the  council  '-in 
Trulho,"'  and  a  letter,  in  which  he  besought 
him  to  assemble,  immediately,  a  synod  of 
Latin  bishops,  to  approve  of  the  regulations 
adopted  by  the  fathers. 

John  feared  to  excite  the  resentment  of  the 
prince,   by   condemning  the  six  volumes  of 
canons  which  were  addressed  to  him,  and  yet 
did  not  wish  to  compromit  his  authority  by  ap-  I 
proving  of  proceedings  which  the  churches  of ! 
Italy  had  declared  to  be  opposed  to  the  dignity 
of  the  court  of  Rome.  He  sent  back  the  proceed- 
ings to  Constantinople,  without   making  any 
clianire  in  them,  and  without  deciding  any 
thiriir.  leavingJustinian  at  liberty  to  iiiterprethis  j 
silence  as  an  approval  of  the  decretals,  which  | 
were  universally  received  by  the  churches  of  | 


the  East.  This  is  the  only  act  which  history 
has  preserved  to  us  of  this  ephemeral  pontifi- 
cate. 

The  holy  father  died  in  the  year  707,  after 
a  reign  of  eighteen  months.  He  was  interred 
in  the  cathedral,  before  an  oratorj'  which  he 
had  built  to  the  Virgin.  The  walls  of  this 
church  were  adorned  with  paintings  of  the 
most  costly  mosaics,  which  had  been  executed 
by  his  orders. 

John  the  Seventh  repaired,  besides,  several 
churches,  and  particularly  that  of  St.  Mary, 
in  which  he  established  his  residence.  He 
gave  to  it  a  great  number  of  pictures,  among 
which  is  found  his  portrait.  He  gave  to  the 
clergy  sacred  vases  of  gold  and  silver,  and  a 
chalice  of  massive  gold,  weighing  more  than 
twenty  pounds,  and  enriched  with  precious 
stones. 

Paul,  the  deacon,  relates,  that  during  his 
pontificate,  Aribert  the  Second,  whose  father 
had  usurped  the  throne  of  the  Lombards,  de- 
siring to  render  the  popes  favourable  to  him, 
augmented  their  domains,  by  the  patrimony 
of  the  Cottian  Alps;  and  that  the  deed  of  this 
donation,  written  in  letters  of  gold,  was  remit- 
ted to  John  the  Seventh,  by  the  embassadors 
of  the  monarch. 


SISINNIUS,  EIGHTY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  708. — Justinian  the  Second,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Vacancy  in  the  Holy  See — Election  of  Sisinnius — His  infirmities — He  dies  after  a  pontificate  of 

twenty  days. 


Since  freedom  of  election  had  been  given 
to  the  Roman  church,  the  principal  leaders 
of  the  Italian  clergy,  after  the  death  of  the 
pontilf,  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  par- 
ties to  seize  the  chair  of  St.  Peter ;  and  their 
intrigues  frequently  occasioned  long  interreg- 
nums. The  wise  citizens,  in  order  to  bring 
all  competitors  into  harmony,  then  chose  some 
priest  who  belonged  to  none  of  the  factions. 

John  the  Seventh  had  been  dead  three 


months,  and  none  of  his  cotemporaries  had 
been  able  to  prevail  over  their  adversaries. 
The  senate  and  the  people  determined  then 
to  elevate  to  the  Holy  See,  the  bishop  Sisin- 
nius, a  Syrian  by  nation,  and  the  son  of  a 
Greek  priest,  named  John. 

This  venerable  prelate,  worn  down  by  in- 
firmities, was  subject  to  attacks  of  the  gout, 
80  severe  that  he  could  not  even  carry  his 
hands  to  his  mouth. 


174 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


Notwithstanding  his  severe  suffering,  his 
holiness  showed  great  firmness  of  soul,  dis- 
played a  surprising  activity  in  the  government 
of  the  church,  distributed  numerous  alms  to 
the  poor,  endeavoured  to  produce  a  reform  in 
the  morals  of  the  clergy,  and  even  undertook 
to  build  up  the  walls  of  Rome,  which  had 
fallen  into  ruins. 

Death  suddenly  arrested  him  in  the  midst 
of  his  apostolical  labours,  after  a  pontilicate 
of  twenty  and  some  days,  in  the  month  of 
February,  of  the  year  708.  He  was  interred 
at  St.  Peter's. 

During  the  reign  of  Sisinnius,  St.  Bonnet, 
bishop  of  Clermont,  came  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Rome  to  visit  the  tombs  of  the  apostles,  and 


to  obtain  from  the  sovereign  pontiff  the  con- 
firmation of  his  title  of  bishop,  which  was  ac- 
tively contested  with  him  by  the  ecclesiastics 
cf  his  diocese,  on  account  of  the  intrigues 
which  took  place  before  his  election. 

As  the  prelate  brought  with  him  rich  pre- 
sents, in  expiation  of  his  fault,  the  pope 
showed  himself  indulgent,  and  confirmed  his 
nomination,  on  condition  that  he  would  con- 
secrate all  the  products  of  his  bishopric  to 
pious  foundations  in  alms-giving. 

St.  Bonnet  executed  so  religiously  the  pe- 
nance which  had  been  imposed  upon  him, 
that  he  was  called  the  friend  of  the  poor,  and 
merited  to  be  canonized. 


CONSTANTINE  THE  FIRST,  NINETIETH  TOPE. 

[A.  D.  708. — Justinian  the  Second,  Philippicus,  Anastasius,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Intrigues  for  the  election  of  popes — Exaltation  of  Constantinc — Quarrel  of  the  pontiff  and  the 
archbishop  of  Ravenna — Felix  is  besieged  in  his  metropolis,  laden  with  chains  and  conducted 
to  Constantinople — The  legate  of  the  pope  causes  his  tongue  to  be  torn  out,  and  his  eyes  put 
out  with  a  red-hot  iron — Pilgrimages  of  the  faithful  to  Rome — New  cruelties  of  the  pope — 
His  journey  to  Constantinople — tie  is  received  by  the  prince  with  great  honours — Revolt  of 
Philippicus  Bardancs — He  seizes  the  throne  and  publicly  burns  the  acts  of  the  council  which 
condemned  the  Monothcliics — The  pope  excites  seditions  in  Rome — Anastasius  obtains  the  em- 
pire— He  re-establishes  the  decrees  of  the  sixth  council — Zeal  of  prince  Anastasius  for  the 
church — Triumph  of  the  pope — His  death. 


At  this  period,  the  Greek  priests  and  monks, 
driven  from  their  churches  by  the  Arabs,  and 
by  the  frequent  revolutions  which  desolated 
the  empire,  took  refuge  in  Italy  and  Rome. 
Thus  the  Holy  See,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  eighth  century,  was  constantly  filled  by 
Greek  priests,  who  were  in  a  great  majority 
in  Italy.  After  the  death  of  the  Syrian,  Si- 
sinnius, a  prelate  of  the  same  nation,  was 
chosen  to  succeed  him,  who  was  consecrated 
by  the  name  of  Constantine. 

Become  sovereign  pontiff,  through  the  in- 
trigues of  his  friends,  Constantine  hastened 
to  fulfil  the  promises  he  had  made  previous 
to  his  election,  and  the  archbishopric  of  Ra- 
venna was  given  to  the  deacon  Phillip,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  most  ardent  supporters 
of  his  party.  The  new  patriarch,  finding 
himself  seated  on  the  most  important  see  of 
Italy,  wished  to  assure  its  independence,  and 
refused  to  renew  the  promises  of  fidelity  and 
obedience  to  the  Roman  church  which  his 
predecessors  had  made.  He  assembled 
troops,  fortified  the  city  of  Ravenna,  and  pre- 
pared to  resist  the  thunder  of  the  pontiff  by 
force  of  arms. 

Constantine  comprehending  the  inutility  of 
anathemas  against  so  powerful  an  ecclesias- 
tic, sent  legates  to  the  emperor  Justinian  to 
obtain  troops,  with  which  to  subjug-ate  the 
rebellious  priest.  The  prince  immediately 
sent  the  patrician  Theodore  at  the  head  of  an 
army.  The  city  was  taken  by  assault ;  Felix, 
arrested  by  the  soldiers,  was  loaded  with 


chains,  taken  to  Constantinople,  and  plunged 
into  a  dungeon.  Finally,  by  order  of  the  le- 
gate, he  was  brought  out  of  prison,  his  tongue 
was  torn  out,  his  eyes  put  out,  and  he  sent 
into  exile.  This  cruelty,  exercised  at  the  in- 
stigation of  Constantine,  was  but  the  prelude 
to  still  more  terrible  executions. 

The  legate  obtained  from  the  weak  Justi- 
nian an  order  to  put  out  the  eyes  of  the  patri- 
arch Callinicus,  and  after  the  punishment  the 
unfortunate  prelate  was  sent  to  Rome,  where 
the  holy  father  exercised  on  him  all  the  tor- 
tures which  the  ingenious  cruelty  of  a  priest 
could  invent. 

Pilgrimages  -were  already  regarded,  during 
this  century,  as  the  most  meritorious  work 
before  God.  Men  whose  lives  had  been  soiled 
by  debaucheries  or  crimes,  could  compensate 
for  their  iniquities  by  making  a  journey  to  the 
holy  city.  Nobles,  dukes,  and  even  kings, 
came  to  prostrate  themselves  before  the  tomb 
of  the  apostles — implored  pardon  for  their 
sins — offered  rich  presents  to  St.  Peter,  and 
received  in  exchange  the  absolution  of  the 
pontiffs  of  Rome. 

Conrad  prince  of  the  Mercians,  and  the 
king  of  the  Eastern  Saxons,  named  Offa, 
yielding  to  the  general  infatuation,  abandoned 
their  kingdoms  and  came  to  Italy,  bringing 
with  them  immense  treasures,  destined  for 
the  holy  father.  Constantine  rendered  to 
them  great  honours,  surrounded  them  with 
hypocritical  monks,  and  by  dwelling  on  the 
horrors  of  another  life,  so  alarnied  their  coarse 


HISTORY  OF   THE    POPES, 


175 


minds  as  to  determine  them  to  embrace  the 

monastic  life.  Both  died  some  time  after, 
cOiulernning  perchance  the  fanaticism  which 
had  caused  them  to  forget  their  wives,  their 
chilih-en,  and  even  their  kingdoms. 

In  the  following  year,  the  pope  yielded  at 
length  to  the  entreaties  of  the  emperor,  who 
besought  him  to  come  to  Constantinople  to 
regulate  the  afi'airs  of  the  Eastern  churches. 
He  embarked  at  Porto,  accompanied  by  two 
bishops,  three  priests,  and  some  monks.  He 
went  towards  Greece,  passed  the  winter  in 
Otranto,  and  then  went  to  the  imperial  city, 
where  Justinian  awaited  him. 

Tiberius,  the  son  of  the  emperor,  and  the 
patriarch,  went  seven  miles  from  the  city  to 
meet  the  holy  father;  they  were  followed  by 
the  grandees  of  the  empire,  the  clergy,  the 
magistrates,  and  an  innumerable  crowd  of 
citizens.  On  his  arrival,  Constantine  cele- 
brated a  solemn  mass  in  the  church  of  St. 
Sophia;  and  after  the  ceremony,  the  same 
cortege  conducted  him  to  the  palace  of  Pla- 
cidius,  which  was  prepared  for  his  reception. 
Anastasius  assures  us,  that  the  emperor,  in 
the  presence  of  the  people,  kissed  the  foot  of 
the  pope,  and  that  the  people  admired  the 
humility  of  this  good  prince.  He  remarks 
that  this  action  was  singular,  and  glorifies 
Justinian  for  having  been  the  first  to  set,  to  the 
powerful  of  the  earth,  the  example  of  kissing 
the  sandals  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

During  his  sojourn  at  the  court  of  Byzan- 
tium, the  holy  father  approved  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  council  "in  Trullo,"  and  fre- 
quently conferred  with  the  monarch  on  the 
interests  of  the  church  and  the  state.  Jus- 
tinian was  then  preparing  an  expedition 
ag-ainst  the  inhabitants  of  the  Chersonesus, 
who  endeavoured  to  assassinate  him  when 
he  took  refuge  among  them.  Constantine, 
foreseeing  the  difficulties  of  such  an  enter- 
prise against  a  warlike  people,  endeavoured 
to  divert  the  prince  from  his  project;  but  his 
just  remonstrances  were  useless,  and  the 
troops  received  orders  to  embark  for  this  dis- 
tant peninsula. 

The  soldiers  had  scarcely  arrived  under  the 
walls  of  the  city,  when,  fatigued  by  forced 
marches,  and  irritated  against  their  leaders, 
whose  improvidence  had  left  them  exposed 
to  all  sorts  of  privations,  they  revolted  against 
their  generals,  fraternized  with  the  citizens 
and  proclaimed  emperor,  under  the  name  of 
Philippifus.  the  Armenian  Bardanes,  the  gene- 
ral who  had  before  been  exiled  by  Justinian 
to  the  very  place  which  they  came  to  besiege. 

The  new  sovereign  immediately  marched 
on  Constantinople,  at  the  head  of  the  army 
which  had  chosen  him  for  its  chief.  He  took 
the  capital  by  assault,  and  having  seized  upon 
Justinian,  out  off  his  head  and  remained  sole 
master  of  the  empire. 

The  pope,  who  was  then  on  his  way  to  Ita- 
ly, received  on  his  arrival  in  Rome  a  letter 
from  the  em]K'ror,  which  ordered  him  to  ap- 
prove Monothelism  and  reject  the  sixth  gene- 
ral council,  threatening  to  persecute  the  or- 
thodox ecclesiastics  in  case  of  his  refusal. 


Philippicus  was  in  fact  scarcely  seated  on  his 
throne,  when  he  convoked  an  assembly  of 
bishops,  in  which  the  sixth  council  was  ana- 
thematized, and  the  decrees  which  had  been 
made  by  the  fathers  were  condemned  to  be 
burned  publicly  before  the  imperial  palace. 

Bardanes  then  nominated  Monothelite  pre- 
lates to  govern  the  Greek  churches,  and  re- 
placed in  the  sacred  writings  the  names  of 
Sergius,  Pyrrhus,  Honorius.  and  other  heretics. 

Constantine  hastened,  on  his  side,  to  elevate 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  an  immense  roll, 
which  contained  the  six  general  councils.  He 
ordered  the  faithful  to  honour  them  as  the  in- 
spirations of  the  holy  spirit;  he  prohibited  any 
one  from  pronouncing  the  name  of  the  usurper 
in  the  public  prayers — of  receiving  his  letters, 
portrait,  or  even  the  money  struck  with  his 
effigy. 

In  placing  himself  thus  openly  in  opposition 
to  Philippicus  Bardanes,  the  pope  had  not 
only  in  view  the  project  of  separating  himself 
from  the  Greek  church,  but  he  wished  to 
break  the  bonds  which  attached  the  Holy  See 
to  the  empire  ;  and,  under  the  pretence  of  or- 
thodoxy, to  give  new  aliment  to  the  secret 
hatred  which  divided  Italy  and  Greece,  and 
to  place  the  successors  of  the  apostles  within 
reach  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  the  emperors 
of  the  East. 

The  people  of  Rome,  always  excessive  in 
their  anger  and  their  joy,  seconded  the  policy 
of  the  pontifl',  and  decreed  that  neither  the 
title  nor  the  authority  of  Bardanes  the  Heretic 
should  be  recognized.  The  senate  prohibited 
any  one  from  receiving  his  statues  or  his  por- 
traits, and  from  pronouncing  his  name  in  reli- 
gious solemnities;  and  did  not  wish  to  recognise 
the  new  governor,  named  Peter,  sent  by  Phi- 
lippicus. Sustained  by  the  clergy,  Christo- 
pher, the  old  titulary  governor,  essayed  to 
maintain  himself  in  the  city;  but  Peter  re- 
sisted him  with  an  armed  hand,  and  blood 
flowed  upon  the  steps  of  the  pontifical  palace. 
The  pope,  who  had  excited  the  revolt,  being 
then  satisfied  at  seeing  that  his  power  already 
balanced  that  of  the  sovereign,  advanced  into 
the  midst  of  the  rebels,  clothed  in  his  sacer- 
dotal robes,  surrounded  by  his  bishops,  and 
preceded  by  crosses  and  banners.  This  im- 
posing spectacle  influenced  the  superstitious 
minds  of  the  people  and  the  soldiers;  quiet 
was  then  re-established,  and  Peter  not  daring 
any  longer  to  count  on  the  devotion  of  his 
troops,  retired  inunediately  to  Ravenna. 

They  then  learned  by  letters  from  Sicily 
that  the  usiu-per  had  been  deposed,  and  that 
Anastasius,  an  orthodox  prince,  had  obtained 
the  empire.  The  new  monarch  re-established 
the  decrees  of  the  sixth  council,  and  addressed 
to  Con.stantine  his  profession  of  faith  and  the 
synodical  letters  of  John,  whom  he  had  named 
])atriarch  of  Coii.'^tantinople.  The  prelate 
wrote  to  th(!  court  of  Rome  in  these  terms: 
"We  inform  you,  most  holy  father,  that  the 
tyrant  Bardanes  placed  over  our  see  a  man 
who  wns  not  even  of  the  body  of  the  Byzan- 
tine" church,  and  who  partook  of  th(«  errors  of 
his  master. 


176 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


•'We  at  first  resisted  the  menaces  of  the  ' 
tyrant  by  refusing  to  recognise  his  bishop;  but  ■ 
the  supplications  of  the  faithful  determined 
us  to  consecrate  him,  that  our  people  ra.ight  i 
escape  the  horrors  of  a  persecution. 

"  We  accuse  ourselves  also  of  having  ana-  | 
thematized  the  sixth  general  council,  and  we 
repent  having  committed  an  action  so  con- 
demnable. 

"Your  legate  will  inform  you  of  our  grief 
for  this  act,  in  which  we  were  forced  to  ab- 
jure the  faith  we  loudly  profess  before  you. 
He  will  also  tell  you,  we  have  braved  the  or- 
ders of  Bardanes,  by  preserving  preciously  in 
our  own  residence  the  acts  of  the  council, 
which  contained  the  subscriptions  of  the  bish- 
ops and  of  the  emperor  Constantine. 

"We  dare  then  to  hope,  that  our  conduct 
will  not  be  condemned  by  your  wisdom ;  and 
we  beseech  you  to  address  us  in  your  turn 
your  synodical  letters  as  the  pledge  of  a  mu- 
tual charity."  Historians  do  not  speak  of  the 
reply  of  the  pope ;  they  only  relate  that  the 
deacon  Agathon  annexed  a  copy  of  the  letter 
of  John  to  the  acts  of  the  sixth  council. 

The  envoys  of  Anastasius  were  received 
with  the  greatest  honours  by  the  holy  father, 
as  were  also  the  new  officers  who  came  in 
the  name  of  the  prince  to  take  possession  of 
the  government  of  Italy.  They  had  orders  to 
protect  the  Holy  See  in  all  circumstances;  to 


maintain  the  integrity  and  assure  the  privi- 
leges of  the  city  and  church  of  Home. 

Some  months  after,  the  old  metropolitan 
of  Ravenna,  who  was  so  cruelly  mutilated 
and  deposed  from  his  see,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this  pontificate,  became  reconciled 
to  Constantine,  and  was  recalled  from  his 
exile.  FelLx  was  admitted  to  prostrate  him- 
self at  the  feet  of  the  pope,  to  remit  him  his 
act  of  submission,  and  to  renew  his  oath  of 
obedience,  which  he  could  not  do  but  by  in- 
articulate sounds.  He  paid  into  the  treasu- 
ry an  enormous  sum  for  his  ordination,  and 
was  rehistalled  in  his  archbishopric  in  con- 
tempt of  the  canons,  which  prohibited  from 
preserving  in  orders,  prelates  deprived  of 
sight  and  voice. 

Benedict,  archbishop  of  Milan,  also  came 
on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  disputed  with 
the  Holy  See  the  right  of  consecrating  the 
chiefs  of  the  clergy  of  Pavia.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  equity  of  his  demands  and  the  mode- 
ration of  his  remonstrances,  he  was  condemn- 
ed by  the  .pope,  who  declared  himself  a  judge 
in  his  own  cause. 

Constantine  died  soon  after,  and  was  in- 
terred in  the  beginning  of  the  year  715,  in  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Peter.  He  was  the  first  who 
assembled  a  council  to  authorize  the  use  of 
images  in  churches. 


GREGORY  THE  SECOND,  NINETY-EIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  715. — Anastasius  the  Second,  Theodosius  the  Third,  Leo  the  Isauarian,  Emperors 

of  the  East.] 

History  of  Gregory  before  his  pontificate — The  Lomhards  seize  the  city  of  Como — The  pope 
purchases  the  treason  of  duke  John — The  church  of  Bavaria — Gregory  founds  many  monas- 
teries— He  claims  the  treasures  of  the  church,  and  dissipates  the  property  of  the  poor  to  enrich 
the  monks — Letters  of  the  pope — Council  of  Rome — Attempt  to  assassinate  the  pontiff — He 
excites  a  general  revolt  in  Italy — War  of  the  images — Hypocrisy  of  the  pope — Attempts  of  the 
pope  against  the  emperor — Neiv  revolt  in  Italy — Fury  of  the  Romans — Disputes  between  the 
bishops — Insolence  of  the  pontiff — His  death. 


Gregory  was  the  son  of  the  patrician 
Marce  Land,  a  Roman  by  birth.  Brought  up 
in  the  patriarchal  residence  of  the  Lateran, 
under  the  eyes  of  the  pontiff  Sergius  the  First, 
he  surrendered  himself  from  his  youth  to  the 
study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  sacred 
and  profane  eloquence.  He  spoke  with  re- 
markable facility  and  elegance,  and  his  talent 
procured  for  him  the  surname  of  Dialogus. 
At  Byzantium  he  had  excited  the  admiration 
of  the  bishops,  the  grandees,  and  the  prince, 
by  the  wisdom  of  his  discourse  and  the  purity 
of  his  morals. 

In  recompense  for  the  services  he  had  ren- 
dered the  church,  he  was  elevated  in  succes- 
sion to  the  posts  of  sub-deacon,  sacellary,  and 
librarian ;  and  at  length,  forty  days  after  the 
death  of  Constantine,  the  clergy  chose  him  as 
the  one  most  worthy  to  occupy  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter. 


Gregory  undertook  to  rebuild  the  walls  of 
Rome,  but  he  was  soon  obliged  to  abandon 
this  useful  project  to  look  after  the  defence 
of  Italy.  At  this  period,  the  emperors  of  the 
East  only  thought  of  their  Italian  provinces 
to  levy  contributions  on  them :  and  when  they 
ruined  them,  they  left  them  exposed  almost 
without  defence  to  the  incursions  of  the  Lom- 
bards. These  people,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  pontificate  of  Gregory,  seized  on  the 
city  of  Como  and  established  themselves  in 
the  province.  The  holy  father  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  them  to  demand  the  restitution  of  a 
city  which  belonged  to  the  empire ;  and  even 
offered  them  considerable  sums  to  indemnify 
them  for  the  expenses  of  the  war;  but  they 
refused. 

All  negotiations  being  useless,  he  menaced 
them  with  the  wrath  of  God,  and  fulminated 
a  terrible  excommunication    against    them. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


177 


Neither  entreaties  nor  anathemas  were  able 
to  cliauge  the  determination  of  the  Lombards. 
Gregory  then  brought  into  play  the  resources 
of  policy  and  treason ;  he  wrote  to  duke  John, 
governor  of  Naples,  and  an  ally  of  the  Lom- 
bards, offering  him  thirty  pounds  of  gold  to 
surprise  Como.  John  immediately  executed 
the  orders  of  the  pope.  He  introduced  troops 
into  the  city  during  the  night,  murdered  the 
sentinels,  drove  out  the  Lombards,  and  re- 
mained master  of  the  city. 

This  bold  action  increased  the  influence  of 
Gregory,  and  permitted  him  to  establish  oir  a 
solid  basis  the  edifice  of  papal  .despotism. 
He  sent  numerous  spies  to  the  courts  of  Con- 
stantinople, France,  and  England,  and  filled 
all  the  strange  sees  with  priests  of  his 
church. 

Through  his  exertions,  Christianity  made 
great  progress  in  Germany,  and  two  of  his  fa- 
vourites, George  and  Dorotheus,  were  sent 
into  Bavaria  with  long  instructions  for  the 
Christians  of  that  province.  The  instructions 
of  the  pontiff  ran  thus:  "After  having  given 
your  letters  to  the  sovereign  duke  of  the 
country,  you  will  consult  with  him  as  to  as- 
sembling a  council  of  the  priests,  magistrates, 
and  principal  men  of  the  nation.  You  will 
then  examine  the  ecclesiastics,  and  you  will 
give,  in  our  name,  the  power  of  celebrating 
divine  service — of  performing  or  chanting  the 
mass  to  those  whose  ordination  you  shall  find 
canonical  and  faith  pure,  teaching  them  at  all 
times  the  rites  and  traditions  of  the  Roman 
church. 

"You  will  prohibit  from  exercising  any  func- 
tion of  worship,  those  whom  you  shall  judge 
unworthy  of  the  priesthood,  and  you  shall 
nominate  their  successors.  Be  careful  to  give 
to  every  church  a  clergy  sufficiently  numer- 
ous, to  enable  them  to  celebrate  the  mass  pro- 
perly— the  services  by  day  and  night,  and  to 
read  the  holy  books. 

"When  you  shall  establish  bishops,  you 
shall  regulate  the  dependencies  of  each  see  ; 
and  you  shall  have  regard  to  distances  and 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  lords.  If  you  shall 
create  three  bishops,  or  a  greater  number, 
you  will  reserve  the  principal  see  for  a  me- 
tropolitan, whom  we  shall  send  from  Rome. 

•'You  will  consecrate  the  new  prelates  bj^ 
the  authority  of  St.  Peter;  and  you  will  recom- 
mend to  them  not  to  make  illicit  ordination.s, 
to  preserve  the  propertyof  their  diocese,  and  to 
diviile  it  into  four  parts  as  the  canons  proviile. 
They  will  administer  baptism  at  Easter  or 
Penteco.st,  and  not  at  any  other  time,  except 
in  case  of  necessity.  They  will  not  condemn 
marriage  mider  pretence  of  incontinence,  nor 
authorize  debauchery  under  pretence  of  mar- 
riage. 

"They  will  prohibit  divorces,  polygamy, 
and  incestuous  unions;  and  will  teach  that 
the  monastic  state  is  preferable  to  the  .^secular, 
and  continence  more  meritorious  in  the  eyes 
of  God  than  the  chastest  union.  They  will 
not  call  immodest  the  food  necessary  for  the 
support  of  man,  unless  it  shall  have  been  im- 
molated  to   idols.     They  will  proscribe  en- 

VOL.  I.  X 


chantments,  conjurations,  auguries,  and  the 
observances  of  lucky  and  unlucky  days. 

"You  will  instruct  the  prelates  and  princi- 
pal ecclesiastics,  that  they  may  teach  to  the 
faithful  the  dogmas  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  and  of  tlie  eternity  of  the  pains  of  hell. 
You  will  ord(!r  them  to  combat  the  false  doc- 
trines spread  through  the  country  in  regard  to 
demons,  which,  according  to  popular  belief, 
can  resume  their  original  dignity  as  archangels 
of  God,  after  a  long  series  of  ages." 

The  legates  followed  their  instructionsclose- 
ly,  and  reduced  the  new  churches  of  Ger- 
many to  the  rule  of  the  Holy  See. 

St.  Corbinian  of  Chartres,  undertook  the 
journey  to  Rome  in  the  same  year,  716,  to 
confess  his  iimormost  thoughts  to  the  pope, 
and  his  fear,  lest  thi'  gifts  and  visits  of  young 
women  would  be  the  cause  of  his  eternal 
damnation,  by  exciting  in  his  heart  the  de- 
sires of  the  flesh.  Gregory  hastened  to  re- 
assure his  weak  conscience,  and  showed  to 
the  monk  that  he  himself  received  in  his 
apartment  all  the  most  beautiful  ladies  of  the 
city. 

He  passed  the  holy  monk  through  all  the 
grades  of  the  mhiistry ;  ordained  him  a  bishop : 
gave  him  the  pallium,  and  authorized  him 
to  preach  the  gospel  throughout  the  world. 

Corbinian  submitted  to  the  duties  of  his 
new  dignity,  and  after  having  sworn  obedience 
to  the  Holy  See,  he  returned  to  France  to 
propagate  the  word  of  God,  and  above  all,  to 
reform  the  morals  of  the  monks,  which  had 
sunk  to  the  lowest  degree  of  corruption  and 
infamy. 

Gregory  the  Second  endeavoured  to  intro- 
duce the  same  reforms  into  the  Italian  con- 
vents; he  re-established  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino,  which  had  been  ruined  by  the 
Lombards  more  than  a  century  before,  and 
resolved  to  re-establish  in  this  retreat,  the 
severity  of  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  monks  who  might  set  an 
example  to  other  monks.  Petronax.  and 
several  brethren  from  the  convent  of  the 
Lateran,  were  designated  to  inhabit  the  new 
monastery;  they  afterwards  joined  to  them 
some  hermits  who  lived  in  great  simplicity. 
Petronax  was  named  superior,  and  became 
the  sixth  abbot  of  this  community,  since  the 
death  of  St.  Benedict  its  founder.  He  entirely 
re-constructed  the  abbey,  increased  in  size 
the  old  church  of  St.  JNIartin,  and  consecrated 
an  altar  in  honour  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the 
holy  martyrs  Faustin  and  Joveius. 

In  his  zeal,  the  pope  re-establi.shed  the 
neighbouring  monastery  of  the  church  of  St. 
Paul,  whose  buildings  had  been  abandoned 
very  many  years.  He  filled  it  with  monks, 
"to  sing  the  praises  of  God,  by  day  and  by 
night."  He  transformed  into  a  convent  the 
hospital  of  old  men,  situated  in  the  rear  of  the 
church  of  St.  Maria  Majora,  and  raised  again 
the  cloisters  of  St.  Andrew  of  Barbara,  whose 
walls  were  in  ruins.  His  fanaticism  for  con- 
vents was  pushed  to  such  an  excess,  that  af- 
ter the  death  of  Honest.a,  his  mother,  he 
changed  his  house  into  a  monastery^  which 


178 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


he  dedicated  to  St.  Agatha.  He  gave  large 
revenues  to  this  church,  very  many  houses  in 
the  city,  several  farms,  much  distant  land, 
and  a  tabernacle  of  silver  weighing  seven 
hundred  pounds. 

All  these  liberalities  were  made  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  people,  for  the  purpose  of  leading 
into  monastic  idleness,  adulterers,  robbers, 
and  murderers  who  wished  to  escape  human 
justice  by  devoting  themselves  to  the  Holy 
See. 

The  zeal  which  the  pontiff  exhibited  for  the 
reform  of  the  regular  clergy,  did  not  change 
the  morals  of  the  convents;  on  the  contrary, 
the  favours  which  he  granted  to  religious 
communities,  multiplied  to  infinity  the  num- 
ber of  monks,  and  increased  debauchery'  and 
scandal. 

In  720,  Winfred,  an  English  priest,  came  to 
Rome  and  asked  from  the  pontiff  the  power 
to  labour  for  the  conversion  of  pagan  nations. 
Gregory  ordered  that  he  should  be  received 
with  distinction  in  his  house  of  hospitality; 
and  having  been  brought  to  St.  Peter's,  passed 
a  whole  day  in  conference  with  him,  discuss- 
ing matters  of  religion  and  the  means  of  sub- 
jecting the  infidel.  After  this  he  consented 
to  name  him  as  bishop  of  the  people  among 
whom  he  should  preach  the  gospel.  On  the 
30th  of  November,  the  holy  monk  was  solemn- 
ly ordained  under  the  name  of  Boniface,  and 
took  an  oath,  by  which  he  engaged  to  defend 
the  purity  of  the  faith  and  the  unity  of  the 
church  against  all  the  enemies  of  religion ;  to 
remain  always  submissive  to  the  Holy  See ; 
to  concur  in  the  aggrandizement  of  the  pon- 
tifical authority,  and  not  to  commune  with 
prelates  who  were  in  opposition  to  the  court 
of  Rome. 

Gregory  gave  him  a  large  volume  of  eccle- 
siastical canons  or  rules  for  his  conduct,  and 
confided  to  him  letters  which  should  assure 
him  the  protection  of  the  French  bishops  and 
princes.  In  the  first,  which  was  addressed  to 
Charles  Martel,  the  holy  father  demanded  the 
aid  of  this  conqueror,  to  render  the  courageous 
mission  of  Winfred  profitable,  who  was  going 
to  convert  the  infidels  in  the  country  east  of 
the  Rhine.  In  another  letter,  he  exhorted  the 
bishops,  priests,  deacons,  dukes,  counts,  and 
all  Christians,  to  treat  Boniface  and  the  eccle- 
siastics of  his  train  with  honour;  to  give  them 
money,  provisions,  and  all  the  aid  necessary 
to  accomplish  this  pious  enterprise ;  menacing 
Avith  anathema  all  who  refused  to  assist  them 
in  this  meritorious  work. 

A  third  letter  was  destined  for  the  faithful 
of  Thuringia,  and  especially  for  their  princes; 
the  liope  congratulated  them  on  having  resist- 
ed the  pagans,  who  wished  to  lead  them  back 
to  idolatry.  He  recommended  to  them,  per- 
severance in  the  faith,  attachment  to  the  Ro- 
man church,  and  obedience  to  Boniface.  The 
last  was  written  to  idolaters.  Gregory  repre- 
sented to  them  the  excellence  of  the  Christian 
religion,  exhorting  ihem  to  overthrow  the 
temples  of  paganism;  to  become  converts  to 
the  gospel;  to  be  baptized;  to  erect  churches, 
■and  to  build  a  palace  for  the  holy  apostle. 


Some  time  after  the  ordination  of  Boniface, 
the  pontiff  assembled  in  the  church  of  St.  Pe- 
ter, a  council  composed  of  twenty-two  bishops 
and  all  the  clergy  of  Rome.  The  council 
condemned  illicit  marriages,  and  especially 
those  of  priests  with  nuns  or  with  the  widows 
of  ecclesiastics.  The  pope  pronounced  an 
anathema  against  the  faithful  who  espoused 
a  priestess,  a  deaconess,  a  nun,  a  god-mother, 
the  wife  of  their  brother,  father,  or  son ;  a 
niece,  a  cousin,  a  relative,  or  a  connection. 
He  particularly  excommunicated  Adrian  and 
a  deaconess  named  Epiphana,  who  had  mar- 
ried in  contempt  of  their  oaths  of  chastity  and 
the  laws  of  the  church.  The  holy  father  con- 
demned Christians  who  consulted  soothsayers, 
diviners,  or  conjurers ;  he  prohibited  the  clergy 
from  letting  their  hair  grow,  and  declared  as 
excommunicated,  the  lords  who  usurped  the 
property  of  the  Holy  See. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Gregory,  the  wars 
of  the  images  recommenced  with  new  fury. 
These  ridiculous  quarrels  had  been  at  first 
excited  by  Philippicus  Bardanes,  a  zealous 
Monothelite,  who  had  taken  from  the  churches 
the  tableau  of  the  sixth  council ;  then  by 
pope  Constantine,  who  had  anathematized 
the  emperor,  and  re-established  the  worship 
of  images  in  the  churches,  in  obedience,  as 
he  said,  to  the  orders  which  a  holy  English 
bishop  had  received  from  God  himself  in  a 
vision. 

Bardanes  having  been  driven  from  the  em- 
pire by  Anastasius,  the  policy  of  the  new 
master  of  the  empire  changed  the  belief  of 
the  faithful  and  favoured  orthodoxy.  To  ren- 
der himself  agreeable  to  Constantine,  the 
prince  permitted  his  subjects  to  render  divine 
honours  to  paintings  and  statues;  and  during 
his  reign,  the  adoration  of  images  invaded  the 
East  and  the  West. 

Leo,  the  Isaurian,  on  his  arrival  at  the 
throne,  was  scandalized  by  seeing  the  credu- 
lous people  prostrate  themselves  before  the 
images  which  filled  the  churcdies,  and  under- 
took to  destroy  this  sacrilegious  worship. 
Gregory  highly  condemned  the  orders  of  the 
monarch,  addressed  to  him  insulting  reproach- 
es, and  announced  that  he  would  resist  with 
all  his  power  the  persecution  undertaken 
against  Christianity.  Leo  endeavoured  to 
bring  back  the  pontiff  to  more  charitable  sen- 
timents, and  sent  embassadors  to  him.  The 
pope  refused  to  receive  the  letters  of  the 
prince,  and  drove  the  envoys  from  Rome. 

Irritated  at  the  insolence  of  Gregory,  the 
emperor  gave  orders  to  Jourdain,  his  cartu- 
lary, to  John,  sub-deacon,  and  to  Basil,  cap- 
tain of  his  guards,  to  go  to  Rome  and  seize 
the  pontiff,  dead  or  alive.  Arrived  in  the  holy 
city,  the  officers  of  Leo  showed  their  orders 
to  Marin,  governor  of  Rome,  and  concerted 
with  him  a  plan  to  seize  the  pontiff  or  put 
him  to  death;  but  at  the  moment  of  the  exe- 
cution, Marin,  who  was  already  sick,  was 
struck  by  paralysis.  This  abortive  attempt 
made  some  noise  in  the  city.  The  pontiff, 
warned  by  his  spies,  kept  on  his  guard,  or- 
ganized a  revolt,  and  when  all  the  measures 


HISTORY    OF    THE   POPES. 


178* 


were  ready,  the  priests  seized  John  and  Jour- 
dain  and  cut  off  their  heads.  Basil  only  es- 
caped their  fury  by  taking  refuge  in  a  monas- 
tery, where  he  took  the  habit  of  a  monk. 

"to  revenge  the  murder  of  his  officers,  the 
emperor  sent  into  Italy,  as  exarch,  the  patri- 
cian Paul,  at  the  head  of  a  formidable  army. 
He  had  orders  to  invest  Rome,  to  depose  Gre- 
gory, to  seize  his  person,  and  send  him  to 
Constantinople.  But  the  pope  preached  re- 
bellion, by  his  band  of  monks,  throughout 
Italy,  was  prodigal  of  gold  to  the  militia,  ex- 
cited the  Venetians  and  Neapolitans,  and  even 
addressed  himself  to  the  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards and  their  dukes,  imploring  the  protec- 
tion of  their  arms. 

The  preaching  of  the  monks  produced  mar- 
vels among  the  superstitious  and  ignorant  peo- 
ple ;  at  Rome  they  drove  away  the  magistrates, 
murdered  the  guards  of  the  prefect,  and  tore 
down  the  ensigns  of  the  empire.  At  Naples, 
the  governor,  his  son,  his  officers  and  .soldiers, 
were  massacred.  At  Ravenna,  the  exarch  Paul, 
his  wife  and  daughters  were  beheaded;  final- 
ly, entire  Italy,  excited  by  the  pontiff,  resolved 
to  free  itself  from  the  rule  of  the  Greek  em- 
perors. 

Under  the  pretext  of  great  zeal  for  the  wor- 
ship of  images,  the  Lombards  profited  by 
these  troubles,  and  seized  upon  the  states  of 
the  emperor  as  belonging  to  an  excommuni- 
cated person.  Leo  offered  them  large  sums, 
bought  their  alliance,  and  obtained  from  them 
a  promise  not  only  to  withdraw  from  the  in- 
vaded territory,  but  also  to  join  his  troops  in 
besieging  the  holy  city. 

Gregory  on  his  side,  sent  rich  presents  to 
Luitprand,  kin^of  the  Lombards,  and  detach- 
ed him  from  the  cause  of  Leo.  The  Arian 
monarch  then  proposed  to  become  the  arbi- 
trator between  the  emperor  and  the  pope.  By 
his  mediation  the  Holy  See  obtained  peace  on 
favourable  terms,  and  an  apparent  tranquillity 
succeeded  for  some  time  the  deplorable  vio- 
lence which  had  overwhelmed  Italy. 

Soon  after,  the  war  recommenced  with  more 
fury  than  ever.  Leo  maintained  that  the  ado- 
ration paid  to  paintings  and  statues  was  the 
most  culpable  kind  of  idolatry,  and  wished  to 
bring  the  faithful  to  proscribe  a  worship,  con- 
demned by  the  clergy,  the  irrandees.  and  even 
the  very  people  of  Constantinople.  The  pa- 
triarch Germain,  a  slave  of  the  Holy  See,  alone 
dared  to  resist  the  orders  of  the  prince,  and 
in  a  transport  of  fanatical  zeal  affixed  to  the 
doors  of  his  church  a  pastoral  letter,  in  which 
he  declared  that  the  worship  of  images  hav- 
ing always  been  in  use  in  the  church,  he  was 
ready  to  suffer  martyrdom  in  its  defence.  He 
then  sent  embassadors  to  Rome  to  advise  the 
pope  of  the  resistance  which  he  opposed  to 
the  will  of  a  heretical  tyrant,  and  to  ask  his 
advice. 

The  pontiff  replied  in  these  terms:  "The 
vigour  with  which  you  have  defended  the 
faith  before  the  image-breaking  Leo,  will  find 
its  recompense  in  a  better  world. 

"Still,  my  brother,  do  not  forget,  that  to  as- 
sure our  rule  over  the  people,  we  should  shun 


opposing  too  openly  established  belief;  thus 
you  will  say  to  the  faithful,  that  the  homage 
rendered  to  representations  placed  in  Chris- 
tian temples,  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
practices  of  paganism,  which  we  are  accused 
of  imitating;  you  will  endeavour  to  make 
them  understand,  that  in  our  worship,  they 
must  consider  the  intention  and  not  the  action. 
Besides,  there  exists  no  resemblance  between 
the  statues  of  the  pagans  and  our  paintings; 
the  images  of  a  being  who  is  not,  who  never 
has  been,  and  whom  we  do  not  find  but  in 
fables  and  the  inventions  of  mythology,  are 
idols. 

"But  can  the  existence  of  God  be  denied  ? 
Has  not  the  Virgin  dwelt  among  men  ?  Was 
not  Jesus  born  in  her  womb  ?  Did  he  not  per- 
form miracles  and  suffer  the  punishment  of 
the  cross  1  Did  not  his  apostles  see  him  after 
his  resurrection  ?  It  is  pleasing  to  God,  that 
heaven,  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  animals  and 
plants,  should  relate  these  marvels,  by  speech, 
by  writing,  by  painting,  and  by  sculpture  ! 

"  If  impious  wretches  accuse  the  church  of 
idolatry,  because  she  venerates  images,  let 
them  be  regarded  as  dogs,  whose  brayings 
strike  in  vain  upon  the  ears  of  their  masters ; 
and  say  to  them  as  to  the  Jew.s,  '  Israel  thou 
hast  not  profited  by  the  perceptible  things 
which  God  has  given  thee  to  lead  thee  to 
him  :  thou  hast  preferred  the  heifer  of  Sama- 
ria, the  rod  of  Aaron,  the  stone  from  which 
the  water  flowed,  Baal,  Baalpeor  and  As- 
tarte,  to  the  holy  tabernacle  of  God ;  in  fine, 
thou  hast  adored  the  creature  as  Jehovah.  .'  " 

Gregory  held  a  new  council  at  Rome,  and 
in  the  presence  of  a  great  number  of  bishops, 
a  second  time  anathematized  the  emperor, 
prohibited  all  people  from  paying  him  any 
tribute  ;  freed  them  from  the  oath  of  fidelity  ; 
commanded  them  in  the  name  of  religion  to 
take  up  arms  and  to  drive  from  the  throne  the 
heretical  Leo,  who  was  deposed  from  the 
sovereign  power  by  the  will  of  God. 

Italy  replied  to  the  imprecations  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff  by  rising  in  arms.  The  Ve- 
netian broke  the  images  of  the  prince,  burned 
his  ordinances,  cast  his  officers  into  the  sea, 
and  all  swore  they  would  die  in  defence  of 
reliiiion  and  the  pope.  At  Rome,  men,  wo- 
men, and  children  swore  upon  the  cross  to 
die  for  the  images.  In  Campania  they  mas- 
sacred the  new  duke  of  Naples  and  his  son, 
who  had  declared  for  the  prince.  In  the  five 
cities  of  Peantapolis,  the  officers  of  the  empire 
were  murdered  by  the  priests  them.-^elves.  In 
all  the  cities  they  raised  upon  the  walls  the 
standard  of  revolt. 

In  the  midst  of  these  massacres,  the  hypo- 
critical Gregory  showered  around  him  alms; 
ordered  professions  of  his  clergy ;  walked 
with  naked  feet  throuah  the  streets  of  the  city ; 
kis.sed  the  dust,  and  recited  long  prayers  in  the 
churches,  beseeching  God  to  put  an  end  to  the 
hostilities;  at  the  same  time  he  glorified  his 
partisans,  exhorted  them  to  preserve  the 
faith,  and  concealed  under  the  mask  of  reli- 
gious humility  the  ambition  which  devoured 
him,  and  the  hatred  which  he  bore  to  all  par- 


180 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


ties.  His  legates  induced  king  Luitprand 
and  the  Lombard  dukes  to  march  with  their 
troops  against  Ravenna,  in  which  the  patri- 
cian Eutychius  had  shut  himself  up,  and  at 
the  same  time  other  embassadors  went  fur- 
tively from  Rome  to  excite  against  the  Lom- 
bards, the  patriarch  of  Grada,  the  duke  Mar- 
tel,  and  the  people  of  Venetia  and  Istria. 

Finally,  the  Holy  See  triumphed.  Leo, 
threatened  by  the  fury  of  tlie  adorers  of 
images,  who  had  already  attempted  to  assas- 
sinate him,  even  in  his  palace,  and  fear- 
ing lest  the  Roman  peninsula  should  detach 
itself  from  the  empire,  addressed  letters  to 
the  pontiff,  informing  him  that  he  would  sub- 
mit to  the  decision  of  a  council,  which  he  be- 
sought him  to  convoke. 

Gregory  did  not  permit  the  envoys  of  the 
emperor  to  enter  Rome;  he  was  unwilling 
even  to  touch  the  letter  which  they  carried, 
and  caused  it  to  be  read  by  a  deacon.  The 
following  is  his  reply  to  the  monarch.  "The 
universal  head  of  the  church,  the  successor 
of  the  apostles,  the  vicar  of  Christ,  prays  God 
to  send  Satan  upon  earth  to  snatch  from  his 
throne  the  odious  image-btpaker  who  perse- 
cutes the  faith." 


The  pope  died  soon  after  these  events.  He 
was  interred  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  on  the 
13th  of  February,  731. 

There  have  been  found  priests,  bold  enough 
to  place  in  the  rank  of  saints,  a  pontiff  who, 
for  fifteen  years,  had  filled  Italy  with  blood 
and  murder,  and  who  had  torn  from  the  cre- 
dulity of  the  people  two  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  pennies  of  gold  to  enrich  the 
monks ! 

Father  Pagi  relates  a  miracle,  which,  in  his 
opinion,  should  alone  suffice  to  elevate  Gre- 
gory as  high  in  heaven  as  the  apostles.  "  Duke 
Eudes,"  wrote  the  monk,  "  solicted  the  court  of 
Rome  for  some  time  to  send  him  some  relics. 
The  holy  father  yielded  to  his  entreaties,  and 
sent  him  three  sponges  with  which  they  had 
washed  the  tables  of  the  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran.  Gregory  obtained  from  God,  that  these 
sponges  should  render  the  troops  who  fought 
in  the  war  against  the  Saracens  invincible! 
In  fact,"  adds  the  venerable  monk,  "when 
the  sponges  arrived  in  camp,  they  were  cut 
in  small  pieces  and  distributed  to  the  soldiers, 
and  of  all  who  ate  of  them,  not  one  Avas  either 
wounded  or  slain  ! !  !" 


GREGORY  THE  THIRD,  NINETY-SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  731. — Leo  the  Third,  and  Constantine,  called  Copronynus,  Emperors  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Gregory  the  Third — His  bold  letters  to  the  Emperor  Leo  the  Third — Council  of 
Rome  against  the  image-breakers — The  emperor  arms  against  the  pope,  but  his  feet  is  dispersed 
by  tempests — Revolts  in  Italy — The  pope  is  attacked  by  the  Lombards — Gregory  implores  the 
aid  of  Charles  Martel  and  sends  him  rich  presents — The  French  prince  refuses  to  svccoiir  the 
pope — Success  of  the  mission  of  Boniface  in  Germany — His  letter  addressed  to  Gregory — 
Journey  of  Boniface  to  Rome — Death  of  Gregory  the  Third — Actions  of  the  pontiff. 


The  Holy  See  remained  vacant  during  thir- 
ty-five days,  which  were  employed  in  cele- 
brating the  funeral  of  Gregory  the  Second. 
After  the  ceremonies,  the  Roman  people,  led 
on  as  if  by  divine  inspiration,  took  from  the 
midst  of  the  crowd  the  priest  Gregory,  and 
chose  him  pontiff,  because  he  had  the  same 
name  as  his  predecessor. 

The  new  pope  was  a  Syrian  by  birth,  and 
in  the  opinion  of  Anastasius,  passed  for  being 
very  regular  in  his  morals,  and  very  well  in- 
formed in  the-  Sacred  Scriptures.  He  under- 
stood the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  and  ex- 
pressed himself  with  elegance.  Some  ancient 
authors  called  him  Gregory  the  younger; 
others  confound  him  wath  his  predecessor, 
because  he  pursued  the  same  policy  and 
abandoned  himself  to  the  same  excesses 
against  the  emperor  Leo,  in  defence  of  the 
scandalous  worship  of  images. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  pontificate, 
the  emperor  having  addressed  to  him  a  letter, 
to  congratulate  him  on  his  advent  to  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter,  Gregory  replied  in  these  terms: 
"  We  have  found  in  our  archives  letters  sealed 
«rith  your  imperial  seal,  and  subscribed  with 


your  own  hand  in  vermilion.  In  them  you 
confess  our  holy  faith  in  all  its  purity,  anathe- 
matizing those  who  shall  dare  oppose  the  de- 
cisions of  the  father,  whatever  may  be  their 
rank.  Why  then  are  your  thoughts  now  dif- 
ferent 1  Who  obliges  you  to  turn  backwards, 
after  having  walked  for  ten  years  in  the  good 
way '] 

"  Until  the  last  years  of  the  pontificate  of 
Gregory  the  Second,  you  did  nothing  agiiinst 
the  worship  of  images;  now  you  affirm  that 
they  replace  the  idols  of  paganism  in  the 
temple  of  Christ,  and  call  those  who  adore 
them  idolaters.  You  order  the  statues  of  the 
saints  to  be  broken  and  the  ruins  of  them  to 
be  thrown  out  of  the  house  of  God  ;  and  you 
do  not  fear  the  just  chastisement  of  your  con- 
duct, which  scandalizes  not  only  Christians 
but  infidels. 

"How  can  you  fulfil  the  duties  of  your 
station  and  not  interrogate,  as  emperor,  learn- 
ed and  experienced  men?  They  will  teach 
you  how  to  interpret  the  command  of  God  and 
refuse  adoration  to  the  works  of  men.  Have 
not  the  fathers  of  the  church  and  the  six 
councils  left  to  us  holy  traditions '?    Why  do 


HISTORY    OF   THE   POPES. 


181 


you  refuse  to  follow  their  instruction  1  Why 
do  you  not  receive  their  testimony ;  and  why 
do  you  persist,  on  the  contrary,  in  error,  igno- 
rance, and  presumption  ? 

"  We  beseech  you  to  abandon  the  inspira- 
tions of  pride,  and  to  listen  humbly  to  a  dis- 
course filled  with  sense,  which  we  address  to 
your  simple  and  plain  comprehension. 

"God  prohibited  the  worship  of  the 
works  of  man,  because  the  idolatrous  inhabit- 
ants of  the  promised  land  adored  animals  of 
gold,  silver,  wood,  and  all  kinds  of  creatures, 
saying,  '  Behold  our  divinities. '  But  there  ex- 
ist things  which  God  himself  has  designated 
for  our  veneration.  The  tables  of  the  law, 
the  holy  ark,  and  the  cherubims,  were  adored 
by  the  Jews,  although  they  were  the  work  of 
the  artisan.  So  the  material  representations 
of  our  mysteries  should  be  honoured  by  the 
faithful,  and  we  cannot  condemn  those  who 
execute  them  or  who  venerate  them. 

"We  do  not  represent  God  the  Father,  be- 
cause it  is  impossible  to  paint  the  divine  na- 
ture which  we  cannot  know;  if  we  knew  it, 
we  would  represent  it  in  our  pictures.  You 
reproach  us  for  rendering  homage  to  planks, 
stories,  and  wall ;  but  the  worship  which  we 
render  them  is  not  servile.  It  is  not  a  true 
worship  due  to  God;  it  is  an  inferior  kind  of 
adoration;  it  is  not  absolute,  it  is  relative.  If 
the  matter  is  made  into  an  image  representing 
the  Son  of  God,  we  say  to  him — 'Son  of  God. 
succour  us,  save  us!'  If  it  is  an  image  of  the 
Virgin,  we  say  to  it — 'Holy  INlary  beseech 
your  Son  that  he  would  save  our  souls;'  and 
finally,  if  it  is  to  a  Martyr,  we  add — 'Holy 
Stephen,  who  didst  shed  thy  blood  for  Jesus 
Christ,  intercede  for  us!'  We  do  not  place 
our  hope  in  these  images,  we  do  not  regard 
them  as  divinities;  they  serve  only  to  arouse 
the  attention  of  our  minds. 

"You  are  then  given  up  to  error  when  you 
condemn  the  representations,  exposed  in  the 
churches,  to  the  veneration  of  the  faithful; 
and  Christians  are  authorized,  from  your  con- 
duct, to  call  you  a  heretic  and  persecutor. 

"We  shall  not  cease  to  repeat,  that  the  em- 
perors should  abstain  from  ecclesiastical  af- 
fairs and  apply  themselves  solely  to  those  of 
government;  for  the  union  of  bishops  and 
princes  assure  the  power  of  the  church  and 
of  kings,  submits  the  people  to  this  double 
and  irresistible  authority,  and  maintains  our 
rule  over  the  credulity  of  men.  Still,  we 
should  not  purchase  the  union  of  the  thrones 
of  the  CfEsars  and  of  St.  Peter,  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Evangelical  doctrine;  and  since 
you  persecute  the  images,  there  cannot  be 
peace  between  us. 

"You  have  written  to  us  to  convoke  a  gene- 
ral council  to  examine  the  questions  which 
divide  us.  But,  suppose  it  should  assemble, 
where  is  the  emperor,  who  shall  preside,  ac- 
cording to  usaire,  over  its  sessions,  who  shall 
recompense  those  who  speak  wisely,  and  who 
shall  pursue  those  who  wander  from  the 
truth?  You  are  yourself  the  guilty  one  whom 
it  would  condemn!  Do  you  not  see  that  your 
efTorts  aganist  the  images  is  but  presumption, 


ignorance,  and  barbarity?  You  should  accuse 
no  one  but  yourself  as  the  sole  cause  of  the 
scandal,  disorders,  seditions,  murders,  and 
civil  wars  which  have  desolated  Italy!  There 
is  no  need  of  a  synod  to  judge  your  crimes; 
all  the  West  has  fallen  away  from  obedience 
to  you ;  jour  statues  and  your  portraits  have 
been  broken  and  trampled  under  foot — your 
decretals  torn  upon  the  public  places,  and 
your  officers  murdered  or  driven  from  Italy. 

"The  Lombards,  Sarmatians,  and  other 
people  of  the  North,  have  ravaged  the  De- 
capolis;  Ravenna  remains  in  their  power, 
after  having  been  pillaged;  your  strongest 
places  have  been  taken  by  assault,  so  that 
your  ordinances  and  your  army  have  been 
powerless  to  defend  them. 

"  You,  however,  think  to  frighten  us  by  your 
threats,  by  saying,  'I  will  send  my  guards  to 
Rome  to  break  the  images  of  the  cathedral; 
I  will  carry  away  pope  Gregory  laden  Avith 
chains,  and  I  will  chastise  him  as  my  prede- 
cessor Constantine,  chastised  thr  pontifi  Mar- 
tin.' 

"Prince,  learn  that  we  do  not  fear  your 
violence;  we  are  in  safety  in  Italy;  abase 
then  the  pride  of  your  wrath  before  our  au- 
thorit}',  and  learn  that  the  successors  of  St. 
Peter  are  the  mediators,  the  sovereign  arbi- 
trators between  the  East  and  West." 

Leo  addressed  new  letters  to  the  holy  father, 
making  him  propositions  full  of  wisdom.  Gre- 
gory replied  to  him,  "You  afhrm  that  you  pos- 
sess the  spiritual  and  temporal  power,  because 
your  ancestors  united  in  their  persons  the 
double  authority  of  the  empire  and  the  priest- 
hood .  .  .  They  might  thus  speak,  who  have 
founded  and  enriched  churches  and  who  have 
protected  them;  nevertheless,  under  their 
reigns,  they  have  always  been  submitted  to 
the  authority  of  the  bishops.  But  you  who 
have  despoiled  them,  who  have  broken  their 
ornaments,  how  dare  you  to  claim  the  right 
of  governing  them?  The  devil,  who  has 
seized  upon  your  intelligence,  obscures  all 
your  thoughts  and  speaks  by  your  mouth. 

"Learn  then,  you,  whose  ignorance  and 
vanity  are  so  great,  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not 
come  upon  earth,  but  to  separate  the  priest- 
hood and  the  empire,  the  Spirit  and  the  flesh, 
God  and  Ca;sar.  the  pope  and  the  emperor. 
It  is  not  permitted  to  bishops  to  have  a  charge 
of  the  palace  of  kings;  so  princes  are  pro- 
hibited from  sending  rude  soldiers  into  the 
sanctuary  of  the  church. 

"The  elections  of  the  clergy,  the  ordina- 
tions of  prelates,  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments,  the  di.'stribution  of  goods  to  the 
poor,  and  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  apper- 
tain to  priests;  the  right  of  governing  pro- 
vinces, of  enriching  courtiers,  of  murdering 
the  people,  these  constitute  the  power  of 
kings,  and  we  do  not  infringe  on  any  of  these 
prerogatives. 

"Let  each  preserve  the  power  which  God 

has  given  him,  and  not  seek  to  usurp  that 

which  he  refuses  to  him.    Cease  then  to  over- 

'  throw  the  images  placed  in  our  temples,  by 

I  wishing  to  reform  our  worship,  and  by  aceus- 


182 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ing  us  of  adoring  matter.  Our  churches  them- 
selves, what  are  they?  Stone,  wood,  lime, 
which  the  hand  of  man  has  consecrated  to 
God.  Why  do  you  not  destroy  them,  as  you 
break  the  stone  and  the  wood  of  our  statues 
and  the  cement  of  our  paintings?  Because 
there  must  be  churches  for  Christians  to  come 
to.  to  prostrate  themselves  before  the  altar  of 
Christ. 

"Allow  then  the  faithful  to  employ  the 
riches  which  they  take  from  Satan  to  adorn 
the  throne  of  God;  do  not  deprive  fathers  and 
mothers  of  the  sweet  satisfaction  of  showing 
to  their  newly  baptized  children  the  edifying- 
images  of  the  saints  and  martyrs,  of  the  Vir- 
gin and  Jesus  Christ,  and  do  not  turn  aside 
the  common  people  from  the  veneration  which 
they  bear  to  the  representations  of  holy  his- 
tories, to  plunge  them  in  idleness  and  de- 
bauchery." 

Gregory,  after  having  addressed  these  let- 
ters to  Leo,  assembled  a  council  to  con- 
demn, canonically,  the  destroyers  of  images. 
The  metropolitans  of  Grada  and  Ravenna, 
ninety-two  bishops,  all  the  clergy  of  Rome, 
the  senators,  the  consuls^  and  the  people,  as- 
sisted at  this  assembly  in  fhe  church  of  St. 
Peter.  After  long  deliberations,  the  synod 
ordered  that  those  who  contemned  the  images 
or  profaned  the  sacred  ornaments  of  religion, 
should  be  anathematized  and  separated  from 
the  communion  of  the  faithful.  The  decree 
was  solemnly  subscribed  by  all  the  members 
of  the  council.  Then  the  clergy  of  the  pro- 
vinces addressed  requests  to  the  emperor  to 
ask  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  paintings 
and  statues  in  the  temples. 

Leo,  irritated  by  the  boldness  and  insolence 
of  the  pope,  and  exasperated  against  the  pre- 
lates and  people  of  the  Roman  peninsula,  re- 
solved to  punish  these  rebellious  priests  and 
to  draw  on  them  a  terrible  vengeance.  He 
armed  a  numerous  flotilla  and  directed  it 
against  Ital}'.  Unfortunately,  in  the  passage, 
his  vessels,  assailed  by  violent  tempests,  were 
stranded  or  obliged  to  regain  Constantinople. 
The  holy  father,  on  the  news  of  this  disaster, 
ordered  public  prayers  to  be  made  and  ren- 
dered thanks  to  God  for  the  brilliant  miracle, 
which  saved  his  church  from  the  fury  of  the 
image-breaker. 

Tlie  emperor  immediately  occupied  him- 
self with  reorganizing  an  army  and  equipping 
a  new  fleet.  Whilst  waiting  to  commence 
the  chastisement  of  the  rebels,  he  doubled  the 
capitation  tax  in  Calabria  and  Sicily,  and  con- 
fiscated, in  all  the  provinces  submitted  to  his 
sway,  the  property  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Pe- 
ter, from  whence  the  revenue  was  raised  to 
two  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand  francs 
of  gold.  In  the  East,  the  prince  condemned 
to  banishment  the  seditious  priests,  and  im- 
prisoned several  bishops ;  but  none  of  these 
were  executed,  though  the  church  points  out 
the  demoniacal  John  of  Damas,  as  a  victim 
of  his  cruelty,  and  has  placed  him  in  the  mar- 
tyrology.  Leo,  however,  shaken  upon  his 
throne  by  the  revolts  of  the  pontiff,  lost  by 
degrees  the  most  beautiful  provinces  of  his  , 


empire,  and  became  the  execration  of  his  peo- 
ple, who  designated  him  by  the  name  of  anti- 
christ. 

Gregory  soon  repented  that  he  had  lost  the 
support  of  the  empire.  The  Lombards,  having 
no  longer  to  fear  the  Grecian  troops,  resolved 
to  reduce  all  Italy  to  their  sway  and  poured 
numerous  troops  into  Campania.  To  arrest 
this  invasion,  he  had  no  other  resource,  but  to 
produce  discord  among  his  enemies  and  to 
mduce  Tharismond,  duke  of  Spoletto,  to  revolt 
against  Luitprand,  king  of  the  Lombards. 

At  the  first  signal  of  revolt.  Luitprand 
marched  .with  his  army  against  the  duke  of 
Spoletto  and  entirely  defeated  his  troops.  The 
latter,  pursued  by  his  enemy,  took  refuge  with 
the  holy  father,  who  granted  him  an  asylum 
and  received  him  with  great  distinction.  The 
Lombard  king,  furious  at  the  pope,  summoned 
him  to  deliver  up  the  rebel,  threatening  to 
declare  war  immediately  on  the  Romans.  His 
demand  was  rejected,  under  the  pretext,  that 
Christian  charity  ordains  us  to  suffer  the  most 
violent  persecutions,  rather  than  violate  the 
duties  of  hospitality;  the  latter,  irritated  at 
the  treachery  of  the  holy  father,  entered,  at 
the  head  of  his  troops,  on  the  territory  of  the 
church  and  laid  siege  to  Rome. 

In  this  extremity,  Gregory  dare  not  address 
the  emperor  to  obtain  from  him  any  aid;  he 
sent  deputies  to  Charles  Martel,  claiming  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  the  aid  of  the  Franks 
against  the  Lombards,  who  had  sworn  to  sack 
the  holy  city,  massacre  the  pontitT,  and  exter- 
minate all  his  clergy.  The  embassadors  bore 
to  the  king  of  the  Franks,  rich  presents,  pre- 
cious relics,  and  the  keys  of  the  sepulchre  of 
the  apostles. 

This  legation  was  the  first  which  entered 
the  kingdom  of  France;  "and  would  to  God 
for  the  good  of  the  people,"  adds  a  protestant 
author,  "that  the  ultramontanes  had  never 
come,  or  that  they  had  hung  the  first  who 
presented  themselves,  threatening  with  a  like 
fate  all  those  who  should  have  afterwards 
been  willing  to  incur  the  risk  of  such  an  em- 
bassy." Charles,  however,  showed  little  dis- 
position to  succour  the  holy  city.  The  pontifi' 
then  wrote  him  a  second  letter.  "We  are  in 
extreme  atliiction,  my  son;  for  the  savings 
which  remained  from  the  past  year  for  the 
sustenance  of  the  poor  and  the  maintenance 
of  the  churches,  are  now  the  prey  of  Luit- 
prand and  Hildebrand,  princes  of  the  Lom- 
bards. They  have  destroyed  all  the  farms  of 
St.  Peter,  and  carried  off  all  the  cattle  which 
they  found  on  them.  We  have  had  recourse 
to  your  power  and  have  addressed  ourselves 
to  your  religion;  still,  up  to  this  very  day,  we 
have  received  from  you  no  consolation.  We 
fear  lest  you  should  believe  the  calumnies 
which  these  guilty  kings  have  spread  against 
us;  for  they  appear  assured  that  you  will  re- 
fuse us  all  succour,  and  to  augment  our  evils 
and  our  humiliation,  they  brave  your  power 
and  despise  your  courage. 

"  'You  have  had  recourse,'  say  they,  'to 
Charles  Martel  to  defend  you !  Let  him  come 
then  with  his   Franks,  and   let   him   try  to 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


183, 


wrest  you  from  our  hands,  if  he  wishes  the 
plains  of  Italy  to  drink  the  blood  of  his  fierce 
hordes.' 

'•'Prince,  will  you  not  resent  the  insults  they 
offer  you?  Will  not  the  children  of  the 
chureh  of  (]aul  make  any  effort  to  defend  their 
spiritual  mother?  Will  they  join  our  enemies 
in  railinii'  at  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  by 
sayinj^  that  St.  Peter  should  himself  defend 
his  house  and  his  people,  and  avenge  himself 
on  his  enemies  without  having  recourse  to  the 
arms  of  princes'? 

'•  It  is  true,  my  dear  son,  the  apostle  could 
annihilate  with  his  terrible  sword  the  barba- 
rians who  desolate  his  city;  but  his  arm  is 
arrested  by  God,  who  wishes  to  prove  the 
hearts  of  the  faithful,  and  reserves  for  you  the 
glory  of  preserving  us  from  the  desolation 
which  threatens  us. 

"We  beseech  you  then,  by  the  griefs  of  the 
Virgin,  by  the  suti'erings  of  Christ,  by  the  fear- 
ful judg-ments  of  God  at  the  last  day,  and  by 
your  own  safety,  not  to  leave  us  to  perish,  by 
preferring  the  friendship  of  the  king  of  the 
Lombards  to  that  of  the  prince  of  the  apos- 
tles.=' 

Charles  Martel  did  not  suffer  himself  to  be 
moved  by  the  entreaties  of  the  pontiff;  he 
Old)-  sent  a  small  sum  of  money  to  solace  the 
people  of  Rome,  who  were  suffering  the  con- 
sequences of  the  treachery  of  Gregory  towards 
the  Lombard  prince. 

At  the  same  period,  the  English  monk. 
named  Winfred,  ordained  bishop,  during  the 
preceding  pontificate,  and  who  had  been  sent 
into  Germany,  wrote  to  Rome  to  advise  the 
holy  father  of  the  success  of  his  mission  and 
to  ask  his  counsel.  The  pope  thus  replied  to 
liim :  '-We  render  thanks  to  God,  my  brother, 
on  learning  from  your  letter,  that  you  have 
converted  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
souls  to  the  Christian  faith,  partly  by  your 
eloquence,  partly  by  the  aid  of  the  army  of 
Charles  prince  of  the  Franks.  We  grant  you 
our  friendship;  and  still  further  to  recom- 
pense the  zeal  which  appears  in  your  apos- 
tolic labours,  we  give  you  the  pallium  and  the 
title  of  arc'hbisho]). 

'•Do  not  relax  in  your  ardour,  my  dear  bro- 
ther ;  and  notwithstanding  your  great  age, 
continue  the  holj' work  you  have  commenced. 
You  should  prcacli  the  Gospel  wherever  God 
shall  open  to  yon  the  way:  for  the  npostle  is 
like  the  light  which  enlightens  the  world, 
and  passes  on  without  power  to  arrest  its 
course. 

"Continue  to  subject  to  Christ  and  to  the 
authority  of  our  see  all  the  people  of  Ger- 
many! And,  by  virtue  of  the  pov.er  which 
W'e  have  received  from  St.  Peter,  we  give  you 
power  to  con.secrate  bishops,  who  shall  labour 
with  you,  without  ceasing,  for  the  instruction 
of  the  people  who  have  become  Christians. 

"You  will  command  your  priests  to  admin- 
ister a  second  baptism,  under  the  invocation 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  to  those  who  shall  have 
been  baptized  by  pagan  laymen  or  by  an 
idolatrous  priest,  who  sacrifices  to  Jupiter  and 
eats  the  immolated  food. 


"In  marriages,  you  will  cause  the  faithful 
to  observe  the  degrees  of  relationship  even  to 
the  seventh  generation;  and  you  will  prohibit 
them  from  espousing  a  third  wife.  The 
priests  shall  refuse  the  holy  communion  to 
parricides  and  incestuous  persons,  and  they 
will  command  them  to  abstain  during  all  their 
lives  from  flesh  and  wines;  they  will  cause 
them  to  observe  a  rigorous  fast  on  Monday.s, 
Tuesdays,  and  Fridays,  and  will  not  grant 
them  absolution  unless  they  are  in  danger  of 
death. 

"Masters  who  sell  their  slaves  to  the  pa- 
gans for  human  sacrifices,  shall  be  submitted 
to  the  penance  inflicted  on  homicides.  The 
bishops  shall  prevent  the  new  Christians  from 
eating  the  flesh  of  horses  and  dogs;  finally, 
they  will  proscribe  conjurers  and  sorcerers, 
and  will  prohibit  auguries  and  incantations, 
as  well  as  sacrifices  in  honour  of  the  dead,  or 
for  the  sanctification  of  woods  and  fountains. 

"We  grant  you  the  right  of  jurisdiction 
over  all  the  clergy  whom  you  shall  establish; 
and  we  desire  that  you  would  expedite  the 
period  of  the  journey  you  are  about  to  make 
into  Italy,  to  receive  our  blessing  and  to  con- 
fer with  us  on  the  interests  of  the  infant 
church  of  Germany." 

Boniface  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  the  holy 
father  and  came  to  Rome,  where  he  was  over- 
whelmed with  honours  by  Gregory,  who  made 
him  sit  on  his  right  hand  in  the  presence  of 
the  grandees  and  bishops.  An  historian  adds, 
"that  the  favours  of  the  pontiff  could  not, 
however,  be  considered  as  a  recompense  foi 
the  zeal  which  the  holy  old  man  had  shown 
in  the  cause  of  religion,  but  only  as  the  price 
of  the  devotion  which  he  had  manifested  foi 
the  Holy  See,  and  as  the  pay  for  the  maxims 
of  obedience,  which  he  had  propagated  among 
the  barbarians."' 

The  court  of  Rome  already  dreamed  of  es- 
tablishing the  principle  of  the  sovereignty, 
and  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pope;  Gregory 
dared  to  say,  in  full  council,  that  his  see  was 
above  the  "thrones  of  the  earth,  and  that  the 
pontiffs  might  conduct  all  nations  to  the  prince 
of  darkness,  without  any  living  man  having 
the  right  to  accuse  them  of  sin,  because  they 
were  not  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  mor- 
tals! 

The  English  monk,  after  having  visited  the 
tombs  of  the  holy  niaityrs.  took  his  leave  of 
the  pontiff  and  (piitted  Rome  laden  with 
presents  and  relics. 

Gregory  the  Third,  according  to  the  libra- 
rian Anastasius,  performed  a  great  number  of 
pious  actions.  "He  repaired,"  says  this  au- 
thor, "all  the  churches  of  the  apostolical  city, 
especially  that  of  St.  Peter.  He  placed  around 
the  sanctuary  six  precious  columns,  which  the 
exarch  Kutychius  had  given  him;  he  crowned 
them  with  architraves  covered  with  silver, 
and  adorned  with  figures  of  Jesus,  his  apos- 
tles, and  the  holy  mother  in  the  midst  of  the 
virgins.  At  diflerent  places,  the  sinictnary 
was  ornamented  with  eolden  lilies,  candela- 
bras  of  silver,  and  rich  perfume  pans;  and 
from  the  veil,  which  was  of  silver,  surmounted 


184 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


by  a  crown  of  gold,  fell  a  cross  enriched  with 
diamonds,  which  hung  suspended  over  the 
altar.  Between  the  columns  of  porphyry 
were  placed  a  statue  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  a 
patine,  a  chalice,  and  two  vases  of  colossal 
size.  All  these  ornaments  were  of  gold  and 
adorned  with  precious  stones. 

'•The  church  of  St.  Mary  Majora,  contained 
an  image  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  holding  the  in- 
fant Jesus,  also  of  massive  gold;  and,  finally, 
the  church  of  St.  Andrew  had  received,  from 
the  liberality  of  the  pontitl',  a  statue  still  more 
precious  than  the  preceding.  The  weight  of 
the  gold  of  the  dilTerent  offerings  amounted 
to  more  than  an  hundred  and  seventy-three 
pounds,  and  of  the  silver  to  more  than  five 
hundred  and  thirty  pounds. 

"Gregory  repaired  several  monasteries 
which  were  in  ruins,  built  new  ones,  endowed 
them  with  large  domains,  and  redeemed  the 
property  which  had  been  pledged  by  debauch- 
ed monks;  he  placed  priests  and  monks  in 
several  oratories  to  pray  night  and  day,  and 
ordered  that  in  future,  the  oblationary  sub- 
deacon  of  St.  Peter's  should  furnish  to  the 
new  churches  lights  and  ol^lations;  that  is  to 
say,  bread,  wine,  and  candles  to  celebrate 
divine  service.  He  rebuilt  a  great  part  of  the 
walls  of  Rome,  and  defrayed  this  enormous 
expense  from  his  own  purse.  Finally,  he 
gave  a  large  sum  to  the  dukes  of  Benevento 
and  Spoletto  to  purchase  a  fortress,  which  de- 
fended an  important  position  in  the  states  of 
the  Holy  See." 

Gregory  died  towards  the  end  of  the  year 
741,  after  a  reign  of  ten  years,  and  after  hav- 
ing concluded  a  peace  with  Luitprand  king 
of  the  Lombards.  He  was  interred  in  the 
church  of  Saint  Peter.  He  was  placed,  like 
his  predecessor,  by  the  priests  in  the  catalogTie 
of  the  saints. 

Several  ecclesiastical  historians  maintain, 
that  during  his  pontificate  the  Musselmen 
persecuted  with  violence  the  Christians  of 
Asia,  Africa,  and  Spain,  and  made  a  great 
number  of  martyrs.  These  accusations  are 
evidently  false,  since  it  is  shown  by  the  tes- 


timony of  cotemporary  authors  that  the  ca- 
liphs re-established  the  patriarchates  of  Anti- 
och  and  Alejcandria,  and  even  gave  bishops 
to  the  Nubians  who  professed  Christianity; 
that,  in  Spain  in  especial,  the  Arabs  protected 
the  convents  of  men,  as  a  safeguard  accorded 
by  two  chief  Musselmen  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city  of  Coimbra,  attests  in  an  irrefuta- 
ble manner;  the  following  is  the  remarkable 
document: 

"The  Christians  shall  pay  a  capitation  tax 
double  that  of  the  Arabs;  each  church  shall 
pay  an  annual  tribute  of  twenty-five  pounds  of 
silver;  that  of  the  monasteries  shall  be  fifty, 
and  of  the  cathedrals  double  that.  The  Chris- 
tians shall  have  a  court  of  their  nation  at  Co- 
imbra and  Godadatha,  to  administer  justice, 
only ;  they  shall  put  no  one  to  death  without 
the  authority  of  the  Arabian  sheik  or  alcade.  If 
a  Christian  kills  a  Mahomedan  or  injures  him, 
he  shall  be  judged  equitably  by  the  Arabian 
law.  If  he  abuses  an  Arab  girl,  he  shall  em- 
brace Islamism  and  marry  her  whom  he  has 
seduced,  or  be  put  to  death.  If  he  seduces  a 
married  woman,  he  shall  undergo  the  punish- 
ment hiflicted  on  adulterers.  Christian  bishops 
shall  not  curse  the  chief  Musselmen  in  their 
temples,  nor  in  their  prayers;  and  they  shall 
not  celebrate  the  mass,  but  with  closed  doors, 
under  a  penalty  of  ten  pounds  of  silver. 

"The  monastery  of  Raban  shall  not  be  sub- 
mitted to  any  tax,  because  the  monks  point 
out  to  us  the  game  when  we  hunt  upon  their 
lands;  and  because  they  cordially  receive  the 
worshippers  of  the  prophet.  It  is  our  will 
that  they  possess  their  property  in  peace ; 
that  they  freely  come  to  Coimbra,  and  that  no 
impost  be  demanded  from  them  for  the  mer- 
chandize which  they  buy  or  sell,  in  order  to 
testify  to  Christians  our  indulgence  towards 
those  who  do  not  show  themselves  rebellious 
to  our  paternal  rule."'  After  reading  such  a 
document,  whose  authenticity  is  irrefutable, 
it  is  really  impossible  to  believe  in  the  absurd 
recitals  of  the  persecutions  exercised  by  the 
Musselmen. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


185 


ZACHARY,  THE  NINETY-THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  741. — CoNSTANTiNE,  Called  CopronymuS;  Emperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Zachary — Dangerous  position  of  the  Holy  See — Peace  with  the  Lombards — Inter- 
view between  Zachary  and  Luitprand — The  pope  gives  a  sumptuous  fecust  to  the  king — First 
period  of  papal  s;randeur — The  church  in  Germany — Letter  of  Zachary  to  the  French  bishops 
— Complaints  against  the  pope — Decision  vpon  baptism — Disorders  of  the  clergy  in  the  French 
provinces — Impostors  in  Germany — Council  of  Rome — Persecution  of  the  priest  Virgil — The 
Icing  of  the  Lombards  seduced  by  the  pope — Turns  monk — Carloman,  the  brother  of  Pepin j 
becomes  a  monk  to  save  his  soul — Foundation  of  the  celebrated  abbey  of  Fulda — Childeric  the 
Third  deposed  and  shut  up  in  a  monastery — Pepin  usurps  the  crown  of  France — The  emperor 
grants  several  domains  of  the  empire  to  the  Roman  church — Second  interview  between  Zachary 
and  Luitprand — Death  of  the  pope. 


They  chose  as  successor  to  Gregory  the 
Third,  the  priest  Zachary,  a  Greek  by  descent, 
who  was  ordained  sovereign  pontiff  on  the 
28th  of  November,  741. 

We  are  left  in  ignorance  of  the  intrigues  by 
which  Zachary  arrived  at  the  pontilical  throne; 
we  only  know  that  the  Holy  See.  menaced  by 
powerful  enemies,  was  exposed  to  the  greatest 
dangers,  and  that  the  holy  father  was  obliged  to 
employ  all  the  resources  of  his  policy  to  save 
the  church  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lombards  and 
the  hatrdt  of  the  emperor.  On  one  side,  Con- 
stantine  Copronymus  the  son  of  Leo,  the  image- 
breaker,  had  inherited  the  rich  domains  which 
his  father  had  torn  from  the  popes  and  conti- 
nued the  war  against  the  rebels  of  Italy,  and  the 
worship  of  images :  on  the  other,  the  French, 
consultmg  less  the  fanaticism  of  priests  than 
the  interests  of  the  nation,  refused  to  take  part 
in  these  deplorable  wars,  allowing  Luitprand 
to  ravage  Italy  and  besiege  the  city  of  Rome. 

Thus,  the  Holy  See,  which  wished  to  free 
itself  from  the  imperial  authority,  was  punish- 
ed for  its  rebellion  by  the  very  consetjuences 
of  its  victory,  and  was  about  inevitably  to  fall 
under  the  terrible  yoke  of  the  Lombards. 

Zachary,  to  free  himself  from  this  difficult 
position,  had  recourse  to  tricky  to  negotiation, 
and  filially  determined  on  an  infamous  act  of 
treachery  to  Thrasimond,  duke  of  Spoletto, 
the  same  whom  his  predecessor  had  incited 
to  revolt.  He  sent  embassadors  to  king  Luit- 
prand, instructed  to  offer,  in  his  name,  rich 
presents,  and  to  swear  to  give  up  Thrasimond 
to  the  vengeance  of  the  IvOmbards.  On  this 
condition  the  king  promised  to  conclude  a 
peace,  and  restore  four  important  cities  he 
had  taken  from  the  Holy  See  during  the  war. 
Zachary  then  united  his  troops  to  those  of 
Luitprand  and  marched  against  the  unfortu- 
nate duk(!  of  Spoletto. 

Thrasimond  learned  too  late  the  mistake 
he  had  made  in  putting  confidence  in  a  priest. 
Finding  himself  betrayed  by  the  court  of 
Rome,  he  immediately  submitted  to  the  king 
and  entered  into  a  monastery. 

The  kinir.  havinij  this  enemy  no  longer  to 
fear,  deferred  fullilling  the  promise  he  had 
made  to  Zachary;  but,  on  the  contrary,  re- 
tained in  his  power  the  cities  which  he  had 
seized.  All  the  reclamations  of  the  court  of 
Rome  being  without  effect,  the  pope,  accom- 
panied by  a  large  number  of  bishops,  priests, 

Vol.  L  Y 


and  deacons,  went  to  Suterramna,  a  city  situ- 
ated twelve  miles  from  Spoletto,  to  confer 
with  Luitprand  and  demand  the  execution  of 
the  treaty.  He  was  received  by  the  monarch 
in  the  church  of  St.  Valentine.  The  unction 
of  his  prayers  and  his  protestations  of  bound- 
less devotion,  changed  the  intentions  of  the 
sovereign,  who  not  only  restored  four  impor- 
tant cities,  but  even  gave  to  the  Holy  See  the 
patrimonies  of  Sabina,  Narni,  Ossino,  Ancona, 
and  several  others.  He  confirmed  a  peace 
for  twenty  years  with  the  duchy  of  Rome, 
and  restored  all  the  captives. 

On  the  following  day  the  pontiff  consecrated 
a  bishop  in  the  church  of  St.  Valentine,  and 
after  the  ceremony  he  invited  Luitprand  to 
supper.  The  tables  were  covered  with  the 
most  exquisite  meats,  the  fish  of  two  seas, 
rare  and  valuable  animals,  the  fruits  of  Europe 
and  Asia.  Historians  relate  that  the  holy  fa- 
ther outdid,  in  this  repast,  the  sumptuous 
feasts  of  Vitellius  or  LucuUus. 

Zachary  then  returned  to  Rome,  assembled 
the  people,  and  ordered  public  prayers  to 
thank  God  for  the  success  of  his  treachery  j 
and  during  several  days  the  cleray  and  the 
people  went  in  procession  from  the  ancient 
Pantheon  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  making 
the  streets  resound  with  songs  of  gladness  in 
honour  of  Christ  and  his  infamous  vicar. 

We  now  enter  upon  the  most  remarkable 
period  of  papal  grandeur.  History  will  show 
us  the  bishops  of  Rome  abandoning  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Bible,  trampling  under  foot  the 
precepts  and  the  morality  of  Jesus  Christ, 
plunging  into  all  the  e.vcesses  of  depravity, 
tearing  diadems  from  the  foreheads  of  kings, 
and  crushing  the  unforiunate  people  beneath 
their  execrable  tyranny. 

In  Italy  the  church  was  triumphant.  In 
the  East,  the  quarrel  between  the  image- 
breakers  and  image-worshippers  continued  to 
trouble  the  empire.  Constantine  Copronymus, 
who,  according  to  Christian  authors,  was  a 
monster,  born  from  the  coupling  of  two  fero- 
cious beast.s,  that  only  quitted  the  laboratory 
of  his  magicians,  or  the  tower  of  his  as- 
trologers, to  order  persecutions  against  his 
subjects,  who  rendered  honours  to  paintings 
or  statues.  This  tyrant,  who  was  neither 
Christian,  Jew,  nor  pagan,  had  no  faith  but  in 
the  prestiges  of  sorcery;  and  after  he  had 
consulted  the  entrails  of  the  victims,  or  in- 


186 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


voked  the  manes  of  his  ancestors,  there  was 
no  cruelty  of  which  he  was  not  capable.  I 

In  Germany,  the  missionary  Boniface,  not- 
withstanding his  great  age,  continued  to  make  j 
numerous  conversions.  After  the  death  of 
Gregory,  the  holy  archbishop  wrote  to  the 
pontiff  to  renew  his  oath  of  obedience  and  the 
promise  which  he  had  made  to  the  Holy  See, 
to  consecrate  the  last  days  of  his  life  to  sub- 
jugating to  it  the  numerous  proselytes  of  Ger- 
many. He  informed  Zachary  of  the  creation  of 
several  bishoprics,  and  besought  him  to  con- 
firm these  establishments  and  to  authorize  him 
to  convoke  his  new  clergy  in  a  synod.  "Know, 
holy  father,"  added  he,  "that  Carloman,  the 
duke  of  the  Franks,  has  besought  me  to  as- 
semble a  council  in  the  part  of  the  kingdom 
which  is  under  his  control,  and  has  promised 
to  labour  with  me  in  the  re-establishment  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline.  This  prince  thinks, 
that  in  order  to  reform  the  morals  of  the  Gallic 
clergy,  it  is  necessary  to  ordain  frequent  as- 
semblages of  their  chiefs  and  the  lords,  for 
during  eighty  years  the  Franks  have  not  held 
a  council,  nor  nominated  metropolitans.  The 
episcopal  sees  are  abandoned  to  avaricious 
laymen,  clerical  debauchees,  or  to  public 
farmers,  like  to  secular  property.  Still,  be- 
fore undertaking  this  reform,  I  desire  to  have 
your  instructions,  and  to  understand  the 
canons  which  regulate  the  administration  of 
church  goods  and  the  morals  of  the  clergy." 

Zachary,  in  his  reply,  approves  of  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  new  bishoprics,  and  au- 
thorizes the  holding  of  a  synod  in  France.  He 
recommends  to  Boniface  to  interdict  the  sacer- 
dotal functions  to  bishops,  priests,  or  deacons, 
who  shall  have  espoused  several  wives,  or 
who  shall  have  fallen  into  the  sin  of  the  flesh 
with  the  virgins  consecrated  to  God. 

By  order  of  Carloman,  the  council  assem- 
bled in  Germany,  on  the  21st  of  April,  742, 
and  all  its  decisions  were  submitted  to  the 
approval  of  the  Roman  pontiff.  Zachary  re- 
plied in  a  synodical  letter  addressed  to  the 
French  bishops,  in  which  he  praises  them  for 
the  energetic  measures  they  had  taken  to 
drive  from  their  sees  schismatical  prelates, 
concubine  keepers,  sodomites,  and  murderers. 
'■What  victories,"  adds  the  pope,  "can  a  peo- 
ple hope  for,  when  the  God  of  armies  is  im- 
plored by  sacrilegious  priests,  whose  impure 
hands,  after  having  been  soiled  by  luxury  and 
debauchery,  profane  the  divine  body  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  And  how  can  these  men  dare  present 
themselves  as  ministers  of  a  God  of  peace, 
when  they  bear  upon  their  vestments  the 
bloody  traces  of  the  faithful  whom  they  have 
murdered'? 

"But  if  you  have  pure  priests,  exempt  from 
crime — and  especially  if  you  obey  Boniface, 
who  will  instruct  you  in  our  name — all  infidel 
nations  will  fall  before  your  swords;  and  after 
the  victory,  God  will  recompense  you  by 
giving  you  eternal  life." 

Some  years  after,  the  English  apostle  wrote 
anew  to  Zachary  to  consult  him  on  some  very 
singular  facts.  We  give  a  faithful  translation 
of  his   letter,  which  pictures   faithfully  the 


morals  of  the  period.  "Gregory  the  Tlnrd 
authorized  us  to  designate  as  our  successor  a 
priest  whom  we  pointed  out  to  him;  but  since 
the  death  of  your  glorious  predecessor,  the 
brother  of  this  priest,  at  the  close  of  an  orgy, 
slew  the  uncle  of  the  duke  of  the  Franks,  and 
by  the  law  of  the  Franks,  vengeance  is  per- 
mitted to  all  the  relatives  of  the  dead  on  the 
murderer  and  the  members  of  his  family. 
Thus,  he  whom  we  had  designated  as  our 
successor,  having  been  forced  to  iiy,  what 
must  I  do,  most  holy  father "? 

"I  submit  another  difficulty  to  your  deci- 
sion. A  man  of  illustrious  birth  has  been 
presented  to  us,  who  affirms  with  an  oath  that 
he  purchased  from  Gregory  the  Third,  autho- 
rity to  espouse  his  cousin  in  the  third  degree, 
although  she  had  taken  a  vow  of  chastity.  He 
has  demanded  from  us  the  nuptial  benedic- 
tion under  a  pretence  that  his  conscience  was 
not  quiet,  and  offers  to  pay  us  for  a  permission 
to  marry.  In  his  country,  the  union  which 
he  has  contracted  passes  for  an  abominable 
incest  in  the  eyes  of  the  common  people,  so 
that  I  attribute  his  return  to  penitence,  not  to 
a  motive  of  religion,  but  to  a  fear  of  a  general 
reprobation. 

"  Some  prelates  have  also  complained  of  the 
avarice  of  the  court  of  Rome ;  they  say  that 
in  the  holy  city  all  the  dignities  are  sold 
at  auction,  and  in  spite  of  their  desire  to 
obtain  the  pallium,  that  they  have  not 
dared  to  ask  for  it,  because  they  are  not  rich 
enough  to  pay  for  it.  We  have  repelled  these 
calumnies  and  condemn  their  error;  and  the 
better  to  convince  them,  we  beseech  you  to 
grant  this  mark  of  dignity  to  our  brother 
Grimm,  archbishop  of  Rouen." 

Zachary  replied  to  the  archbishop  Boniface, 
"  We  will  not  suffer  it,  my  brother,  that  during 
your  life  a  bishop  should  be  chosen  in  your 
place,  which  would  be  an  infraction  of  the 
canons.  Beseech  God,  during  your  life,  that 
He  would  give  you  a  worthy  successor,  and 
at  the  hour  of  death,  you  will  be  able  to  de- 
signate him  before  all  the  people,  that  he  may 
come  to  us  to  be  ordained.  We  grant  this 
favour  to  you  alone,  to  recompense  the  zeal 
you  have  constantly  manifested  for  the  Holy 
See. 

"You  have  submitted  to  us  a  case  of  union 
of  which  we  cannot  approve  without  violating 
the  canons;  nevertheless.  I  avow,  to  the  shame 
of  our  Holy  See,  that  my  predecessors  have 
sold  like  permissions  to  fill  the  treasury  of  St. 
Peter,  when  it  has  been  exhausted  by  wars 
or  by  the  prodigalities  of  pontiffs.  You  have 
acted  prudently  in  repulsing  the  accusation  of 
simony  which  culpable  priests  brought  against 
us,  and  in  anathematizing  those  who  would 
sell  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

At  this  period  the  see  of  Treves  was  the 
oldest  in  Germany  and  the  largest  in  extent, 
so  much  so  that  it  was  called  a  second  Rome. 
Zachary,  jealous  of  the  importance  of  this 
church,  and  under  pretext  of  recompensing 
the  holy  bishop  Boniface,  detached  from  it  the 
cities  of  Mayence,  Cologne,  Liege,  Utrecht, 
Strasburg,  Worms,'  and   Spires,   to   form   an 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


187 


archbishopric,  of  which  he  established  the  i  useless  to  confess  them ;  your  most  secret 
see  at  Mayence.  By  this  dismemberment.  I  thoughts  are  revealed  tomej  rise  up,  and  go 
the  greatest  metropolis  of  Germany  became  in  peace  to  your  homes,  I  give  you  absolu- 
the  smallest  and  least  important  in'its  spirit-  j  tion  "?' 

ual  jurisdiction.  "Another  heretical  priest  named  Clement, 

Boniface  took  immediate  possession  of  his  j  rejects  the  authority  of  canons,  councils,  trea- 
see,  but  he  found  the  clergy  of  the  country  ,  tises  and  decisions  of  tie  fathers  :  he  calls  St. 
plunged  in  an  ignorance  so  profound  that  the  Jerome,  St.  Augustine,  and  St.  Gregory  im- 
priests  did  not  understand  Latin.  One  of  them  posters ;  he  rejects  their  dogmas  as  gross 
being  called  before  the  bishop  to  baptize  an  errors,  capable  of  corrupting  men,  and  op- 
infant,  performed  it  with  this  formulary —  '  posed  to  the  true  spirit  of  the  morality  of 
"Baptizo  te  in  nomine  Patria,  Filia  et  spiritua  Jesus  Christ.  Clement  maintains,  that  no 
sancta."  The  prelate,  scandalized  by  the  power  has  the  right  of  deposing  him  from  the 
abject  state  of  his  new  priests,  wrote  to  the  episcopate,  though  he  lives  in  concubinage, 
holy  father  to  ask  of  him  whether  he  should  having  two  adulterous  sons,  and  though  he 
perform  a  second  baptism  when  the  first  ap-    has  undergone   circumcision.      Finall}-,    this 


peared  irregular.  Zachary  replied  to  him — 
'•  VVe  ought  not  to  baptize  a  second  time  those 
who  have  already  received  the  holy  water  of 
baptism;  for  a  simple  ignorance  of  the  lan- 
guage does  not  introduce  religious  error  into 
the  words;  it  is  enough  to  render  the  sacra- 
ment regular — that  it  should  be  administered 
in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  Still,  in  or- 
der to  avoid  a  scandal  which  a  clergy  so  ig- 
norant gives  rise  to,  you  will  assemble  a 
council  to  decide  what  measures  it  is  neces- 
sary to  take  to  bring  back  discipline  and 
knowledge  to  your  church." 

The  synod  having  assembled,  Boniface  has- 
tened to  inform  the  pontiff  of  its  proceedings, 
and  advised  him  in  these  terms  of  the  disor- 
ders of  the  priests  of  Gaul :  "During  the  thirty 
years  I  have  been  in  the  service  of  the  Holy 
See,  I  have  never  failed  to  inform  it  of  all  that 


unworthy  priest,  introduces  Judaism  into  the 
church,  and  permits  the  faithful  to  espouse  the 
daughter  of  a  brother  or  sister.  He  teaches 
that  the  Saviour,  by  descending  to  the  infernal 
regions,  redeemed  all  the  damned  whom  he 
found  there — even  infidels  and  idolaters ;  and 
that  at  the  last  judgment  he  will  draw  from 
thence  all  those  who  shall  have  received  the 
eucharist;  because,  adds  he,  Christ  cannot 
sufier  the  souls  whom  he  has  redeemed  by 
the  price  of  his  own  blood  to  burn  eternally 
in  hell. 

"We  cannot  tolerate  by  our  silence  such 
scandals;  and  we  beseech  you,  most  holy  fa- 
ther, to  write  to  duke  Carloman,  that  these 
two  heretics  may  be  placed  in  prison,  and  be 
subjected  to  the  torture  ;  and  that  no  one  may 
speak  to,  or  communicate  with  them." 

As  soon  as  Zachary  received  the  letter  of 


happens  to  me,  agreeable  or  otherwise,  in  or-  the  archbishop  Boniface,  he  hastened  to  con^ 
der  to  be  sustained  by  its  advice.  Thus,  I  ;  voke  a  council  at  Rome.  The  false  prelates, 
must  advise  you  of  the  persecutions  of  which  '  Adalbert  and  Clement,  were  excommunicated, 
I  have  been  the  victim,  in  presiding  over  the  and  the  proceedings  of  the  synod  were  ad- 
council  of  the  Franks  as  you  ordered  me.  dressed  to  the  primate  of  the  Gauls  :  "  We 
"False  bishops,  infamous  and  sodomite  ;  exhort  you,  my  brother,"  wrote  the  pontiff, 
priests,     shameless    and    murderous    clerks  j  "  to  bear  with  courage  the  persecutions  of  bad 


abound  in  this  country.  One  of  these,  the 
prelate  Adalbert,  maintains  that  an  angel 
came  from  the  extremity  of  the  earth,  to 
bring  him  marvellous  relics,  by  virtue  of  which 
he  can  obtain  from  God  all  he  asks  of  him. 
He  dares  to  affirm,  with  execrable  oaths,  that 
he  receives  letters  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  by 
this  sacrilegious  knavery  he  has  gained  the 
confidence  of  families,  seduced  women  and 
girls,  deceived  credulous  minds,  and  received 
sums  of  money  which  should  have  come  to 
the  legitimate  bishops. 

"  Not  only  does  Adalbert  declare  himself  a 
saint  and  a  prophet,  but  even  in  his  pride  he 
has  dared  to  make  himself  ecjual  to  the  apos- 
tles, and  to  consecrate  churches  in  his  own 
honour.  He  has  elevated  crosses  and  oratories 


priests,  and  to  persevere  in  your  conduct. 

"  Has  not  Rome  itself  been  filled  with  scan- 
dals by  its  clergy  1  Has  not  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  itself  been  soiled  by  pontiffs  who  were 
guilty  of  adultery,  incest,  murder,  and  poi- 
soning 1  But  God  in  his  goodness  has  designed 
at  length  to  grant  us  peace,  and  to  console  us. 

"  Ordain  fasts  and  processions,  and  we  will 
join  our  prayers  to  yours,  all  unworthy  as  we 
are,  to  call  down  upon  you  the  clemency  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Still,  though  placing  all  your 
confidence  in  God,  do  not  abandon  the  aid  of 


the  temporal  power  to  lead  back  heretics,  and 
to  persecute  tnem  if  they  reject  the  truth. 


pov 
ther 
"We  approve  of  all  the  decisions  of  your 
council.    We  depose  and  anathematize  Adal- 
bert and  Clement.     In  conformity  with  your 


in  the  fields,  near  to  fountains,  in  the  woods,  desire  we  have  written  to  duke  Carloman,  be- 
and  upon  rocks,  to  induce  the  abandonment  seeching  him  to  punish  severely  those  un- 
of  the  5ld  churches,  and  to  turn  to  his  own  ,  worthy  ecclesiastics,  for  the  edification  of  the 
profit  the  oflerings  of  the  ignorant.  He  sells  churches  which  are  administered  by  impostor 
lo  the  faithful  his  nails  and  his  hair,  as  pre-  j  bishops  and  priests. 

cious  relics,  which  they  should  adore  ;  and  he  !  "  We  know  that  infamous  men,  vagabond 
bla.sj)hemes  our  holy  religion  in  blaspheming  slaves,  those  guilty  of  homicides,  robberies, 
the  sacrament  of  confession.  He  says  to  men  adulteries,  and  other  abominable  crimes,  trans- 
who  come  to  prostrate  themselves  at  his  feet  form  themselves  into  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
to  avow^  their  faults,  'I  know  your  shis — it  is  .live  without  recognizing  the  authority  of  our 


188 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


see,  and  seize  upon  churches.  Wheresoever 
you  shall  find  these  props  of  Satan,  deprive 
them  of  the  priesthood,  and  submit  them  to 
the  monastic  rule,  that  they  may  terminate 
their  scandalous  lives  by  sincere  repentance. 

"  Above  all.  proscribe  the  philosopher  Virgil, 
that  Scotch  priest,  who  dares  maintain  that 
there  exists  another  world,  and  other  men 
upon  that  world  ;  other  suns  and  other  moons 
in  the  heavens;  who  affirms  that  to  be  a 
Christian,  it  is  enough  to  follow  the  morality 
of  the  Bible,  and  to  practise  its  precepts, 
without  even  being  baptized.  Let  him  be 
driven  from  the  church,  deprived  of  the  priest- 
hood, and  plunged  in  the  darkest  dungeons ; 
let  him  then  undergo  all  the  tortures  invented 
by  man  ;  for  we  will  never  find  a  punishment 
sufficiently  terrible  to  chastise  an  infamous 
wretch,  whose  sacrilegious  doctrine  has  de- 
stroyed the  holiness  of  our  religion.  We  have 
already  requested  the  duke  of  Bavaria  to  de- 
liver up  to  us  this  apostate,  to  be  solemnly 
judged  and  punished,  in  accordance  with  the 
rigor  of  the  canons.  The  prince  having  re- 
fused our  request,  we  have  written  to  the 
priest  a  threatening  letter  proljibiting  him  from 
raising  his  abominable  voice  in  the  presence 
of  the  faithful  assembled  in  the  house  of 
God." 

Virgil  was  indeed  cruelly  persecuted  by  the 
slaves  of  the  Holy  See,  who  called  a  sacrile- 
gious idolatry,  the  theory  of  the  learned  Scotch- 
man in  relation  to  the  earth,  which  he  main- 
tained to  be  round,  and  inhabited  on  all  its 
surface.  Eight  centuries  later,  the  doctrine 
of  the  antipodes,  taught  by  this  philosophic 
priest,  will  fecundate  the  genius  of  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  and  add  a  new  continent  to 
the  old  world. 

But  Rome,  in  its  ignorance,  could  not  be- 
lieve there  was  any  other  science  than  that  of 
religion ;  that  there  existed  other  worlds  than 
those  authorized  by  the  canons,  approved  by 
the  fathers,  and  preached  by  the  apostles. 
Sovereigns,  still  more  ignorant  than  the  eccle- 
siastics, did  not  recognize  other  truths  than 
those  taught  by  the  church.  They  submitted 
themselves  blindly  to  the  decisions  of  pon- 
tiffs, consulted  them  in  their  enterprises,  and 
sometimes  even  abandoned  their  crowns  to  sit 
in  the  councils  of  the  popes,  the  cross  in  their 
hand,  their  heads  ornamented  with  a  mitre, 
or  their  shoulders  covered  with  a  frock. 

Thus  the  king  of  the  Lombards,  Ratchis, 
preferred  to  the  grandeur  of  a  throne,  a  sim- 
ple cell  in  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino. 
Carloman,  the  brother  of  Pepin,  also  re- 
nounced the  world,  came  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  holy  city,  and  after  having  enriched  the 
purse  of  St.  Peter,  received  from  the  hands 
of  the  pontiff  the  frock  of  St.  Benedict,  and 
shut  himself  up  in  a  monastery.  This  g;reat 
prince  served  in  the  kitchen,  took  care  of  the 
stables,  and  laboured  in  the  garden  to  humble 
his  pride  and  to  save  his  soul  from  the  flames 
of  hell.  The  famous  abbey  of  Fulda,  of  which 
Boniface  has  given  a  description  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  pontiff,  owes  to  him  its  foun- 
dation.    "  In  a  vast  forest  in  the  midst  of  a 


wild  locality,  we  have  built  a  monastery,  &■:.! 
have  sent  to  it  monks  who  live  in  accordance 
with  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  depriving  them- 
selves of  flesh,  wine,  and  beer ;  they  are  with- 
out servants,  and  continually  occupied  in  ma- 
nual labour.  This  retreat  has  been  founded 
by  us,  by  the  aid  of  pious  souls,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  assistance  of  brother  Carloman, 
formerly  prince  of  the  Franks.  We  ourselves 
propose,  with  your  approbation,  to  repose  oiu: 
old  age  in  this  holy  retreat,  waiting  for  the 
hour  of  our  death." 

Pepin,  become  absolute  master  in  France 
after  the  retreat  of  his  brother,  occupied  him- 
self with  bringing  Rome  into  his  interests. 
The  priest  Ardobanus,  who  was  authorized  so 
to  do  by  the  bishops,  abbots,  and  lords  of 
Gaul,  came  to  consult  the  pope  on  several 
points  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  which  may 
be  reduced  to  three  principal  heads  :  the  epis- 
copal order,  the  penance  of  homicides,  and 
illicit  unions.  The  embassador  at  the  same 
time  informed  his  holiness,  that  Mayence  had 
been  selected  as  the  metropolis  of  the  king- 
dom. In  his  secret  instructions,  the  mayor 
of  the  palace  had  charged  Ardobanus  to  offer 
rich  presents  to  the  holy  father,  and  to  assure 
himself  of  the  views  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
as  to  the  time  in  which  he  should  usurp  the 
crown  of  France.  The  pontiff  received  the 
embassador  at  a  solemn  audience.  He  replied 
to  the  letters  of  the  prelates  and  the  lords,  by 
urging  them  all  to  do  their  duty.  The  secu- 
lars, by  combating  against  the  infidel,  and 
the  ecclesiastics  by  assisting  them  with  their 
counsel  and  their  prayers.  He  also  addressed 
private  letters  to  Pepin,  encouraging  him  in 
his  ambitious  projects,  and  authorizing  him, 
in  the  name  of  religion,  to  depose  Childeric 
the  Third  immediately,  and  to  take  possession 
of  his  crown.  The  mayor  of  the  palace,  con- 
fident of  the  aid  of  the  clergy,  announced  the 
forfeiture  of  the  feeble  monarch,  caused  his 
head,  and  that  of  his  young  son  Thierry  to  be 
shaved,  and  shut  them  up — the  one  in  the 
monastery  of  Sithian,  the  other  in  a  convent 
in  Normandy. 

Zachary  had  well  foreseen  that  his  policy 
guarantied  to  the  Holy  See  the  protection  of 
a  rising  dynasty,  and  that  in  exchange  for  the 
sanction  which  he  gave  to  an  usurpation,  the 
new  prince  would  aid  him  to  abase  the  Lom- 
bards, and  to  free  him  entirely  from  the  rule 
of  the  emperors.  In  fact,  the  sovereigns  of 
Constantinople  were  soon  reduced  to  implore 
the  aid  of  the  popes,  and  Constantino  Copro- 
nj-mus,  who  had  been  driven  from  the  throne 
by  the  usurper  Artabasus,  could  not  repossess 
himself  of  his  crown  but  through  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Holy  See.  The  prince,  in  grati- 
tude, yielded  to  the  pope  several  dominions 
of  the  empire.  The  exarch  Eutychius,  John 
metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  and  the  people  of 
the  Pentapolis  and  of  the  province  of  Emilius, 
asked,  in  their  turn,  the  powerful  protection  of 
Zachary  to  arrest  the  victorious  arms  of  the 
Lombards. 

Under  the  pretext  of  being  better  able  to 
appreciate  the  subject  of  their   complaints, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


189 


the  pontiff  went  to  Ravenna,  accompanied  by 
a  numerous  court.  On  his  arrival  the  citizens 
and  clergy  sallied  from  the  city  to  receive 
liim,  exclaiming,  "'  Blessed  be  the  shepherd, 
who  has  left  his  flock  to  come  to  deliver  us — 
us  who  were  about  to  perish.''  Some  days 
afterwards  Zachary  sent  embassadors  to  in- 
form the  Lombard  prince  of  his  arrival  in  his 
estates.  Luitprand  sent  an  escort  composed 
of  the  lords  of  his  court  to  meet  the  holy  fa- 
ther, and  receive  him  with  all  the  honours  due 
to  his  dignity  and  rank. 

In  his  interview  with  the  king,  his  holiness 
demanded  the  execution  of  the  treaties,  the 
retreat  of  the  troops  which  occupied  the  pro- 
vince of  Ravenna,  the  restitution  to  the  Holy 
See  of  the  cities  which  his  generals  had  seized, 
and  especially  of  that  of  Sienna.  The  mo- 
narch, fearing  to  draw  upon  himself  the  en- 
mity of  Zachary,  acceded  to  his  requests,  con- 
sented to  restore  the  city  of  Ravenna,  two- 
thirds  of  the  territory  of  Sienna,  and  only 
kept,  for  the  safety  of  his  troops  a  single  for- 
tified place,  which  he  even  promised  to  restore 
to  the  exarch  after  the  return  of  his  embas- 


sadors, who  had  gone  to  Constantinople,  to 
treat  of  peace  with  the  emperor. 

After  having  elevated  the  pontifical  chair  to 
the  highest  degree  of  power  during  a  leign  of 
eleven  years,  Zachary  died  in  the  month  of 
March,  in  the  year  752.  He  was  interred  in 
the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

The  patriarchal  palace  of  the  Lateran  was 
almost  entirely  rebuilt  by  this  pontill;  he  in- 
creased its  size  by  several  immense  saloons, 
paved  with  marble,  enriched  with  paintings 
and  mosaics.  The  legends  relate  that  in  dig- 
ging the  foundation  of  this  admirable  building, 
the  workmen  found  a  human  head,  buried 
very  deep  in  the  earth,  and  in  an  excellent 
state  of  preservation  ;  that  it  was  carried  to 
the  pope,  who  aflirmed  that  it  was  the  head 
of  the  blessed  St.  George.  By  his  orders  the 
precious  relic  was  deposited  in  a  magiiilicent 
shrine,  on  which  a  Greek  inscription  was  en- 
graved. The  credulous  people,  the  hypocriti- 
cal clergy,  and  the  lords  of  Rome,  then  bore 
it  in  procession  to  the  deaconry  of  St.  George, 
of  the  Veil  of  Gold,  where  it  has  since  per- 
formed numerous  miracles. 


STEPHEN  THE  SECOND,  NINETY-FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  752. — CoNSTANTiNE  CoPRONYMUs,  Emperor  of  the  East.] 
Election  of  the  pontiff — He  dies  after  a  reign  of  three  days,  and  without  having  been  consecrated. 


Aftkr  the  death  of  pope  Zachary,  the  Ro- 
mans chose,  to  occupy  the  Holy  See,  a  priest 
named  Stephen,  who  took  immediate  posses- 
sion of  the  patriarchal  palace  of  the  Lateran. 

On  the  third  day,  on  awakening,  at  the  mo- 
ment when  he  was  rising  from  his  bed  to  give 
some  orders,  he  suddenly  lo,st  his  voice  and 
recollection,  and  fell  dead  at  the  feet  of  his 
deacons. 

Some  historians  refuse  to  count  Stephen  the 
Second  in  the  number  of  the  pontiffs,  because 
he  had  never  been  consecrated ;  but  Onu- 
phrus,  Bauvini,  the  cardinal  Baronius,  and  fa- 
ther Petau,  have  pursued  a  different  mode  of 
thinking — that  consecration  adds  nothing  to 
the  dignity  of  a  priest  canonically  elected,  and 
that  he  is  really  pope  after  his  nomination  has 
been  made  by  the  people,  the  clergy,  and  the 
lords.     We  conform  to  their  tlecision. 

Such  was  in  fact  the  doctrine  and  usage  of 
the  church  in  the  first  ages.  The  right  of 
choosing  the  ministers  of  religion  appeared  so 
important,  that  subdeacons,  deacons,  priest.s, 
and  bishops  were  all  named,  without  excep- 
tion, by  the  assembly  of  the  faithful.  St.  Cy- 
prian even  augments  the  latitude  of  this 
power.  "  Not  onlv,"  says  he,  •'  have  the  faith- 
ful the  divine  riglit  of  choosing  the  ministers 
of  the  church;  but  they  can  even  regularly 


depose  those  who  shall  show  themselves  to 
be  unworthy  of  the  ministry,  after  having 
been  consecrated.  They  are  even  obliged  in 
conscience  so  to  do;  for  those  who  would  to- 
lerate an  ecclesiastical  prevaricator  would 
render  themselves  guilty  towards  God."'  Pope 
St.  Leo  himself  maintains  that  election  alone 
confers  the  dignity  of  bishop.  He  adds  that 
the  faithful  of  the  same  city  should  all  concur 
in  the  nomination  of  their  pastor.  He  formally 
recognizes  the  right  of  election  as  being  in 
all  Christians,  and  lanches  anathemas  ag-ainst 
those  who  should  essay  to  take  this  privilege 
from  the  people  to  arrogate  to  themselves  the 
nomination  to  the  different  dignities  of  the 
church. 

From  these  considerations  it  evidently  fol- 
lows, that  the  consecration  of  bishops  was  npt 
then  regurded  as  indispensable  to  their  pos- 


sessing the  episcopal  dignity,  and  that  it  was 
sufficient  that  they  should  nave  obtained  the 
suffrages  of  the  Christians  of  a  diocese  to  be 
canonically  its  pastor.  Thus  Stephen  the  Se- 
cond, notwithstanding  the  brevity  of  his  ap- 
parition on  the  throne  of  St.  Peter,  although 
he  had  not  been  ortiained  prelate  was  none 
the  less  really  pope,  and  as  such  he  should 
occupy  his  rank  in  the  chronological  series  of 
the  successors  of  the  apostles. 


190 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


STEPHEN  THE  THIRD,  NINETY-FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  752. — CoNSTANTiNE  CoPRONYMUs,  EiTiperor  of  the  East.] 

Election  of  Stephen  the  Third — His  birth  and  education — He  sends  legates  to  prince  Astolphus — 
The  king  of  the  Lombards  seizes  Ravenna — He  makes  war  on  the  Romans — Embassy  from 
the  king  of  the  Lombards  to  Constantinople — Council  of  the  image  breakers — Decisions  against 
the  images — The  Romans  are  reduced  to  the  last  eztremity — htephcn  asks  for  aid  from  the 
Ercnch— Pepin  protects  the  pope — Litrigves  and  machinations  of  the  pope — He  falls  sick — 
His  u'onderful  cure — He  consecrates  the  temple — Pepin  and  his  tiro  sons — War  of  Italy — 
Peace  with  the  Lombards — Astolphus  recommences  the  tear — The  pope  again  asks  aid  from 
Pepin — Knavery  of  the  pontiff — He  addresses  to  the  French  monarch  letters  written  by  St. 
Peter,  the  Virgin,  and  the  saints — Pepin,  the  dupe  of  this  chicanery,  re-enters  Italy  at  the  head 
of  an  army — The  pope  is  placed  in  possession  of  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna — Origin  of  the 
temporcd  poicer  of  the  popes — Didier,  king  of  the  Lombards — Death  of  Stephen  the  Third. 


After  the  death  of  Stephen  the  Second, 
the  people,  the  grandees,  and  the  clergy  as- 
sembled m  the  church  of  St.  Mary-Majora, 
and  proclaimed  a  pontifi',  who  was  enthroned 
under  the  name  of  Stephen  the  Third.  He 
was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  an  orphan  from 
his  earliest  infancy.  The  popes,  his  prede- 
cessors, took  care  of  his  infancy,  and  had 
brought  him  up  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran ) 
there  he  had  passed  through  all  the  ecclesias- 
tical orders  to  the  deaconate. 

In  his  different  employments,  Stephen  had 
steadily  used  his  influence  to  solace  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  poor,  on  which  account  the  Ro- 
mans had  so  great  a  veneration  for  him,  that 
on  the  day  of  his  election,  some  of  the  people 
raised  him  on  their  shoulders  and  bore  him 
in  triumph  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  Some 
authors  relate,  that  this  ceremony  was  autho- 
rized by  an  ancient  custom ;  but  Polydorus 
Virgilius  afhrras  that  it  was  the  first  example 
of  an  enthronization  so  contrary  to  apostolical 
humility,  and  blames  Stephen  for  having  sub- 
mitted to  it. 

Stephen  was  also  the  first  pontiff  who  sealed 
his  letters  with  lead  instead  of  wax,  which 
the  bishops  of  Rome  had  before  used  for  that 
purpose. 

Three  months  after  his  enthronement,  the 
holy  father  sent  legates  to  the  king  of  the 
Lombards,  to  offer  him  rich  presents  in  ex- 
change for  a  treatj'of  peace  between  his  peo- 
ple and  the  Holy  See.  Astolphus  at  first  took 
the  presents,  and  swore  to  a  treaty  of  four 
years.  Perceiving  afterwards  that  the  small 
number  of  Greek  troops  who  defended  Italy, 
presented  to  him  a  favourable  opportunity  to 
snatch  the  exarchate  from  the  empire,  he 
broke  the  peace  and  marched  upon  Ravenna. 
Eutychius,  who  commanded  for  the  emperor, 
defended  himself  with  courage  for  some 
months,  when,  overwhelmed  by  the  number 
of  the  enemy,  he  abandoned  his  capital,  and 
took  refuge  at  Constantinople.  Ravenna  fell 
before  the  arms  of  the  Lombards,  and  its  ruin 
caused  the  destruction  of  the  exarchs,  who 
had  reigned  for  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
years  in  the  capacity  of  imperial  vicars. 

Astolphus,  elated  by  his  first  success,  re- 
solved to  seize  upon  all  Italy  ;  and  under  the 
pretext  that  the  possession  of  Ravenna  gave 
to  him  as  a  consequence  the  use  of  the  rights 


granted  by  the  empire  to  this  government,  he 
claimed  the  sovereignty  of  Rome,  and  threat- 
ened to  undertake  a  siege  of  it,  to  reduce  it 
under  his  authority.  The  pope  immediately 
sent  the  abbots  of  St.  Vincent,  of  Vultorna, 
and  St.  Benedict  of  Monte  Cassino,  to  demand 
the  execution  of  the  treaties,  and  the  preser- 
vation of  the  peace.  But  Astolphus,  full  of 
contempt  for  these  ambassadors  in  frocks,  was 
unwilling  to  even  listen  to  their  propositions. 
He  ordered  them  to  re-enter  their  monasteries, 
prohibiting  them  even  from  returning  to  Rome 
to  render  an  account  of  their  embassy. 

Still  the  war  was  for  a  time  suspended  by 
the  conversion  of  Anselmus,  the  brother-in- 
law  of  Astolphus,  who  embraced  a  religious 
life,  and  obtained  from  the  king,  for  himself 
and  his  monks,  the  territory  of  Nonantula,  two 
leagues  from  Modena.  An  abbey  and  a  church 
were  built  by  the  care  of  the  prince,  in  honour 
of  the  apostles.  Sergius,  metropolitan  of  Ra- 
venna, dedicated  it  in  an  imposing  ceremony, 
and  Astolphus  confirmed  the  foundation, 
which  he  had  before  made,  in  which  he  only 
obliges  the  monks  to  furnish  him  wdth  forty 
pikes  at  Lent,  and  an  equal  number  at  Advent. 
He  then  accompanied  his  brother-in-law  to 
Rome,  and  offered  this  donation  to  the  clergy, 
by  placing;  according  to  usage,  the  deed  upon 
the  confessional  of  St.  Peter. 

Princes  already  knew  the  subtle  distinction 
of  the  Holy  See  between  Cassarand  the  church, 
since  at  the  very  time  in  which  the  monarch 
was  preparing  to  carry  on  a  terrible  war  against 
Stephen  the  Third,  he  showed,  as  a  Christian, 
his  absolute  submission  to  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  and  assisted  at  a  council  convoked 
by  the  pope,  to  clothe  Anselm  in  the  monastic 
habit,  and  to  give  him  the  pastoral  baton. 

Some  days  after  this  ceremony,  John,  the 
silentiary  of  the  emperor,  arrived  at  the  holy 
city,  bearing  letters  for  the  pontiff'  and  the 
king  of  the  Lombards.  Constantino  urged  the 
prince  to  restore  to  him  the  places  he  had  un- 
justly snatched  from  the  empire,  in  contempt 
of  treaties,  and  demanded  the  terms  on  wliich 
he  proposed  to  put  an  end  to  a  war  Avhich 
would  be  destructive  to  the  two  people. 

Astolphus,  desirous  of  gaining  time  to  pur- 
sue his  conquests,  and  consolidate  his  rule  in 
Italy,  refused  to  give  a  decisive  reply  to  the 
silentiary.  He  named  an  embassador  to  reluru 


HISTORY   OF    TPIE    POPES. 


191 


■with  John  to  the  court  of  Constantinople  to 
treat  of  peace  with  tlie  emperor  himself. 

Stephen  also  sent  several  deputies  to  the 
emperor,  under  the  pretence  of  carrying  let- 
ters to  him,  but  in  reality  to  induce  him  to 
descend  into  Italy  with  an  army  to  deliver 
Rome  from  the  Lombards.  Coiistantine,  oc- 
cupied in  the  East  with  his  war  against  the 
Arabs,  and  separated,  besides,  in  his  opinions 
from  the  holy  father,  on  the  subject  of  image 
worship,  treated  with  contempt  the  entreaties 
addressed  to  him,  abandoned  Rome  to  king 
Astolphus,  and  convoked  a  general  council  in 
his  city  of  Constantinople,  to  condemn  the 
adoration  of  images. 

Three  hundred  and  thirty-eight  bishops  as- 
sistetl  at  this  assembly.  After  a  sufficiently 
long  preamble,  the  fathers  made  the  following 
declaration:  '-'Jesus  Christ  delivered  men 
from  idolatry,  and  taught  them  to  worship  in 
spirit  and  in  truth;  but  the  devil,  jealous  of  j 
the  power  of  the  church,  novv  seeks  to  restore 
the  worship  of  idols,  under  the  appearance  of  | 
Christianity,  by  persuading  the  faithful  that 
they  should  prostrate  themselves  before  crea- 
tures. Thus,  to  combat  the  prince  of  dark- 
ness, we  order  the  priests  to  cast  out  from  the 
temples  all  the  images  which  delile  them,  and 
to  destroy  those  which  are  exposed  for  adora-  i 
tion  in  churches  or  private  houses,  under  penal- 
ty, for  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  of  deposi- 
tion ;  for  monks  and  laymen  of  anathema;  and 
without  prejudice  to  the  corporal  punishment 
inflicted  on  the  guilty  by  the  imperial  laws." 
When  the  synod  rose.  Constantino  went  in 
great  pomp  to  the  public  square,  and  pub- 
lished the  decrees  of  the  council  of  bishops. 
The  iconoclastic  priests  hurried  immediately 
into  the  churches,  and  under  pretence  of  de- 
stroying the  images  and  overthrowing  idola- 
trous ornaments,  seized  upon  crosses  enriched 
with  precious  stones,  the  sacred  vases,  rich 
vestments,  precious  veils,  and  the  services  of 
golil  or  silver  destined  for  divine  service. 

The  kingof  theLombanls  finding  the  empe- 
ror too  much  occupied  with  his  religions  quar- 
rels to  dream  of  arresting  him  in  his  plans  of 
con([nest,  entered  upon  the  territory  of  Rome, 
and  notwithstanding  the  supplications  of  the 
pope,  he  summoned  the  inhabitants  to  recog- 
nize him  as  their  sovereign  if  they  did  not 
wish  to  be  put  to  the  sword. 

Stephen  the  Third  having  none  but  undis- 
ciplined troops  to  oppose  to  the  Lombards, 
shut  himself  up  in  the  city,  exhorting  the 
people  to  implore  the  mercy  of  God.  He 
caused  the  relics  of  the  apostles  to  be  carried 
in  procession,  he  himself  \\  alking  with  naked 
feet,  and  his  head  covered  with  ashes,  carry- 
ing upon  his  shoulilers  an  image  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  the  priests  said  had  been  sent 
by  God  to  the  Holy  See.  A  bishop  led  the 
way,  waving  in  the  air  a  great  cross  of  gold, 
to  one  side  of  which  was  attached  the  treaty 
of  peace  made  with  the  king  of  the  Lom- 
bards, and  to  the  other  the  bull  of  excommu- 
nication of  this  sacrilegious  prince. 

Not  withstand!  n;;  the  conlidence  which  the 
pontUr  exhibited  in  heaven,  he  counted  more 


on  terrestrial  arms  to  ari  est  the  troops  of  As- 
tolphus. Despairing  of  aid  from  the  emperor, 
he  resolved  to  address  himself  to  king  Pepin, 
to  inform  him  of  the  desolation  of  the  church. 
He  wrote  at  the  same  time  to  all  the  dukes  of 
France,  beseeching  them  to  come  to  the  res- 
cue of  St.  Peter,  whom  he  called  their  pro- 
tector, promising  them,  in  the  name  of  the 
apostle,  the  remission  of  all  the  sins  they  had 
committed  or  might  commit  in  future,  and 
guaranteeing  to  them  unalterable  happiness 
in  this  world,  and  eternal  life  in  the  next. 

Droctegand.  the  first  abbot  of  Gorza.  chief 
of  the  embassy,  had  scarcely  quitted  Italy, 
when  the  sileutiary  John  returned  from  Con- 
stantinople with  the  legates.  Constantino  or- 
dered the  holy  father  to  go  to  the  court  of 
Astolphus,  to  obtain  the  restoration  of  Ravenna 
and  of  the  cities  which  were  dependencies 
on  the  exarchate.  The  pope  was  convinced 
in  advance  of  the  inutility  of  this  negotiation. 
He  however  consented  to  undertake  it,  with 
the  view  of  approaching  France,  and  going 
himself  to  solicit  the  aid  of  Pepin.  He  im- 
mediately sent  embassadors  to  the  court  of 
Pavia,  to  demand  a  safe  conduct,  which  the 
Lombard  king  hastened  to  grant  him.  gua- 
ranteeing, besides,  that  he  should  receive  all 
the  honours  due  to  his  rank. 

Stephen  left  Rome,  on  the  14th  of  October. 
754,  accompanied  by  the  French   embassa- 
dors, who  had  returned  with  Droctegand  in 
the  interval  of  the  negotiation.    On  his  arrival 
in  the  territory  of  Pavia,  Astolphus  forewarned 
him  that  it  was  useless  to  come  before  him, 
if  he  wished  to  obtain  from  him  the  restora- 
tion of  the  exarchate  of  Raveima,  and  of  the 
other  places  of  the  empire  which  he  or  his 
j  predecessors  hatl  acquired.     The  pontiff  re- 
plied that  no  fear  should  prevent  him  from 
accomplishing  the   mission  with   which   his 
prince  had  charged  him,  and  he  pursued  his 
I  way  towards  the  capital  of  the  Lombards. 
The  next  day,  the  day  fixed  for  the  con- 
ference,  Stephen  was  admitted  to  the  pre- 
I  sence  of  the  king.     He  prostrated  himself  at 
I  his  feet,  and  offered  him  rich  presents,  be- 
seeching him,  in  the  name  of  Constantine,  to 
1  restore  the  provinces  which  he  had  seized. 
I  Astolphus  persisted  in  his  first  refusal,  and 
the  silentiary  John,  notwithstanding  his  pro- 
mises and  his  threats,  could  not  weaken  the 
!  resolution  of  the  Lombard  chief.  The  French 
embassadors  then  announced  to  him,  in  the 
name  of  the  king,  their  master,  that  they  had 
orders  to  conduct  the  pope  into  Gaul.     The 
king  immediately  perceived  the  perfidious  in- 
tentions of  Stephen,  but  he  dared  not  arrest 
him,  and  was  constrained  to  submit  to  the 
I  will  of  the  envoys  of  the  court  of  France. 
I      After  passing  the  Alps,  the  pontiff"  arrived 
at  the  monastery  of  St.  Maurice,  in  the  Valoi.s, 
where  the  French  lords  were  in  waiting  to 
conduct  him  to  Ponthion,  a  strons;  castle,  situ- 
ateil  near  to  Langres.  and  which  was  one  of 
the  royal  residences.    Charles,  the  oldest  son 
of  Pepin,  had  gone  more  than  fifty  leagues  to 
meet  the  holy  father.     The  kiwj;,  the  (jueen, 
and  the  young  princes  received  him  more  than 


192 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


a  league  from  Ponthion.  Anastasius  relates 
that  the  French  monarch  had  the  weakness  to 
walk  on  foot,  with  his  head  uncovered,  for  two 
hours,  holding  the  bridle  of  Stephen's  horse  ! 

On  the  following  day,  the  pope  and  his 
clergy  paid  their  respects  to  the  king,  and 
besought  God  to  preserve  him  to  his  people. 
On  the  ne.vt  day  they  offered  to  him  rich 
presents,  and  also  to  the  lords  of  his  court; 
but,  on  the  third  day,  the  songs  of  gladness 
gave  way  to  lamentations  ;  Stephen  appeared 
with  all  his  clergy,  their  heads  covered  with 
ashes  and  clothed  in  sackcloth.  All  pros- 
trated themselves  at  the  feet  of  the  monarch, 
beseeching  him  with  lamentable  cries,  by 
the  mercy  of  God  and  the  merits  of  the  holy 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  to  deliver  them  from 
the  dominion  of  the  Lombards.  The  holy 
father  remained  prostrate  with  his  face  to  the 
earth,  until  Pepin  had  extended  to  him  his 
hand,  pledging  that  the  king  would  raise  him 
from  the  earth  as  a  sign  of  the  deliverance 
which  he  promised  him. 

In  fact,  the  trick  of  the  pontiff  was  entirely 
successful.  The  emperor  consented  to  send 
embassadors  to  prince  Astolphus,  to  beseech 
him,  in  the  name  of  the  apostles,  not  to  ex- 
ercise hostilities  against  Rome.  But  this  em- 
bassy not  having  achieved  any  result,  Pepin 
allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  by  his  self-con- 
ceit into  a  terrible  war,  in  which  his  best  sol- 
diers were  about  to  perish  to  sustain  the  am- 
bition of  an  hypocritical  priest.  The  prince 
convoked,  in  the  city  of  Carisiac  or  Quiercy, 
the  lords  of  his  kingdom,  and  in  their  pre- 
sence he  decided  they  should  carry  war  into 
Italy,  to  deliver  the  holy  church;  and  he  even 
made  in  advance  a  donation  to  St.  Peter  of 
several  cities  and  territories,  which  were  still 
under  the  rule  of  the  Lombards.  The  deed 
was  solemnly  delivered,  and  Pepin  signed  it, 
in  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  two  sons, 
Charles  and  Carloman. 

Astolphus,  having  been  apprised  of  the  pre- 
parations for  war  which  the  Franks  were  mak- 
ing against  him,  hastened  to  send  to  their  court 
the  monk  Carloman,  the  brother  of  Pepin,  to 
destroy  by  his  influence  the  machinations  of 
Stephen,  and  to  turn  aside  the  lords  of  Gaul 
from  their  enterprise  against  Italy.  jMazeray 
affirms,  that  the  monk  pleaded  the  cause  of 
the  Lombards  with  so  much  eloquence  to  the 
parliament  of  Quiercy,  that  it  determined  to 
send  envoys  to  Pavia  to  propose  a  treaty  of 
peace  between  the  pope  and  the  king. 

The  ambassadors  were  received  with  great 
honours  by  Astolphus;  he  consented  not  to 
lay  claim  to  the  sovereignty  of  Rome,  but  re- 
fused to  restore  to  the  emperor  the  exarchate 
of  Ravenna,  maintaining  that  this  matter  con- 
cerned neither  the  pope  nor  the  French  mo- 
narch, and  that  Constantine  must  reconquer, 
by  arms,  the  provinces  which  the  unskilful- 
ness  of  his  generals  had  lost  to  the  empire. 

Stephen  the  Third  then  maintained,  that 
Ravenna  and  its  dependencies  did  not  belong 
to  him  who  had  conquered  them,  but  that  they 
had  escheated,  of  divine  right,  to  the  Holy 
See,  as  being  the  spoils  of  an  heretical  prince. 


Carloman  was  desirous  of  representing  to  the 
holy  father  how  unjust  were  his  pretensions, 
and  what  scandal  he  would  give  to  the 
faithful  by  laying  claim  to  the  spoils  of  one 
condemned.  Stephen,  then,  to  disembarrass 
himself  of  an  adversary  so  clear-sighled,  un- 
dertook to  make  him  suspected  by  the  jea- 
lous Pepin.  He  accused  Carloman  of  nourish- 
ing ambitious  thoughts ;  and  he  determined 
the  monarch  to  shut  him  up  in  the  monastery 
of  Vienne,  and  to  shave  his  young  nephews. 
Master  of  the  ground,  he  easily  obtained  from 
the  prince  a  promise  to  employ  the  French 
armies  in  conquering  for  him  the  exarchate 
of  Ravenna ;  and  the  assembly  at  Quiercy, 
having  terminated  its  deliberations.  Stephen 
came  to  St.  Denis  to  wait  the  time  of  his  de- 
parture. 

During  his  sojourn  in  France,  the  pontiff 
fell  sick  from  the  fatigiie  of  the  journey,  or 
the  severity  of  the  season,  and  in  a  few  days 
his  illness  became  so  great  that  his  household 
despaired  of  his  life.  But  the  Holy  See  was 
not  thus  to  lose  a  chief  who  understood  its 
interests  so  well.  The  chronicles  also  relate 
his  miraculous  cure.  -  The  pope,  almost  dead, 
was  carried  into  the  church  of  St.  Denis  to 
address  his  last  prayers  to  God.  As  soon  as 
he  was  in  prayer  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  the  blessed  St.  Denis,  appeared  to  him 
before  the  altar.  Denis,  hekl  a  censer  in  his 
right  hand  and  a  crown  of  martyrdom  in  his 
left ;  he  was  accompanied  by  a  priest  and  dea- 
con. He  advanced  towards  Stephen,  and  said 
to  him,  'Peace  be  with  you,  my  brother;  do 
not  fear;  you  will  return  happily  to  your 
church  ;  rise  up,  and  consecrate  this  altar  to 
God  and  the  holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul.' 
The  vision  disappeared,  and  the  pontiff  rising 
up  full  of  strength,  celebrated  mass. 

The  king,  the  queen,  the  lords,  the  clergy, 
the  monks  and  the  people  were  astonished  at 
this  miracle.  The  next  day  the  pontiff  dedi- 
cated, with  imposing  ceremonies,  the  oratory 
of  St.  Denis,  in  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  apostles,  and  deposited  on  the  altar  his 
pallium,  which  has  since  been  preserved  as  a 
relic  in  the  abbey. 

Stephen  then  consecrated,  in  a  solemn  fes- 
tival, Pepin,  his  two  sons  Charles  and  Carlo- 
man,  and  his  wife  Bertrade.  After  having 
laid  his  hands  upon  them,  he  declared,  in  the 
name  of  God,  that  the  Franks  and  their  de- 
scendants were  prohibited,  under  penalty  of 
anathema  and  of  eternal  damnation,  from 
choosing  kings  of  another  race.  The  holy 
father  created  the  two  princes  patricians  of 
Rome,  to  pledge  them  to  defend  the  holy  city. 
Le  Cointe  assures  us,  that  the  baptism  of 
Charles  and  Carloman  had  been  deferred  until 
this  period,  that  the  pope  might  be  their  god- 
father ;  in  fact,  in  several  of  his  letters  Stephen 
calls  them  his  spiritual  sons. 

The  war  of  Italy  having  been  resolved  upon 
in  the  parliament,  the  king  of  the  Franks  made 
immense  preparations  in  order  to  in.sure  thp 
success  of  his  arms.  He  passed  the  Alps  a. 
the  head  of  numerous  troops,  and  constrained 
Astolphus  to  give  entire  satisfaction  to  the 


HISTORY  OF    THE   POPES. 


193 


pontiff.  The  treaty  was  concluded  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  embassadors  of  Constantine,  who 
had  come  to  claim  the  exarcliate  for  their 
master.  Their  reclamations  were  useless,  and 
Ravenna  was  adjudged  to  the  Holy  See.  The 
peace  having  been  signed,  Pepin  retired  with 
his  army,  carrying  with  him  hostages  from 
the  Lombards.  Stephen  re-entered  Rome  in 
triumph,  accompanied  by  prince  Jerome,  bro- 
ther of  the  king  of  the  Franks. 

But  Astolphus  w^as  scarcely  freed  from  the 
hostile  army,  when  he  broke  the  treaties 
which  had  been  forced  from  him,  seized 
anew  upon  the  exarchate,  and  marched  on 
Rome.  The  pope  immediately  wrote  to  the 
French  monarch,  "  I  conjure  you  by  the  Lord 
our  God.  and  his  glorious  mother — by  the  ce- 
lestial virtues  and  the  holy  apostle,  who  has 
consecrated  you  king,  to  render  to  our  see  the 
donation  which  j'ou  have  oflered  it.  Have  no 
confidence  in  the  deceitful  words  of  the  Lom- 
bards, and  of  the  grandees  of  that  nation. 
The  interests  of  the  church  are  actiially  placed 
in  your  hands,  and  you  will  render  an  account 
to  God  and  St.  Peter  in  the  terrible  day  of 
judgment,  of  the  manner  in  which  you  shall 
have  defended  them. 

'•  It  is  for  you  that  God  has  reserved  this 
great  work  for  so  many  ages !  Your  fathers 
did  not  receive  the  honour  of  such  a  grace, 
and  Jesus  Christ,  by  his  prescience,  has  cho- 
sen you  from  all  eternity  to  cause  his  church 
to  triumph;  for  those  whom  he  has  predesti- 
nated he  has  called,  and  those  whom  he  has 
called  he  has  justified  !'' 

Astolphus  was  already  under  the  walls  of 
Rome,  of  which  he  pressed  the  siege  with 
vigour.  The  pope  fearing  to  fall  into  his  power 
before  the  arrival  of  his  succours,  sent  by  sea 
new  embassadors  to  inform  the  king  of  the 
Franks  of  the  extremity  to  which  he  was  re- 
duced. The  bishop  George,  count  Fonnaric, 
and  the  abbot  Vermir,  an  intrepid  soldier,  who, 
during  the  siege  donned  his  curiass  and  fought 
upon  the  walls,  were  the  legates  of  the  Holy 
See.  They  presented  themselves  before  the 
assembly  of  Frank  lords,  and  spoke  to  them 
in  these  terms  :  '•'  Illustrious  lords,  we  are 
overwhelmed  with  bitter  sadness,  and  pressed 
down  by  an  extreme  agony.  Our  misfortunes 
have  caused  us  to  shed  such  abundant  tears, 
that  it  seems  as  if  they  alone  would  recount 
our  griefs.  The  Lombard,  in  his  demoniac 
lury,  dares  to  command  the  holy  city  to  open 
its  gates.  He  threatens,  if  we  refuse  to  obey 
his  orders,  to  overthrow  our  walls,  stone  by 
stone,  and  to  put  us  all,  men  and  women,  to 
the  sword. 

'■  Already  have  his  barbarous  soldiers  burn- 
ed our  churches,  broken  the  images  of  the 
saints,  torn  from  the  sanctuaries  pious  offer- 
ings, and  snatched  from  the  altar  the  sacretl 
veils  and  vases.  Already  have  they  beaten 
with  blows  holy  monks,  become  intoxicated 
in  the  sacred  chalices,  and  violated  our  young 
nuns. 

"The  domains  of  St.  Peter  have  become 
the  prey  of  the  flames  ;  his  cattle  driven  off, 
kis  vines  grubbed  up  by  the  roots,  his  crop 

Vol.  I.  Z 


trampled  under  foot  by  horses,  slaves  mur- 
dered, and  even  infants  put  to  death  upon  the 
bosoms  of  their  mothers."' 

Not  only  had  the  holy  father  ordered  his 
embassadors  to  make  these  false  recitals  to 
move  the  compassion  of  the  Franks,  but — ex- 
cess of  daring  and  rascality — he  invented  an 
unknown  artifice,  and  which  no  other  pope 
had  dared  to  use.  He  addressed  to  Pepin  se- 
veral letters  written,  he  said,  by  the  Virgin, 
angels,  martyrs,  saints,  and  apostles,  and 
which  were  sent  from  heaven  to  the  Franks. 
That  of  the  chief  of  the  apostles  commenced 
thus :  "  I,  Peter,  called  to  the  apostleship  by 
Jesus  Christ,  the  sou  of  the  living  God,  be- 
seech you,  Pepin,  Charles,  Carloman,  and  you, 
lord.s,  clerical  and  lay  of  the  kingdom  of 
France,  not  to  permit  my  city  of  Rome  and 
my  people  to  be  longer  rent  by  the  Lombards, 
if  you  wish  to  shun  the  tearing  of  your  bo- 
dies and  souls  in  eternal  fire,  by  the  forks  of 
Satan. 

"  I  command  you  to  prevent  the  residue  of 
the  flock  which  the  Lord  has  confided  to  me, 
from  being  dispersed,  if  you  do  not  wish  he 
should  reject  and  disperse  you  as  he  did  the 
children  of  Israel. 

•'Do  not  abandon  yourselves  to  a  criminal 
indifference,  and  obey  me  promptly.  Thus 
you  will  surmount  all  your  enemies  in  this 
world  ;  you  shall  live  many  years,  eating  the 
good  things  of  the  earth,  and  after  your  death 
you  shall  obtain  eternal  life.  Otherwise,  know 
that  by  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Trinity — in 
the  name  of  ray  apostleship,  you  shall  be  de- 
prived for  ever  of  the  kingdom  of  God."' 

This  letter  of  St.  Peter  produced  a  great 
sensation  on  the  rude  minds  of  the  French. 
The  chiefs  immediately  assembled  their 
troops,  passed  the  Alps,  and  advanced  into 
Lonibardy.  to  succour  the  Holy  See.  Astolphus 
was  constrained  to  yield  again  to  the  power 
of  the  arms  of  Pepin,  and  he  restored  the  ex- 
archate to  the  pope. 

Fulrad,  the  coun.sellor  of  the  king  of  the 
Franks,  went  into  the  Pentapolis  and  Emilia, 
with  the  proxies  of  the  Lombard  sovereign, 
to  cause  them  to  recognize  the  authority  of 
the  Holy  See.  Raveiuia,  Rimini,  and  twenty- 
one  other  cities  gave  their  keys  to  the  abbot 
Fulrad,  who  deposited  them,  with  the  deed 
of  gift  from  king  Pepin,  upon  the  confessional 
of  St.  Peter.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  tem- 
poral power  of  the  Roman  church. 

The  Franks  then  retired  from  Italj-.  Astol- 
phus did  not  survive  the  disgrace  of  this 
treaty;  he  died  in  consequence  of  a  fall  from 
a  horse  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  756. 

Didier,  duke  of  Istria.  then  conceived  the 
project  of  causing  himself  to  be  proclaimed 
king  of  the  Lombards  ;  but  Ratchis.  v.  ho  had 
reigned  over  this  nation  before  he  became  a 
monk  in  the  convent  of  Monte  Cassino,  tired 
of  a  religious  life,  left  the  monastery,  and  laid 
claim  to  the  heritage  of  Astolphus.  As  he 
well  knew  the  avidity  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
his  first  thought  was  to  bring  the  pope  info  his 
interest,  and  he  promised  him  not  only  not 
to  trouble  him  in  the  possession  of  Ravenna, 


194 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


but  to  enrich  St.  Peter  with  several  large  do- 
mains. 

His  proposals  had  been  already  accepted  by 
the  pontiff,  when  the  commissioner  of  Pepin 
ordered  Stephen  to  cause  Ratchi  to  return  to 
Monte  Cassino  and  to  proclaim  Didier  king 
of  the  Romans.  The  holy  father  obliged  to 
change  sides,  nevertheless  caused  the  duke 
to  buy  his  protection,  and  constrained  him  to 
yield  to  the  Roman  church  the  city  of  Faenza 
and  its  dependencies,  and  the  duchy  of  Fer- 
rara  and  two  other  important  places.  The 
domains  of  the  Holy  See  were  thus  augmented 
by  almost  all  the  provinces  which  the  empire 
possessed  in  Italy. 

Stephen  then  learned  that  Constantine  Co- 
pronymus  had  sent  a  solemn  embassy  from 
Constantinople  to  the  court  of  France,  to  make 
proposals  for  the  marriage  of  his  daughter 
Gisella  with  the  oldest  son  of  the  Greek  em- 
peror. As  it  was  important  to  the  policy  of 
the  sovereign  pontiff  that  these  princes  should 
have  no  relations  between  them,  he  despatch- 
ed in  his  turn  an  extraordinary  ambassador  to 
the  court  of  the  French  king,  to  turn  him  aside 
from  an  alliance  with  the  family  of  Constan- 
tine, under  the  pretence,  that  this  monarch 
was  separated  from  the  Roman  communion, 
and  was  tainted  with  heresy.     The  envoy  of 


his  holiness  acquired  such  an  ascendancy  over 
the  mind  of  Pepin,  that  he  finally  declined  the 
proposals  of  the  Greeks;  and  the  Greek  en- 
voys, in  reply  to  their  request,  to  know  what 
were  the  motives  which  induced  him  to  re- 
ject an  alliance  so  advantageous  to  the  two 
nations,  could  draw  from  him  no  other  reply 
than  "  that  he  was  unwilling  to  expose  him- 
self to  eternal  damnation,  by  authorizing  the 
marriage  of  his  beloved  daughter  with  av 
heretic !"  The  ambassadors,  indignant  at  see  • 
ing  so  much  weakness  in  a  prince  who  com- 
manded so  valiant  a  nation,  took  their  leave 
and  went  to  report  to  Constantine  his  ridicu- 
lous reply. 

The  astute  pontiff  triumphed  over  the  Greek 
emperor,  but  God  did  not  permit  him  to  gather 
the  fruits  of  his  skill.  Two  months  after  the 
departure  of  the  envoys  of  Constantine,  he 
died  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  on  the  26th 
of  April,  757. 

We  can  exclaim  with  the  prophet,  "Vanity, 
vanity  of  human  affairs  !"  This  pontiff,  who 
had  abused  religion  to  increase  his  authority ; 
who  had  employed  a  sacrilegious  knavery,  and 
made  use  of  the  sacred  names  of  Christ,  the 
virgin  and  the  saints,  for  his  contemptible  in- 
terests, lost,  with  his  life,  his  grandeur,  his 
riches,  his  palaces  and  his  provinces  ! 


PAUL  THE  FIRST,  THE  NINETY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  757.] 

'Election  of  Paid — The  archbishop  of  Ravenna  refuses  to  submit  to  the  law  of  celibacy — Zeal 
of  Pope  Paul  for  relics — His  liberality  to  monks  and  churches — Submission  of  Paul  to  the 
orders  of  Pepin — His  death — His  benevolence  to  the  unfortunate. 


During  the  last  days  of  the  illness  of  Stephen, 
Rome  was  divided  into  two  factions  for  the 
•election  of  a  pontiff.  The  most  numerous 
party  wished  to  nominate  Paul,  the  brother  of 
Stephen. the  Third,  the  other  was  in  favour  of 
the  Archdeacon  Theophylactus. — Paul,  more 
of  a  philosopher  than  a  priest,  refused  to  min- 
gle in  the  intrigues  of  his  party,  disdained  to 
strengthen  his  party  by  simoniacal  bribes,  and 
<lid  not  leave  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  where 
he  bestowed  on  his  brother  the  cares  which 
his  sufferings  demanded. 

Nevertheless,  after  the  death  of  Stephen, 
the  party  of  Theophylactus  disappeared  of 
itself  and  Paul  was  ordained  pontiff.  The 
new  pope  immediately  wrote  to  King  Pepin  to 
inform  him  of  the  grievous  loss  of  his  brother, 
and  to  advise  him  of  his  election.  He  pro- 
mised to  the  French  monarch  an  unshaken 
fidelity  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  for  whom  he  claimed  his  power- 
ful protection. 

By  the  treaty  concluded  with  Astolphus  and 
confirmed  by  Didier,  the  bishopric  of  Ravenna 
had  been  recognized  as  submitted  to  the  Holy 
See,  both  in  its  temporal  and  spiritual  affairs. 
The  pope  hastened  to  avail  himself  of  his  new 


rights,  and  deposed  the  prelate  of  that  church, 
who  lived  publicly  with  his  lav/ful  wife,  and 
ordered  him  to  come  to  Rome  to  render  an 
account  of  his  conduct. 

The  archbishop  of  Ravenna  obtained,  how- 
ever, his  re-installation,  by  promising  to  sepa- 
rate from  his  wife.  In  fact  he  made  her  enter 
a  nunnery  of  the  city,  but  continued  his  cul- 
pable relations  with  norland  the  holy  nuns, 
through  weakness,  tolerated  this  infraction  of 
the  laws  of  the  church. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  (753,)  Queen 
Bertrade  gave  birth  to  a  daughter  who  was 
named  Gisella.  This  happy  news  was  an- 
nounced to  the  pontiff  by  the  king  of  the 
Franks,  who  sent  him  at  the  same  time  the 
veil  in  which  the  princess  had  been  enveloped 
on  the  day  in  which  she  was  baptized.  Paul 
learned,  by  the  reception  of  this  present,  that 
the  monarch  wished  him  to  regard  Gisella  as 
his  spiritual  daughter.  He  immediately  as- 
sembled the  people  in  the  church  of  St.  Petro- 
nilla,  and  consecrated,  in  honour  of  Pepin,  an 
altar,  npon  which  was  deposited  the  precious 
veil  which  the  French  lords  had  brought  him. 
Afterwards  the  holy  father  desiring  to  aug- 
ment the  veneration  of  the  faithful  for  this 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


195 


church,  transported  into  the  sanctuary  the 
relics  of  Petronilla,  brought  from  the  oratory  of 
the  ancient  cemetery  which  bore  the  name  of 
this  saint. 

The  pope  afterwards  evinced  an  extreme 
and  ridiculous  zeal  for  relics;  he  caused  them 
to  dig  into  all  cemeteries  situated  without  the 
walls  of  Rome,  to  bring  from  them  the  putri- 
fied  remains.  The  dead  bodies  drawn  from 
these  horrid  charnel  houses  were  deposited  in 
the  temples,  and  adored  as  the  sacred  remains 
of  glorious  martyrs.  Paul  exhumed  in  this 
manner  the  remains  of  more  than  three  hun- 
dred persons  who  had  died  in  the  odour  of  sanc- 
tity. He  bore  them  liimself  solemnly  through 
the  streets  of  Rome,  enclosed  in  precious 
shrines  covered  with  plates  of  silver  and  gold, 
shining  with  precious  stones,  and  placed  them 
in  the  monasteries  and  the  churches.  He 
constructed  for  them  oratories,  even  in  his 
paternal  mansion,  where  he  reared  in  honour 
of  Pope  Stephen  the  martyr,  and  St.  Sylvester 
the  confessor,  a  magnificent  altar,  in  which  he 
placed  a  great  number  of  these  bones.  All 
these  oratories  were  confided  to  communities, 
who  celebrated  divine  service,  day  and  night. 
Unfortunately  the  holy  father  despoiled  the 
treasures  of  the  poor,  to  assign  immense  reve- 
nues to  the  religions  orders. 

Constantine  continued  in  the  East  his  per- 
secutions against  the  image  worshippers,  and 
exercised  chiefly  his  rigour  against  the  hermits 
and  monks,  whom  he  called  "the  abomina- 
ble." The  ecclesiastical  legendaries  main- 
tain, that  he  put  in  execution  against  these 
unfortunate  persons,  all  kinds  of  imaginable 
punishments;  that  amongst  others  he  caused 
them  to  beat  a  priest  named  Andrew  with 
blows  from  iron  bars,  until  his  bones  were 
powdered,  when  he  was  enclosed  in  a  sack 
and  cast  into  the  sea;  that  he  crushed  between 
two  plates  of  brass  an  abbot  named  Paul ;  that 
he  walled  up  in  a  chapel  forty-eight  monks 
who  died  of  madness  and  starvation  in  this 
infernal  pri.son. 

In  Italy  the  church  was  tranquil  and  pow- 
erful, thanks  to  the  protection  of  the  Franks, 
as  during  the  whole  of  his  pontificate,  Paul 
showed  himself  constantly  submissive  to  King 
Pepin,  and  even  sacrificed  his  personal  senti- 
ments to  the  desires  of  the  monarch.  It  is 
related  that  a  priest  of  the  Roman  church, 
named  Marin,  attached  to  the  court  of  France, 
had  given  to  George,  ambassador  from  the 
emperor  Constantine,  sage  advice,  but  opposed 
to  the  interests  of  the  Holy  See ;  and  that  the 
pontiff  having  been  adviscil  of  it,  made  known 
nis  resentment  to  the  king,  and  besought  him 
to  banish  the  guUty  priest  into  a  distant  pro- 


vince, in  order  that  he  might  repent  of  his 
crime.  Pepin,  who  was  satisfied  with  the 
services  of  this  ecclesiastic,  refused  to  exile 
him,  but  claimed  on  the  contrary  for  him  a 
bishopric  and  the  title  of  St.  Chrysogones. 
The  pope  no  longer  dreamed  of  punishing 
Marin,  but  even  more,  he  ha.stened  to  send 
him  his  new  dignities,  expressing  a  desire  to 
be  above  all  things  agreeable  to  the  illustrious 
monarch  of  the  Franks. 

In  the  affair  of  Remedius,  the  brother  of 
Pepin,  he  gave  a  new  proof  of  his  submission 
to  the  prince.  The  metropolitan  of  RheJms, 
named  Remy,  or  Remedius,  had  brought  into 
his  diocese  Simeon,  a  chantA  of  the  Roman 
church,  to  teach  religious  chanting  to  the 
clergy  of  his  church.  The  latter  having  been 
recalled  to  Rome  before  he  had  completed  the 
instruction  of  the  clergy,  the  archbishop  testi- 
fied his  discontent  to  the  king.  The  prince 
wrote  immediately  to  the  pope,  complaining 
of  the  little  regard  he  had  shown  for  Remy. 

Paul  hastened  to  reply  to  the  irritated  mon- 
arch :  "  My  lord,  rest  assured,  that  but  for  the 
death  of  George,  the  chief  of  our  chanters,  we 
should  not  have  recalled  Simeon  from  the 
service  of  your  brother;  but  the  imperious 
need  of  our  church  forced  us  to  do  so.  To 
repair,  as  much  as  possible,  our  fault,  Ave  pro- 
mise you  to  take  great  care  of  the  monks  you 
have  sent  to  us.  We  will  instruct  them  per- 
fectly in  ecclesiastical  singing,  and  we  will 
give  them  all  our  books  of  music  and  science ; 
the  antiphonal,  the  responsal,  the  dialectics 
of  Aristotle,  and  the  books  of  St.  Denis  the 
Areopagite,  with  books  of  geometry  and  or- 
thography, and  a  Latin  grammar.  We  will 
add  for  the  queen,  your  wife,  a  magnificent 
night  clock." 

Some  time  after,  the  pope,  having  had  the 
imprudence,  at  the  close  of  a  religious  cere- 
mony, to  remain  several  hours  exposed  to  the 
sun  in  the  church  of  St.  Paul,  was  attacked 
by  a  violent  fever,  of  which  he  died  on  the 
21st  of  Juno,  767. 

Anastasius  represents  the  holy  father  as  a 
man  of  mild  and  charitable  character;  he 
says,  that  during  the  nights,  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  going,  accompanied  by  some  domes- 
tics, to  vi.sit  the  dwellings  of  the  poor  to  dis- 
tribute alms;  that  he  visited  the  sick,  and 
gave  them  all  the  aid  they  needed  ;  that  pri- 
soners were  equally  recipients  of  his  bounty; 
that  he  frequently  paid  the  debts  of  workmen 
whom  pitiless  creditors  retained  in  prison ; 
finall)-,  that  he  solaced  widows,  orphans,  and 
all  who  were  in  need.  The  church  has  justly 
placed  this  pontiff  in  the  number  of  the  saints 
whom  slie  reveres. 


196 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


CONSTANTINE  THE  SECOND,  THE  NINETY-SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  767.] 

Cabals  and  violence  for  the  election  of  a  pope — A  layman  elevated  to  the  pontifical  see  under 
the  name  of  Constantine  the  Second — Letters  from  the  pontiff  to  Pepin — The  kin^  of  the 
Franks  refuses  to  recognize  him — Conspiracy  against  the  pope — Constantine  driven  J  rom  the 
Holy  See — Fraudxdent  election  of  the  monk  Phillip — He  is  driven  aivay  by  the  deacon  Ste- 
phen— Violent  election  of  Stephen  the  Fourth. 


As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  death  of  Paul 
was  spread  about,  the  ambitious  exhibited 
themselves  in  open  day  to  dispute  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  Toton,  duke  of^  Nessi,  having 
resolved  to  acquire  the  pontifical  throne  for 
his  family,  assembled  all  his  partizans,  en- 
tered Rome  by  the  gate  of  Saint  Pancras,  and 
conducted  his  troops  into  his  palace.  This 
bold  step  frightened  all  rivals,  and  his  brother 
Constantine  was  declared  pope,  though  he 
had  not  even  received  sacred  orders.  Toton 
then  conducted  him,  with  arms  in  his  hands, 
to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  to  receive  the 
clerical  tonsure  from  George,  bishop  of 
Prenestum.  That  prelate  at  •first  resisted  the 
orders  of  the  lord  of  Nessi ;  he  besought  him 
to  renounce  an  enterprize  so  criminal ;  but  at 
length  yielding  to  promises  and  presents,  he 
conferred  on  the  new  pontiff  ecclesiastical 
orders,  even  to  the  deaconate  :  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday,  assisted  by  the  bishops  of  Al- 
banum  and  Ponto,  consecrated  him  chief  of 
the  clergy  of  Rome. 

Constantine.  now  in  possession  of  the  ponti- 
fical chair,  WTOte  to  the  king  of  the  Franks, 
to  inform  him  of  his  election,  Avhich  he  af- 
firmed had  been  made  in  spite  of  himself, 
and  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  Providence. 
Receiving  no  repl}',  he  addressed  another  let- 
ter, beseeching  Pepin  to  place  no  belief  in  the 
calumnies  which  the  envious  spread  against 
him ;  and  in  order  to  show  his  great  zeal  for 
the  interests  of  religion,  he  added,  "We  ad- 
vise you,  that  on  the  12th  of  the  past  month 
of  August,  a  priest,  called  Constantine,  sent 
us  the  synodical  letter  of  Theodore,  patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  addressed  to  our  predecessor, 
Paul,  and  bearing  the  signatures  of  the  bi- 
shops of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  and  several 
other  metropolitans  of  the  East.  We  have 
approved  of  it,  and  caused  it  to  be  read  from 
the  tribunal  of  the  temple  to  the  people.  We 
have  sent  you  copies  of  it  in  Greek  and  Latin, 
in  order  that  you  may  rejoice  with  us  in  be- 
holding the  Christians  of  the  East  show  an 
holy  ardor  for  the  worship  of  images." 

Pepin,  who  had  been  apprised  of  the  scan- 
dalous events  connected  wdth  the  election  of 
Constantine,  did  not  reply  to  his  second  letter, 
and  refused  to  approve  of  his  intrusion. 

Christopher,  the  dean  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  his  son  Sergius,  the  treasurer,  availing 
themselves  of  the  misunderstanding  of  the 
two  courts,  resolved  to  elevate  another  pope 
to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  formed  a  conspi- 
racy against  the  pontiff.  The  first  thing  was 
to  assure  themselves  of  the  aid  of  the  king  of 
the  Lombards,  and  the  more  easily  to  execute 


their  design,  they  announced  to  their  friends 
that  they  wished  to  terminate  their  days  in  a 
monastery.  They  then  asked  from  the  pon- 
tiff leave  to  quit  Rome,  and  to  retire  into  the 
convent  of  St.  Saviour,  near  Pavia. 

Constantine  had  already  received  some  in- 
timations of  the  hostile  projects  of  these  two 
priests;  re-assured  however  by  their  pro- 
testations of  devotion,  he  contented  himself 
with  causing  them  to  swear  by  Christ  and 
upon  the  evangelists,  that  they  would  under- 
take nothing  against  his  authority.  They 
then  went  into  the  territory  of  the  Lombards, 
but  instead  of  going  into  the  monastery,  they 
went  to  Pavia,  and  besonght  Didier  to  grant 
them  license  to  deliver  the  church  of  Rome, 
pledging  themselves  to  name  another  pontifi", 
who  would  restore  to  the  prince  the  cities 
which  he  had  been  obliged  to  abandon  to  the 
Holy  See. 

Seduced  by  the  hope  of  regaining  the  pro- 
vinces which  he  had  lost,  Didier  gave  them 
troops  to  accompany  them  to  Rieti.  On  his 
side,  Sergius  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  duchy  of  Spoletto,  fore- 
stalled them,  and  directed  his  steps  to  Rome 
during  the  night. 

At  the  break  of  day  he  presented  himself 
at  the  gate  of  St.  Pancras,  w-here  a  great  num- 
ber of  his  relatives  and  friends,  informed  of 
his  march,  waited  for  him.  As  soon  as  these 
latter  perceived  the  signals,  they  disarmed 
the  sentinels,  opened  the  gates,  and  mounted 
upon  the  walls,  raising  a  standard  to  show 
them  they  could  enter  into  the  city.  The 
Lombards,  however,  fearing  some  snare,  re- 
mained posted  upon  Mount  Janiculum,  and 
refused  to  enter  Rome;  at  length,  excited  by 
the  harangues  of  Sergius,  and  Racipert,  one 
of  their  chiefs,  they  descended  the  hill. 

Toton,  at  the  news  of  the  entrance  of  his 
enemies,  assembled  some  soldiers  in  haste, 
and  marched  to  meet  the  Lombards.  On  the 
way  he  was  joined  by  Demetrius,  and  the 
treasurer  Gratiosus,  two  traitors  sold  to  his 
enemies.  These,  under  pretence  of  directing, 
led  him  into  an  ambuscade  at  the  turning  of 
a  street ;  on  a  given  signal  he  was  surrounded 
by  assassins,  and  Racipert  himself  inflicted  on 
him  so  violent  a  blow  with  a  lance,  in  his 
reins,  that  he  fell  dead. 

At  that  moment  the  soldiers  gave  ground, 
abandoned  the  field  of  battle,  and  hastened 
to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  The  fright 
spread.  Constantine  and  his  other  brother, 
Passif,  trembling  for  their  lives,  shut  them- 
selves up  in  the  oratory  of  St.  Caesaire,  with  the 
vidame  Theodore,  and  anxiously  awaited  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


197 


termination  of  this  terrible  revolution.  When 
the  tumult  was  appeased,  the  leaders  of  the 
Roman  militia  went  to  the  pontilT.  and  con- 
ducted him  to  a  monastery,  which  was  re- 
garded as  an  inviolable  asylum. 

Thus  the  victory  remained  with  the  rebels ; 
but  on  the  next  day  a  misunderstanding  broke 
out  between  them ;  and  the  priest  Waldipert, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolt,  resolved  to 
nominate  a  pope  secretly,  to  prevent  the  am- 
bitious projects  of  Sergius  and  his  father.  He 
assembled  the  deacons  and  priests  of  his 
party,  and  after  having  induced  them  to  ap- 
prove of  his  design,  they  went  in  mass  to  the 
convent  of  St.  Vit  or  Vitus,  and  took  from  it 
the  monk  Phillip,  whom  they  carried  on  their 
shoulders  to  the  church  of  the  Lateran,  crying 
through  the  streets  of  Rome,  "  Phillip  is  pope, 
St.  Peter  himself  has  chosen  him." 

The  new  pope  knelt,  according  to  custom, 
before  a  bishop,  to  receive  consecration ;  he 
then  rose,  gave  his  benediction  to  the  people 
assembled  in  the  church,  and  went  to  the 
palace  to  take  possession  of  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter,  and  on  the  same  evening  entertained 
at  his  table  the  principal  dignitaries  of  the 
church  and  the  militia. 

Christopher  arrived  the  next  day  under  the 
walls  of  Rome.  As  soon  as  he  knew  of  the 
usurpation  v/hich  had  been  accomplished,  he 
entered  it  in  fury,  and  protested  with  fright- 
ful oaths,  that  the  Lombards  should  not  quit 
the  city,  until  the  pope,  elevated  by  Waldipert, 
had  been  driven  from  the  patriarchal  palace. 
The  priests,  intimidated  by  his  threats,  de- 
clared the  election  of  Phillip  simoniacal  and 
sacrilegious,  tore  from  him  his  sacred  gar- 
ments, struck  him  upon  the  cheek,  and  sent 
him  back  to  his  convent. 

Sergius  and  Christopher  then  proclaimed 
as  bishop  of  Rome  the  execrable  Stephen  the 
Fourth.  The  Lombard  soldiers,  with  naked 
swords,  replied  by  acclamations,  elevated  the 
newly  chosen  in  their  arms,  and  bore  him  in 
triumph  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 

In  the  East,  the  persecutions  against  the 
worshippers  of  images  continued.  The  em- 
peror,  in    his    sanguinary    fanaticism,    con- 


demned, without  pity,  to  the  most  frightful 
punishments,  his  servants,  friends,  and  even 
his  relatives.  The  patriarch  Constantine,  who 
had  baptized  his  two  children,  could  not  es- 
cape death,  notwithstanding  the  .species  of 
spiritual  bond  which  attached  him  to  the  ty- 
rant. Furious  at  not  having  been  able  to  sub- 
jugate the  prelate,  neither  by  the  confiscation 
of  his  property,  nor  by  exile,  nor  by  imprison- 
ment, the  emperor  made  him  appear  before 
an  assembly  of  ecclesiastics,  to  be  there 
judged.  As  a  preamble,  he  was  beaten  so 
cruelly  that  the  muscles  of  his  reins  having 
been  broken,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
stand  or  be  seated.  He  was  obliged  to  be 
carried  into  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  where 
the  fathers  were  assembled  who  were  to  pro- 
nounce his  sentence,  and  to  extend  him  be- 
fore the  sanctuary,  at  a  place  called  the  Solea, 
to  be  present  at  the  judgment.  When  the 
decree  of  condemnation  had  been  rendered, 
the  secretary  read,  with  a  loud  voice,  the  list 
of  the  crimes  of  which  he  was  accused,  and 
at  each  head  of  the  accusation,  the  execu- 
tioner struck  the  unfortunate  man.  The  pa- 
triarch Nicetas,  from  his  throne  of  gold,  by  the 
light  of  tapers,  and  to  the  tolling  of  bells,  then 
solemnly  anathematized  him.  The  bishops 
then  all  passed  by  him,  tore  from  him  in  tat- 
ters his  sacerdotal  garments,  and  spit  upon 
his  face.  After  this  infamous  ceremony  the 
wretched  man  was  dragged  to  the  sill  of  the 
church,  and  the  doors  shut  against  him.  The 
next  day  he  was  exhibited  as  a  show  in  the 
hippodrome,  and  his  hair,  beard  and  eye-brows 
torn  from  him ;  they  then  clothed  him  in  a 
woollen  garment  without  sleeves,  set  him 
backwards  upon  an  ass,  and  made  him  make 
the  tour  of  the  course  three  times,  led  by  his 
young  nephew,  whose  nose  they  had  cut  off. 
At  length  the  emperor  gave  orders  to  put  out 
his  eyes  and  cut  off  his  lips  and  his  tongue, 
and  seeing  him  dying,  he  commanded  his  head 
to  be  cut  off,  and  suspended  by  the  ears  in  a 
public  place,  where  it  remained  exposed  to 
the  sight  of  the  people.  The  body  was  dragged 
by  the  foot  to  the  sink  into  which  they  cast 
the  executed. 


STEPHEN  THE  FOURTH,  THE  NINETY-EIGHTH  VOTE. 

[A.  D.  768.] 

Origin  of  Stephen — Cruelty  exercised  by  Stephen  agaiiist  the  unfortunate  Constantine — They  put 
out  the  eijes  and  tear  out  the  eyes  of  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the  old  pope — The  priest  IVal- 
dipert  dies  under  torture — Stephen  recompenses  the  ministers  of  his  vengeance — Legation  in 
France — Council  of  Rome — Decrees  on  the  election  of  popes — Usurpation  of  the  Sec  of  jRa- 
venna — Pard  Asiartus,  the  chamberlain  of  Stephen  the  Fourth,  allies  liirnsclf  with  Didier,kin^ 
of  the  Lombards — The  pope  abandons  his  friends — Evident  Justice  of  God — Ingratitude  of 
princes — Cowardice  of  the  pope — His  death. 


Stkphkn,  the  son  of  Olivius,  \vns  of  Sicilian 
origin.  In  his  youth  he  quitted  his  country. 
to  go  to  a  friend  of  his  father,  who  presented 
him  to  Gregory  the  Third.     Placed  by  the 


orders  of  the  pontiff  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Chrysostom,  he  was  instructed  in  cccle=iastic 
singing,  and  received  some  notions  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.    On  the  death  of  his  protec- 


198 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


tor,  the  pontiff  Zachary  drew  him  from  his 
convent,  made  him  a  chamberlain  of  the  pa- 
lace, and  then  ordained  him  a  priest  of  the 
order  of  St.  Cecilia.  The  popes,  Stephen  the 
Third  and  Paul  First,  also  attached  him  to 
their  persons. 

On  the  death  of  Paul  he  had  retired  to  the 
church  of  St.  Cecilia,  and  had  conspired  to  be 
elevated  to  the  supreme  dignity  of  the  church, 
but  the  election  of  Constantine  the  Second 
foiled  his  plans.  Finally,  the  last  revolution 
procured  for  him  the  pontifical  tiara,  the  end 
of  all  his  intrigues,  the  recompense  of  all  his 
machinations.  He  was  consecrated  under  the 
name  of  Stephen  the  Fourth,  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter,  in  the  presence  of  the  clergy,  the 
grandees  and  the  people.  A  confession  of  the 
Romans  was  read  in  a  loud  voice,  from  the 
tribune  of  the  church,  in  which  they  accused 
themselves  of  not  having  been  able  to  prevent 
the  intrusion  of  Constantine,  implored  pardon 
for  their  crime,  and  demanded  the  punishment 
of  the  guilty. 

The  new  pontiff  immediately  gave  orders 
to  put  ont  the  eyes  and  tear  out  the  tongue  of 
Bishop  Theodore,  the  vidarfie,  the  friend  of 
the  deposed  pope.  After  his  punishment,  the 
unfortunate  mutilated  was  dragged  to  the 
convent  of  Mount  Scaurus  and  thrown  into  a 
dungeon,  where  the  monks  allowed  him  to 
die  of  starvation. 

Stephen  then  delivered  up  to  his  soldiers 
the  unfortunate  Passif,  who  was  guilty  of  no 
crime,  except  that  of  belonging  to  the  family 
of  Constantine.  These  minions  of  a  tyrant, 
overwhelmed  him  with  outrages,  despoiled 
him  of  his  garments,  beat  him  with  rods,  tore 
out  his  eyes,  and  plunged  him,  all  bleeding,  into 
the  dungeons  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Sylvester. 

All  these  execations  did  not  calm  the  fury 
of  Stephen,  and  like  a  tiger,  whose  rage  in- 
creases in  the  midst  of  carnage,  he  assisted  at 
the  tortures  of  his  enemies,  commanded  the 
massacres  and  daily  pointed  out  new  victims ! 

At  the  head  of  his  Levites,  the  pontiff  forced 
his  way  into  the  abbey,  into  which  Constan- 
tine had  been  conducted  by  the  magistrates 
of  Rome,  and  pursued  him  even  into  the  sanc- 
tuary. By  his  orders,  they  drew  him  from 
the  altar  which  he  had  embraced,  placed  him 
upon  a  horse,  with  enormous  weights  sus- 
pended to  his  feet,  led  him  through  the  streets 
of  the  city,  and  conducted  him  to  the  public 
square,  where  the  executioner  put  out  his  eyes 
with  a  hot  iron.  After  the  punishment,  Con- 
stantine was  cast  into  the  mud,  trampled  under 
foot  by  the  e.vecutioners,  and  remained  for 
twenty-four  hours  exposed  to  frightful  suffer- 
ings without  any  assistance,  Stephen  having 
prohibited  the  citizens  from  giving  any  aid  to 
the  dying  man,  under  penalty  of  the  gallows. 

On  the  second  day,  as  the  sufferer  was  still 
alive,  the  murmurs  of  the  people  compelled 
the  priests  to  take  up  their  unfortunate  victim, 
who  was  carried  into  a  monastery. 

Stephen  then  turned  his  vengeance  against 
the  priest  Waldipert.  He  accused  him  of 
having  desired  to  assassinate  Christopher,  the 
deacon;  and  this  ecclesiastic,  who  was  in  re- 


ality only  guilty  of  liaving  elected  another 
pope,  was  led  through  the  streets  of  Rome, 
placed  backwards  upon  an  ass,  with  the  tail 
in  his  hands  instead  of  reins.  After  this  hu- 
miliation he  was  handed  over  to  the  execu- 
tioners, who  tore  off  the  nails  of  his  feet  anil 
hands,  tore  off  his  flesh  with  hot  pincers,  put 
out  his  eyes  and  dragged  out  his  tongue.  The 
unfortunate  priest  could  not  support  the  vio- 
lence of  his  torments  and  died  under  the  hands 
of  his  executioners.  Still  the  judgment  of  the 
pope  ran  its  course ;  torture  was  inflicted  on 
the  dead  body,  which  was  then  cast  into  a 
sewer  without  the  walls. 

The  new  pontiff,  having  thus  assured  to 
himself  trantjuil  possession  of  the  throne  of 
St.  Peter,  recompensed  the  execrable  minis- 
ters of  his  vengeance.  The  soldiers,  docile 
executioners  of  all  tyrants,  stupid  oppressors 
of  the  hberty  of  a  people,  were  gorged  with 
gold  and  wine,  and  received  permission  to  re- 
turn to  their  country  laden  with  the  spoils  of 
the  Romans.  Gratiosus,  from  being  a  mere 
treasurer,  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  duke 
of  Rome.  Sergius  obtained  the  legation  to 
France,  and  immediately  set  out  at  the  head 
of  an  embassy  with  letters  addressed  to  King 
Pepin,  and  the  princes  his  sons. 

Stephen,  desirous  of  covering  up  the  scan- 
dal of  his  usurpation,  besought  the  monarch 
to  send  some  French  bishops  to  the  council, 
which  he  had  convoked  to  condemn  the  in- 
trusion of  the  false  pontiff  Constantine.  Du- 
ring his  journey,  Sergius  was  apprized  of  the 
death  of  Pephi  and  the  coronation  of  Charles 
and  Carloman ;  he  nevertheless  continued  his 
route,  and  handed  to  the  new  sovereigns  the 
letters  destined  for  their  father.  The  demand 
of  Stephen  having  been  accorded  to  by  the 
princes,  twelve  French  prelates  went  to  Rome 
to  assist  at  the  synod. 

Strange  council !  assembled  not  to  judge,  but 
to  condemn.  They  led  the  unfortunate  Con- 
stantine into  the  church  of  St.  Saviour,  in  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  where  the  assembly 
was  held  ;  and  when  he  was  in  the  presence 
of  his  judges,  Stephen  addressed  to  him  the 
following  question — "How,  infamous  man, 
being  a  mere  layman,  hast  thou  dared  to  ele- 
vate thyself  to  the  dignity  of  bishop,  by 
an  abominable  intrusion?-'  The  unfortunate 
man  could  scarcely  make  his  reply  for  his 
tears  and  sobs.  "I  have  done  nothing,  my 
brethren,  which  cannot  be  excused  by  re- 
cent examples.  Sergius,  a  layman,  like  my- 
self, has  been  consecrated  metropolitan  of  Ra- 
venna; the  layman  Stephen  has  even  been 
ordained  bishop  of  Naples.  *  *  *  *  "  The 
prelates  of  Italy,  confounded  by  the  justice  of 
his  reasons,  and  fearing  the  censure  of  the 
French  bishops,  sharply  interrupted  him,  e.x- 
claiming  against  his  insolence  and  audacity. 
The  pontiff  commanded  the  executioner  to 
strike  him  a  thousand  blows  on  the  head  and 
to  tear  out  his  tongue.  The  execution  took 
place  in  the  very  synod  itself,  in  the  presence 
of  the  prelates. 

After  the  punishment,  the  body,  horribly 
mutdated  and    almost  lifeless  was  carried 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


109 


forth  from  ihe  assembly  and  cast  into  the  dun- 
geons of  the  monksj  where  new  tortures  were 
inflicted  on  him. 

They  examined  all  that  had  been  done  dur- 
ing the  pontificate  of  Constantine,  and  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  council  which  had  confirmed 
his  election,  were  burned  in  the  midst  of  the 
sanctuary.  Then  the  pope  raised  himself 
from  his  seat  and  ca.st  himself  on  the  earth, 
groaning  and  exclaiming  "Kyrie  Eleison." 
The  priests  and  the  people  also  prostrated 
themselves,  accusing  themselves  with  Ste- 
phen, of  having  sinned  against  God  by  receiv- 
ing the  communion  from  the  hands  of  the  abo- 
minable Constantine.  This  farce  terminated, 
the  fathers  proclaimed  that  the  Roman  clergy, 
people  and  pontiff,  were  absolved  from  all  sins, 
having  been  constrained  to  yield  to  violence. 

Besides  this  decision.  Stephen  the  Fourth 
made  a  decree,  which  prohibited  any  layman, 
whether  of  the  militia  or  of  any  other  body, 
from  mingling  in  the  election  of  the  popes, 
which  was  reserved  for  the  bishops  and  cler- 
gy, subject  to  the  ratification  of  the  citizens. 

It  prohibited  the  bishops  from  promoting  to 
the  episcopate  any  layman  or  clerk,  who  was 
not  canonically  promoted  to  the  rank  of  dea- 
con or  cardinal  priest ;  it  interdicted  the  en- 
trance into  Rome,  during  the  elections,  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  castles  of  Tuscany  or  Cam- 
pania; and  it  prohibited,  under  severe  penal- 
ties, the  citizens  of  the  holy  city  from  carrying 
arms  or  clubs. 

The  council  also  decided  upon  the  ordina- 
tions made  by  Constantine,  and  rendered  on 
this  subject  a  decree  conceived  in  these  terms : 
"  We  ordain  that  the  bishops  consecrated  by 
the  false  pope,  return  to  the  rank  which  they 
occupied  in  the  church,  and  present  them- 
selves before  the  holy  father  to  receive  a  new 
investiture  of  their  dioceses.  We  will,  that 
all  sacred  functions  which  have  been  exer- 
cised by  the  usurper  be  repeated,  except  bap- 
tism and  the  anointing  with  the  holy  oil.  As 
to  the  priests  and  deacons,  who  were  ordained 
in  the  Roman  church,  we  ordain  that  they  re- 
turn to  the  rank  of  sub-deacons,  and  that  it  be 
optional  with  the  pope  to  ordain  them  anev/ 
or  to  leave  them  in  their  primitive  rank.  Fi- 
nally, we  exact  that  the  laymen  who  wore 
shorn  and  graduated  by  Constantine  be  shut 
up  in  a  monastery,  or  perform  penance  in  their 
private  houses." 

When  the  synod  had  condemned  all  that 
concerned  the  cause  of  Constantine,  the  fa- 
thers occupied  themselves  with  approving  the 
synodical  letter  which  Theodore,  patriarch  of 
Jerusalem,  had  addressed  to  Paul  the  First; 
they  then  treated  of  the  question  of  the  images. 
They  ordered  that  relics  and  representations  of 
saints  shouKl  bt;  honoured  in  accortiance  with 
the  ancient  traditions  of  the  church,  and  that 
the  council  of  Greeks,  which  condemned  the 
worship  of  imas'e.",  should  be  anathematized. 

Finally,  the  labours  of  the  assembly  having 
terminated,  Stephen  the  Fourth,  at  the  head 
of  his  clergy,  went  in  procession  with  naked 
feet  and  singing  religious  hymns,  to  the  church 
of  St.  Peter;  Levutius,  the  scriniary,  mounted 


the  pulpit,  read  the  proceedings  of  the  synod 
in  a  loud  voice,  and  three  Italian  bishops  in  a 
loud  voice  pronounced  an  anathema  against 
the  transgres.sors  of  the  decretals  which  had 
been  read.  The  pope,  dreading  the  power  of 
the  lay  dukes  and  lords,  who  were  ambitious 
of  the  emoluments  of  bishops  for  themselves 
or  their  families,  maintained  in  the  end  with 
much  firmness,  the  decisions  which  the  as- 
sembly had  made,  and  vigorously  opposed 
the  nominations  of  laymen. 

On  the  death  of  Sergius.  archbishop  of  Ra- 
venna, Michael,  scriniary  of  the  church,  hav- 
ing dared  to  seize  upon  the  episcopal  palace, 
and  to  claim  to  be  recognized  as  the  metropoli- 
tan, though  he  had  never  even  been  in  ecclesi- 
astical orders,  the  holy  father  declared  him 
excommunicated,  and  named  Leo  the  arch- 
deacon, to  succeed  him.  For  several  months 
the  two  competitors  disputed  the  see  with  de- 
plorable bitterness.  The  duke  Maurice  hav- 
ing taken  the  part  of  Michael,  the  Lombard 
troops  came  to  the  support  of  the  usurper, 
seized  Leo  and  confined  him  a  close  prisoner 
at  Rimini.  Maurice  sent  ambassadors  to  Ste- 
phen the  Fourth,  to  beseech  him  to  consecrate 
Michael,  off'ering  him  rich  presents  as  the 
price  of  his  condescension.  But  the  pope 
having  learned  that  by  ordaining  a  lord  pro- 
tected by  the  Lombards,  he  nnglil  favour 
their  pretensions  upon  Ravenna,  his  policy  tri- 
umphed even  over  his  avarice,  and  he  sent  to 
the  insurgents,  the  nuncios  of  the  Holy  See 
and  the  ambassadors  of  King  Charles,  who 
operated  so  forcibly  upon  their  minds,  that 
Michael  was  driven  from  his  palace  and  con- 
ducted to  Rome  in  chains.  The  archdeacon 
Leo  was  taken  from  the  prison  of  Rimini,  led 
back  amidst  the  acclamations  of  the  multi- 
tude, and  conducted  in  triumph  to  the  episco- 
pal palace. 

Didier,  disappointed  in  his  hopes  of  seizing 
upon  the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  resolved  to 
form  an  alliance  with  the  Franks,  and  to 
weaken  the  power  of  the  popes.  His  ambas- 
sadors went  secretly  to  the  court  of  the  Frank 
king  and  ofl'ered  to  Queen  Bertha,  the  hand  of 
the  young  prhicess  Ermengarde  for  one  of  her 
sons. 

Stephen,  advised  by  his  emissaries,  of  this 
negotiation,  wrote  immediately  to  the  sove- 
reigns Charles  and  Carloman,  to  turn  them 
aside  from  this  union.  He  represented  to 
them  that  the  whole  nation  of  the  Lombards 
was  of  a  degenerate  blood,  only  producing 
leprous  and  infirm  pensons.  and  was  unworthy 
of  being  allied  with  the  illustrious  nation  of 
the  Franks.  He  added,  "Recollect,  princes, 
that  you  are  already  engaged  in  legitimate 
marriages,  by  the  will  of  God,  with  women 
of  your  own  kingdom,  and  that  you  are  not 
permitted  to  reputliate  them  to  espouse  others. 
Besides,  King  Didier  being  the  secret  ene- 
my of  the  Holy  See,  his  alliance  is  interdicted 
to  you.  Recollect  that  the  king,  your  father, 
promised  in  your  name,  that  you  would  re- 
main faithful  to  the  holy  church,  obedient  and 
submissive  to  the  popes ;  and  that  you  would 
not  unite  yourselves  with  those  who  were  not 


200 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


obedient  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  Do  not 
forget  that  you  yourselves  have  renewed  these 
promises  since  your  advent  to  the  throne.  I 
adjure  you  then,  in  the  name  of  the  apostles, 
by  the  judgment  of  God,  and  by  all  that  is 
dearest,  not  to  complete  this  marriage,  calling 
down  the  most  terrible  anathema  upon  your 
estates  and  your  persons  if  you  resist  my 
entreaty." 

Charles,  stricken  by  the  charms  of  the  prin- 
cess, paid  no  regard  to  the  menaces  of  the 
holy  father,  and  espoused  Ermengarde ;  but 
her  infirmities  preventing  her  from  becoming 
a  mother,  he  was  obliged  to  repudiate  her  in 
a  year  after  the  marriage.  Didier,  did  not 
dare  to  undertake  any  thing  against  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  court  of  Rome,  but  was  still  in 
no  hurry  to  restore  the  cities  which  he  had 
promised  to  give  up. 

Sergius  and  Christopher,  the  same  Avho 
had  come  to  ask  the  aid  of  the  Lombard  king 
against  the  unfortunate  Constantine,  claimed, 
in  the  name  of  the  pope,  the  execution  of  the 
treaties,  and  threatened  the  prince  with  the 
wrath  of  the  Franks.  Didier,  irritated  by  these 
constant  demands,  and  at  the  ingratitude  of 
these  unworthy  priests,  resolved  to  employ  in 
his  turn  the  arms  of  perfidy.  His  emissaries 
gained  to  their  cause  the  chamberlain  Paul 
Asiartus,  who,  jealous  of  the  favour  which 
Sergius  and  Christopher  enjoyed,  entered  with 
]oy  into  a  plot  to  destroy  his  enemies.  He 
accused  them  to  the  holy  father,  of  having 
formed  a  conspiracy  to  seize  upon  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran  and  the  sovereign  authority. 


Stephen,  frightened  by  this  revelation,  aban 
doned  himself  to  the  councils  of  Paul  Asiar- 
tus and  claimed  the  aid  of  the  Lombards. 
Didier  arrived  secretly  in  Rome,  on  the  very 
day  on  which  the  pretended  plot  was  to  break 
out.  By  his  care,  accusations  were  skilfully 
spread  among  the  people,  against  ChristojDher 
and  Sergius,  whom  the  public  voice  soon  desig- 
nated as  the  framers  of  an  abominable  con- 
spiracy. They,  well  knowing  the  implacable 
character  of  Stephen,  wished  to  quit  Rome,  in 
order  to  escape  his  vengeance.  But  all  the 
gates  were  already  guarded  by  the  Lombard 
soldiery.  They  were  arrested  the  same  night 
and  conducted  before  the  holy  father. 

Stephen  caused  their  eyes  to  be  torn  out  in 
his  presence  by  the  same  executioner  who 
had  before  tortured  the  unfortunate  Constan- 
tine. The  operation  was  so  painful,  that  the 
head  of  Christopher  was  prodigiously  inflamed, 
and  caused  an  hemorrhage,  of  which  he  died 
on  the  third  day  in  the  dungeons  of  the  mo- 
nastery of  St.  Agatha,  where  he  was  confined. 

Sergius,  more  vigorous  than  his  father,  did 
not  fall  before  this  terrible  execution ;  he 
was  condemned  to  remain  a  prisoner  in  the 
cellars  of  the  Lateran  palace  ;  but  Paul  Asiar- 
tus had  him  secretly  strangled  some  days  af- 
terwards. Thus  perished  the  two  authors  of 
the  elevation  of  the  infamous  Stephen  the 
Fourth. 

This  pontiff  for  four  years  soiled  with  his 
crimes  the  throne  of  St.  Peter,  and  died  on  the 
1st  of  February,  772,  leaving  a  memory  de- 
voted to  the  execration  of  men  ! 


ADRIAN  THE  FIRST,  THE  NINETY-NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.— 772.] 

Education  of  Adrian — He  is  elevated  to  the  Holy  See — He  brings  out  of  prison  the  unfortunate 
victims  of  the  cruelty  of  his  predecessors — Knavery  of  King  Didier — New  war  with  the  Lom- 
bards— -Information  against  the  assassins  of  Sergius — Death  of  Paul  Asiartus — Embassy  of 
the  pope  to  King  Charlemagne — Didier  marches  upon  Rome — Charlemagne  passes  the  Alps 
and  besieges  Pavia — He  makes  his  entry  into  Rome — Donations  to  the  Holy  See — Presents  from 
the  pontiff  to  Charlemagne — Didier  is  made  prisoner,  and  shut  up  in  a  monastery — Second 
journey  of  Charlemagne  to  Rome — Schism  among  the  monks — The  Iconoclastics — Irineus 
labours  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  images — Second  council  of  Nice — New  donation  of 
Charlemagne  to  the  Holy  See — Works  against  the  images  attributed  to  Charlemagne — New 
heresy  in  Spain — Council  of  Frankfort  against  the  images — The  pope  rejects  the  Carolin 
books — His  death. 


Adriax  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  the  son  of  a 
citizen  named  Theodore,  of  a  very  noble 
family.  From  his  earliest  youth  he  had  given 
marks  of  his  Christian  calling,  praying  day  and 
night  in  the  church  of  St.  Mark,  mortifying 
his  body  by  fasting,  wearing  a  rough  hair  cloth 
garment,  and  distributing  great  alms.  Pope 
Paul  the  First,  from  the  advantageous  reports 
made  to  him  concerning  the  young  Adrian, 
consented  to  receive  him  into  the  ranks  of  the 
clergy  ;  he  first  made  him  a  local  notary,  then 
sub-deacon.  Stephen  the  Fourth  ordained 
him  deacon,   and  in  this  capacity  he   was 


charged  to  explain  to  the  faithful  the  doctrines 
of  the  evangelists.  The  general  esteem  which 
he  had  acquired  in  his  different  ecclesiastical 
dignities,  caused  him  to  be  elevated  to  the 
pontificate  on  the  death  of  his  predecessor. 

On  the  very  day  of  his  election,  Adrian  re- 
called from  exile  the  magistrates  and  priests, 
whom  Paul  Asiartus  and  his  partisans  had 
driven  from  Rome,  and  liberated  those  who 
were  languishing  in  prisons.  After  the  cere- 
monies of  his  consecration,  he  occupied  him- 
self with  restoring  to  Rome,  the  calm  and 
tranquillity,  which  had  been  broken  by  the 


^« 


^i^'^^  ^f^^^ 


litli.    CI    IVa^ntr   &  W  (luiyan ,  //„     Chcituut     ,s> 


cC^arlemui^iu'. 


I 


c-f. 


zr 


^ 


% 


202 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


as  duke  of  the  province,  one  of  the  embassa- 
dors named  Hildebrand. 

During  the  siege  of  Pavia,  Charlemagne 
made  a  purney  to  Rome  to  assist  at  the  cele- 
bration of  Easter  and  to  confer  with  the  pope. 
Adrian,  forewarned  of  his  arrival,  received  him 
with  great  honours.  The  magistrates  of  the 
city,  the  companies  of  the  militia,  the  clergy, 
clothed  in  their  ecclesiastical  ornaments,  and 
the  children  of  the  schools  bearing  branches 
of  rose  and  olive  trees,  advanced  singing 
hymns  before  the  French  monarch. 

As  soon  as  he  perceived  the  crosses  and 
banner.s,  Charlemagne  dismounted  from  his 
horse,  with  the  lords  who  formed  his  nume- 
rous retinue,  and  all  advanced  on  foot  to  the 
church  of  St.  Peter.  There  the  proud  pontiff, 
surrounded  by  the  priests  and  deacons,  waited 
for  the  monarch  on  the  sill  of  the  temple. 
The  latter  bent  low,  and  kissed  even  the  steps 
of  the  church ;  he  then  embraced  the  pontilT, 
and  having  taken  him  by  the  hand,  together 
they  entered  the  church  and  prostrated  them- 
selves before  the  tomb  of  the  apostle.  The 
conference  commenced  after  the  prayers.  The 
t\ro  allies  swore  inviolabla  friendship  and 
peace,  and  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
assembly,  they  confirmed  their  treaty  by 
solemn  oaths. 

Charlemagne  renewed  the  donation  which 
had  been  made  to  Stephen  the  Third  by  him- 
self, his  brother  Carloman,  and  Pepin  their 
father.  His  chaplain  and  notary  prepared  a 
copy  of  it,  which  he  signed  with  his  own  hand ; 
the  bishops  and  the  lords  also  subscribed  it ; 
it  was  then  deposited  on  the  altar  of  St.  Peter, 
and  all  swore  to  maintain  it.  By  this  deed 
the  pontiffs  became  the  possessors  of  the  Isle 
of  Corso,  the  cities  of  Barti,  Reggio  and  Man- 
tua, the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  the  provinces 
of  Venice  and  Istria,  and  the  dutchies  of  Spo- 
letto  and  Beneventum. 

Before  the  departure  of  the  king,  Adrian 
presented  to  him  the  code  of  the  canons  of  the 
Roman  church  and  of  the  decretals.  Upon 
the  first  pages  of  the  book,  the  holy  father  had 
written  acrostic  verses  in  honour  of  the  prince, 
and  prayers  that  he  should  be  victorious  over 
the  Lombards.  Charlemagne  then  returned 
to  his  camp  and  pushed  with  vigour  the  seige 
of  Pavia,  which  soon  fell  into  his  power.  Di- 
dier  was  made  a  prisoner,  shorn  and  sent  into 
France,  where  he  was  confined  in  the  monas- 
tery of  Corbie. 

''Then,"  says  Mazeray,  "the  French  mo- 
narch made  a  second  journey  to  Rome,  and 
the  pope,  followed  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
bishops,  whom  he  had  called  around  him  to  ren- 
der the  ceremony  more  imposing,  advanced  to 
the  front  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  in 
the  presence  of  an  immense  crowd,  bestowed 
upon  the  prince  the  title  of  patrician,  the  first 
dignity  of  the  empire.  He  conferred  upon  him 
the  right  of  investing  bishops  within  his  states, 
and  even  of  nominating  popes,  in  order  to  put 
an  end  to  the  cabals  and  disorders  of  the  elec- 
tions." Italian  authors  affirm  that  Charle- 
magne renounced  this  prerogative  in  favour 
of  the  Roman  people,  reserving  to  himself  only 


the  right  of  confirming  the  nominations,  as 
the  Greek  emperors  had  done. 

During  his  stay  at  Rome,  the  king  manifest- 
ed great  devotion  for  the  apostle  St.  Peter. 
He  visited  the  monasteries,  cemeteries  of  the 
martyrs,  and  churches  of  the  city.  The  peo- 
ple pressed  in  crowds  upon  his  steps,  and  the 
priests  made  the  sacred  vaults  resound  with 
solemn  acts  of  thanks  to  God  in  honour  of  the 
conqueror  of  the  Lombards. 

Charlemagne,  recalled  to  his  country  to  re- 
commence his  bloody  strife,  in  Spain  against 
the  Saracens,  and  in  Germany  against  the  Sax- 
ons, quitted  Italy.  In  traversing  the  dutchy  of 
Beneventum,  he  visited  the  convent  of  St.  Vin- 
cent, which  he  found  divided  into  two  factions, 
in  consequence  of  the  election  of  an  abbot. 
The  two  competitors,  Ambrose  Autpert  and 
Poton,  both  chosen  by  the  monks,  disputed 
for  the  government  of  the  monastery,  and 
caused  great  scandal  through  the  country. 
Finally,  exhausted  by  the  contest,  they  agreed 
to  refer  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  monarch. 
Charlemagne  declared  in  favour  of  Ambrose, 
whose  election  appeared  to  him  more  regular 
than  that  of  his  adversary.  Still,  this  monk 
was  charged  with  such  atrocious  accusations, 
that  not  wishing  to  fully  decide  in  so  obscure 
a  case,  the  king  wrote  to  the  pope,  and  in- 
duced the  abbot  to  go  immediately  to  the 
court  of  Rome. 

Autpert  followed  the  advice  of  Charlemagne, 
and  started  for  the  holy  city;  but  three  days 
after  his  departure  he  was  assassinated  in  a 
tavern.  Poton  was  suspected  of  having  sent 
murderers  in  pursuit,  but  the  crime  not  having 
been  clearly  proved,  he  continued  to  govern 
the  abbey.  The  pontiff,  being  informed  of 
the  circumstances,  ordered  him  to  cease  all 
his  sacerdotal  functions  and  come  to  Rome, 
accompanied  by  the  principal  monks  of  his 
convent.  The  abbot  obeyed,  and  appeared 
before  an  extraordinary  council  composed  of 
the  metropolitan  of  Tarantaise,  four  abbots 
and  the  great  officers  of  the  city. 

Several  monks  of  the  convent  accused  him 
of  having  resorted  to  violence,  to  prevent  them 
from  carrying  complaints  to  Charlemagne 
against  the  cruelties  and  abominations  of  which 
he  was  guilty.  As  they  did  not  furnish  proofs 
in  support  of  their  accusations,  the  council 
decided  that  they  could  not  condemn  Poton, 
if  he  justified  himself  by  oath,  and  made  his 
innocence  manifest  by  the  testimony  of  ten 
of  the  principal  monks,  Franks,  and  Lombards. 
The  abbot  and  his  partizans  immediately  took 
the  oath  required,  and  Poton  returned  to  his 
convent,  of  which  he  was  recognized  as  the 
legitimate  superior. 

During  the  following  year,  (781,)  Charle- 
magne, having  finished  his  war  with  the  Sara- 
cens and  Saxons,  crossed  the  Alps  anew  and 
returned  to  Rome  to  render  thanks  to  God,  and 
to  have  his  youngest  son,  Carloman,  crowned 
king  of  Italy.  The  young  prince  was  bap- 
tized in  the  church  of  St.  Peter;  the  pontiff 
held  him  at  the  baptismal  font,  gave  him  the 
name  of  Pepin,  and  consecrated  him  king  of 
Italy  in  the  presence  of  the  bishops,   the 


«.* 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES, 


203 


priests,  the  Roman  people,  and   the   Frank 
lords. 

Charlemagne,  in  his  different  journeys  to 
Rome,  had  learned  the  horrid  depravity  of  the 
Italian  clergy,  and  had  complained  of  it  to  the 
pontitT;  that  he  might  put  a  rein  upon  their 
dissoluteness.  The  prince  branded  the  Ro- 
man priests  with  the  most  odious  epithets. 
He  accused  them  of  dealing  in  slaves,  of  sell- 
ing young  girls  to  the  Saracens,  of  keeping 
publicly  brothels  and  gambling  houses,  and  of 
scandalizing  Christianity  by  those  infamies, 
which  had  in  former  days  drawn  down  the 
vengeance  of  God  on  the  cities  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah. 

Adiian  treated  as  calumniators  and  enemies 
of  religion,  those  who  had  made  reports  to 
Charlemagne  so  unfavourable  to  the  eccles- 
iastics of  Italy.  He  cast  the  imputation  of 
the  traffic  in  slaves  upon  the  Greeks,  who 
pirated  on  the  coasts  of  Lombardy,  and  car- 
ried off  young  girls  to  sell  them  to  the  Arabs. 
He  affirmed  that  in  order  to  punish  these  free- 
booters, he  had  burned  many  of  their  vessels 
in  ihe  port  of  Centumgella.  The  fact  of  the 
burning  of  the  ships  was  truej  but  the  holy 
father  had  performed  this  act  of  vengeance 
against  the  Greeks,  because  they  had  united 
with  the  Neapolitans  to  ravage  the  patrimony 
and  lands  of  St.  Peter,  and  not  for  the  pur- 
pose of  putting  an  end  to  their  piracies.  The 
King  was  satisfied  with  the  explanation  of 
Adrian,  and  returned  to  his  kingdom  to  re- 
assemble his  numerous  armies  and  march  to 
new  conquests. 

While  the  pontiff  was  strengthening  his  rule 
in  Italy,  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  East 
assumed  a  grave  character,  which  required  all 
the  attention  of  Adrian. 

Taraisus,  a  creature  of  the  Holy  See,  was 
ordained  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  Before 
accepting  this  dignity,  he  had  exacted  from 
the  empress  Irene  and  her  son  Constantine, 
a  solemn  oath  that  they  would  assemble  a 
council  to  judge  the  heresy  of  the  image- 
breakers.  This  measure,  which,  according 
to  Cardinal  Baronius,  had  been  concerted  be- 
tween Adrian  and  Taraisus.  would  result,  not 
in  an  equitable  judgment,  but  in  the  certain  con- 
demnation and  extermination  of  the  heretics. 

Irene,  ignorant  of  this  machination,  wrote 
to  the  bishop  of  Rome  to  advise  him,  in  the 
name  of  the  emperor,  of  the  determination 
she  had  come  to,  to  assemble  a  general  coun- 
cil to  decide  upon  the  question  of  the  worship 
of  images.  "We  beseech  you,  holy  father," 
wrote  Irene,  "to  come  to  this  important  assem- 
bly, to  confirm  by  your  testimony  the  ancient 
tradition  of  the  Latin  church  in  regard  to  pic- 
tures. We  promise  to  receive  you  with  all 
the  honours  and  regard  due  to  your  dignity. 
If,  however,  the  interests  of  your  See  render 
your  presence  indispensable  at  Rome,  send  us 
embassadors  commendable  for  their  talent  and 
prudence." 

Taraisus,  on  his  part,  addressed  letters  of 
convocation  to  the  bishops  and  priests  of  An- 
tioch,  Alexandria  and  Jerusalem.  He  made 
a  profession  of  his  faith  m  relation  to   the 


Trinity,  the  incarnation,  and  the  invocation  of 
saints;  he  condemned  the  heretics,  approved 
of  the  six  general  councils,  and  the  anathema 
against  the  destroyers  of  images.  He  con- 
cluded by  a  formal  injunction  to  all  the  bishops 
to  come  to  Constantinople,  or  send  their  le- 
gates to  consult  with  him  on  a  reunion  of  the 
churches. 

Adrian  replied  to  the  emperor  in  these 
terms,  "Prince,  your  great  grandfather,  led 
away  by  the  baneful  advice  of  impious  men, 
carried  off  the  images  from  the  churches  of 
his  dominions  to  the  great  scandal  of  the 
faithful.  To  arrest  the  evil,  the  two  popes 
Gregory,  our  illustrious  predecessors,  wrote 
him  several  letters,  in  the  affliction  of  their 
souls,  beseeching  him  to  re-establish  the  sacred 
worship  which  he  called  idolatry  ]  but  he  did 
not  comply  with  their  entreaties. 

"  Since  that  period  their  successors,  Zachary, 
Stephen  the  Third,  Paul,  and  Stephen  the 
Fourth,  have  vainly  addressed  the  same  en- 
treaty to  your  grandfather  and  father;  finally, 
in  our  turn,  we  beseech  you,  in  all  humility, 
to  cause  the  worship  of  images  to  be  observed 
in  Greece,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the 
church.  We  prostrate  ourselves  before  you, 
and  beseech  you  before  God  to  re-establish 
the  altars  of  the  saints  at  Constantinople  and 
in  all  the  other  cities  of  your  empire.  And 
if  it  is  necessary  to  assemble  a  council  to  ac- 
complish this  reform  and  to  condemn  the  Ico- 
noclastic heresy,  we  will  consent  to  it,  but  on 
condition  that  the  false  synod  which  declared 
our  worship  idolatry,  shall  be  anathematized 
iir  the  presence  of  our  legates.  We  will  send 
to  you  a  declaration  with  an  oath,  in  the  name 
of  the  empress  your  mother,  and  m  the  name 
of  the  patriarch  Taraisus,  and  of  the  senate,  to 
grant  to  us  entire  freedom  of  discussion,  to 
render  to  our  legates  all  the  honours  you  would 
render  to  our  own  person,  and  to  defray  all 
their  expenses. 

"We  beseech  you  also  to  restore  to  us  the 
patrimonies  of  St.  Peter,  which  were  given  us 
by  the  emperors  your  ancestors  for  lighting 
the  church,  the  support  of  the  poor  and  the 
maintenance  of  our  priests  and  monks.  We 
reclaim  also  from  your  piety  the  right  to  con- 
secrate the  metropolitans  and  bishops,  who 
are  within  our  jurisdiction,  a  right  which  your 
predecessors  usurped  in  contempt  of  ancient 
traditions. 

"  We  have  been  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
title  of  universal  is  given  to  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople;  for  the  See  of  )-our  capital 
could  not  hold  even  the  second  rank  in  the 
church  without  our  consent,  and  when  you 
call  him  ODCumenical,  you  pronounce  a  sacri- 
lege. 

"  V'our  patriarch  Taraisus  has  sent  to  us  his 
profession  of  faith,  which  is  very  acceptable  to 
us,  and  although  he  has  sprung  from  the  ranks 
of  the  laity  to  be  immediately  elevated  to  the 
episcopal  dignity,  we  approve  of  his  election, 
and  consent,  in  his  case,  to  violate  the  canons 
of  the  church,  because  we  hope  he  will  faith- 
fully concur  with  us  in  the  re-establishment 
of  the  worship  of  images." 


204 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Adrian  then  exalts  the  virtues  and  glory  of 
the  king  of  France ;  he  repeats  to  the  prince, 
that  Charlemagne,  submissive  to  the  orders 
of  the  Roman  church,  constantly  makes  solemn 
donations  in  castles,  patrimonies,  cities  and 
provinces,  which  he  takes  from  the  Lombards, 
and  which  appertain,  he  said,  to  the  Holy  See 
by  divine  right.  He  adds  that  the  French 
monarch  has  subjugated  by  his  arms  all  the 
barbarous  nations  of  the  West,  and  that  he 
constantly  sends  chariots  laden  with  gold  for 
the  lighting  of  St.  Peter's,  and  the  support  of 
the  clergy  and  numerous  convents  of  Rome. 

Constantine  and  the  empress  Irene,  his 
mother,  acceded  to  all  the  wishes  of  the  pope ; 
the  council  was  definitely  convoked,  and  the 
bishops  of  the  East,  as  well  as  the  legates  of 
the  pontiff,  went  to  Constantinople,  where  the 
council  commenced  its  sessions. 

The  image-breakers,  who  had  divined  the 
secret  intentions  of  their  adversaries  for  their 
entire  destruction,  embittered  the  people 
against  the  embassadors  of  the  Holy  See,  and 
compelled  them  to  quit  the  city.  The  patri- 
arch, the  Eastern  prelates,  and  the  great  dig- 
nitaries of  the  empire,  then  chose  the  city  of 
Nice  as  the  place  for  the  continuation  of  their 
synod,  and  re-commenced  their  session  in  the 
church  of  St.  Sophia. 

The  council  was  composed  of  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  bishops,  twenty  ab- 
bots, a  large  number  of  monks,  the  envoys  of 
the  pontiff,  and  the  commissioners  of  the  em- 
peror. The  question  of  the  images  was  first 
examined  into,  and  after  seven  consecutive 
sittings,  Theodore,  the  head  of  the  clergy  of 
Taurania,  in  Sicily,  instructed  by  the  fathers 
to  resume  the  debate  in  the  assembly,  spoke 
in  these  words,  "  In  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Spirit !  My  brethren,  after 
having  employed  the  silence  of  the  night  in 
thinking  over  the  questions  which  have  been 
submitted  to  us,  and  which  have  agitated  this 
distinguished  assembly,  I  come  to  bring  to 
you  the  fruit  of  my  labour  and  my  studies. 

"Your  wisdom  has  decided  that  holy  im- 
ages, be  they  painted,  or  be  they  of  stone, 
wood,  gold  or  silver,  or  any  other  convenient 
material,  shall  be  exposed  to  the  veneration 
of  the  faithful,  in  the  churches,  upon  vases, 
on  the  sacred  ornaments  and  vestments, 
upon  the  walls  and  ceilings,  in  private  houses, 
and  even  upon  the  highway,  to  wit :  the  re- 
presentations of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  his 
holy  mother,  of  angels,  and  of  all  the  saints; 
for  the  more  they  contemplate  these  images, 
the  more  is  a  credulous  people  excited  to  love 
religion  and  its  ministers. 

"  The  true  worship,  which  belongs  only  to 
the  divine  nature,  shall  not  be  rendered  to 
them,  but  only  salutation  and  adoration  of 
honour;  they  shall  be  approached  with  in- 
cense and  lights,  according  to  the  rites  ob- 
served with  regard  to  the  cross,  the  evange- 
lists, and  other  sacred  things.  Such  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  fathers,  and  the  tradition  of  the 
Catholic  church.  Christians  who  shall  dare 
to  teach  any  other  belief  shall  be  regarded  as 
heretics,  and  we  ordain  that  they  shall  be 


deposed  if  they  are  ecclesiastics,  and  excom- 
municated if  tifieyare  laymen." 

After  this  decision  of  the  council,  Constan- 
tine and  the  empress,  his  mother,  re-esta- 
blished the  images  in  all  the  Greek  churches, 
and  even  in  their  palaces.  The  legates  of  the 
pope  returned  to  Rome  and  reported  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  synod,  which  were  translated 
into  Latin,  and  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran.  This  version  was  so 
obscure  and  unintelligible,  that  no  clerk  of 
the  apostolic  court  could  either  read  it  or  copy 
it,  and  when,  in  the  succeeding  century,  An- 
astasius,  the  librarian,  had  need  to  consult  the 
proceedings  of  the  synod  for  his  historical  la- 
bours, he  was  obliged  to  make  a  new  trans- 
lation from  the  original  Greek. 

Charlemagne  returned  into  Italy,  at  the  so- 
licitation of  the  pontiff,  to  wage  war  on  the 
duke  of  Beneventum,  who  had  dared  to  prohibit 
his  subjects  from  increasing  the  revenues  of 
St.  Peter.  The  unfortunate  duke  was  de- 
spoiled of  his  best  cities.  Sora,  Arces,  Aquino, 
Theano,  and  Capua,  conquered  by  the  Franks, 
were  added  to  the  domains  of  the  pope. 

Tassillon,  duke  of  Bavaria,  who  had  incur- 
red the  indignation  of  the  king  of  the  Franks, 
sent  a  bishop  and  an  abbot  to  Rome,  to  be- 
seech the  pope  to  intercede  with  the  prince 
to  obtain  from  his  clemency  a  treaty  of  peace. 
Notwithstanding  the  justice  of  his  resentment 
against  the  duke,  Charlemagne  listened  favour- 
ably to  the  proposals  of  Adrian,  and  consented 
to  receive  his  embassadors.  The  pope  at  once 
demanded  the  price  of  his  intervention,  but 
the  envoys  of  the  prince  declaring  that  they 
were  not  authorized  to  pay  immediately  to  the 
pontiff  the  sum  promised  by  their  sovereign, 
Adrian,  deceived  in  his  avaricious  hopes,  at 
once  lanched  a  terrible  excommunication 
against  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  all  his  sub- 
jects. He  declared  that  the  Franks  were  ab- 
solved in  advance  from  all  crimes  they  might 
commit  in  the  enemy's  country;  and  that  God 
commanded  them,  through  his  vicar,  to  violate 
girls,  murder  women,  children,  and  old  men, 
to  burn  cities,  and  put  all  the  inhabitants  to 
the  sword. 

Adrian  sent  this  bull  of  anathema  to  the 
king  of  the  Franks,  who  had  returned  to  his 
kingdom.  At  the  same  period  arrived  other 
deputies,  bringing  to  him  the  proceedings  of 
the  council  of  Nice,  which  he  caused  to  be 
examined  by  the  bishops  of  the  West,  who 
had  not  been  convoked  to  this  universal  as- 
sembly. The  prelates  of  the  Gauls  found 
the  proceedings  of  the  Greek  clergy  contrary 
to  the  ritual  of  the  Gallic  Church,  which  per- 
mitted images  to  be  placed  in, the  churches 
for  ornament,  and  not  for  sacrilegious  worship. 
They  then  composed,  in  the  name  of  the  king, 
a  writing  divided  into  four  books,  with  a  long 
preface,  in  which  they  thus  explain  them- 
selves: "Some  Christian  bishops,  assembled 
in  council  in  Bithynia,  have  dared  to  reject  as 
profane,  the  holy  images  which  our  fathers 
have  placed  in  the  churches  to  adorn  their 
consecrated  enclosures,  and  to  recall  to  the 
people  the  leading  events  of  Christian  history. 


HISTORY    OF   THE   POPES. 


205 


This  sacrilegious  assembly  thus  attributed  to 
iraa»es  that  which  the  Lord  has  said  of  idols, 
and  rendered  thanks  to  Coustantine  lor  hav- 
ing broken  them,  in  order  to  guard  men  from 
idolatry. 

"  Since  that  period,  a  new  council,  held  in 
the  city  of  Nice,  has  fallen  into  an  opposite 
error ;  not  only  has  it  anathematized  the  first 
synod,  by  declaring  it  to  be  impious,  but  even 
pretends  to  constrain  the  faithful  to  prostrate 
themselves  before  the  images  and  render  them 
an  idolatrous  worship. 

'•  The  proceedings  of  this  council,  composed 
of  ignorant  fathers  and  stupid  monks,  having 
been  presented  to  us,  we  are  compelled  to 
reject  the  ridiculous  doctrines  which  they 
command,  and  we  have  undertaken  this  work 
by  the  advice  of  the  bishops  of  our  kingdom, 
to  refute  the  gross  errors  of  the  Eastern 
priests  and  the  still  more  absurd  propositions 
of  the  clergy  of  Rome. 

'•  Charlemagne  in  his  books,  prohibits  from 
calling  holy,  images  which  have  no  sanctity, 
neither  natural  nor  acquired.  He  condemns 
the  worship  bestowed  on  them,  and  quotes, 
in  support  of  his  opinion,  the  celebrated  pas- 
sage of  the  Bible,  in  which  it  is  said  that 
Abraham  adored  the  children  of  Heth,  lead- 
ing us  to  observe  that  he  performed  this  as  an 
act  of  veneration,  or  rather  of  mundane  hom- 
age, and  not  of  a  religious  adoration.  He  re- 
plied victoriously  to  the  sophistries  drawn 
from  the  writings  of  the  fathers  and  quoted  by 
the  council  of  Nice,  as  to  the  utility  of  repre- 
sentations in  the  churches. 

'•  He  proscribed  the  worship,  adoration, 
homage  or  honour,  rendered  to  images,  by 
bending  the  knees,  bowing  the  head,  or  ofTering 
to  them  incense.  We  should  adore,  said  he, 
neither  angels  nor  men,  still  less  images, 
which  have  no  reason,  and  are  worthy  neither 
of  veneration  nor  salutation,  since  they  can 
neither  see,  nor  hear  nor  comprehend  *  *  *." 

Finally,  the  prince  concluded  his  preface, 
by  blaming  the  conduct  of  an  abbot,  who  had 
dared  to  maintain  in  full  council,  that  it  was 
better  to  frequent  taverns  and  brothels,  to 
commit  adultery,  rape,  incest,  and  even  mur- 
der, than  abstain  from  the  adoration  of  the 
statues  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  holy  mother,  and 
the  glorious  martyrs.  Such  is  the  summary 
of  the  Carolin  books,  or  the  books  attributed  to 
Charlemagne  on  the  worship  of  images. 

This  same  year  was  signalized  by  a  new 
heresy  which  broke  out  in  Spain.  Elipand, 
archbisliop  of  Toledo,  consulted  Felix,  bishop 
of  Urgel,  whose  pupil  he  had  been,  to  know  in 
what  manner  he  should  recognize  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  Son  of  God ;  whether  as  his  natural  or 
adopted  Son.  Felix  replied,  that  in  his  human 
nature  Jesus  Christ  was  but  the  adopted  Son 
of  God ;  and  that  in  his  divine  nature  he  was 
his  natural  Son.  Elipand  having  approved 
of  this  decision  of  his  master,  propagated  this 
doctrine  in  the  Asturias  and  Galicia.  Felix, 
on  his  part,  spread  it  beyond  the  Pyrenees, 
through  the  province  of  Languedoc.  Adrian, 
informed  of  this  sacrilegious  heresy,  addres- 
sed a  letter  to  all  the  bishops  of  Spain,  to 


exhort  them  to  fortify  themselves  against  the 
new  doctrine,  which  appeared  to  tarnish  the 
conduct  of  the  virgin  Mary,  and  represent  her 
as  an  adultress.  His  holiness  exhorted  them 
to  remain  firm  in  the  faith  of  the  orthodox 
church,  and  to  agree  with  St.  Peter,  "who," 
he  added,  "  had  positively  recognized  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  He 
quoted  also  passages  from  several  Greek  and 
Latin  authors,  in  order  to  establish  by  their 
authority,  that  the  title  of  adopted  children 
belonged  to  Christians,  and  not  to  Jesus  Christ, 

He  complained  at  the  same  time  of  various 
abuses  which  had  been  introduced  into  the 
churches  of  Spain.  Some  prelates  of  that 
province  put  back  the  celebration  of  Easter 
beyond  the  time  prescribed  by  the  council  of 
Nice.  Others  treated  as  ignorant  such  of  the 
faithful  as  refused  to  eat  the  blood  of  pork 
and  the  food  of  strangled  animals.  A  great 
number  of  priests,  abusing  the  texts  of  the 
&riptures  in  relation  to  predestination,  denied 
free  will ;  and  finally,  the  greater  part  of  the 
prelates,  conforming  to  the  morals  of  the  Jews 
and  Pagans,  scandalized  the  Christians  by 
illicit  marriages,  or  kept  several  concubines  in 
their  houses.  The  bishops  shut  up  in  their 
episcopal  residences  courtezans  and  eunuchs, 
under  the  pretext  of  wishing  to  convert  the 
Arabs,  by  conforming  to  their  manners,  but  in 
reality  to  continue,  more  easily,  a  life  of  shame 
and  debauchery. 

The  pope  lanched  terrible  anathemas  against 
them,  and  ordered  the  metropolitan  Elipand 
to  assemble  at  Toledo  a  national  council  to 
examine  into  his  doctrine  concerning  the  Sa- 
viour, and  the  error  of  Migeus  as  to  Easter. 
The  archbishop  obeyed,  and  the  council  de- 
clared in  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  the  pon- 
tiff, that  they  might  teach  the  adoption  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Charlemagne,  who  was  desirous  of  main- 
taining unity  of  belief  in  his  kingdom,  wrote 
to  the  holy  father  to  make  a  solemn  decision 
on  this  important  question.  Adrian,  intimi- 
dated by  the  decision  of  the  Spanish  prelates, 
dared  not  assemble  a  new  synod.  He  con- 
tented himself  with  quoting  the  passages  from 
the  fathers  he  had  alreany  cited,  and  treated 
as  sacrilegious  those  who  wished  to  argue 
upon  an  article  of  faith  which  St.  Peter  had 
confessed,  by  saying  to  Jesus,  "Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  God."  After  this 
reasoning,  and  to  shun  all  controversy,  he 
concluded  by  pronouncing  as  heretical,  all 
Christians  who  did  not  think  as  he  did,  and  he 
declared  them  excommunicated  by  virtue  of 
the  powers  he  held  from  the  apostle. 

The  thunders  of  the  pope  did  not  intimidate 
Charlemagne ;  that  prince  wishing  to  put  an 
end  to  the  quarrels  of  the  bishops  of  the 
West,  convoked  a  council  at  Frankfort  on  the 
Maine,  his  royal  residence.  The  prelates  of 
all  the  provinces  submissive  to  his  sway, 
hastened  to  obey  his  orders,  and  assembled  to 
the  number  of  three  hundred.  Three  hun- 
dred priests  or  monks  were  added  to  them, 
with  the  principal  lords  of  the  imperial 
court.    The  sovereign  himself  presided  over 


206 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


the  assembly,  and  caused  his  eloquence  in 
theological  discussions  to  be  admired. 

The  result  of  the  deliberations  of  the  as- 
sembly was  sent  to  the  Spanish  ecclesiastics, 
in  the  form  of  a  synodical  letter,  and  Charle- 
magne also  wrote  to  them  in  his  own  name — 
"We  are  profoundly  touched,  lords  bishops, 
by  the  oppressions  which  the  infidel  causes 
you  to  endure ;  but  we  suffer  a  still  greater 
affliction  from  the  error  which  reigns  among 
yon,  and  which  has  forced  us  to  assemble  a 
council  of  all  the  prelates  of  our  kingdom,  to 
declare  the  orthodox  faith  on  the  adoption  of 
the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  We  have  examined  your  writings  with  pro- 
found attention,  and  your  objections  have  been 
discussed,  article  by  article,  in  the  synod. 
Each  bishop,  in  our  presence,  has  had  full 
liberty  to  express  his  opinion,  and,  by  the  aid 
of  God,  this  important  question  is  finally  de- 
cided. 

"  I  conjure  you,  however,  to  embrace  our 
confession  of  faith  in  the  spirit  of  peace,  and 
not  to  elevate  your  doctrines  above  the  deci- 
sions of  the  universal  church. 

"  Previous  to  the  scandal  to  which  you  have 
given  rise  by  the  error  of  *the  adoption,  we 
loved  you  as  our  brethren  ;  the  uprightness  of 
your  belief  consoled  us  in  your  temporal  ser- 
vitude, and  we  had  resolved  to  free  you  from 
the  oppression  of  the  Saracens. 

"  Do  not,  then,  deprive  yourselves  of  the  par- 
ticipation of  our  prayers  and  our  aid;  for  if, 
after  the  admonition  of  the  pope  and  the 
warnings  of  the  council,  you  do  not  renounce 
your  error,  we  shall  regajd  you  as  heretics, 
and  shall  not  dare  to  have  further  communion 
with  you. 

''■  As  to  the  proposition  submitted  to  our  judg- 
ment, on  the  new  synod  held  at  Constanti- 
nople, in  which  it  was  ordained,  under  pe- 
nalty of  anathema,  to  render  to  the  images  of 
saints,  the  worship  and  adoration  rendered  to 
the  divine  Trinity,  the  fathers  of  our  assembly 
have  rejected  this  sacrilegious  doctrine  as  im- 
pious, and  reject  the  judgment  of  the  court  of 
Rome." 

Unfortunately  for  France,  the  successors  of 
Charlemagne  did  not  conform  to  this  judi- 
cious decision ;  the  second  comicil  of  Nice 
prevailed  in  the  following  ages,  and  the  fury 
of  religious  wars,  excited  by  the  priests,  soon 
covered  whole  provinces  with  ruin,  disasters, 
incendiarism  and  massacre. 

The  books  attributed  to  Charlemagne, 
against  the  worship  of  images,  were  carried 
to  the  pope  by  Angelbert,  abbot  of  Centula. 
Adrian  replied  immediately  to  the  king  of 
France,  "We  have  received  Angelbert,  a 
minister  of  your  chapel,  whom  we  know  to 
have  been  brought  up  in  your  palace,  and 
whom  you  admit  to  all  your  counsels;  he  has 
submitted  to  us  the  capitularies  signed  with 
your  name.  We  have  listened  favourably  to 
that  which  he  has  submitted  on  your  part,  as 
if  we  had  listened  to  it  from  your  own  mouth ; 
and  the  affection  we  have  for  your  person  has 
led  us  to  reply  to  those  decisions,  article  by 
article,  to  maintain  the  ancient  traditions  of 


the  Roman  church.  We  refuse,  however,  to 
regard  these  books  as  being  your  own  work, 
except  the  last,  which  orders  your  people  to 
obey  our  See. 

"  We  have  received  the  decrees  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Nice  to  prevent  the  Greeks  from  return- 
ing to  their  errors,  but  we  have  not  yet  given 
to  the  emperor  our  definite  reply ;  and  before 
granting  peace  to  him,  we  shall  exact  that  he 
shall  restore  to  the  Roman  church  the  juris- 
diction of  several  bishoprics  and  archbishop- 
rics, as  well  as  the  patrimonies  taken  from  us 
by  Iconoclastic  princes. 

"  Up  to  this  time,  our  just  reclamations  not 
having  been  listened  to,  we  might  from  thence 
deduce  the  belief  that  this  indifference  de- 
monstrates that  the  Greek  emperors  are  not 
really  orthodox. 

"  If  you  approve  of  it,  we  will  write,  in  your 
name,  to  Constantine  and  his  mother,  to  thank 
them  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  images ; 
we  will  urge  them  to  restore  our  jurisdiction  and 
our  patrimonies,  and  if  they  persist  in  their 
refusal,  we  shall  declare  them,  and  all  their 
subjects  of  Europe  and  Asia  heretics,  and  will 
threaten  them  with  your  wrath." 

This  skilful  reply  shows  how  necessary  it 
was  for  the  Holy  See  to  be  cautious  in  its 
conduct  towards  the  king  of  the  French. 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  wishes  of  Charle- 
magne and  the  decision  of  the  synod  of 
Frankfort,  the  worship  of  images  passed  into 
the  Galilean  church  as  an  essental  dogTna.  It 
was  in  vain  that  theologians  endeavoured  to 
lay  down  rules  for  the  distinction  of  the  mode 
in  which  the  representations  were  to  be  ho- 
noured, and  that  they  established  the  latria  as 
the  worship  due  to  God  alone  :  that  of  the  hy- 
perdulia  as  destined  for  the  Virgin  and  her 
pretended  portraits,  and  that  of  simple  dulia 
for  the  ordinary  saints.  The  faithful  persisted 
in  seeing  God  himself  in  his  representations, 
and  adored  the  statues  of  stone  and  wood,  as 
well  as  paintings  and  all  sorts  of  images. 

This  adoration,  which  the  court  of  Rome 
encouraged,  constituted  a  true  idolatry,  which 
had  been  severely  proscribed  by  the  founders 
of  Christianity  an(|  the  fathers  of  the  first  ages 
of  the  church  ;  since  the  historian  Philostorgus 
relates,  that  in  his  time  they  refused  to  render 
any  honour  to  a  statue  of  Christ,  which  it  was 
affirmed  had  been  erected  at  Panteades,  a 
small  city  of  Jerusalem,  with  the  consent  of 
Herod  the  Tetrarch,  and  on  the  request  of  a 
woman  whom  Jesus  had  cured  of  a  bloody 
ffux.  This  statue  had  been  overthrown  by 
the  predecessor  of  Constantine  the  Great,  and 
since  that  moment  had  lain  in  the  midst  of 
the  public  square,  half  buried  in  the  rubbish, 
and  concealed  by  the  grass  which  grew  around 
it.  When  it  was  drawn  out  from  this  spot,  it 
was  placed  in  the  sacristry  of  a  church,  and 
they  were  careful  to  avoid  adoring  it.  This 
statue  disappeared  miraculously,  as  the  priests 
afhrm,  during  the  reign  of  Julian. 

Whilst  the  pontiff  was  prostrating  him.self 
at  the  feet  of  Charlemagne,  an  English  prince 
came  to  bend  before  the  bishop  of  Rome  to 
obtain  pardon  for  his  sins,  and  the  protection 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


207 


of  the  apostle.  Offa,  the  second  king  of  the 
Mercians,  after  having  slain  Ethelbert,  the 
last  king  of  the  East  Angles,  whom  he  had  in- 
vited to  his  court  on  the  pretence  of  giving 
hira  his  daughter  in  marriage,  went  to  Rome, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  age,  and  de- 
manded from  the  holy  father  absolution  for 
his  crime.  The  pope,  turning  the  fanaticism 
of  the  prince  to  the  profit  of  his  avarice,  would 
not  consent  to  reconcile  him  with  Heaven, 
except  on  condition  that  he  should  authorize 
the  laws  of  Peter's  pence  in  his  domains,  and 
found  religious  retreats  of  which  the  holy 
father  should  sell  the  benefices.  OfTa,  assured 
of  his  eternal  salvation,  returned  to  his  king- 
dom, constructed  several  monasteries  in  ho- 
nour of  St.  Alban  and  other  inhabitants  of  the 


skies,  and  in  conformity  with  his  promise, 
placed  the  revenues  at  the  disposal  of  the  so- 
vereign pontiff. 

Adrian  died  shortly  after,  on  the  25th  of 
December,  795,  after  having  occupied  the  See 
of  Rome  for  twenty-four  years.  He  displaye-d 
remarkable  political  skill  in  the  management 
of  the  church.  His  supple  and  adroit  spirit 
knew  how  to  bend  before  power,  in  order  to 
augment  the  authority  of  Rome,  and  extend 
her  rule  over  the  people.  Avarice  was  his 
rulinir  passion,  and  notwithstanding  the  ex- 
pense at  which  he  was  in  the  construction  of 
convents  and  churches,  he  left  immense 
w-ealth  to  his  successor. — He  was  interred  in 
the  church  of  St.  Peter. 


LEO  THE  THIKD,  THE  ONE  HUNDREDTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  795.] 

Election  of  Leo — He  recognizes  Charlemagne  as  sovereign  of  Rome — His  liberality  to  churches 
and  mojiasteries — The  spoils  of  the  Huns  converted  into  sacred  vessels  and  church  ornaments — 
The  king  of  the  Mercians  submits  to  the  See  of  Rome — The  pontiff  grants  to  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  the  power  to  excommunicate  kings — Attempt  against  the  person  of  the  pontiff — 
Bitterness  of  the  conspirators — Leo  is  horribly  mutilated — He  is  confined  in  a  dungeon  by  the 
conspirators — He  is  taken  out  during  the  night  and  conducted  into  France — His  return  to 
Rome — Information  against  his  assailants — Charlemagne  goes  to  Italy — Leo  crowns  him  em- 
peror of  the  Romans — The  miracles  of  the  Christ  of  Mantua — Knavery  of  the  pontiff — Will 
of  Charlemagne — New  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  the  pope — Sedition  of  the  Romans-— His 
death. 


On  the  very  day  of  the  funeral  of  Adrian, 
Leo  the  Third  was  elevated  to  the  pontifical 
throne.  He  was  originally  from  Rome,  and 
had  dwelt  from  his  infancy  in  the  patriarchal 
palace  of  the  Lateran.  He  had  been  first  or- 
dained a  sub-deacon,  and  afterwards  a  priest 
of  the  order  of  St.  Susanna.  In  his  difi"erent 
ecclesiastical  functions,  Leo  had  acquired  the 
esteem  of  the  clergy,  the  grandees  and  the 
people,  who  chose  him  on  the  death  of  Adrian, 
as  the  most  worthy  to  succeed  him. 

After  having  been  enthroned  in  the  midst 
of  general  acclamations,  Leo  deputed  to 
France  legates  bearing  to  the  king  the  keys 
of  the  confessional  of  St.  Peter,  the  standard 
of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  magnificent  presents. 
He  besought  Charlemagne  to  send  to  the  Holy 
See  French  lords,  who  should  receive  the  oath 
of  fidelity  from  tlie  Romans.  The  prince  sent 
immediately  with  Angelbert  several  chariots, 
filled  with  riches  taken  from  the  Huns  at  the 
pillage  of  their  capital.  At  the  same  time  he 
addressed  to  the  pontiff  letters  conceived  in 
these  terms — "  We  have  read,  with  profound 
satisfaction,  the  decretal  of  your  election  ;  we 
unite  our  suffrage  with  that  of  the  Romans, 
who  have  elevated  you  to  the  chair  of  the 
apostle,  and  we  recognize  with  joy,  that  you 
preserve  the  fidelity  and  obedience  which  are 
due  to  us. 

"  In  testimony  of  our  satisfaction,  we  send  to 
you  one  of  our  devoted  servants,  laden  with 


presents  which  we  destine  for  St.  Peter.  He 
will  confer  with  you  on  all  things  w  hich  may 
interest  the  glory  of  the  church,  affirming  it 
by  your  dignity,  and  the  authority  of  our  pa- 
triciate." 

In  the  instructions  given  to  his  embassador, 
the  king  of  France  recommends  to  him  to 
urge  upon  the  pontiff  to  reform  the  morals  of 
the  Italian  clergy,  to  put  an  end  to  the  dis- 
graceful traffic  in  sacred  offices,  and  not  to 
think  that  the  sums  sent  to  him  as  pensions, 
were  to  be  spent  on  priestly  debauchees. 

In  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  prince, 
Leo  transformed  the  treasures  of  the  Huns 
into  vases  of  silver,  chalices  of  gold,  rose-co- 
loured strainers,  and  sacerdotal  ornaments  em- 
broidered with  gold  and  precious  stones.  A 
part  of  the  money  served  to  pay  for  the  em- 
bellishments to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
and  the  holy  father  ornamented  his  residence 
with  colnmns  of  porphyry,  balustrades  of 
marble,  and  paintings  in  mosaic.  One  of  these 
represented  St.  Peter  seated,  holding  on  his 
knees  the  three  keys  of  paradise;  Pope  Leo 
was  on  his  right,  and  Charlemagne  on  his  left, 
both  prostrate  at  his  feet ;  with  one  hand  the 
apostle  was  giving  a  pallium  to  the  pope,  and 
with  ihe  other  he  presented  to  the  king  a 
standaril  adorned  with  sLx  roses,  on  a\  hich  was 
written,  '-'Holy  Peter,  gives  life  to  Pope  Leo 
and  victory  to  King  Charles." 

Qnenulph,  sovereign  of  the  IMercians,  and 


208 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


the  successor  of  Offa,  wrote  to  Leo,  to  con- 
gratulate him  on  his  advent  to  the  pontitical 
throne,  beseeching  him  to  regard  him  as  his 
adopted  son,  and  promising  to  him  entire  obe- 
dience to  his  will.  He  added  in  his  letter, 
'■'You  should  be  advised,  most  holy  father,  of 
the  division  of  the  diocese  of  Canterbury,  or- 
dered by  your  predecessor,  in  order  to  dimi- 
nish the  authority  of  the  metropolitan  of  that 
See.  Pope  Adrian,  instead  of  sustaining  the 
chief  of  that  See,  consented  through  a  coward- 
ly condescendence,  to  give  the  pallium  to  the 
bishop  of  the  Mercians,  in  order  to  elevate 
that  prelate  to  the  same  rank  as  the  archbi- 
shop of  Canterbury.  This  measure  has  caused 
a  great  schism  in  our  kingdom,  and  to  avoid 
a  revolution,  we  have  been  obliired  not  to  de- 
clare our  preference.  We  now  beseech  you, 
most  holy  father,  to  advise  us  what  steps  we 
ought  to  take  in  so  difficult  circumstances." 

The  embassador  of  the  English  king  was 
the  prelate  Athelrade,  former  abbot  of  Malms- 
bury,  who  had  been  nominated  bishop  of 
Winchester,  and  finally  metropolitan  of  Can- 
terbury. This  wary  monk,  when  presenting 
himself  before  the  holy  ^father,  to  place 
in  his  hands  the  letter  of  Q'uenulph,  did  not 
forget  to  offer  him,  for  the  treasury  of  the 
church,  one  hundred  and  twenty  marks  of 
gold.  The  pontiff"  not  only  re-established  the 
primate  of  England,  but  he  even  gave  him  the 
power  of  excommunicating  the  kings  and 
princes  of  his  jurisdiction.  In  execution  of  this 
decree,  Athelrade,  on  his  return  to  his  diocese, 
held  a  synod,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  prin- 
cipal English  lords  and  of  the  king  himself,  he 
declared  as  excommunicatetl  and  devoted  to 
eternal  fire,  the  laity  who  should  dare  to  lay 
a  sacrilegious  hand  on  the  property  of  the 
clergy. 

Felix  of  Urgel  continued  to  propagate  his 
heresy  in  Spain,  notwithstanding  his  condem- 
nation by  the  French  bishops.  Charlemagne 
then  renewed  his  remonstrances  to  the  court 
of  Rome,  and  demanded  the  convocation  of  a 
general  council  to  condemn  the  error  defi- 
nitely. Leo  hastened  to  accede  to  the  desires 
of  the  monarch,  and  by  his  orders,  all  the 
prelates  of  Italy  assembled  at  Rome,  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter.  The  pontiff  opened  the 
session  in  the  following  discourse,  "My  breth- 
ren, at  a  council  held  at  Ratisbon,  by  the  king 
of  the  Franks,  previous  to  our  reign,  an  heretic 
named  Felix  confessed  that  he  had  fallen  into 
error  in  maintaining  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the 
adopted  son  of  God,  according  to  the  flesh. 

"  Our  predecessor,  to  obtain  this  retraction, 
had  been  obliged  to  use  rigour  towards  this  re- 
bellious son,  and  to  confine  him  in  our  prisons 
as  an  heretic.  A  salutary  fear  of  torture 
caused  him  to  abjure  his  impious  doctrine, 
and  he  even  subscribed  to  a  profession  of  or- 
thodox faith,  which  is  still  deposited  in  our 
patriarchal  palace.  But  after  this  public 
manifestation,  the  apostate  fled  into  the 
country  of  the  Pagan,  where  he  braves  the 
anathemas  of  our  council,  which  has  already 
excommunicated  him,  and  which  condemns 
him  anew  by  my  mouth.'' 


I      Felix,  surrounded  by  universal  veneration 
in  his  diocese  in  Spain,  did  not  disquiet  him- 
'  self  on  account  of  the  thunders  of  the  Holy 
See,  and  persevered  in  his  doctrine. 

In  his  turn,  Leo  became  the  victim  of  the 
religious  passions  which  he  wished  to  excite 
against  the  Spanish  prelate.  Two  ambitious 
priests,  Pascal,  the  prinicier,  and  Canaplus, 
the  treasurer,  formed  a  plot  against  the  life  of 
the  pontiff,  and  were  aided  in  the  execution 
of  their  execrable  project  by  the  monks, 
whose  fanaticism  was  let  loose  through  fear 
of  reforms. 

At  the  close  of  a  solemn  procession  and  at 
the  moment  when  the  pontiff  was  re-entering 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  the  conspirators  fell 
upon  his  escort,  tore  him  from  his  horse, 
dragged  him  by  his  beard,  sought  to  break 
his  skull  by  blows  of  stones,  and  left  him  ly- 
ing on  the  pavement,  covered  with  wounds, 
and  giving  no  signs  of  life ;  when  the  assas- 
sins, fearing  they  had  not  consummated  their 
crime,  carried  him  into  the  church  of  the 
convent  of  St.  Stephen  and  St.  Sylvester,  of 
which  they  closed  the  gates,  and  there,  upon 
the  very  steps  of  the  altar,  these  monsters  en- 
deavoured to  deprive  him  of  his  eyes  and  liis 
tongue,  rending  him  with  their  nails  and  their 
teeth;  finally,  they  cast  him,  covered  with 
blood,  into  the  dungeons  of  the  monasteries. 
Leo  remained  there  two  entire  days,  without 
succour,  extended  upon  the  floor  of  his  pri- 
son. On  the  third  day  the  abbot  Erasmus,  one 
of  the  conspirators,  descended  with  the 
monks,  to  carry  out  his  dead  body,  and  place 
it  in  a  coffin.  As  the  unfortunate  m.au  still 
breathed,  he  was  carried  to  another  convent, 
that  no  one  might  discover  his  retreat,  where 
the  accomplices  kept  him  hidden,  until  they 
had  decided  upon  his  fate. 

During  the  night,  Albyn,  the  chamberlain 
of  the  pope,  informed  by  a  religious  of  the 
place  in  which  he  was  confined,  penetrated 
to  his  dungeon  with  some  devoted  servants, 
and  having  borne  him  away,  descended  by 
the  walls  of  the  city,  and  carried  him  to  St. 
Peter's,  where  the  physicians  bestowed  on 
him  all  the  care  which  his  wretched  state  re- 
quired. The  pontiff  preserved  the  use  of  his 
eyes  and  tongi.re,  which  caused  some  au- 
thors to  affirm  that  he  was  cured  bj-  a  mira- 
cle. But  Leo  himself,  in  the  recital  which  he 
has  left  of  this  horrible  adventure,  explains, 
that  in  their  haste,  the  murderers  had  only 
cut  off  a  part  of  his  tongue,  and  had  lifted  the 
eyes  without  tearing  them  from  their  orbits. 

Albyn  informed  the  duke  of  Spoletto  of  this 
horrible  attempt,  and  besought  him  to  come 
to  Rome  Avith  his  soldiers  to  protect  the  pope 
and  facilitate  the  means  of  his  going  into 
France.  By  his  aid  the  holy  father  passed 
the  Alps  in  safety,  and  went  to  the  court  of 
Charlemagne,  which  was  then  at  Padeihorn, 
in  Saxony,  where  the  king  received  him  with 
great  marks  of  affection,  and  even  shed  tears 
when  embracing  him. 

Pascal  and  Canaplus,  furious  at  seeing  Leo 
escape  their  vengeance,  assembled  their  parti- 
zans  and  burned  the  domains  of  the  church; 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


209 


they  then  sent  to  the  king  deputies,  instructed 
to  bring  against  tiie  holy  lather  the  most 
frightful  accusations.  The  indignant  prince 
drove  them  from  his  court  without  listening 
to  them,  and  caused  the  holy  father  to  be  re- 
conducted into  Italy,  accompanied  by  his 
principal  bishops,  several  counts,  and  an  im- 
posing escort. 

In  all  the  cities  the  pontiff  was  received  by 
the  population  as  if  he  were  St.  Peter  himself; 
and  when  he  approached  Rome,  the  clergy,  the 
senate,  the  militia,  the  citizens,  the  women  and 
even  the  deaconesses,  and  female  religious, 
all  preceded  by  holy  banners,  went  in  proces- 
sion to  meet  him,  singing  sacred  hymns.  Leo 
made  his  triumphal  entry  into  the  city  and 
retook  possession  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 
Some  days  after,  the  prelates  and  lords  who 
had  accompanied  him,  assembled  in  council  to 
hear  the  accusations  brought  against  him  by 
Pascal,  Canaplus,  and  their  accomplices.  The 
pontiff"  was  declared  innocent,  and  his  ac- 
cusers were  condemned  to  be  beaten  with 
rods  and  imprisoned  for  life. 

The  justification  of  the  pope,  did  not,  how- 
ever, appear  regular  to  the  citizens  of  Rome, 
who  were  e.xcited  by  the  Italian  priests,  who 
were  jealous  of  the  favour  which  he  granted 
to  the  French  prelates.  Leo,  fearful  of  a  new 
conspiracy,  wrote  to  Charlemagne,  advising 
him  of  his  fears,  and  beseeching  him  to  hasten 
the  period  of  the  journey  which  he  was  about 
to  make  into  Italy. 

The  king  assented  to  his  desire,  and  made 
his  entry  into  Rome  in  the  month  of  Decem- 
ber, in  the  year  800.  Seven  days  after  his 
arrival,  Charlemagne  convoked  the  clergy, 
the  senate,  and  the  people;  he  explained  be- 
fore the  assembly  that  he  had  quitted  his 
kingdom  to  put  an  end  to  the  calumnious  ac- 
cusations which  sacrilegious  priests  dared  to 
spread  against  the  pontiff.  He  examined,  one 
by  one,  all  the  charges  contained  in  the  ac- 
cusation of  Canaplus,  and  then  commanded 
those  around  him  to  speak  out  without  fear 
in  their  support,  if  they  appeared  to  them 
well  founded. 

No  one  having  replied,  the  pontiff  was  ad- 
mitted to  justify  himself  by  oath,  before  the 
immense  multitude  which  filled  the  church 
of  St.  Peter;  he  took  the  book  of  the  Apostles 
in  his  hands,  raised  it  above  his  head,  mounted 
the  tribune,  and  said,  "I  swear  upon  the  word 
of  God.  that  I  have  not  committed  the  crimes 
of  which  the  Romans  have  accused  me." 
On  tlie  next  day  the  king  received  the  final 
recompense  of  all  that  he  had  done  for  the 
court  of  Rome.  He  went  in  great  pomp  to 
the  cathedral,  where  the  pope,  clothed  in  his 
sacerdotal  ornaments,  waited  for  him  with  his 
clergy,  and  there  in  the  presence  of  the  lord.><, 
prelates,  and  magistrates  of  the  city,  the  holy 
father  placed  on  his  head  a  crown  of  iron,  and 
said  in  a  loud  voice,  '-To  Charles  Augustus, 
crowned  by  the  hand  of  God,  Emperor  of  the 
Romans,  life  and  victory."  Lengthened  accla- 
mations resounded  beneath  the  vaulted  roof  of 
St.  Peter's,  and  the  assistants  repeated,  '-Life 
and  victory  to  Charles  Augrtstus,  crowned  by 
Vol.  I.  2  B 


the  hand  of  God  Emperor  of  the  Romans." 
Then  Leo  prostrated  himself  before  the  new 
sovereign,  and  adored  him,  according  to  the 
usage  of  the  ancient  Caesars,  recognizing  him 
as  his  legitimate  sovereign  and  the  defender 
of  the  church. 

Thus  was  re-established,  after  an  interval 
of  three  hundred  ami  twenty-four  years,  the 
dignity  of  Roman  Emperor,  extinct  since  the 
year  of  our  Lord  476.  When  the  ceremony 
was  completed,  Charlemagne  made  immense 
donations  to  the  churches  of  St.  Paul,  St.  John 
the  Lateran,  and  St.  Maria  IMajora;  he  gave 
to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  two  tables  of  silver, 
chalices,  perfume  pans,  and  vases  of  gold  en- 
riched with  precious  stones,  and  allowed  great 
sums  for  lighting  it,  and  for  the  maintenance 
of  its  priests. 

On  his  return  to  France,  the  new  emperor 
was  occupied  in  arranging  the  afl'airs  of  church 
and  state;  he  convoked  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  a 
national  council,  at  which  Paulin,  patriarch 
of  Aquileia,  assisted  as  the  legate  of  the  pope ; 
and  amongst  the  rules  estabhshed  by  it,  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  was  in  reference  to 
the  rural  bishops.  It  is  decreed  in  the  name 
of  Charlemagne,  in  the  following  terms;  '-We 
have  been  frequently  beset  by  complaints 
against  the  rural  bishops,  not  only  by  the 
clergy,  but  even  by  the  laity.  The  popes, 
the  predecessors  of  Leo  the  Third,  have  de- 
clared in  several  synods,  that  these  ecclesias- 
tics have  not  the  power  to  ordain  priests,  dea- 
cons, and  sub-deacons ;  that  they  are  not  per- 
mitted to  dedicate  churches,  consecrate  vir- 
gins, nor  administer  the  rite  of  confirmation  ; 
they  even  induced  our  prcdeces?ors  to  con- 
demn them  all  and  semi  them  into  exile,  no 
matter  what  might  have  been  the  purity  of 
their  lives. 

'•  Consequently,  by  the  authority  of  the  pon- 
tiff who  now  governs  the  Holy  See,  and  fol- 
lowing the  advice  of  our  prelates,  and  other 
subjects,  we  decree,  that  rural  bishops  shall 
not  for  the  future  exercise  any  episcopal  func- 
tions under  pain  of  deposition."' 

At  this  period,  the  metropolitan  Fortuna- 
tus,  sent  deputies  to  Rome,  to  solicit  the  me- 
diation of  Leo,  and  to  implore  the  intervention 
of  the  emperor  with  John,  duke  of  Venice^ 
and  his  son  Maurice,  who  wished  to  drive 
him  from  his  See.  The  pope  received  favour- 
ably the  letters,  and  presents  of  the  arch- 
bishop, and  promised  the  envoys  to  obtain  for 
their  master  the  protection  of  the  emperor. 
Leo  determined  in  fact  to  undertake  a  new 
journey  to  France,  to  negotiate  this  affair, 
and  to  obtain  from  the  prince  several  other 
decision?  touching  the  temporal  interests  of 
the  Holy  See ;  but  fearing  to  be  arrested  m 
his  project,  by  the  duke  of  Venice  and  his 
son,  he  availed  himself  of  the  superstition  of 
the  times,  to  lull  suspicion.  He  caused  it  to 
be  rumored  about  that  the  Christ  of  Mantua 
had  shed  drops  of  blood,  which  perfomied  nu- 
merous miracles,  and  under  pretence  of  assur- 
ing himself  of  the  reality  of  these  prodigies, 
he  went  to  that  city  and  from  thence  passed 
secretly  into  France. 


210 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Charlemagne  was  then  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
When  he  was  informed  of  the  arrival  of  the 
pope,  he  immediately  sent  his  son  Charles  as 
far  as  St.  Maurice,  in  the  Valois,  to  meet  him, 
whilst  he  himself  went  to  Rheims  to  receive 
him.  They  passed  eight  days  together  in  the 
consideration  of  grave  political  and  religious 
questions.  Finally,  the  pope  retired,  laden 
with  presents.  Charlemagne  accompanied 
him  through  Bavaria,  as  far  as  the  city  of 
Ravenna. 

Some  time  after,  the  emperor,  perceiving 
the  appearance  of  death,  assembled  at  Thion- 
ville  his  principal  lords,  and  in  their  presence 
divided  his  states  between  his  three  sons, 
Charles,  Pepin,  and  Louis.  In  this  division, 
the  emperor  made  no  mention  of  the  dutchy 
of  Rome,  of  which  he  reserved  to  himself  the 
disposition.  He  read  his  will,  and  after  hav- 
ing made  the  grandees  of  his  court  swear  to 
its  execution,  he  sent  it  to  the  Holy  See,  that 
the  pope  might  affix  to  it  his  signature  to  con- 
firm its  authenticity. 

The  secretary  of  the  prince  wrote  at  the 
same  time  to  Leo  in  favour  of  the  metropolitan 
Fortunatus,  who  had  been  ^riven  from  his 
See  by  the  Venetians  and  Greeks.  He  be- 
sought him  in  the  name  of  his  master  to  give 
to  the  persecuted  prelate,  the  church  of  Pola 
in  Istria,  which  was  vacant  by  the  death  of 
the  bishop  Emilian.  The  pontiff  complied  with 
the  request  of  the  emperor,  with  the  reser- 
vation, however,  that  if  Fortunatus  should 
return  to  his  diocese  of  Grada,  he  should  re- 
store the  See  of  Pola,  without  retaining  any 
of  the  property  belonging  to  that  church.  In 
his  reply  he  added  ;  "  Since  you  desire  to  pre- 
serve for  this  unworthy  prelate,  temporal  goods 
and  honours,  we  beseech  you  also  to  take  care 
of  his  soul;  for  the  fear  with  which  you  in- 
spire him,  will  without  doubt  compel  him  to 
reform  his  morals,  which  cause  shame  among 
the  faithful.  Our  affection  for  your  sacred 
person,  and  our  desire  to  contribute  to  the 
safety  of  your  soul,  induce  us  to  give  you  this 
advice ;  for  even  we  ourselves  have  been  led 
into  error,  and  we  ask  pardon  of  God  for  having. 
in  former  times,  accepted  presents  from  this 
priestly  debauchee.  The  ecclesiastics  of  your 
court  have  been  gained  by  the  gold  of  Fortu- 
natus, and  those  who  have  dared  to  defend 
him,  will  answer  before  God  for  the  dis- 
orders which  he  shall  commit  in  the  diocese 
which  you  have  ordered  me  to  confide  to 
him." 

In  the  following  year,  (809,)  a  new  council 
was  held  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  by  order  of 
Charlemagne,  to  determine  the  attributes  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Bernard,  bishop  of  Worais, 
and  Abelard,  abbot  of  Corbie,  were  sent  to 
Rome  to  carry  to  the  pope  the  decision  of 
the  council,  drawn  up  by  Smagarde,  abbot  of 
St.  Michael,  at  Verdun,  and  in  which  the 
fathers  proved  by  Holy  Scriptures  and  the 
opinions  of  the  ancients,  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
proceeds  from  the  Son  as  well  as  from  the 
Father.  The  deputies  of  the  monarch  pre- 
sented their  instructions  to  Leo  and  entered 
with  him  into  grave  discussions,  without  be- 


ing able  to  induce  him  to  approve  of  the  de- 
cisions of  the  French  synod. 

But  the  holy  father  always  presented  in  dis- 
cussion an  exemplary  mildness  and  modesty, 
keeping  within  bounds  in  refuting  questions 
which  he  did  not  think  just.  He  agreed  with 
them,  that  we  are  not  permitted  to  pronounce 
against  the  usages  of  other  churches,  and  that 
no  man  can  advance  a  positive  opinion  on 
religious  matters,  which  always  contain  in- 
comprehensible mysteries.  "  The  holy  dark- 
ness in  which  Christ  has  veiled  his  mysteries,  is 
too  thick,  added  he,  for  us  to  undertake  to  dis- 
sipate it;  we  should  confine  ourselves  to  things 
clear  and  palpable,  and  not  jump  into  the 
abyss  of  theology  from  which  no  human  mind 
is  able  to  sally."  He  applauded  the  decretals 
of  Charlemagne,  by  which  the  prelates  of  the 
Galilean  church  were  prohibited  from  hunt- 
ing, shedding  the  blood  of  Christians  or  pagans, 
and  having  several  legitimate  wives;  and 
which  prohibited  priests  from  saying  mass 
without  communing  themselves,  as  was  gene- 
rally practised  at  that  period.  He  applauded 
the  emperor  for  havuig  interdicted  doctors  in 
theology  from  introducing  new  angels  into  the 
liturgy,  other  than  Michael,  Gabriel,  and  Ra- 
phael ;  he  particularly  praised  him  for  having 
prohibited  nuns  from  taking  the  veil  under 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  also  clerks  from 
being  made  priests  under  thirty,  and  all  ec- 
clesiastics from  employing  pious  frauds  to 
deceive  the  credulity  of  the  simple,  from  sur- 
rendering themselves  to  magical  operations, 
from  being  addicted  to  intemperance,  and  from 
selling  to  the  faithful  permission  to  get  drunk 
at  taverns.  Finally,  he  declared  that  the 
prince  had  acted  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Spirit,  in  fixing  two  periodical  periods  for  the 
holding  of  provincial  councils,  and  in  esta- 
blishing severe  rules  of  conduct  for  the  regu- 
lar and  secular  clergy. 

These  rules  were  neither  the  first  nor  the 
only  ones  which  had  already  been  published 
in  Gaul  upon  ecclesiastical  matters.  The 
great  emperor,  who  embraced  in  his  vast  con- 
ceptions all  the  spiritual  and  material  amelio- 
rations of  his  powerful  empire,  had  already 
written  an  entire  volume  of  capitularies  on 
every  species  of  religious  questions,  but  with- 
out having  attained  the  end  which  he  had  pro- 
posed, the  repressal  of  the  numerous  abuses 
introduced  by  the  priests.  Then  all  was  mix- 
ed up,  confounded  in  the  most  deplorable  man- 
ner, rights  and  duties,  privileges  and  charges; 
there  was  nothing  everywhere  but  the  op- 
pressed and  their  oppressors.  The  immuni- 
ties of  the  clergy  shackled  at  each  step  the 
progress  of  the  civil  power,  which,  in  its  turn, 
frequently  clutched  the  ecclesiastical  juris- 
diction. It  was  necessary  then  to  use  a  salu- 
tary prudence  in  introducing  any  reform  into 
society,  and  to  induce  the  priests  to  consent 
to  contribute  at  least  a  small  part  of  their  im- 
mense incomes  to  the  wants  of  the  state.  Ar- 
mies were  led  by  clergymen,  and  in  return, 
bishoprics  and  abbeys  were  frequently  direct- 
ed by  military  men  or  the  favourites  of  princes. 
The  councils,  composed  of  men  interested  in 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


211 


preserving  this  order  of  things,  offered  invin- 
cible obstacles  to  the  wishes  of  the  emperor, 
and  we  should  not  be  astonished,  that  not- 
withstanding the  wisdom  of  the  advice  of  the 
pope,  the  French  bishops  were  unwilling  to 
agree  with  his  opinion,  but  continued  to  teach 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeded  from  the  Son 
as  well  as  the  Father. 

Charlemagne  died  before  the  return  of  his 
embassadors ;  the  hand  of  God  weighed 
heavily  on  the  powerful  monarch,  whose  fore- 
head was  adorned  with  the  crown  of  emperors 
and  kings.  By  his  exploits,  he  had  placed  the 
kingdom  of  France  in  the  first  rank  of  nations, 
and  by  his  fanaticism  had  augmented  the 
power  of  the  Holy  See,  enriched  churches  and 
monasteries,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  that 
theocratic  power  which  extended  itself  in  the 
following  ages  over  Ital)-,  Europe,  the  entire 
world,  and  which  trampled  the  people  beneath 
the  most  frightful  tyranny.  But  this  zealous 
defender  of  the  pontiffs  carried  to  his  tomb 
the  force  which  repressed  religious  factions, 
and  which  inspired  in  priests  and  monks  a 
salutary  terror. 

At  this  period,  hyprocrisy,  avarice,  luxury, 
were  the  sole  virtues  of  the  ecclesiastics ;  so 
that  the  great  king  being  dead,  they  wished 
to  overthrow  the  severe  rule  of  Leo  and  foment 
conspiracies  against  his  life.  But  warned  bj' 
terrible  experience  of  the  dangers  which  sove- 
reigns incur  who  have  excited  hatred  against 
them,  the  pope  guarded  against  their  plots, 
arrested  the  conspirators  and  had  them  exe- 
cuted in  front  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 
The  women  were  exiled,  the  children  of  the 
guilty  shut  up  in  the  monasteries  of  Rome, 
and  all  their  goods  confiscated  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Holy  See.  Still  the  terror  which  this 
new  conspiracy  against  him  had  induced,  in- 
jured his  health ;  he  became  dangerously  ill 
and  died  in  816,  after  a  pontificate  of  twenty 
years,  five  months,  and  si.xteen  d^s. 

Leo,  who  twice  fell  beneath  the  vengeance 
of  the  priests,  still  showed  himself  prodigal 
towards  them ;  he  heaped  up  wealth  on  the 
monks  and  clergy  by  making  to  the  churches 


such  magnificent  offerings  as  to  excite  the  in- 
dignation of  the  people.  He  employed  four 
hundred  and  fifty-three  pounds  weight  of  gold 
for  the  pavement  of  the  confessional  of  St. 
Peter,  and  enclosed  the  entrance  to  the  sanc- 
tuary by  a  balustrade  of  silver,  weighing  five 
hundred  and  seventy-three  pounds,  fie  rebuilt 
the  baptistery  of  St.  Andrew,  surrounded  it 
with  columns  of  porphyry,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  baptismal  fonts  he  placed  a  column  of 
gold  which  sustained  a  silver  lamb.  Then 
he  ornamented  the  windows  of  the  church  of 
the  Lateran  with  glass  of  divers  colours,  a 
luxury  unknown  before  that  period.  All  these 
offerings  to  the  churches  of  Rome  amounted 
to  more  than  eight  hundred  pounds  weight  of 
gold,  and  twenty  thousand  of  silver,  a  sum  so 
enormous,  that  we  should  doubt  the  reality 
of  these  expenses,  if  they  were  not  attested 
by  the  most  trustworthy  historians.  Leo 
was  placed  among  the  saints  in  1673,  and  his 
name  was  added  to  the  Roman  martyrology. 

Cardinal  Baronius  contests  the  miracle  of 
the  bloody  hand  as  happening  during  the  pon- 
tificate of  Leo  the  First;  he  affirms  that  Leo 
the  Third  was  the  first  pope  who  introduced 
the  custom  of  giving  the  foot  to  be  kissed  in- 
stead of  the  hand,  because  he  felt  one  day 
carnal  sensations  under  the  impress  of  the  lips 
of  a  Roman  lady.  "Rare  example  of  Chris- 
tian humility,"  exclaims  the  cardinal,  "an  ex- 
cellent method  of  preventing  the  sensations 
of  concupiscence  !" 

We  should  recognize  in  this  assertion  the 
hypocritical  language  of  a  priest,  who  endea- 
vours to  conceal  the  pride  of  the  popes  under 
religious  appearances,  and  we  shall  attribute 
to  the  vanity  or  ambition  of  the  bish(?ps  of 
Rome  the  sacrilegious  custom  of  presenting 
their  feet  for  the  adoration  of  the  faithful. 
The  successors  of  the  apostles  have  always 
sought  to  elevate  themselves  above  kings,  and 
to  constrain  the  people  to  prostrate  them- 
selves before  them;  for  from  the  very  first 
ages  of  the  church,  the  prelates  have  exacted 
that  the  faithful  should  kneel  to  receive  their 
benediction. 


THE    NINTH    CENTURY. 

STEPHEN  THE  FIFTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIRST  POPE. 

Rcfrctions  on  the  Ecclesiastical  history  of  the  ninth  century — Election  of  Stephen  the  Fifth — 
His  journey  to  France — The  Emperor  Louis  receives  him  tvilh  great  honours — His  return  to 
Rome — Death. 


At  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  the 
Holy  See  found  itself  freed  from  the  yoke  of 
the  Greek  emperors,  the  exarchs  of  Ravenna 
and  the  Lombard  kings.  The  popes  by  crown- 
ing Charlemagne  emperor  of  the  West,  had  pro- 
cured for  themselves  powerful  and  interested 
protectors  in  his  successors,  who,  in  order  to 
maintain  their  tyranny  over  the  people,  com- 
pelled all  the  bishops  to  submit,  without  any 


examination  of  them,  to  the  decisions  of  the 
court  of  Rome. 

But  a  strange  change  was  soon  seen  at  work 
in  religion  ;  holy  traditions  were  despised,  the 
morality  of  Christ  was  outraged ;  the  ortho- 
doxy of  the  church  no  longer  consisted  in  any 
thing  but  the  sovereignty  of  the  pope,  the 
adoration  of  images,  and  the  invocation  of 
saints;  in  sacred  singing,  the  solemnity  of 


212 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


masses,  and  the  pomps  of  ceremonies ;  in  the 
consecration  of  temple?,  splendid  churches, 
monastic  vows  and  pilgrimages. 

Rome  imposed  its  fanaticism  and  its  super- 
stitions on  all  the  other  churches;  morality, 
faith  and  true  piety  were  replaced  by  cupidity, 
ambition,  and  luxury;  the  ignorance  of  the 
clergy  was  so  profound  that  a  knowledge  of 
the  singing  of  the  Lord's  prayer,  the  creed, 
and  the  service  of  the  mass  was  all  that  was 
demanded  from  princes  and  ecclesiastical  dig- 
nitaries. The  protection  which  Charlemagne 
had  granted  to  letters  was  powerless  to  change 
the  shameful  habits  of  the  priests,  and  to  draw 
them  from  the  incredible  degradation  into 
which  they  had  been  plunged  ;  and  the  popes 
who  wished  to  rear  capable  subjects,  Avere 
obliged  to  educate  in  their  own  palaces,  chil- 
dren who  displayed  an  aptitude  for  learning. 

Stephen  the  Fifth,  who  was  of  one  of  the 
most  considerable  families  of  Rome,  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  patriarchal  palace,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  age,  to  obtain  his  educa- 
tion. The  pontiff  Leo  ordained  him  sub-dea- 
con, and  afterwards  conferred  on  him  the  dia- 
conate,  when  he  had  perceived  that  the  young 
ecclesiastic  was  worthy  of  his  protection  from 
the  constant  application  he  gave  to  his  stu- 
dies. 

After  the  death  of  the  pope,  Stephen  united 
in  his  favour  the  unanimous  suffrages  of  the 
clergy,  the  grandees  and  the  people,  and  was 
designated  as  his  successor  upon  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  The  first  act  of  the  new  pontiff 
was  to  send  legates  to  the  new  emperor  to 
ask  an  interview  with  him. 

This  step  was  necessary  for  the  interests 
of  the^Holy  See,  which  was  threatened  by  the 
emperor  of  the  East,  and  as  the  danger  was  im- 
minent, Stephen  determined  to  go  himself  to 
France  without  waiting  for  the  return  of  the  en- 
voys or  the  reply  of  Louis.  The  French  mon- 
arch having  learned  that  the  holy  father  was  on 
his  way  to  his  kingdom,  immediately  despatch- 
ed messengers  to  his  nephew  Bernard,  king  of 
Italy,  with  orders  to  accompany  the  pontiff 
across  the  Alps ;  at  the  same  time  he  sent 
embassadors  and  guards  who  should  serve  as 
his  escort  to  Rheims. 

On  the  arrival  of  Stephen,  the  emperor  or- 
dered the  great  dignitaries  of  his  kingdom,  the 
arch-chaplain  Hildebald,  Theodulph,  bishop 
of  Orleans.  John,  metropolitan  of  Aries,  and 
several  other  prelates  to  go  to  meet  the  pope 
with  great  ceremony.  He  himself  advanced 
with  his  court  as  far  as  the  monastery  of  St. 
Remi,  and  as  soon  as  he  perceived  the  pontiff, 
he  dismounted  from  his  horse  and  prostrated 
himself  before  him,  exclaiming  "  Blessed  is 


he  who  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
Stephen  took  him  by  the  hand,  replying, 
"  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  who  has  caused  us  to 
see  a  second  David."  They  then  embraced 
and  went  to  the  metropolitan  church,  where 
they  sung  a  Te  Duem.  Both  prayed  for 
a  long  time  in  silence ;  finally,  the  pope 
rose,  and  in  a  loud  voice  thundered  forth 
canticles  of  gladness  in  honour  of  the  king 
of  France. 

The  next  day  he  sent  to  the  queen  and  the 
great  officers  of  the  court  the  presents  which 
he  had  brought  from  Rome,  and  the  following 
Sunday,  before  celebrating  divine  service,  he 
consecrated  the  emperor  anew,  placed  on  his 
head  a  crown  of  gold  enriched  with  precious 
stones,  and  presented  to  him  another  destined 
for  Irmengarde,  whom  he  saluted  with  the 
name  of  empress. 

During  his  sojourn  at  Rheims.  Stephen  pass- 
ed all  his  days  in  conversing  with  Louis  the 
Easy,  on  the  affairs  of  the  church,  and  obtained 
from  him  all  he  desired  ;  he  even  induced  him 
to  place  at  liberty  the  murderers  who  had  at- 
tempted the  life  of  Leo  the  Third. 

We  are  led  to  believe  that  the  rules  then  made 
by  the  emperor,  for  the  sham  reform  of  the 
regular  clergy,  were  the  fniit  of  his  conferences 
with  the  holy  father.  His  decrees  particularly 
treated  of  the  abuses  which  had  been  intro- 
duced into  the  church  by  canons  and  canon- 
esses.  Since  the  time  of  St.  Chrodegang,  the 
first  reformer  of  this  order,  the  men  and  women 
who  made  a  part  of  it  had  fallen  into  the  strang- 
est depravity ;  they  lived  together  in  the  same 
convents,  abandoning  themselves  without  any 
remorse,  to  the  most  shameless  debauchery, 
licentiousness,  drunkenness,  and  idleness,  and 
had  even  the  impudence  to  rear  up  under  their 
very  eyes  the  fruits  of  their  adulteries  and  in- 
cests. Louis  the  Easy,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
pope,  ordered  them  to  inhabit  separate  con- 
vents, and  bnly  authorized  them  to  hold  their 
houses  by  the  title  of  a  common  property,  or 
permitted  them  to  reunite  them  by  day,  and  to 
receive  persons  who  were  agreeable  to  them. 
He  also  made  rules  to  determine  the  quantity 
of  food  and  wine  that  they  should  consume,  in 
order  to  put  an  end  to  their  gluttony.  He  en- 
joined on  them  also  not  to  wear  the  monastic 
habit,  and  to  adopt  one  as  an  insignia  of  their 
order,  which  to  this  day  serves  to  distinguish 
canons  and  canonesses. 

Finally,  the  pontiff  returned  to  Italy,  laden 
with  honours  and  presents.  He  did  not  long 
enjoy  the  favour  of  the  French  monarch  and 
the  pontificial  authority ;  he  died  on  the  22d 
of  January,  817,  having  occupied  the  Holy 
See  for  seven  months. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


213 


PASCAL  THE  FIRST,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  817.] 

Election  of  Pascal — Louis  addresses  remonstrances  to  the  Romans — New  donations  to  the  Church 
— Ridiculous  story  of  St.  Cecilia — The  pope  puts  out  the  eyes  and  tears  out  the  ton^ies  of  two 
Roman  priests  who  remained  faithful  to  France — Louis  orders  an  inquiry  into  it — The  pontiff' 
justijies  himself  by  oath  from  the  murders  of  which  he  was  accused — His  death. 


Pascal,  the  son  of  Bonosus,  reared,  like  his 
predecessor,  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  had 
received  from  Leo  the  Third,  the  government 
of  the  monastery  of  St.  Stephen,  situated  near 
to  St.  Peter's.  He  was  charged  with  the  dis- 
tribution of  alms  to  the  poor  of  Rome,  and 
particularly  to  pilgrims  who  came  from  dis- 
tant countries;  these  duties  brought  him  in 
great  wealth,  which  he  afterwards  used  in 
intriguing  for  the  papacy. 

After  the  death  of  Stephen,  the  Holy  See 
remained  vacant  some  days.  The  people  and 
the  clergy  having  assembled,  chose  the  priest 
Pascal,  who  caused  himself  to  be  consecrated 
without  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  the  envoys 
of  the  emperor.  The  pope,  knowing  the  weak- 
ness of  the  French  monarch,  did  not  even  take 
the  pains  to  e.\cuse  himself  for  this  want  of 
delicacy ;  he  placed  the  fault  upon  the  Ro- 
mans, who  had  obliged  him  to  be  consecrated 
immediately,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to 
exercise  his  pontificial  functions.  Louis  then 
notified  the  citizens  of  Rome,  that  they  should 
be  careful  for  the  future  how  they  wounded 
his  imperial  majesty,  and  that  they  must  pre- 
serve more  religiously  the  customs  of  their 
ancestors. 

But  this  easy  prince  soon  repented  that  he 
had  written  so  severely  ;  and  in  order  to  atone 
for  his  fault,  he  renewed  the  treaty  of  alliance 
which  confirmed  to  the  Holy  See  the  dona- 
tions of  Pepin  and  Charlemagne,  his  grand- 
father and  father ;  he  even  augmented  the 
domains  of  the  church,  and  recognized  the 
absolute  sovereignty  of  the  pontiff  over  seve- 
ral patrimonies  of  Campania,  Calabria,  and 
the  countries  of  Naples  and  Salermo,  as  well 
as  the  jurisdiction  of  the  popes  over  the  city 
and  dutchy  of  Rome,  the  islands  of  Corsica, 
Sardinia,  and  Sicily.  As  to  this  last  province, 
the  presumption  is,  that  it  was  added  by  an 
act  of  frautlulent  interpolation  ;  for  it  is  certain 
that  at  this  period  Sicily  did  not  appertain  to 
the  French  princes,  but  made  a  part  of  the 
empire  of  the  East.  Finally,  Louis,  renouncing 
the  privileges  of  his  crown,  assured  to  the 
Romans  the  privilege  of  a  free  election,  and 
granted  to  them  permission  not  to  send  legates 
into  France  until  after  the  conseci-ation  of  the 
popes. 

The  court  of  Rome  thus  became  a  formida- 
ble power;  nor  were  the  popes  possessed  of 
immense  revenues,  but  the  sovereigns  of  the 
West  placed  armies  under  their  command, 
ruined  empires,  exterminated  people  in  the 
name  of  St.  Peter,  and  sent  the  spoils  of  the 
vanquisheil  to  increase  the  wealth  of  the  Ro- 
man clergy,  and  to  support  the  monks  in  idle- 


ness and  debauchery.  The  pontiffs  were  no 
longer  content  to  treat  on  equal  terms  with 
princes ;  they  refused  to  receive  their  envoys, 
and  to  open  their  messages. 

Thus  the  emperor  of  the  East,  Leo  the  Fifth, 
and  Theodore,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  hav- 
ing sent  to  Pascal  nuncios,  instructed  to  con- 
consult  with  him  in  regard  to  the  worship  of 
images,  the  holy  father  refused  to  see  them, 
and  drove  them  in  disgrace  from  Rome.  The 
embassadors  were  obliged  to  return  to  Byzan- 
tium with  their  despatches. 

Pascal,  encouraged  by  the  eulogiums  of 
Theodore  Studitus,  a  zealous  adorer  of  im- 
ages, had  the  impudence,  after  this  excess  of 
audacity,  to  send  legates  to  Constantinople  to 
order  the  emperor  and  patriarch  to  re-estab- 
lish the  worship  of  images.  The  prince  in  his 
turn,  used  reprisals  upon  the  envoys  of  the 
pontiff";  he  caused  them  to  be  whippeil  through 
the  streets  of  the  city,  and  to  be  avenged  on 
the  pope,  he  showed  extreme  severity  towards 
the  image  worshippers. 

Pascal,  desirous  of  sustaining  his  struggle 
against  the  emperor,  published  that  all  the 
Christians  of  Constantinople,  who  should  have 
suffered  for  the  faith  of  the  church,  would  be 
received  at  Rome  and  supported  at  the  ex- 
pense of  St.  Peter;  for  this  purpose  he  rebuilt 
the  church  of  St.  Praxedes  and  founded  an 
immense  monastery  for  the  orientals,  where 
divine  service  was  celebrated  by  day  and  night 
in  the  Greek  language ;  he  bestowed  on  the 
convent  large  revenues  in  lands  and  houses; 
he  ornamented  splendidly  the  interior  of  the 
church,  and  placed  on  the  high  altar  a  taber- 
nacle of  silver  weighing  eight  hundred  pounds. 

This  liberality  exhausted  his  treasures,  and 
as  the  faithful  showed  great  luke-warmness 
in  despoiling  themselves  for  the  benefit  of 
strangers,  the  pope  adopted  a  singular  expedi- 
ent to  cause  alms  to  flow  into  his  purse.  He 
rebuilt  the  church  of  St.  Cecilia,  which  had 
fallen  into  ruins  and  adorned  it  with  greyt 
magnificence;  he  then  placed  on  the  high 
altar  the  shrhie  of  the  saint,  but  destitute  of 
her  remains.  On  the  following  Sunday  he 
convoked  the  people  to  matins  in  the  cathe- 
dralj  antl  whilst  he  was  prostrated  in  the  af- 
fliction of  his  soul,  he  feigned  to  fall  into  a 
supernatural  slumber. 

Scarcely  had  he  fallen  asleep  upon  his  seat, 
when  St.  Cecilia  herself  appeared  to  him  in  all 
her  glory,  and  thus  spoke  to  him  :  "  Imperial 
priests  and  sacrilegious  pontiffs  have  already 
sought  my  mortal  remains  :  but  their  eyes 
were  opened  in  obscurity,  and  their  hands 
have  lost  their  way  in  the  darkness,  for  God 


214 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


had  decided  that  it  should  be  reserved  for  you 
alone  to  find  my  body/"'  On  speaking  to  him 
these  words  she  ponited  with  her  hand  to  a 
spot  in  the  cemetery  of  Pretextatus  and  dis- 
appeared. 

Pascal  woke  at  the  same  moment,  and  in- 
formed tire  priests  of  this  miraculous  vision ; 
he  then  went  with  his  cleigy  to  the  place  in- 
dicated ;  he  himself  took  a  spade,  dug  up  the 
earth,  and  discovered  the  body  of  the  saint 
clothed  in  a  robe  of  tissue  of  gold  ;  at  her  feet 
were  linen  rags  freshly  impregnated  with  her 
blood,  and  by  her  side  the  bones  of  Valerian 
her  husband.  The  pope  caused  these  precious 
relics  to  be  placed  in  a  shrine  glittering  with 
precious  stones,  and  to  be  solemnly  trans- 
ported into  the  church  which  he  had  founded 
in  honour  of  St.  Cecilia. 

Ever  since  this  miraculous  discovery,  the 
offerings  of  the  faithful  and  the  presents  of 
pilgrims  made  the  new  church  overflow  with 
wealth,  and  augmented  the  riches  of  the  holy 
father. 

The  same  mii-acle  frequently  renewed  by 
the  successors  of  the  pontiff,  has  always  en- 
countered simple  and  credu]oi>s  men. 

'•This  first  success,"  says  an  old  author, 
'■  induced  the  holy  father  to  fabricate  saints 
for  the  purpose  of  selling  their  bones  to  all 
Christendom,  and  this  traffic  brought  him  in 
large  sums  of  money."  The  writer  might 
have  added  that  this  abominable  traffic  ex- 
tended itself  promptly  among  the  monks,  who 
created  thousands  of  saints  and  kept  an  open 
maiket  for  the  sale  of  the  bones  of  apostles 
and  martyrs,  the  wood  of  the  true  cross,  of 
the  hair  of  the  secret  parts  of  St.  Joseph,  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  the  Virgin  &c.  And  we 
should  add,  that  in  after  ages,  during  the  reign 
of  St.  Louis,  the  priests  had  the  audacity  to 
sell  to  the  duke  of  Anjou,  the  brother  of  the 
king — abomination  anti  sacrilege  !  ! — the  fore- 
skin of  Jesus  Christ — and  to  expose  it  in  a 
church  to  the  adoration  of  the  faithful. 

Whilst  the  sovereign  pontiff  was  occupied 
in  increasing  the  treasures  of  the  Holy  See,  the 
Mussulmen-  laboured  to  augment  the  extent 
of  their  empire,  and  used  the  rapidity  of  their 
conquests  as  an  undeniable  proof  of  the  su- 
periorhy  of  their  faith  over  that  of  the  Chris- 
tians. The  emperor  Leo,  imagining  that  the 
idolatry  of  his  subjects  was  the  sole  cause  of 
their  continual  defeats,  instead  of  employing 
his  energies  in  combating  the  Arabs,  was  en- 
gaged exclusively  in  a  war  against  the  im- 
ages. For  this  purpose  he  united  with  him- 
self the  bitter  enemies  of  image  worship, 
John  Hylas  and  the  monk  Anthorus,  who  oc- 
cupied themselves  in  ransacking  and  collect- 
ing all  the  books  which  treated  of  the  subject 
of  images.  The  inquiry  having  terminated, 
the  two  fathers  declared  to  the  prince  that  it 
was  incontestably  proven,  that  the  pretended 
pretext,  which  compelled  Christians  to  adore 
the  representations  of  sacred  things  was  no- 
where found  written.  Leo  called  in  the  pa- 
triarch Nicephorus,  and  ordered  him  to  de- 
clare himself  against  the  worship  of  images, 
and  on  his   refusal  to   obey,  he   threatened 


to  cause  all  the  statues  which  adorned  the 
churches  to  be  broken,  as  well  as  all  the 
paintings  which  ornamented  the  walls.  The 
prelate  persisting  in  his  resistance,  the  ex- 
ecution soon  followed  the  threat.  Not  only 
did  Leo  destroy  the  statues  and  paintings 
which  adorned  the  churches,  but  even  per- 
secuted the  faithful  who  were  suspected  of 
the  crime  of  image  worship.  The  patriarch, 
Nicephorus,  was  exiled,  and  his  See  given  to 
the  ignorant  Theodosius,  who  endeavoured  to 
maintain  the  orders  of  the  sovereign,  by  em- 
ploying in  their  turn  corruption  and  intmrida- 
tion.  Theodosius  then  convoked  in  council 
the  most  headlong  Iconolastic  bishops  and  ful- 
minated with  them  terrible  anathemas  against 
their  enemies.  Some  being  called  on  to  judge 
some  bishops  who  from  simplicity  or  igno- 
rance, followed  the  errors  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
allowed  themselves  to  be  transported,  so  far 
as  to  strike  them  in  full  assembly  with  their 
feet  and  hands,  and  even  with  the  wood  of 
their  crosses.  The  fury  of  proselytism  pushed 
them  on  to  decree  that  all  citizens  who  should 
only  be  suspected  of  image  worship,  should 
have  their  tongues  cut  off  and  their  eyes  torn 
out.  The  orthodox  resisted  the  persecutions, 
and  waited  patiently  until  the  death  of  Leo 
should  enable  them  to  use  reprisals. 

At  this  time,  Lothaire,  the  oldest  son  of  the 
emperor  Louis,  having  come  to  Rome  to  be 
consecrated  by  the  pontiff,  was  scandalized 
by  all  the  disorders  which  existed  in  the  holy 
city,  and  particularly  in  the  palace  of  the  pope, 
which  resembled  a  lupanar  in  those  evil  cities 
destroyed  in  former  times  by  fire  from  heaven. 
He  addressed  severe  remonstrances  to  Pascal, 
and  threatened  him  in  the  name  of  the  em- 
peror his  father,  to  hand  over  an  examination 
of  his  actions  to  a  council.  The  pontifl'  pro- 
mised to  amend  his  morals  ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
young  prince  quitted  Italy,  he  arrested  Theo- 
dore, the  primiciary  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
Leo,  the  nomenclator,  two  venerable  priests, 
whom  he  accused  of  having  injured  him  to 
the  young  prince.  He  caused  them  to  be 
conducted  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and 
their  eyes  to  be  put  out,  and  their  tongues 
dragged  out  in  his  own  presence ;  he  then 
handed  them  over  to  the  executioner  to  be 
beheaded. 

The  emperor  Louis,  having  been  informed 
of  this  bloody  execution,  sent  the  abbot  of  St. 
Wast,  and  Humphrey,  lord  of  Coira,  to  make 
inquiries  against  the  pope;  but  the  wary  Pas- 
cal had  already  sent  two  legates  to  the  court 
of  France,  to  beseech  the  monarch,  not  to 
credit  the  calumnies  which  represented  him 
as  the  author  of  a  crime  in  which  he  had  no 
participation.  The  explanations  of  the  em- 
bassadors shook  the  convictions  of  the  prince  ; 
still  Louis  sent  his  two  commissioners  to  Rome 
with  full  powers. 

They  had  not  even  time  to  lake  informa- 
tions as  to  the  conduct  of  the  pope;  for  on 
their  arrival  Pascal  presented  himself  at  theii 
palace,  surrounded  by  all  his  clergy,  and 
claimed  to  justify  himself  by  oath,  in  full 
council  and  in  their  presence.     The  next  day 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


215 


he  assembled  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran 
thirty-four  bishops,  sold  to  the  Holy  See,  as 
well  as  a  large  number  of  priests,  deacons, 
anti  monks,  and  before  this  assembly  swore 
that  he  was  innocent  of  the  deaths  of  the  pri- 
miciary  and  the  nomenclator.  The  envoys 
of  France  then  demanded  that  the  murderers 
should  be  delivered  up  to  them  ;  the  pontifl" 
refused  to  do  so,  under  ihe  prete.xt  that  the 
guilty  were  of  the  family  of  St.  Peter,  and  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  protect  them  against  all  the 
sovereigns  of  the  world ;  besides,  added  he, 
'•'  Leo  and  Theodore  were  justly  condemned 
for  the  crime  of  lese  majesty." 

The  holy  father  then  sent  a  new  embassy 
composed  of  John  a  bishop,  Sergius  the  libra- 
rian, and  Leo  the  leader  of  the  militia,  to  con- 


vince the  monarch  of  the  sincerity  of  his  pro- 
tests. The  emperor  Louis  did  not  judge  it 
opportune,  for  the  dignity  of  the  church,  to 
push  his  investigations  and  researches  any 
further,  fearing  to  find  himself  forced,  in  order 
to  punish  a  crime,  to  deliver  up  to  the  e.vecu- 
tioner  the  head  of  an  assassin  pontiff. 

On  their  return  to  Rome  the  legates  found 
Pascal  dangerously  sick.  He  died  on  the 
1 1th  of  May,  824,  after  a  reign  of  seven  years 
and  three  months,  and  was  interred  in  the 
cemetery  of  St.  Praxedes,  the  Romans  op- 
posing his  inhumation  in  the  cathedral  of  St. 
Peter. 

Pascal  has  since  been  placed  among  the 
saints,  and  the  church  yearly  honors  his 
memory  on  the  14th  of  IVIay. 


EUGENIUS  THE  SECOND,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  824.] 

Election  of  Eugcnius  the  Second — Journey  of  Lothaire  to  Rome — He  compels  the  pope  to  restore 
the  riches  stolen  from  the  citizens  by  his  predecessors — Constitutions  of  Lothaire — He  re- 
presses the  avarice  and  ambition  of  the  pontiffs — Letter  of  the  emperor  Michael  on  the  supersti- 
tions of  images — The  French  bishops,  assembled  in  council,  reject  the  icorship  of  images  and 
refuse  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  popes — Disorders  and  profound  ignorance  of  the 
clergy — Council  of  Rome — Death  of  the  pontiff. 


After  the  death  of  Pascal  the  Romans  were 
divided  into  two  factions,  and  proclaimed  two 
pontiffs.  A  priest  named  Zinzinus  had  on  his 
side  the  nobles,  the  magistrates,  and  the 
clergy:  Eugenj.us,  his  competitor,  presented 
himself  as  the  chosen  of  the  people.  This 
second  faction  was  the  most  powerful,  and 
Zinzinus  was  compelled  to  abdicate  the  pa- 
pacy, and  yield  his  place  to  Eugenius,  who 
seated  himself  on  the  throne  of  St.  Peter. 
The  new  pontiff  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and 
the  son  of  Bohemond.  Anastasius,  the  libra- 
rian, says  formally,  that  the  simplicity,  hu- 
mility, and  good  morals  of  Eugenius,  recom- 
mer.ded  him  very  much. 

After  his  ordination,  his  holiness  informed 
the  emperor  Louis  of  the  sedition  which  had 
broken  out  at  Rome  of  his  election,  and  be- 
sought him  to  punish  the  guilty.  The  empe- 
ror sent  Lothaire  to  obtain  an  exact  account 
of  the  whole  affair,  and  to  accompany  him, 
the  venerable  Hildwyn,  abbot  of  St.  Denis, 
and  archchaplain. 

The  prince,  on  his  arrival  in  the  Holy  City, 
having  caused  it  to  be  announced  that  he 
would  hear  all  the  complaints  of  citizi-ns,  en- 
tire families  cast  themselves  at  his  feet,  de- 
manding justice  against  the  Holy  See,  and 
Lothaire  was  enabled  to  judge  for  himself 
how  many  unjust  coinleninations  the  un- 
worthy predecessors  of  Eugenius  had  made 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  seizing  upon  the  riches 
of  the  people.  He  ordered  the  holy  father  to 
restore  to  families  the  lands  and  t^jrritories 
which  had  been  unjustly  confiscated,  and  in 
order  to  prevent  new  abuses,  he  published 


the  following  decree  before  the  people  as- 
sembled in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Peter. 

•'It  is  prohibited,  under  penalty  of  death, 
to  injure  those  w  ho  are  placed  under  the  spe- 
cial protection  of  the  emperor. 

"  Pontiffs,  dukes,  and  judges  shall  render  to 
the  people  an  equitable  justice.  No  man,  free 
or  slave,  shall  impede  the  exercise  of  the 
right  of  election  of  the  chiefs  of  the  church, 
which  appertains  to  the  Romans,  by  the  old 
concessions  made  to  them  by  our  fathers. 

"We  will,  that  commissioners  be  appointed 
by  the  pope  to  advise  us  each  year,  in  what 
manner  justice  has  been  rendered  to  the  citi- 
zens, and  how  the  present  constitution  shall 
have  been  observed.  We  will  also,  that  it 
should  be  asked  of  the  Roman?  under  what 
law  they  wish  to  live,  in  order  that  they  may 
be  judged  according  to  the  law  which  they 
shall  have  adopted,  which  shall  be  granted  to 
them  by  our  imperial  authority. 

'•Finally,  we  order  all  the  dignitaries  of 
the  state  to  come  into  our  presence,  and  to 
take  to  us  the  oath  of  fidelity  in  these  terms, 
'  I  swear  to  be  faithful  to  tire  emperors  Louis 
and  Lothaire,  notwitlhstanding  the  fidelity  I 
have  promised  to  the  Holy  See  j  and  I  engtige 
not  to  permit  a  pope  to  be  uncanonically 
chosen,  nor  to  be  consecrated  until  he  has 
renewed  before  the  commissioners  of  the 
sovereigns,  the  oath  which  is  now  framed 
by  the  pontifl"  actually  reigning,  Eugenius  the 
Second.-' 

Aventin  affirms  that  this  constitution  re-es- 
tablished tranquillity  in  Rome,  and  jut  an  end 
to  the  disorders  which  had  arisen  in  all  Italy, 


216 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


through  "  the  ambition,  the  avarice,  and  the 
knaveries  and  cruekies  of  the  popes." 

On  his  return  to  France,  Lothaire  found 
embassadors  from  the  emperor  Michael,  sur- 
named  the  Stammerer,  instructed  to  inform 
him  of  the  victory  which  he  had  gained  over 
the  usurper  Thomas,  and  the  happy  termi- 
nation of  the  civil  wars  which  had  desolated 
the  empire.  The  Greek  envoys  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Louis  letters  from  their  court  in  re- 
lation to  the  worship  of  images,  which  was 
yet  the  great  religious  question. 

"We  inform  you,  wrote  Michael,  that  a 
great  number  of  priests  and  monks,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  wander  from 
apostolical  traditions,  and  introduce  con- 
demnable  novelties  into  the  Christian  wor- 
ship. They  take  the  crosses  from  the  churches 
and  replace  them  by  images,  before  which 
they  light  lamps  and  burn  incense.  The  devo- 
tees, and  simple,  envelope  these  idols  in  linen 
and  take  them  as  God-parents  for  their  chil- 
dren ;  they  offer  them  the  first  hair  of  the 
newly  born,  and  prostrate  themselves  before 
them,  singing  canticles  and  imploring  their 
aid. 

"  Priests,  in  their  fanaticism,  scratch  the  co- 
lours from  the  pictures,  and  mix  these  profane 
matters  with  the  wine  of  the  eucharist,  which 
they  administer  to  the  faithful.  Some  eccle- 
siastics deposit  the  consecrated  bread  be- 
tween the  hands  of  the  statues  of  stone,  and 
then  make  the  communicants  take  it  from  the 
idols  themselves  ■  some  monks  dare  to  cele- 
brate the  divine  mysteries  on  planks  bedaubed 
with  figures  of  saints,  and  they  call  these 
altars  privileged  tables. 

"To  remedy  this  abuse,  the  orthodox  empe- 
ror and  our  bishops  assembled  a  council  to 
decide  that  images  should  be  placed  in  the 
churches  at  a  proper  height,  to  hinder  fanatics 
from  lighting  lamps  in  their  honou  r ;  or  offering 
to  them  incense,  or  burning  hair.  But  the 
priests,  whom  this  condemnable  superstition 
enriches,  have  been  unwilling  to  recognize  the 
authorities  of  our  synods,  and  have  appealed 
to  the  See  of  Rome  and  the  pontitTs,  in  hopes 
of  dividing  with  them  the  offerings  of  the 
faithful,  have  ranged  themselves  on  their  side, 
and  calumniated  the  Greek  church. 

"We  disdain  to  refute  the  infamous  false- 
hoods of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  and  only  de- 
clare to  you  our  orthotlox  faith.  We  confess 
the  Trinity  of  God  in  three  persons,  the  incar- 
nation of  the  Word,  his  two  wills,  and  his  two 
operations.  We  ask,  in  our  prayers,  the  inter- 
cession of  the  Holy  Virgin,  mother  of  God,  and 
of  all  the  saints,  and  we  honour  their  relics ;  we 
recognize  the  authority  of  the  apostolical  tra- 
ditions and  the  ordinances  of  the  six  general 
councils;  finall}',  notwithstanding  our  just  in- 
dignation against  the  court  of  Rome,  we  con- 
sent to  recognize  its  supremacy  over  the  other 
churches.  We  even  send  to  Pope  Eugenius  a 
Bible,  a  perfumed  box,  and  a  chalice  adorned 
with  gold  and  precious  stones,  to  be  offered  to 
the  church  of  St.  Peter  by  our  embassadors, 
whom  we  beseech  you  to  allow  to  accompany 
you  to  Rome." 


The  emperor  Louis  caused  them  to  be  con- 
ducted into  Italy  by  a  numerous  escort,  in 
which  was  found  Fortunatus,  patriarch  of 
Grada,  who  should  have  been  judged  by  the 
pontifl',  for  the  debaucheries  which  had  caused 
him  to  be  driven  from  his  See  by  the  Venetians 
and  Greeks. 

During  the  sojourn  of  the  envoys  of  Mi- 
chael, the  French  bishops,  Freculph  and  Ag- 
daire,  demanded  from  the  holy  father,  in  the 
name  of  Louis,  authority  to  assemble  a  coun- 
cil in  Gaul  to  examine  the  question  of  the 
images.  Eugenius,  not  daring  to  refuse  them 
his  consent,  they  hastened  to  advise  the  em- 
peror of  it,  who  ordered  the  bishops  of  his 
kingdom  to  assemble  at  Paris,  on  the  1st  of 
November  of  the  following  year,  (826.) 

In  this  assembly  they  took  cognizance  of 
the  letter  addressed  by  Pope  Adrian  to  Prince 
Constantine  and  his  mother,  the  empress 
Irene.  They  blamed  the  pontifi'  for  having 
ordered  the  Greeks  to  adore  the  images  ;  they 
rejected  the  council  of  Nice,  and  the  synod  of 
the  image  worshippers,  as  being  both  sacrile- 
gious cabals.  They  approved  of  the  dogmas 
taught  in  the  Carolin  books,  and  called  the 
replies  which  Adrian  had  addressed  to  Char- 
lemagne on  his  capitularies,  impious. 

Finally,  when  the  discussions  were  finished, 
Amilarius  and  Halitgar,  bishop  of  Cambray, 
were  instructed  to  carry  to  Louis,  in  the  name 
of  the  assembly,  the  following  letter:  "  Illus- 
trious emperor — Your  father,  having  read  the 
proceedings  of  the  synod  of  Nice,  found  in 
them  several  condemnable  things ;  he  ad- 
dressed judicious  observations  on  them  to  the 
pope  Adrian,  in  order  that  the  pontiff  might 
censure,  by  his  authority,  the  errors  of  his 
predecessors;  but  the  latter,  favouring  those 
who  sustained  the  superstition  of  the  images, 
instead  of  obeying  the  orders  of  the  prince, 
protected  the  image  worshippers. 

"  Thus,  notwithstanding  the  respect  due  to 
the  Holy  See,  we  are  forced  to  recognize,  that 
in  this  gi'ave  question  it  is  entirely  in  error, 
and  that  the  explanations  which  it  has  given 
of  the  holy  books,  are  opposed  to  the  truth, 
and  destructive  of  the  purity  of  the  faith. 

"We  know  how  much  you  will  suffer  at 
seeing  that  the  Roman  pontiffs,  those  powers 
of  the  earth,  have  wandered  from  divine 
truth,  and  have  fallen  into  error;  still  we  will 
not  allow  ourselves  to  be  stopped  by  this  con- 
sideration, since  it  concerns  the  salvation  of 
our  brethren. 

"  We  beseech  you  then,  0  prince  !  to  address 
severe  reprimands  to  the  churches  of  Rome  and 
Constantinople,  that  the  scandal  of  the  double 
heresy  of  the  adoration  and  contempt  of 
images  may  fall  upon  them ;  for  it  is  by 
loudly  condemning  image  breakers  and  image 
worshippers  that  you  will  restore  orthodoxy, 
and  assure  the  safety  of  the  people." 

Thus  the  Christians  of  Gaul  not  only  re- 
jected the  dogma  of  the  infallibility  of  the 
popes,  whilst  two  very  religious  emperors, 
Charlemagne  and  Louis,  and  a  great  number 
of  prelates,  recognized  that  the  Holy  See  was 
entirely  deceived  in  the  question  of  images; 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


217 


but  even  refused  to  submit  to  the  decrees  of 
an  universal  synod,  which  had  nevertheless 
been  approved  of  by  the  pope,  and  at  which 
his  legates  had  assisted. 

The  Protestants  logically  deduce  from  it  this 
consequence :  "  If  princes,  bishops  and  councils 
could  reject  the  worship  of  images  as  a  super- 
stitious and  idolatrous  practice,  without  being 
heretics,  and  without  incurring  excommunica- 
tion, we  may  now  fully  follow  this  example; 
for  that  which  is  once  permitted  by  religious 
dogmas,  should  be  the  guide  of  the  future; 
divine  laws  not  being  enabled  to  be  reformed 
as  political  are,  by  the  caprices  of  man." 

The  disorders  and  debaucheries  of  the 
clergy  in  this  age  of  darkness,  had  entirely 
destroyed  ecclesiastical  discipline ;  the  cor- 
ruptions of  morals  was  frightful,  especially  in 
the  convents  of  the  monks  and  nuns. 

Eugenius  the  Second  undertook  to  reform 
the  abuses,  and  convoked  a  synod  of  all  the  pre- 
lates of  Italy.  Sixty  bishops,  eighteen  priests 
and  a  great  number  of  clerks  and  monks  as- 
sembled, by  the  orders  of  the  holy  father.  This 
assembly  brought  together  all  the  ablest  pre- 
lates of  Italy ;  their  ignorance  was,  however,  so 
profound,  that  they  were  obliged  to  copy  the 
preface  of  the  proceedings  of  a  council  held  by 
Gregory  the  Second,  to  serve  them  as  an  ini- 
tiatory discourse.  The  following  are  their 
decrees :  "  Schools  shall  be  established  in  the 
bishoprics,  parishes,  and  other  places,  where 
they  shall  be  recognized  as  indispensable. 
Cloisters  shall  be  erected  near  to  cathedrals, 
and  it  shall  be  enjoined  on  clerks  to  study 
there,  and  live  there,  in  common,  under  the 
direction  of  a  superior,  named  by  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese. 

'•'  Curates  shall  not  be  intrusted  with  the 
charge  of  a  parish,  but  with  the  consent  of  the 
people ;  and  priests  shall  only  be  ordained  for 
a  single  rank,  in  order  not  to  be  obliged  to  re- 
main in  secular  houses,  freed  from  all  in- 
spection of  their  chiefs. 

"  Ecclesiastics  are  prohibited  from  engaging 
in  money-lending,  hunting,  or  the  labours  of 
agriculture.  They  shall  always  appear  in 
public,  clothed  in  their  sacerdotal  habits,  that 
they  may  be  always  ready  to  perform  the 
functions  of  their  ministry,  and  that  they 
may  not  be  exposed  to  the  insults  of  seculars, 
who  might  treat  them  with  contempt  when 
clothed  in  the  garments  of  the  laity. 

Prelates    are    expressly    prohibited    from 


turning  to  their  own  profit  the  property  of 
the  churches,  and  from  levying  imposts  upon 
their  dioceses;  they  are,  nevertheless,  per- 
mitted to  accept  the  offerings  of  the  faithful, 
in  order  to  augment  the  riches  of  the  church. 

'■  Ecclesiastics  should  be  exempt  from  ap- 
pearing ia  courts  of  justice,  unless  their  testi- 
mony should  be  absolutely  necessary.  In  the 
proceedings  in  which  they  are  engaged,  they 
shall  be  represented  by  advocates  engaged  to 
defend  them,  except  in  criminal  accusations, 
when  they  are  authorized  to  appear  in  person 
if  the  interest  of  the  cause  demands  it." 

Eugenius  the  Second  died  soon  after  having 
presided  over  this  synod ;  he  was  interred  at 
St.  Peter's  on  the  27th  of  August,  827. 

Ecclesiastical  authors  affirm  that  the  pon- 
tiff himself  distributed  aid  to  the  sick,  to  wi- 
dows, and  orphans.  In  fact,  the  extreme  care 
which  he  took,  during  the  three  years  of  his 
reign  to  provision  Rome  with  com  from  Sicily, 
caused  him  to  be  surnamed  the  Father  of  the 
Poor,  a  title  until  then  disdained  by  his  proud 
predecessors. 

The  decrees  made  by  the  last  council,  and 
which  were  inspired  by  a  great  spirit  of  wis- 
dom, unfortunately  had  not  the  power  to  re- 
form the  corrupt  morals  of  the  priests,  nor  to 
excite  them  to  study.  The  clergy  changed 
none  of  their  vicious  habits,  and  remained 
plunged,  as  before,  in  an  ignorance  so  pro- 
found, that  those  were  quoted  as  the  best  in- 
formed among  the  bishops  who  knew  how  to 
baptize  according  to  the  rules,  who  could  ex- 
plain the  pater  and  the  credo  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  and  who  possessed  a  key  to  the  ca- 
lendar of  the  church. 

As  to  the  other  ecclesiastics,  they  were 
unable  to  distinguish  the  names  of  angels 
from  those  of  devils,  and  solemnly  invoked,  in 
the  litany,  the  names  of  Uriel,  Raguel,  To- 
biel,  Inias,  Zubinac,  Sabaoc,  and  Simill,  all 
pronounced  spirits  of  darkness  by  the  pontiff 
Zachary. 

In  the  churches,  on  Christmas  day,  they 
announced  to  the  faithful  that  the  Word  had 
entered  the  world  through  the  ear  of  the  Holy 
Virgin,  and  on  Holy  Friday  that  he  had  gone 
to  Heaven  through  a  gilt  door.  Almost  all 
the  priests  were  anthromorphites,  that  is, 
they  believed  that  God  was  corporeal ;  they 
knew  neither  the  creed  of  the  apostles,  nor 
that  of  the  mass,  nor  that  of  Saint  Athanasius, 
nor  even  the  Lord's  Prayer. 


VALENTINE,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  827.] 

Origin  of  Valentine — His  education — Opinion  of  historians  on  his  election — Eulogium  on  him — 

His  death. 

Valentine,  a  Roman  by  birth,  was  the  son  I  him  sub-deacon  as  a  reward  for  his  assiduity 
of  a  citizen  named  Peter.  He  had  been  in  his  studies.  Eugenius  the  Second,  then  at- 
brought  up  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  tached  him  to  his  person,  and  exhibited  for 
the   pontiff.   Pascal  the  First,   had  ordained  1  him  so  lively  an  affection,  that  the  Romans 

Vol.  I     '  2  C 


218 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


affirmed  that  the  pontiff  was  the  true  father 
of  Valentine.  He  consecrated  him  archdea- 
con, gave  him  absolute  authority  over  all  the 
ecclesiastics  of  his  court,  and  heaped  upon 
him  riches  and  favour.  The  bishops,  jealous  of 
the  power  of  the  favourite,  spread  infamous 
stories  about  him,  accusing  him  of  having 
criminal  relations  with  the  pope. 

The  influence  of  Valentine  was  neverthe- 
less so  great,  that  after  the  death  of  his  pro- 
tector, he  was  elevated  to  the  Holy  See  by 
the  suffrages  of  the  clergy,  the  grandees,  and 
the  people. 

Some  authors  affirm  that  his  election  was 
not  exempt  from  the  intrigues  employed  at 
all  times  by  ecclesiastics  who  coveted  the 
tiara.  •  They  cite  in  support  of  their  asser- 
tion, that  the  priests  who  elected  Valentine 
chief  of  the  church,  feared  so  much  lest  an- 
other pope  should  be  proclaimed  by  those  of 
an  opposite  faction,  that  they  hastened  to  en- 
throne him  before  having  even  consecrated 
him,  an  action  contrary  to  all  the  customs  of 
the  church;  and  that  they  conferred  the 
episcopate  upon  a  deacon  before  having  or- 
dained him  priest.     Others  maintain,  on  the 


other  hand,  that  the  new  pontiff  opposed  his 
own  election  with  all  his  power,  and  that  they 
were  obliged  to  remove  him  by  force  from  the 
church  of  St.  Comus  and  St.  Damian,  where  he 
had  concealed  himself,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
high  dignity  to  which  he  had  been  promoted. 

Anastasius,  the  librarian,  thus  expresses 
himself  in  relation  to  this  pontiff:  "His  youth 
did  not  resemble  that  of  other  priests ;  far 
from  seeking  out  pleasures  and  play,  he 
avoided  dissipation,  and  retired  into  solitude, 
in  order  to  abandon  himself  entirely  to  the 
study  of  wisdom  and  religion.  Thus  he  be- 
came the  model  which  mothers  offered  to  the 
consideration  of  their  children,  and  he  ac- 
quired a  reputation  for  holiness  among  the 
faithful  of  Rome." 

Elevated  to  the  chair  of  the  apostle,  where 
he  appeared  but  for  a  moment,  Valentine  ex- 
hibited to  the  faithful  the  admirable  virtues 
of  Christianity  united  to  a  spirit  of  tolerance  ; 
but  death,  which  respects  neither  merit, 
dignity  nor  greatness,  soon  struck  him,  and 
the  church  lost  one  of  its  best  pontiffs  on  the 
10th  of  October,  827,  after  a  reign  of  five 
weeks. 


GREGORY  THE  FOURTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTH  POPE. 

Election  of  Gregory — Violent  dispute  between  the  pope  and  the  monks  of  the  Convent  of  Farsa 
— The  commissioners  of  Louis  condemn  the  pope  to  restore  the  property  usurped  by  the  Holy 
See — Revolt  of  the  children  of  Louis — Gregory  betrays  him — Louis  is  deposed  and  shut  up  in 
a  monastery — Generosity  of  the  king  to  the  Roman  church — Death  of  Gregory. 


Gregory  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son 
of  a  patrician  named  John.  The  pontiff  Pas- 
cal had  conferred  on  him  the  sub-deaconate 
and  the  priesthood. 

Platinus  relates,  that  after  the  death  of 
Valentine,  the  deacon  Gregory,  elevated  to 
the  throne  of  St.  Peter  by  the  unanimous  suffra- 
ges of  the  clergy  and  the  people,  at  first  re- 
fused this  high  dignity.  Papebroch  affirms, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  Gregory,  of  a  low  and 
perfidious  character,  was  supposed  to  have  has- 
tened the  death  of  his  predecessor,  and  only 
obtained  the  See  by  intrigue  and  violence. 
"The  Romans,"  says  this  historian,  "did  not 
wish  to  consent  to  his  ordination  through  fear 
of  offending  the  emperor  Louis,  and  they  sent 
embassadors  to  the  monarch,  to  beseech  him 
to  name  commissioners  who  should  be  in- 
structed to  examine  into  the  validity  of  the 
election.  When  the  French  envoys  came  to 
the  holy  city,  the  politic  Gregory  loaded  them 
with  presents,  bought  their  friendship  and  ob- 
tained a  confirmation  of  his  title  to  the  pope- 
dom. He  was  consecrated  in  their  presence 
on  the  eve  of  the  Epiphany,  in  the  church  of 
St.  Peter.  Nevertheless,  the  emperor,  some 
time  after,  enlightened  by  the  reports  of  his 
ministers,  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  pontiff, 
wrote  him  a  severe  letter,  and  threatened  to 
depose  him  if  he  did  not  repair  the  scandal 
of  his  election  by  exemplary  conduct." 


From  that  time  Gregory  vowed  an  implaca- 
ble hatred  to  the  prince,  the  effects  of  which 
we  shall  see  in  the  latter  years  of  his  reign. 

He  first  occupied  himself  by  repairing  the 
churches  of  Rome  which  had  fallen  into  ruins ; 
he  built  numerous  monasteries,  which  he  en- 
dowed with  immense  wealth  torn  from  the 
people  by  the  sword  of  kings  or  the  knavery 
of  priests.  He  then  transported  into  one  of 
the  galleries  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  the 
body  of  Gregory  the  Great ,  he  placed  it  under 
the  altar  of  an  oratory  dedicated  to  thai'  saint, 
and  of  which  the  niche  was  of  Mosaic  upon  a 
basis  of  gold.  The  fete  of  this  pontiff'  was 
celebrated  every  yearin  thischapel,  and  during 
the  ceremony  the  faithful  kissed  the  pallium, 
the  reliquary,  and  the  girdle  with  which  he 
had  been  buried.  The  bodies  of  Saint  Sebas- 
tian and  St.  Tiberius  w^ere  deposited  in  the 
same  oratory. 

Gregory  the  Fourth  rebuilt  the  church  of 
St.  Mark  and  decorated  it  magnificently;  he 
placed  on  the  high  altar  a  tabernacle  of  silver 
weighing  a  thousand  pounds,  and  transported 
into"  the  sanctuary  the  body  of  St.  Hermer. 
Before  the  inhumation  of  the  saint  he  cut  off 
one  of  his  fingers,  which  he  sent  as  a  present 
to  Eginhard,  the  old  secretary  of  Charlemagne. 
Still  the  care  which  he  took  to  reconstruct 
temples  which  were  in  ruins,  did  not  hinder 
him  from  extendmg  his  solicitude  to  temporal 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


219 


affairs ;  he  rebuilt  the  walls  of  Ostia  and  for- 
tiried  the  port  which  had  been  dismantled  by 
the  Saracens,  in  their  incursions  on  the  islands 
or  shores  adjoining  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber. 
This  city  was  surrounded  by  high  walls,  de- 
fended by  bastions  and  deep  ditches;  he  shut 
it  up  by  immense  gales  furnished  with  port- 
cullises, and  placed  upon  the  walls  a  species 
of  catapulta  to  hurl  stones,  and  formidable 
machines  designed  to  repel  the  attacks  of  the 
enemy.  The  new  city  was  named  Gregorio- 
polis. 

During  the  sojourn  of  the  commissioners  of 
the  emperor  in  Rome,  Ingoalde,  abbot  of  Far- 
sa,  brought  to  them  a  letter  from  Louis,  which 
commanded  them  to  examine  with  impar- 
tiality, the  complaints  brought  against  Popes 
Adrian  and  Leo,  who  were  accused  by  the 
abbot  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Mary,  of  having 
seized  upon  five  domains  of  great  extent  be- 
longing to  his  convent.  Ingoalde  pressed 
upon  the  embassadors  the  steps  which  had 
been  already  taken  during  the  pontificates  of 
Stephen,  Pascal  and  Eugenius,  and  represented 
to  them,  that  not  having  been  able  to  obtain 
justice  he  had  finally  appealed  to  the  emperor. 

The  commissioners  advised  the  pope  of  the 
orders  they  had  received,  and  summoned  him 
to  be  represented  before  their  tribunal.  An 
advocate  was  immediately  sent  from  Rome  to 
present  the  defence  of  the  Holy  See ;  he  re- 
jected the  claim  of  Ingoalde  as  derogatory  to 
the  dignity  of  the  pope,  and  solemnly  affirmed 
in  the  name  of  Gregory,  that  the  property 
in  dispute  had  never  belonged  to  the  mon- 
astery of  St.  Mary.  The  abbot  rising  from  his 
seat,  called  the  pontifi'  and  his  defender  sa- 
crilegious and  liars ;  he  showed  the  titles  of 
the  donations  which  had  been  made  to  his 
convent  by  King  Didier,  and  which  had  been 
confirmed  by  Charlemagne. 

Upon  proof  so  authentic,  the  commission- 
ers were  obliged  to  condemn  the  court  of 
Rome  to  restore  the  property  which  it  had 
unjustly  seized ;  but  the  lawyer  refused  to 
submit  to  their  decision,  and  the  pope,  ap- 
proving of  this  resistance,  declared  that  he 
himself  would  go  to  France  to  break  down 
the  judgment  of  the  commissioners.  Notwith- 
standing this  declaration,  the  prince  ordered 
that  the  judgment  pronounced  against  the 
Holy  See  should  be  e.vecuted  without  delay. 
Ingoalde  was  put  in  possession  of  the  terri- 
tories, and  the  deed  which  conferred  them 
upon  him  was  deposited  in  the  archives  of 
Farsa,  in  confirmation  of  the  rights  of  the 
monastery. 

Gregory  had  already  sworn  an  implacable 
hatreii  to  Louis,  on  account  of  the  menaces 
which  he  had  addres.sed  to  him  on  his  elec- 
tion ;  this  last  affair  transported  him  with 
fury,  and  he  no  longer  kept  any  guard  over 
his  conduct  towards  the  monarch.  He  first 
excited  the  children  ag-ainst  the  father;  then, 
when  Lothaire  was  in  full  revolt,  he  came 
into  France  to  aid  the  cause  of  the  prince, 
and  to  insure  the  success  of  the  rebellion, 
by  placing  the  guilty  sons  under  the  protection 
of  the  church. 


The  Chronicle  of  St.  Denis,  in  speaking  of 
these  events,  affirms  '-thai  the  demons  of  hell 
animated  all  the  children  of  Louis,  and  that 
Satan  himself  came  in  the  person  of  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  under  the  charitable  pretext,  as  if  he 
wished  to  re-establish  peace  between  the  em- 
peror and  his  children,  but  in  reality  to  ex- 
communicate the  monarch  and  the  bishops 
who  opposed  the  execrable  wishes  of  these 
unnatural  children." 

As  soon  as  Gregory  had  passed  the  Alp.?, 
the  prelates  who  remained  faithful  to  the  un- 
fortunate Louis,  wrote  to  him  to  compel  him 
to  leave  France.  They  recalled  to  his  recol- 
lection the  oaths  which  he  had  made  to  the 
monarch;  they  reproached  him  with  the  trea- 
son of  which  he  was  guilty  in  coming  to  trouble 
his  kingdom,  and  mix  himself  up  in  the  af- 
fairs of  state,  which  were  not  within  his  com- 
petency ;  and  declared  that  if  he  should  under- 
take to  lay  an  interdict  on  them,  they  would 
return  against  him  the  excommunications  and 
anathemas,  and  would  solemnly  depose  him 
from  his  sacred  functions. 

The  pontiff,  alarmed  at  this  formidable  op- 
position resolved  to  quit  France,  and  was  al- 
ready preparing  to  return  to  Rome,  when  two 
monks,  creatures  of  Lothaire,  placed  before 
him  the  passages  from  the  fathers,  and  the 
canons  of  the  Italian  councils,  which  declared 
him  to  be  the  supreme  judge  of  all  Christians. 
Then  pride  triumphed  over  fear,  and  his  bold- 
ness no  longer  knew  any  bounds.  He  dared 
to  write  to  the  bishops  of  the  emperor's  party 
a  letter  in  which  he  elevates  the  power  of  the 
Holy  See  above  thrones,  and  maintains  that 
those  who  have  been  baptized,  no  matter  what 
their  rank,  owe  to  him  entire  obedience.  "If 
I  have  sworn  obedience  to  the  king,  I  cannot 
better  fulfil  my  oath  than  by  restoring  peace 
to  the  state;  and  you  cannot  accuse  me  of  per- 
jury, who  are  yourselves  guilty  of  that  crime 
towards  me." 

On  his  side,  Lothaire  spread  abroad  procla- 
mations against  his  father,  but  in  terms  less 
vehement  than  those  of  the  sovereign  pontiff; 
he  only  wished,  he  assured  the  world,  to  pun- 
ish the  evil  counsellors  by  whom  his  father 
was  surrounded  and  to  prevent  the  tranquillity 
of  the  kingdom  from  being  compromised  by 
their  senseless  advice. 

Under  pretext  of  designating  to  the  emperor 
the  men  whom  he  should  exile  from  his  court, 
Gregory  went  to  the  camp  of  the  emperor  to 
re-establish  concord,  according  to  the  ma.\- 
ims  of  the  gospel,  between  the  father  and  his 
children.  He  remained  several  days  with  the 
emperor,  and  whilst  making  protestations  to 
him  of  unutterable  devotion,  he  was  assur- 
ing himself  of  the  defection  of  the  troops  by 
presents,  promi-ses,  or  threats;  and  on  the  very 
night  of  his  departure,  all,  the  soldiers  went 
over  to  the  camp  of  Lothaire. 

The  next  day,  Louis  having  been  informed 
of  this  odious  treason,  perceived  that  he  could 
no  longer  resist  the  criminal  projects  of  bis  ^ 
sons;  he  called  together  the  faithful  servants 
who  remained  about  his  person,  went  to  the 
camp  of  the  princes  and  delivered  himself 


220 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


into  their  hands.  The  plain  on  which  these 
events  occurred  lies  between  Basle  and  Stras- 
burg;  since  that  time  it  has  been  called  "the 
plain  of  falsehood,"  in  remembrance  of  the 
infamy  of  the  pontiff. 

Louis  was  received  by  his  children  with 
great  demonstrations  of  respect ;  shortly  after- 
wards, however,  he  was  separated  from  Ju- 
dith, his  wife,  who  was  intrusted  to  the  guar- 
dianship of  Louis,  king  of  Bavaria;  then,  at 
the  instigation  of  Gregory,  they  declared  him 
a  prisoner,  and  deprived  of  the  imperial  dig- 
nity. He  was  then  despoiled  of  his  royal  orna- 
ments, clothed  in  the  garb  of  a  public  penitent, 
and  constrained  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
multitude,  to  confess  with  a  loud  voice,  crimes 
that  he  had  never  committed.  Lothaire  con- 
fined him  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Medard,  at 
Soissons,  seized  upon  the  sovereign  authority, 
and  caused  the  clergy,  the  lords,  and  the  army 
to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  him  as  empe- 
ror of  the  West  and  king  of  France. 

After  having  directed  and  consecrated  this 
infamous  usurpation,  the  pope  returned  in  tri- 
umph into  Italy.  But  the  authority  of  the 
children  of  Louis  was  not  of  long  duration ; 
the  people,  indignant  at  the  conduct  of  Lo- 
thaire, revolted  against  him  and  re-established 
the  emperor  upon  the  throne.  In  his  turn, 
Louis  resolved  to  be  revenged  on  the  pontiff, 
and  sent  immediately  to  Rome,  St.  Anscairus, 
the  metropohtan  of  Hamburg,  accompanied 
by  the  prelates  of  Soissons  and  Strasburg,  and 
the  count  Gerald,  for  the  purpose  of  interro- 
gating the  holy  father  as  to  the  part  which  he 
had  taken  in  the  conspiracy  of  the  French 
princes. 


Gregory  protested,  on  oath,  the  purity  of  his 
intentions,  renewed  the  assurances  of  his  de- 
votion to  the  person  of  the  king,  pledged  him- 
self to  aid  him  against  his  sons,  and  loaded 
with  presents  the  envoys  of  France.  The 
weak  Louis  consented  to  forget  the  past ;  he 
pardoned  his  children,  and  even  carried  his 
indulgence  so  far  as  to  interpose  his  authority 
to  protect  the  Holy  See  against  his  son  Lo- 
thaire, who,  furious  at  the  new  treason  of  the 
pope,  had  ordered  his  officers  to  treat  with 
great  severity  the  priests  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  even  the  holy  father  himself. 

Louis  thus  wrote  to  his  son:  "Recollect 
prince,  that  in  bestowing  on  you  the  kingdom 
of  Italy,  I  have  recommended  to  you  to  have 
the  greatest  respect  for  the  holy  Roman  church, 
and  that  you  have  sworn  to  defend  it  against 
its  enemies,  and  not  to  leave  it  exposed  to  the 
outrages  of  strangers.  Put  an  end  then  to  the 
violence  of  your  soldiery  against  the  clergy  of 
Rome.  I  command  you  to  prepare  food  and 
lodging  for  my  retinue  and  myself;  for  I  am 
about  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  the 
apostles,  and  I  hope  that  by  the  time  of  my 
arrival  in  the  holy  city  all  complaints  against 
your  troops  will  have  ceased." 

The  noble  and  generous  conduct  of  Louis 
in  this  matter,  serves  to  blacken  for  ever  the 
memory  of  the  execrable  pontiff,  who  used 
religion  as  a  plea  to  arm  children  against  their 
father ! 

This  cowardly,  knavish,  perfidous,  and  sacri- 
legious priest,  destitute  of  principles  and  faith, 
occupied  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  for  sixteen 
years.  He  at  last  died  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year  844. 


SERGIUS  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  844.J 

History  of  Sergius,  surnamed  the  Hog^s  Snout — Troubles  caused  by  the  election  of  Scrgius — 
Journey  of  King  Louis  to  Rome — Boldness  of  the  pontiff — His  election  is  confirmed — He  and 
his  brother  publicly  sell  the  offices  of  the  church — The  Roman  people  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to 
the  emperor — Louis  is  crowned  king  of  the  Lombards — The  rape  of  the  beautifid  Ermengarde, 
daughter  of  Lothaire — Division  between  the  emperor  and  his  brothers — Council  of  Paris — 
Nomenoes  seizes  upon  the  sovereignty  of  Brittany — Incursions  of  the  Saracens  into  Italy — 
Miracle  of  Monte  Cassino — Death  of  Sergius. 


Sergius  was  a  Roman  by  birth.  He  had 
lost  his  father  at  a  very  early  age.  His  mo- 
ther took  great  pains  with  his  education.  Un- 
fortunately she  was  carried  off  by  an  epidemic, 
and  the  young  Sergius  remained  an  orphan. 

Pope  Leo  the  Third  admitted  him  into  the 
school  of  the  chanters,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  rapid  progress  and  his  great 
aptitude  for  work.  His  protector,  having  taken 
him  into  his  favour,  made  him  an  acolyte ; 
Stephen  the  Fourth  then  made  him  a  sub- 
deacon,  and  Pascal  the  First,  ordained  him  a 
priest  of  the  order  of  St.  Sylvester;  finally, 
Gregory  the  Fourth  made  him  an  archpriest. 

On  the  death  of  this  pontiff,  the  lords  and 


the  people  assembled  together  to  choose  his 
successor.  But  the  number  of  those  ambitious 
of  the  office  was  so  great,  that  parties  were 
undecided  and  did  not  choose  any  of  the  com- 
petitors. The  brother  of  Sergius,  skilfully 
availing  himself  of  the  disposition  of  their 
minds,  spread  the  name  of  the  archpriest 
among  the  people,  and  his  partizans  pro- 
claimed that  Sergius  was  alone  worthy  of  the 
tiara.  The  voters,  thus  taken  by  surprise, 
immediately  gave  their  suffrages  to  the  happy 
Sergius. 

A  deacon  named  John,  also  intrigued  for 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter;  furious  at  having  failed 
in  his  projects,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


221 


soldiers  and  forced  the  gates  of  the  palace  to 
proceed  to  a  new  election.  The  prelates  and 
the  people  precipitated  themselves  on  these 
disorganizers  in  the  patriarchal  residence; 
they  dragged  the  deacon  from  the  church  ih 
which  he  had  taken  refuge,  drove  off  his  par- 
tizans,  and  finally,  when  the  tumult  was  ap- 
peased, the  citizens  of  Rome  went  to  the 
church  of  St.  Martin,  which  was  the  residence 
of  Sergius.  He  was  conducted  with  great 
honours  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  ;  an  im- 
mense crowd  of  priests  and  monks  followed 
him,  singing  sacred  hymns,  and  on  the  same 
day  he  was  solemnly  consecrated  and  en- 
throned in  the  presence  of  the  people. 

Anastasius  relates,  that  during  the  night 
succeeding  this  important  ceremony  "  there 
fell  so  great  a  quantity  of  snow,  that  the  holy 
city  appeared  on  the  next  day  to  be  clothed 
in  a  spotless  robe,  as  a  sign  of  rejoicing,  and 
a  favourable  presage  for  the  new  reign." 

Before  his  election  the  pope  called  himself 
Os  Porci,  Hog's  Snout.  After  the  consecration 
he  changed  this  ridiculous  name,  and  took 
that  of  Sergius.  To  this  circumstance  is  at- 
tributed the  origin  of  the  usage  which  is  still 
pre.served  by  the  popes,  of  choosing  a  new 
name  on  mounting  the  Holy  See. 

The  deacon  John,  as  a  punishment  for  his 
revolt,  had  been  confined  in  a  close  prison ; 
the  magistrates  charged  to  judge  him  wished 
to  send  him  into  exile ;  the  clergy,  always 
more  severe  than  other  men.  thought  this  pun- 
ishment too  light,  and  asked  that  his  eyes  and 
tongue  should  be  torn  out.  Sergius  opposed 
all  these  cruel  measures,  restored  his  prisoner 
to  liberty,  and  re-instated  him  in  hisdiaconate. 

In  the  midst  of  these  disorders,  the  new  pon- 
tifi",  urged  to  receive  consecration,  was  unable 
to  wait  for  the  consent  of  Lothaire  to  his  ordi- 
nation :  the  emperor,  irritated  by  this  act  of 
disobedience,  resolved  to  send  to  Rome  his  eld- 
est son  Louis,  accompanied  by  his  uncle,  Dro- 
gon,  bishop  of  Metz,  to  testify  his  discontent 
with  the  Holy  See,  and  to  prevent  the  future 
consecration  of  popes  without  his  authority. 

Before  his  departure,  the  young  Louis  was 
declared  king  of  Italy,  and  Lothaire  gave  him 
a  magnificent  retinue  to  accompany  him  into 
his  kingdom.  As  soon  as  Sergius  heard  of 
the  arrival  of  the  prince,  he  sent  to  meet  him 
the  magistrates  of  Rome,  the  children  of  the 
schools,  the  companies  of  the  militia  with 
their  leaders,  all  thundering  forth  songs  in 
linnour  of  the  young  sovereign,  and  bearing 
cios.sesand  banners  at  the  head  of  the  proces- 
sion, as  was  practisetl  in  the  reception  of  the 
emperors.  Louis  traversed  the  holy  city  in 
the  midst  of  an  immense  escort,  and  advanced 
towards  the  porch  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
wnere  stood  the  pontiff  Sergius,  surrounded 
by  his  clergy  and  clothed  with  ornaments 
glittering  with  gold  and  precious  stones. 

When  the  king  had  mounted  the  steps  of 
the  church,  the  two  sovereigns  embraced,  and 
both  entered  the  court  of  honour,  holding  each 
other  by  the  hand.  At  a  signal  of  the  holy 
father,  the  inner  gates,  which  were  of  massive 
silver,  closed  as  if  of  their  own  accord ;  then 


Sergius,  turning  towards  the  prince,  said  to 
him,  "  My  Lord,  if  you  come  hither  with  a 
sincere  desire  to  contribute  with  all  your 
efibrts  to  the  safety  of  the  state  and  church, 
I  will  cause  the  sacred  gates  to  open ;  but  if 
not;  you  shall  not  enter  the  temple  of  the 
apostles."' 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  pacific  assurances 
of  the  young  monarch,  the  soldiers  of  his  es- 
cort, encamped  around  the  city,  had  orders  to 
ravage  the  country,  to  punish  the  Romans  for 
having  ordained  a  pope  without  waiting  for 
the  arrival  of  the  commissioners  of  the  em- 
peror. The  French  prelates  and  lords  even 
assembled  to  examine  if  the  election  of  Sergius 
was  regular,  and  if  they  should  drive  from  the 
pontifical  throne  the  audacious  archpriest. 
This  assembly,  composed  of  twenty-three 
bishops,  and  a  great  number  of  abbots  and 
lords,  was  so  indignant  at  the  intrigTies  and 
machinations  of  the  holy  father,  that  Angil- 
bert,  metropolitan  of  Milan,  loudly  accused 
Sergius  of  having  excited,  by  his  ambition,  all 
the  disorders  which  desolated  the  holv  city, 
and  declared  that  he  separated  himself  from 
his  communion. 

Viguier  also  aflirms  that  during  the  reign  of 
Sergius,  the  priests  enjoyed  every  license.  He 
adds,  "  the  pope  had  a  brother  named  Bene- 
dict, a  man  of  a  brutal  character,  who  seized 
upon  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  adminis- 
tration of  the  city  of  Rome.  By  his  avarice 
he  introduced  disorder  every  where,  and  wore 
out  the  people  by  his  exactions.  He  publicly 
sold  the  bishoprics,  and  he  who  gave  the 
highest  price  obtained  the  preference.  He  at 
last  rendered  the  usage  of  simony,  so  natural 
to  the  Italian  clergy,  that  there  did  not  exist 
in  this  corrupt  province  a  single  bishop  or 
priest,  animated  by  laudable  motives,  who  did 
not  address  complaints  to  the  emperor  to  put 
an  end  to  this  abominable  traffic. 

"The  divine  Providence,  wearied  of  these 
abominations,  sent  the  scourge  of  the  Pagans 
to  revenge  the  crimes  of  the  court  of  Rome. 
The  Saracens,  urged  on  by  the  hand  of  God, 
came  even  into  the  territory  of  the  church, 
put  to  death  a  great  number  of  persons,  and 
sacked  villages  and  castles." 

Such  was  the  frightful  position  of  Rome  six 
months  after  the  enthronement  of  Sergius. 
Nevertheless,  the  young  prince,  seduced  by 
the  presents  and  the  llattery  of  the  pontiff, 
confirmed  his  election,  notwithstanding  the 
advice  of  his  counsellors,  and  only  exacted 
that  the  citizens  of  Rome  should  renew  their 
oath  of  fidelity  to  him  and  his  father.  The 
ceremony  took  place  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter; 
the  Italian  and  French  lords,  the  clergy,  the 
people  and  the  pontiff",  swore  before  the  body 
of  the  apostle,  entire  submission  to  the  em- 
peror Lothaire  and  his  son,  after  which  Louis 
receivctl  the  crown  at  the  hands  of  Sergius, 
who  proclaimed  him  king  of  the  Lombards. 

Droson,  bishop  of  Metz,  who  had  assisted 
the  Holy  See  in  this  difficult  affair,  received 
as  a  recompense  for  his  good  offices,  enor- 
mous sums  and  the  title  of  ajrostolic  vicar, 
with  full  authority  over  the  metropolitans  of 


222 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


the  churches  situated  beyond  the  Alps,  and 
the  right  of  assembling  general  councils. 

The  discord  which  reigned  among  the  chil- 
dren of  the  emperor  Louis,  was  not  extinguish- 
ed since  his  death,  and  the  hatred  broke  out 
on  the  occasion  of  the  abduction  of  the  beau- 
tiful Ermengarde,  the  daughter  of  Lothaire, 
who  was  carried  off  by  a  lord  named  Sisalbert, 
a  vassal  of  King  Charles  the  Bald.  Lothaire 
accused  his  brothers  Charles  and  Louis  the 
German,  of  having  authorized  the  ravishment 
of  his  daughter,  and  threatened  them  with  a 
terrible  war.  Louis  freed  himself  from  this 
accusation  by  oath ;  Charles,  on  the  other 
hand,  having  replied  to  his  brother,  that  he 
did  not  fear  his  threats,  all  the  wrath  of  the 
emperor  was  turned  against  him. 

To  assure  himself  of  his  vengeance,  Lo- 
thaire first  undertook  to  re-instal  upon  the 
See  of  Rheims  the  prelate  Ebbon,  who  had 
formerly  been  driven  from  his  diocese  on  ac- 
count of  his  crimes,  and  had  been  replaced  by 
the  celebrated  Hincmar.  He  made  Ebbon 
promise  to  use  the  influence  of  religion  to  de- 
tach the  people  from  their  obedience  to  the 
king  of  Neustria;  he  was  then  employed  in 
inducing  the  pope  to  pronounce  the  re-instal- 
lation of  the  unworthy  archbishop. 

Sergius,  obedient  to  the  orders  of  the  em- 
peror, wrote  to  King  Charles,  that  he  had  cited 
thebishopsGondevand,  metropolitan  of  Rouen, 
and  Hincmar,  to  appear  in  the  city  of  Treves, 
whither  legates  from  the  Holy  See  would  go, 
to  examine,  in  a  council,  into  the  case  of  the 
deposed  prelate.  The  prince  opposed  the 
departure  of  his  bishops,  alleging  that  they 
were  not  in  safety  in  an  enemy's  country,  and 
indicated  the  city  of  Paris  for  a  place  of  meet- 
ing. The  legates  having  assented  to  this 
change,  the  synod  assembled  to  judge  the  two 
prelates.  Ebbon  did  not  appear  before  the 
bishops,  and  did  not  even  send  letters  to  excuse 
his  absence.  The  fathers  then  declared  that 
they  would  interdict  him,  until  he  appeared 
before  them,  from  all  pretensions  upon  the 
diocese  of  Rheims,  with  a  prohibition  to  at- 
tempt any  enterprise  against  his  successor. 

Ebbon,' intimidated  by  the  sentence  of  the 
synod,  detached  himself  entirely  from  the 
cause  of  Lothaire,  and  notwithstanding  the 
solicitations  of  his  sovereign,  he  refused  to 
appeal  to  the  Holy  See,  and  lived  five  years 
longer  in  quiet  and  obscurity. 

The  emperor  having  failed  in  his  projects 
against  the  archbishop  of  Rheims,  formed 
new  intrigues  and  encouraged  the  revolt  of 
Nomenoe,  duke  of  the  Bretons.  This  ambi- 
tious lord  had  levied  an  army  against  Charles 
the  Bald,  and  was  desirious  of  being  declared 
king  of  Brittany,  notwithstanding  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  bishops  of  the  province,  who  were 
devoted  to  the  king  of  Neustria,  and  refused  to 
consecrate  him.  In  that  age  of  superstition 
and  ignorance,  nations  regarded  priests  as  the 
sole  dispensers  of  crowns,  and  princes  were 
not  recognized  as  legitimate  sovereigns,  until 
after  they  had  received  their  diadems  from 
the  hands  of  bishops.  Lothaire,  knowing  the 
avarice  of  the  holy  father,  induced  the  duke 


to  send  to  Rome  a  brilliant  embassy,  carrying 
rich  presents  to  be  offered  to  Sergius,  in  ex- 
change for  the  re-establishment  of  the  royalty 
of  Brittany.  This  step  of  the  duke  was  very 
successful;  the  pontiff  declared  his  preten- 
sions just  and  legitimate,  and  ordered  the 
Breton  bishops  to  consecrate  him  king  under 
penalty  of  deposition  and  anathema.  The 
duke  then  assembled  the  prelates  of  his  pro- 
vince, and  by  his  threats  forced  them  to  exe- 
cute the  orders  of  the  pontiff. 

Thus  France  became  a  bloody  arena,  in 
which  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne  dis- 
puted for  the  first  rank,  and  rivalled  each 
other  in  crimes  and  outrages. 

Italy,  more  unfortunate  still  under  the 
tyranny  of  the  popes,  found  itself  abandoned 
defenceless  to  the  avarice  of  the  priests  and 
the  cruelty  of  the  Saracens. 

The  Moors,  having  remounted  the  Tiber, 
besieged  Rome  and  spread  themselves  through 
the  country;  the  churches  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul  w^ere  pillaged,  and  the  magnificent 
altar  of  silver  which  adorned  the  sepulchre 
of  the  apostle  Peter  became  the  prey  of  these 
barbarians.  They  seized  upon  the  little  city 
of  Fondi,  and  after  having  put  the  men  to  the 
sword,  they  burned  the  city  and  led  the  women 
into  captivity.  Lothaire  having  sent  troops 
against  them,  they  pitched  their  camp  near 
Gaeta,  waited  bravely  for  the  French  and 
routed  them. 

This  victory  augmented  the  power  of  the 
Saracens ;  they  penetrated  further  into  Italy, 
and  directed  their  steps  towards  the  convent 
of  Monte  Cassino,  celebrated  for  the  immense 
wealth  which  it  contained.  Arrived  in  the 
night  in  sight  of  the  monastery,  the  Moors 
pitched  their  tents  on  the  banks  of  a  stream, 
whose  ford  they  could  easily  pass,  and  which 
separated  them  from  Monte  Cassino,  putting 
off  until  the  next  day  the  pillage  of  this  rich  ab- 
bey, in  order  that  nothing  might  escape  them. 

The  monks  who  found  themselves  defence- 
less, at  the  mercy  of  the  Arabs,  expected  no- 
thing but  death.  In  their  despair,  they  went 
with  naked  feet  and  ashes  on  their  head  to 
the  church  of  St.  Benedict,  to  pass  the  night  in 
prayers  and  invoke  the  protection  of  their  bless- 
ed founder.  Then,  by  a  brilliant  miracle,  at  the 
moment  when  they  thundered  forth  the  chant 
of  the  sacred  songs,  the  heavens  were  covered 
with  clouds  and  there  fell  so  abundant  a  rain, 
that  the  stream  became  a  torrent,  and  it  was 
impossible  for  their  enemies  on  the  next  day  to 
cross  it !  At  least  thus  the  legend  relates  the 
miraculous  deliverance  of  the  monastery. 

Furious  at  seeing  their  rich  prey  escape 
them,  the  Saracens  glutted  their  rage  on  the 
inhabitants  of  the  surrounding  country.  They 
burned  the  farm  houses,  carried  off  the  cattle, 
violated  the  women,  and  put  to  death  by  tor- 
ture all  the  monks  whom  they  encountered  • 
finally,  they  ravaged  all  Italy  until  the  ena 
of  the  reign  of  Sergius. 

The  pontiff  died  suddenly  on  the  27th  of 
January,  847,  after  having  occupied  the  Holy 
See  for  three  years.  He  was  interred  at  St. 
Peter's. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


223 


In  Gaul,  a  mendicant  monk,  called  Golhe- 
scale,  endeavoured  to  raise  a  new  heresy,  and 
taught  the  doctrine  of  predestination )  that  is 
to  say,  that  according  to  his  view,  men  could 
not  correct  their  errors  nor  their  habitual  sins, 
on  account  of  a  hidden  power  which  led  them 
in  spile  of  themselves  to  their  destruction, 
and  because  God  predestinated  evil  as  well  as 
good  from  all  eternity.  The  celebrated  Raban- 
llaur,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  vigorously  com - 
batted  these  pernicious  doctrines  and  con- 
demned the  heretic  in  several  councils,  re- 
gardless of  the  bonds  of  afTection  which  united 
them.  Both  had  passed  many  years  in  the 
monastery  of  Fulda,  of  which  Raban  had  been 
the  director. 

It  was  from  this  pious  retreat  that  the  most 
illustrious  doctors  of  the  ninth  cenjury  sallied 
forth  to  spread  light  through  Gaul,  amongst 


others  Valafrid,  Strabon,  and  Loup  de  Ferrie- 
res.  During  twenty  years  Raban  remained  at 
the  head  of  this  celebrated  community,  which 
did  not  count  less  than  two  hundred  and 
seventy  monks,  and  caused  himself  to  be 
cherished  by  all  for  his  mildness,  prety,  spirit 
of  concord  and  conciliation.  Nevertheless, 
the  love  of  science  and  of  solitude^  induced 
him  suddenly  to  renounce  his  dignity  of  ab- 
bot, and  he  retired  to  Mount  St.  Peter,  into  a 
little  isolated  dwelling,  where  he  composed  a 
large  number  of  very  remarkable  works  upon 
philosophy  and  the  different  branches  of  sa- 
cred and  profane  learning.  At  the  age  of 
seventy  he  was  named  archbishop  of  JNlay- 
ence.  Forced,  in  spite  of  himself,  to  accept 
the  burthen  of  the  episcopate,  he  bore  it  glo- 
riously until  his  death,  of  which  it  would  be 
difficult  to  assign  a  certain  epoch. 


LEO  THE  FOURTH,  THE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  847.] 

Enthronement  of  Leo — His  pride — Knavery  of  the  priests — Leo  builds  walls  arovnd  Rome — 
Defeat  of  the  Saracens  by  the  allies  of  the  pope — Ceremonies  used  at  the  dedication  of  new 
cities — Foundation  of  Leopolis — Death  of  Leo — Opinions  of  historians  in  regard  to  him. 


Leo  was  the  son  of  an  Italian  lord,  named 
Rodoaldus  ;  his  parents  had  placed  him  in  the 
monastery  of  St.  Martin,  situated  near  to  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  in  order  that  he  might 
acquire  in  this  pious  retreat  a  knowledge  of 
the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  young  "religious" 
was  recommended  to  Gregory  the  Fourth,  who 
took  him  into  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  and 
ordained  him  a  sub-deacon,  attaching  him  to 
his  person.  Sergius  the  Second  also  conceived 
an  affection  for  him ;  he  consecrated  him  a 
priest  of  the  order  of  the  Four  Crowns,  and 
loaded  him  with  riches  and  honours. 

On  the  death  of  his  protector,  Leo,  accord- 
ing to  some  authors,  intrigued  for  the  papacy  ; 
according  to  others,  he  was  elevated  to  the 
Holy  See  by  an  unanimous  vote,  and  against 
his  wishes;  all  agree,  however,  that  after  his 
election  he  went  to  the  patriarchal  palace,  fol- 
lowed by  a  magnificent  retinue,  and  that  he 
presented  his  feet  to  be  kissed  by  the  clergy, 
nobility,  and  principal  citizens.  The  Romans 
dared  not  ordain  the  new  pontiff  without  the 
authority  of  Lothaire,  and  the  Holy  See  re- 
mained vacant  for  two  months. 

But  the  approach  of  the  barbarians  who 
threatened  to  besiege  Rome  a  second  time, 
determined  the  council  of  the  city  to  wait  no 
longer  for  the  commissioners  of  the  emperor, 
and  the  pope  was  consecrated  by  three  bi- 
shop?. The  first  act  of  the  holy  father  after 
his  enthronement  was  to  repair  the  church  of 
St.  Peter,  which  had  been  deva.stated  by  the 
Arabs.  He  adorned  it  with  a  cross  of  gold, 
with  chalices  and  chandeliers  of  silver,  with 
curtains  and  tapestries  of  precious  stuffs  ;  he 
placed  in  front  of  the  confessional  or  the  pre- 


tended sepulchre,  tables  of  gold,  enriched 
with  precious  stones  and  adorned  with  paint- 
ings in  enamel,  representing  his  portrait  and 
that  of  Lothaire.  The  sepulchre  was  sur- 
rounded by  large  frames  of  silver,  richly 
worked,  and  all  these  ornaments  were  covered 
by  an  immense  tabernacle  of  silver,  weighing 
si.xteen  hundred  pounds. 

These  embellishments  and  the  revenues 
which  he  appropriated  to  the  priests  of  this 
church,  amounted  to  more  than  three  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  si.xtecn  pounds  weight 
of  silver,  and  two  hundred  and  si.xteen  pounds 
of  gold.  In  order  to  appreciate  the  outrage 
of  the  prodigalities  of  the  pontiff  towards  his 
clergy,  and  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the 
priests  of  Rome,  it  will  be  enough  to  relate 
two  facts  of  that  unfortunate  period.  "At  the 
council  of  Toulouse,  held  in  846,  the  contri- 
bution, which  each  curate  was  obliged  to 
furnish  to  his  bishop,  consisted  of  three  bu- 
shels of  wheat,  three  bushels  of  barley,  a 
measure  of  wine,  and  a  lamb,  the  whole  va- 
lued at  two  pennies."  The  second  e.xample 
of  public  misery  is  drawn  from  the  life  of 
Charles  the  Bald.  '-'The  prince  made  an 
edict  in  864  for  a  new  coinage  of  money ; 
and  as  by  this  decree  the  old  money  was 
decried,  and  was  no  longer  circulated,  he  or- 
dered that  ihore  should  be  drawn  from  his 
coffers  fifty  pounds  of  silver,  to  be  expended 
in  commerce."  Thus  we  may  judge  into 
what  brutality  and  misery  kings  and  priests 
had  plunged  the  nations,  when  a  chalice  or  a 
perfume  box  of  a  church  in  Rome  was  almost 
of  more  value  than  all  the  circulating  medium 
of  the  merchants  of  a  creat  kingdom  ! 


224 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


We  can  with  difficulty  understand  that 
men  had  descended  to  such  an  abject  state, 
and  that  they  should  thus  have  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  despoiled  by  the  avarice  of  sove- 
reigns ]  we  would  even  be  tempted  to  doubt 
these  extraordinary  facts  if  contemporary  his- 
torians did  not  recite  them  with  a  naivete 
which  guarantees  the  truth  of  their  recitals. 

The  chroniclers  of  the  period  attribute  to 
the  holy  father  the  death  of  a  terrible  dragon, 
the  terror  of  the  holy  city.  This  is  the  le- 
gend :  "A  cockatrice  of  more  than  thirty  feet 
in  length  by  two  and  a  half  in  thickness,  had 
retned  into  a  cave,  near  the  church  of  St. 
Lucius,  to  which  no  oire  dare  approach,  as  the 
breath  of  the  monster  caused  death.  The 
pontilF,  however,  went  in  a  procession  at  the 
head  of  his  clergy,  to  the  cave  where  the 
cockatrice  lay,  and  as  soon  as  the  animal 
heard  the  voice  of  the  holy  father,  it  died, 
casting  forth  a  great  quantity  of  flame  from 
its  mouth.  .  .  ." 

This  miracle  did  not  prevent  the  Arabs 
from  continuing  their  ravages  upon  the  coasts 
of  Italy,  from  sacking  the  cities  and  devasta- 
ting the  country.  Leo,  fearing  lest  they  should 
come  even  to  Rome,  and  being  desirous  of 
placing  the  church'  of  St.  Peter  beyond  the 
reach  of  a  sudden  attack,  surrounded  it  with 
walls  and  bastions,  and  even  resolved  to  exe- 
cute the  plan  formed  by  one  of  his  predeces- 
sors, of  building  a  city  near  to  the  church. 
He  first  addressed  the  emperor  Lothaire,  w  ho 
approved  of  the  plan  of  a  new  city,  and  sent 
large  sums  to  hasten  the  building;  he  then 
assembled  the  notables  of  Rome,  and  con- 
sulted them  upon  the  measures  necessary  to 
be  taken  for  the  execution  of  the  work.  In 
accoidance  with  their  advice  and  the  general 
interest,  they  brought  in  serfs  from  the  cities 
and  domains  which  belonged  to  the  lords  and 
the  monasteries. 

Four  entire  years  were  employed  on  the 
foundation  ;  the  pontiff  visited  the  workmen 
daily,  without  being  prevented  by  cold,  wind 
or  rain.  At  the  same  time  he  raised  again 
the  old  walls  of  Rome,  which  had  fallen  into 
ruins,  and  constructed  fifteen  towers,  two  of 
which  were  placed  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber, 
and  impeded  the  navigation  of  the  river  by 
great  chains.  The  works  were  not  yet  com- 
pleted when  a  debarkation  of  the  Saracens 
took  place  in  the  island  of  Sardinia. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  news,  Leo,  fearing  to 
be  shortly  besieged  by  the  barbarians,  de- 
manded aid  from  the  inhabitants  of  Naples, 
Amalli.  and  Gaeta.  His  request  was  acceded 
to,  and  Caesar,  the  son  of  Sergius,  the  leader 
of  the  Neapolitan  troops,  was  sent  to  lead 
troops  to  the  pontifl^  to  oppose  the  landing  of 
the  Saracens.  The  holy  father  came  to  Oslia 
to  receive  his  allies  ;  he"  received  the  Neapo- 
litan leaders  with  great  demonstrations  of 
friendship,  and  gave  his  feet  to  the  soldiers  to 
kiss  ;  he  then  celebrated  a  solemn  mass,  and 
administered  the  communion  to  the  whole 
army.  Scarcely  was  the  ceremony  completed 
when  the  sails  of  the  Saracens  appeared  on 
the  sea  ]  the  troops,  excited  to  enthusiasm  by 


this  circumstance,  which  they  regarded  as  a 
happy  presage,  uttered  cries  of  joy  at  the 
sight  of  the  vessels  of  the  enemy ;  but  the 
holy  father,  less  confident  in  celestial  prodi- 
gies, escaped  during  the  night,  and  disgrace- 
fully returned  to  Rome. 

At  the  break  of  day  the  Saracens  com- 
menced their  landing;  the  Neapolitans,  who 
lay  concealed  behind  the  rocks,  suffered  a 
part  of  their  enemies  quietly  to  disembark, 
when  they  suddenly  unmasked  themselves, 
fell  upon  the  Arabs  and  made  an  horrible 
carnage.  Almost  all  M'ere  put  to  the  s\^ord, 
and  a  tempest  having  arisen  at  the  same'  mo- 
ment, the  rest  of  the  fleet  was  entirely  dis- 
persed. Those  who  landed  on  the  neigh- 
bouring islands  were  pursued  by  ihe  Neapoli- 
tans ;  some  were  hung  to  the  trees  in  the 
forests,  others  were  conducted  to  Rome^  and 
compelled  to  labour  on  the  walls. 

This  new  re-inforcement  of  workmen  ac- 
celerated the  work  on  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
and  the  new  city  was  completed  on  the  27th 
of  June,  849.  The  holy  father,  wishing  to 
finish  his  work  by  an  imposing  ceremony, 
convoked  all  the  bishops  of  Italy,  the  clergy 
of  Rome,  the  grandees  and  the  people,  and  at 
the  head  of  an  immense  multitude  he  ap- 
proached the  walls  of  the  enclosure  with  naked 
feet  and  his  forehead  covered  with  ashes. 
The  procession  made  the  tour  of  the  walls 
several  times,  singing  hymns  and  psalms.  At 
each  station  the  pontiff  sprinkled  ihe  building 
with  holy  water,  and  made  a  prayer  before 
the  gates  of  the  city;  mass  was  then  cele- 
brated in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  Leo 
distributed  rich  presents  to  the  workmen,  and 
even  to  the  Saracens,  who  had  done  a  pait  of 
the  work.  The  dedication  being  terminated, 
the  new  city  received  the  name  of  Leonine. 

The  holy  father  was  also  engaged  in  forti- 
fying Porto,  which  remained  exposed  to  the 
invasions  of  the  infidel ;  but  whilst  he  was 
occupied  with  these  works,  a  great  number  of 
Corsicans,  driven  from  their  country  by  the 
Moors,  took  refuge  at  Rome,  and  besou<iht  the 
pontift'  to  take  them  under  his  rule,  pledging, 
by  oath,  themselves  and  their  descendants,  to 
preserve  an  inviolable  fidelity  towards  the 
Holy  See.  Leo  listened  favourably  to  their 
request,  and  offered  them,  as  their  residence, 
the  city  of  Porto,  where  they  establisheu 
themselves  with  their  wives  and  children. 
He  even  gave  them  lands,  cattle,  horses,  pro- 
visions and  money.  This  deed  of  donation  was 
confirmed  by  Lothaire  and  his  son,  who  de- 
posited it  upon  the  confessional  of  St.  Peter, 
in  the  presence  of  the  grandees,  the  ch'rgy 
and  the  people.  At  the  close  of  this  maginfi- 
cent  ceremony  the  holy  father  granted  to  the 
metropolitan  Hincmar  authority  to  wear  his 
pallium  constantly,  an  ornament  of  distinction 
which  archbishops  cculd  not  Avcar  but  on 
great  occasions. 

The  care  of  the  pontiff  was  soon  extended 
to  the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  Centum- 
cella,  who,  during  forty  years,  had  been 
driven  from  their  city  by  the  Saracens,  and 
whose  dwellings  had  been  entirely  destroyed. 


m^m 


UatncT  u.     M.   UU14U11,  He    i/u'suiuc  ^i. 


||pp  es  a  J^u  an. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


227 


the  proudest  of  the  pontiffs,  the  most  impas- 
sioned in  his  pretensions  for  the  infallibility 
of  the  Holy  See,  would  he  have  suffered  a 
monk  to  dishonour  the  court  of  Rome  with  so 
much  insolence  ?  WouKl  Victor  the  Third, 
Urban  the  Second.  Pascal  the  Second,  co- 
temporaries  of  IMarianus,  have  suffered  this 
outrage  with  impunity  1  Finally,  would  the 
ecclesiastic  writers  of  his  a^e,  and  especially 
the  celebrated  Alberic  of  Monte  Cassino.  so 
devoted  to  the  popes,  have  failed  to  rise  up 
against  such  an  infamy  ? 

Thus,  according  to  the  most  authentic  and 
unexceptionable  testimony,  it  is  demonstrated 
that  the  popess  Joan  existed  in  the  ninth  cen- 
tury; that  a  woman  has  occupied  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter:  been  the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth, 
and  proclaimed  sovereign  pontiff  of  Rome  !  !  ! 

A  woman  seated  in  the  chair  of  the  popes, 
her  head  ornamented  with  the  tiara,  and  hold- 
ing in  her  hands  the  keys  of  St.  Peter,  is  an 
extraordinary  event,  of  which  the  records  of 
historyofferbut  a  single  example.  That  which 
most  astonishes  the  mind  is  not,  that  a  woman 
was  enabled  by  her  talents  to  elevate  herself 
above  all  ihe  men  of  her  age,  since  heroines 
have  commanded  armies,  governed  empires, 
and  filled  the  world  with  the  renown  of  their 
wisdom,  glory,  and  virtues ;  but  that  Joan,  with- 
out armies,  without  treasures,  with  no  other  aid 
than  her  own  mind,  was  sufficiently  skilful  to 
deceive  the  Roman  clergy,  and  to  cause  her  feet 
to  be  kissed  by  the  proud  cardinals  of  the  holy 
city,  that  it  is  which  places  her  above  all  other 
heroines,  for  no  one  beside  approaches  the  mar- 
vellous fact  of  having  become  a  female  pope  I 

In  a  life  so  extraordinary  as  that  of  Joan,  we 
should  relate  all  the  events  which  have  been 
transmitted  to  us  by  historians,  and  enter  in  de- 
tail into  the  actions  of  this  remarkable  woman. 

The  following  is  the  version  of  Marianus 
Scotus,  of  the  birth  of  the  popess: — '-At  the 
beginning  of  the  ninth  century,  Charles  the 
Great,  after  having  subdued  the  Saxons,  de- 
sired to  convert  them  to  Christianity,  and  sent 
to  England  for  learned  priests,  who  could 
second  him  in  his  plans.  In  the  number  of 
the  professors  \\ho  passed  over  into  Germany, 
was  an  English  priest,  accompanied  by  a 
^•oung  girl  whom  he  had  taken  into  his  family, 
to  conceal  her  grossness.  The  lovers  were 
obliged  to  interrupt  their  journey,  and  stopped 
at  Mayence,  where  the  young  English  wo- 
man gave  birth  to  a  daug^htcr,  whose  adven- 
tures were  one  day  to  occupy  the  attention  of 
future  ages;  this  infant  was  Joan." 

We  do  not  know  exactly  the  name  which 
she  bore  in  her  infancy.  She  is  called  Agnes 
by  some  authors,  Gerberte  or  Gilberte  by 
others,  and  finally  Joan  by  the  greatest  num- 
ber. The  Jesuit  Sevarius  maintains  that  she 
was  also  called  Isabella.  Marguerite,  Dorothea, 
and  Jnsta.  We  are  not  better  informed  as  to 
tlie  surname  which  she  took  ;  some  assure  us 
that  she  added  to  her  name  the  desiirnation 
of  the  English  :  others  wish  to  join  her  to  the 
name  of  Gerberte  ;  and  an  author  of  the  four- 
teenth century  calls  her  Magnanima,  doubt- 
less to  express  the  boldness  and  rashness  of 


Joan.  These  same  authors  present  fewer 
contradictions  as  to  the  place  of  her  birth; 
some  maintain  that  she  was  born  in  Great 
Britain ;  otliers  designate  Mayence ;  others 
Engelheim,  a  city  of  the  Palatinate,  and  cele- 
brated as  the  birthplace  of  Charlemagne ; 
but  the  greatest  number  agree  that  she  was 
of  English  origin,  was  brought  up  at  INIay- 
ence,  and  born  at  Engelheim.  a  village  situa- 
ted in  the  neighbourhood  of  that  city. 

Joan  was  a  beautiful  girl,  and  her  mind, 
cultivated  by  the  care  of  a  well-informed  fa- 
ther, exhibited  such  a  development,  that  she 
astonished  by  her  replies  all  the  doctors  who 
approached  her.  The  admiration  she  in- 
pn-ed,  still  further  increased  her  ardour  for 
science,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  her  in- 
struction was  equal  to  that  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  of  the  Palatinate.  But  when 
.she  reached  the  age  at  which  women  begin 
to  love,  science  was  insufficient  to  fill  the  de- 
sires of  her  ardent  imagination,  and  love 
changed  the  destinies  of  Joan. 

A  young  student  of  an  English  family,  and 
a  monk  of  the  abbey  of  Fulda,  was  seduced  by 
her  beauty,  and  became  desperately  enamour- 
ed of  her.  "If  he  loved  well,"  says  the 
chronicle,  "Joan  on  her  side  was  neither  in- 
sensible nor  cruel."  Conquered  by  the  vows 
of  an  inviolable  attachment,  and  drawn  on  by 
the  wishes  of  her  own  heart,  Joan  consented 
to  fly  with  her  lover  from  the  paternal  roof. 
She  abandoned  her  true  name,  clothed  her- 
self in  the  garments  of  a  man.  and.  under  the 
name  of  English  John,  followed  the  young 
monk  into  the  abbey  of  Fulda.  The  supe- 
rior, deceived  by  this  disguise,  received  Joan 
into  his  monaster)-,  and  placed  her  under  the 
direction  of  the  learned  Raban-Maur. 

Some  time  after,  the  constraint  under  which 
the  lovers  found  themselves,  induced  them  to 
determine  to  quit  the  convent  to  go  into  Eng- 
land to  continue  their  studies.  They  soon 
became  the  most  erudite  in  Great  Britain. 
They  then  resolved  to  visit  new  countries, 
in  order  to  observe  the  manners  of  different 
people,  and  to  learn  their  language. 

They  first  visited  France,  where  Joan,  still 
wearing  the  frock  of  a  monk,  disputed  with 
the  French  doctors,  and  excited  the  admira- 
tion of  the  celebrated  persons  of  that  period  ; 
the  celebrated  ducthess  of  Septimania,  St. 
Anscainis,  the  monk  Bertram,  and  the  abbot 
Loup  de  Ferriere.  After  this  first  journey, 
the  two  lovers  determined  to  visit  Greece. 
They  traversed  Gaul,  and  embarked  at  Mar- 
seilles in  a  vessel  which  carried  them  to  the 
capital  of  the  Hellenes.  Old  Athens,  which 
was  the  most  ardent  focus  of  learning,  the 
centre  of  science  and  polite  literature,  pos- 
sessed still  its  schools  and  academie.*,  and 
was  quotetl  throughout  the  world  for  the  elo- 
quence of  its  professors,  and  the  profound 
knowledge  of  its  astronomers  and  natural 
philosophers. 

When  Joan  arrived  in  this  magnificent 
country,  she  was  but  twentv  years  old.  and  in 
all  the  splendour  of  her  beauty:  but  her  mo- 
nastic habit,  by  its  amplitude,  concealed  her 


228 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


sex  from  the  observation  of  all,  and  her  face, 
pale  from  vigils  and  labour,  resembled  a 
handsome  youth,  rather  than  a  woman. 

During  three  years,  the  two  English  lived 
under  the  beautiful  skies  of  Greece,  surround- 
ed by  all  scientific  illustrations,  and  pursuing 
their  studies  in  philosophy,  theology,  divine 
and  human  literature,  the  arts,  and  sacred 
and  profane  history.  Under  masters  so  skil- 
ful, Joan  fathomed  every  thing,  learned  every 
thing,  explained  all,  and  joining  to  universal 
knowledge  a  prodigious  eloquence,  she  filled 
with  astonishment  those  who  were  admitted 
to  hear  her. 

In  the  midst  of  her  triumphs,  Joan  was 
struck  by  a  terrible  blow.  The  companion 
o*f  her  labours,  her  cherished  lover,  he  who 
had  not  quitted  her  for  long  years,  was  at- 
tacked by  a  sudden  illness,  and  died  in  a  few 
hours,  leaving  the  unfortunate  woman  alone 
and  abandoned  on  the  earth. 

Joan  obtained  new  courage  from  her  despair; 
she  surmounted  her  affliction  and  resolved  to 
to  quit  Greece.  Besides,  it  became  difficult 
for  her  much  longer  to  conceal  her  sex  in  a 
country  where  men  wore  long  beards,  and  she 
chose  Rome  as  the  place  of  Ifer  retreat,  be- 
cause there,  custom  commanded  men  to  shave. 
Perchance  this  motive  was  not  the  only  one 
which  determined  her  preference  for  the  holy 
city ;  the  troubles  and  divisions  which  then 
agitated  this  capitol  of  the  Christian  world, 
offered  to  her  ambition  a  larger  theatre  than 
Greece. 

As  soon  as  she  had  arrived  in  the  holy  city, 
Joan  caused  herself  to  be  admitted  into  the 
academy  called  the  school  of  the  Greeks,  for 
the  purpose  of  teaching  the  seven  liberal  arts, 
and  especially  rhetoric.  St.  Augustine  had 
already  rendered  this  school  very  renowned  ; 
Joan  augmented  its  reputation.  She  not  only 
continued  the  ordinary  courses,  but  she  intro- 
duced a  course  of  abstract  sciences,  which 
lasted  three  years,  and  in  which  an  immense 
auditory  admired  her  prodigious  learning. 
Her  lessons,  her  harangues,  and  even  her  im- 
provisations, were  delivered  with  an  elo- 
quence so  enchanting,  that  the  young  pro- 
fessor was  quoted  as  the  most  splendid  genius 
of  the  age ;  and  in  their  admiration  the  Ro- 
mans gave  her  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  the 
Wise. 

Lords,  priests,  monks,  and  especially  doc- 
tors, considered  themselves  honoured  in  being 
her  disciples.  '•  Her  conduct  was  as  com- 
mendable as  her  abilities ;  the  modesty  of  her 
discourse,  her  manners,  the  regularity  of  her 
morals,  her  piety,  and  her  good  works,  shone 
forth,''  says  Marianus,  '-'as  a  light  before 
men."  All  this  exterior  was  an  hypocritical 
mask,  beneath  which  Joan  concealed  ambi- 
tious and  guilty  projects.  Thus,  at  the  time 
when  the  declining  health  of  Leo  the  Fourth 
permitted  the  priests  to  form  intrigues  and 
cabals,  a  powerful  party  declared  for  her,  and 
loudly  proclaimed  in  the  streets  of  the  city, 
that  she  alone  was  worthy  to  occupy  the 
throne  of  St.  Peter. 

In  fact,  after  the  death  of  the  pope,  the  car- 


dinals, deacons,  clergy,  and  people  unani- 
mously chose  her  to  govern  the  church  of 
Rome  !  Joan  was  ordained  in  the  presence 
of  the  commissioners  of  the  emperor  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  by  three  bishops ;  then, 
being  clothed  in  thepontificial  ornaments,  she 
went,  accompanied  by  an  immense  retinue, 
to  the  patriarchal  palace  and  seated  herself 
upon  the  apostolical  chair. 

The  priests  a  long  time  discussed  this  im- 
portant question,  "  Was  Joan  elevated  to  the 
holy  ministry  by  diabolical  art,  or  by  a  particu- 
lar direction  of  Providence'?"  Some  maintain, 
"that  the  church  should  exhibit  great  grief 
and  humiliation  at  having  been  governed  by  a 
woman."  Others  hold,  on  the  contrary,  "  that 
the  elevation  of  Joan  to  the  Holy  See,  far  from 
being  a  shame,  should  be  glorified  as  a  mira- 
cle from  God,  who  had  permitted  the  Romans 
to  proceed  to  her  election,  in  order  to  show 
that  they  had  been  led  on  by  the  marvellous 
premotion  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Joan,  having  arrived  at  the  supreme  dignity 
of  the  Church,  exercised  the  infallible  autho- 
rity of  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  with  so  much 
wisdom,  as  to  create  the  admiration  of  all 
Christendom.  She  conferred  the  sacred  orders 
on  prelates,  priests  and  deacons ;  she  admin- 
istered the  sacraments  to  the  faithful ;  she 
presented  her  feet  to  be  kissed  by  archbishops, 
abbots,  and  princes,  and  finally,  she  discharged 
with  honour  all  the  duties  of  the  pontiffs.  She 
even  composed  prefaces  to  masses  and  several 
canons,  which  were  interdicted  by  her  suc- 
cessors. 

She  conducted  the  political  affairs  of  the 
court  of  Rome  with  great  skill ;  and  it  was  by 
her  advice,  that  the  emperor  Lothaire,  already 
very  old,  deciding  to  embrace  the  monastic 
life,  retired  to  the  abbey  of  Prum  to  repent 
over  the  crimes  which  had  filled  up  his  long 
career.  As  a  favour  to  the  new  monk,  the 
popess  granted  to  his  abbey  the  privilege  of  a 
prescription  for  a  hundred  years,  the  deed  of 
which  is  set  forth  in  the  collection  of  Gratian. 
The  empire  then  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Louis  the  Second,  who  received  the  imperial 
crown  from  the  hands  of  Joan. 

But  this  woman,  who  inspired  so  great  a 
respect  in  the  sovereigns  of  the  world,  who  en- 
chained the  people  by  her  laws,  and  had  at- 
tracted to  herself  the  veneration  of  the  entire 
universe,  for  the  superiority  of  her  abilities, 
and  for  the  purity  of  her  life,  was  shortly  to 
break  the  pedestal  of  her  greatness,  and  af- 
frighten  Rome  by  the  spectacle  of  a  terrible 
fall. 

The  religious  chronicles  relate,  that  the  year 
854  was  marked  by  miraculous  phenomena 
in  all  parts  of  Christendom.  "  There  were 
earthquakes  in  many  kingdoms  :  a  shower  of 
blood  fell  in  the  city  of  Bressenu  or  Bresnau. 
In  France,  clouds  of  monstrous  grasshop- 
pers having  six  wings  and  six  legs,  armed 
with  long  and  sharp  teeth,  devoured  all  the 
harvests  of  the  provinces  which  they  traver- 
sed ;  then  a  south  wind  having  driven  them 
into  the  sea  between  Havre  and  Calais,  they 
were  all  drowned ;  but  their  impure  remains 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


229 


cast  upon  the  shore,  spread  such  an  infection 
through  the  atmosphere,  that  it  engendered 
an  epidemic  which  carried  ofl'  a  great  part  of 
the  inhabitants." 

In  Spain  the  body  of  St.  Vincent,  which  had 
been  torn  from  his  tomb  by  a  sacrilegious 
monk,  who  wished  to  sell  it  by  piecemeals, 
returned  one  night  from  the  city  of  Valencia, 
to  a  small  village  near  to  Mount  Auban,  and 
stopped  upon  the  steps  of  the  church,  de- 
manding with  a  loud  voice  to  re-enter  his 
shrine. 

"All  these  signs,"  adds  the  pious  legendary, 
"  announced  infallibly  the  abomination  which 
was  about  to  soil  the  evangelical  chair." 

Joan,  abandoned  to  serious  studies,  had 
preserved  an  exemplary  conduct  since  the 
death  of  her  lover.  Even  at  the  commence- 
ment of  her  pontificate,  she  practised  the  vir- 
tues which  had  attracted  to  her  the  respect 
and  affection  of  all  the  Romans,  but  then  per- 
chance by  an  irresistible  attraction,  perchance 
that  a  crown  has  the  privilege  of  blackening 
the  most  beautiful  character,  she  abandoned 
herself  to  the  joys  of  sovereign  power,  and 
wished  to  partake  them  with  a  man  w^orthy 
of  her  love.  She  chose  a  lover,  assured  her- 
self of  his  discretion,  and  loaded  him  with 
riches  and  honours,  yet  guarded  so  well  the 
secret  of  her  liason,  that  we  cannot  learn,  but 
by  conjecture,  the  favourite  of  the  popess. 
Some  authors  maintain  he  was  her  chamber- 
lain ;  others  assure  us  he  was  a  counsellor  or 
chaplain,  whilst  the  greatest  number  aflirm 
that  he  was  a  cardinal  priest  of  a  church  of 
Rome.  The  mystery  of  their  amour  would, 
however,  have  remained  covered  by  an  im- 
penetrable veil,  had  it  not  been  for  the  terri- 
ble catastrophe  which  terminated  their  nights 
of  pleasure.  Nature  amused  herself,  notwith- 
standing the  efforts  of  the  lovers,  and  Joan 
became  pregnant. 

It  is  related,  that  one  day,  whilst  she  was 
presiding  over  a  consistory,  a  demoniac  was 
brought  before  her  to  be  exorcised.  Aflcr 
the  usual  ceremonies,  she  asked  the  demon, 
at  what  time  it  wished  to  leave  the  body  of 
the  possessed.  The  spirit  of  darkness  imme- 
diately replied,  "  I  will  tell  you,  when  you 
who  are  the  pontiff  and  the  father  of  fathers, 
shall  cause  the  clergy  and  people  of  Rome  to 
see  a  child  born  of  a  popess." 

Joan  frightened  by  this  revelation,  hastened 
to  terminate  the  council,  and  to  retire  into  her 
palace  ■  but  scarcely  had  she  entered  the  inner 
apartments,  when  the  demon  presented  him- 
self again  before  her,  and  said  to  her,  ''  Most 
holy  father,  after  your  accouchement  you  will 
belong  to  me,  soul  and  body,  and  I  will  seize 
upon  you  in  order  that  you  may  burn  for  ever 
with  me."  This  horrid  threat,  instead  of 
throwing  the  popess  into  despair,  reanimated 
her  courage,  and  produced  in  her  heart  the 
hope  of  appeasing  the  tlivine  wrath  by  a  pro- 
found repentance.  She  impcsed  rude  penances 
upon  herself;  covered  her  delicate  limbs  with 
rough  hair  cloth  and  slept  upon  ashes;  finally, 
her  remorse  was  so  fervent,  that  God,  touched 
by  her  tears,  sent  her  a  vision. 


An  angel  appeared  unto  her  and  offered  to 
her,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  a  pun- 
ishment for  her  crime,  either  to  be  delivered 
up  to  the  eternal  flames  of  hell,  or  to  be  re- 
cognized as  a  woman  before  all  the  people 
of  Rome.  Joan  accepted  the  latter,  and  wait- 
ed courageously  for  the  chastisement  which 
her  sacrilegious  conduct  had  merited. 

At  the  period  of  Rogations,  which  corres- 
ponds to  an  annual  festival  which  the  Ro- 
mans called  Ambarralia,  and  which  is  cele- 
brated by  a  .solemn  procession,  the  popess, 
according  to  the  established  custom,  mounted 
her  horse  and  went  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
clothed  in  her  pontificial  ornaments,  preceded 
by  the  cross  and  sacred  banners,  accompa- 
nied by  the  metropolitans,  bishops,  cardinals, 
priests,  deacons,  nobles,  magistrates,  and  a 
large  crowd  of  people  ;  she  then  came  forth  in 
this  pompous  apparel  from  the  cathedral,  to 
go  to  the  church  of  St.  John  of  the  Lateran. 

But  before  arriving  upon  the  public  square, 
between  the  church  of  St.  Clement  and  the 
amphitheatre  of  Domitian,  called  the  CoJ- 
liseum,  the  pains  of  childbirth  seized  her  with 
such  violence,  that  the  reins  escaped  from  her 
hands,  and  she  fell  from  her  horse  upon  the 
pavement.  The  unfortunate  woman  rolled 
over  on  the  earth,  and  uttered  fearful  groans  ; 
finally,  having  been  disrobed  of  the  .sacred 
ornaments  which  covered  her,  in  the  midst  of 
frightful  convulsions,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
immense  crowd,  the  popess  Joan  gave  birth 
to  a  child  !  !  The  confusion  and  disorder  which 
this  shameful  adventure  caused  among  the 
people,  exasperated  the  priests,  who  not  only 
prevented  her  from  receiving  any  assistance, 
but  even,  without  regard  to  the  horrid  suffer- 
ing she  was  enduring,  crowded  round  her  to 
conceal  her  from  all  eyes,  and  threatened  her 
with  their  vengeance. 

Joan  could  not  support  her  humiliation  and 
the  shame  of  having  been  seen  by  all  the 
people  in  so  terrible  a  position  ;  she  rallied 
her  strength  to  bid  a  last  adieu  to  the  cardinal 
priest  who  sustained  her  in  his  arms,  and  her 
soul  took  its  flight  towards  the  skies. 

Thus  died  the  popess  Joan,  on  the  day  of 
Rogations,  in  855,  after  having  governed  the 
church  of  Rome  more  than  two  years. 

Her  child  was  strangled  by  the  priests  who 
surrounded  the  mother.  The  Romans,  how- 
ever, in  remembrance  of  the  respect  and  at- 
tachment which  they  had  long  had  for  Joan, 
consented  to  perform  for  her  the  last  duties, 
but  without  display  or  pomp.  They  placed 
the  body  of  her  child  in  the  same  tomb.  She 
was  interred,  not  within  the  limits  of  a  church, 
but  on  the  very  spot  on  which  the  tragic  event 
had  occurred. 

There  was  elevated  over  her  tomb  a  chapel 
adorned  with  a  marble  statue,  represrntirg 
the  popess  clothed  in  her  sacerdotal  garments, 
with  a  tiara  upon  her  head  and  holding  a 
young  child  in  her  arms.  The  pontifi'  Bene- 
dict the  Third  caused  this  image  to  be  broken 
down  towards  the  close  of  his  reign,  but  the 
ruins  of  the  chapel  were  still  seen  in  Rome  in 
the  fifteenth  century. 


230 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Some  visionaries  have  gravely  occupied 
themselves  with  inquiring  as  to  what  punish- 
ment God  inflicted  on  the  popess  after  her 
death.  Some  regarded  the  ignominy  of  her 
last  moments  as  a  sufRcient  expiation,  and 
which  besules.  accorded  with  the  vulgar  opi- 
nion, that  the  popes,  no  matter  what  their 
crimes,  could  not  be  damned.  Others,  less 
indulgent  than  the  first,  alfirm  that  Joan  was 
condemned  to  remain  suspended  throughout 
eternity  to  one  side  of  the  gates  of  hell,  and 
her  lover  to  the  other,  v.ithout  being  able  to 
be  reunited. 

The  clergy  of  Rome,  wounded  in  its  dignity, 
and  covered  with  confusion  by  this  strange 
event,  made  a  decree  prohibiting  the  pontic's 
from  traversing  the  street  in  which  the  scan- 
dal happened.  Thus,  since  that  period,  on 
the  day  of  Rogations,  the  procession  which 
leaves  the  church  of  St.  Peter  to  go  to  that  of 
St.  John  of  the  Lateran,  shuns  this  abomina- 
ble place,  situated  in  the  midst  of  its  route, 
and  makes  a  long  circuit. 

These  precautions  were  sufficient  to  blacken 
the  m.emory  of  the  popess;  but  the  clergy, 
wishing  to  prevent  a  like  scandal  from  ever 
being  again  renewed,  devised,  before  the  en- 
thronement of  the  popes,  a  custom  very  singu- 
lar, but  marvellously  well  adapted  to  the  cir- 
cumstances. The  successor  of  Joan  was  the 
first  to  be  submitted  to  this  singular  proof, 
Avhich  has  since  been  called  the  proof  of  the 
pierced  chair. 

The  following  was  the  ceremonial  em- 
ployed : — As  soon  as  a  pontiff  was  chosen,  he 
was  conducted  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
to  be  solemnly  consecrated.  He  was  first 
seated  upon  a  chair  of  white  marble  placed 
beneath  the  porch  of  the  church,  between  the 
two  gates  of  honour.  It  was  called  the  Ster- 
coraire,  although  it  was  not  pierced  ;  but  this 
name  was  given  to  it  because  the  holy  father, 
rising  from  this  chair,  thundered  forth  the  fol- 
lowing from  the  hundredth  and  thirteenth 
psalm  :  "  God  has  raised  the  poor  out  of  the 
dust  and  the  needy  from  the  dunghill,  to  seat 
him  above  the  princes!" 

Then  the  great  dignitaries  of  the  church 
took  the  pope  by  the  hand,  and  conducted  him 
to  the  oratory  of  St.  Sylvester,  where  was 
another  seat  of  porphyry,  but  pierced  in  the 
bottom,  on  which  they  seated  the  pontifT. 
The  first  ecclesiastical  historians  speak  only 
of  one  chair  of  this  kind,  whilst  the  most 
esteemed  chroniclers  always  speak  of  two 
peirced  chairs,  which  they  designate  as  being 
of  the  same  size,  of  like  form,  both  of  a  very 
old  style,  without  ornaments,  cushions,  or 
garniture. 

Before  the  consecration,  the  bishops  and 
cardinals  place  the  pope  upon  this  second 
chair,  where  he  is  exposed  in  his  person,  to 
show  to  the  assistants  the  proofs  of  his  virility, 
and  then  two  deacons  approach  him,  and  sa- 
tisfy themselves  by  the  touch,  that  their  sight 
has  not  been  deceived  by  false  appearances, 
and  they  testify  this  to  the  assistants,  by  ex- 
claiming in  a  loud  voice,  "  We  have  a  j^ope." 
The  assembly  replied,  "  Thanks  be  to  God," 


as  a  sign  of  gratitude  and  jo}-.  The  priests 
then  came  to  prostrate  themselves  before  the 
pontifl,  raised  him  from  the  chair,  encircling 
him  with  a  silken  girdle,  kissed  his  feet,  and 
proceeded  to  the  enthronement.  The  cere- 
mony always  terminated  by  a  splendid  festi- 
val, and  by  a  distribution  of  money  to  the 
monks  and  nuns. 

jVIention  is  made  of  the  pierced  chair  in  the 
consecration  of  Honorius  the  Second,  in  1061 ; 
in  that  of  Pascal,  in  1099;  in  that  of  Urban 
the  Sixth,  chosen  in  the  year  1378  :  Alexan- 
der the  Sixth,  publicly  recognized  at  Rome  as 
the  father  of  live  children  by  Rosavanozza, 
his  mistress,  was  submitted  to  the  same  proof. 
Finally,  it  lasted  until  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  Crassus,  master  of  the  ceremonies  of  Leo 
the  Tenth,  reports  precisely,  in  the  Journal  of 
Paris,  all  the  formalities  of  the  proof  of  the 
pierced  chair  to  which  that  pontiff  was  sub- 
mitted. 

Since  Leo's  time,  it  has  ceased  to  be  prac- 
tised :  it  may  be  because  the  priests  compre- 
hended the  ridicule  of  an  usage  so  inconveni- 
ent: it  may  be  because  the  improvement  of 
the  age,  no  longer  permits  a  spectacle  injuri- 
ous to  the  public  morals.  The  pierced  chairs 
being  no  longer  needed,  they  were  carried 
from  their  locations,  to  be  placed  in  the  gal- 
lery of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  which  con- 
ducted to  the  chapel.  Father  Mabillon,  in  his 
journey  into  Italy,  in  1685,  describes  these 
two  chairs,  which  he  examined  with  the  great- 
est attention;  and  he  affirms  that  they  were 
of  porphyry,  and  similar  in  form  to  a  sick 
couch. 

The  ultra-montaynes.  confounded  by  the 
authentic  documents  of  history,  and  not  being 
able  to  deny  the  existence  of  the  popess  Joan, 
have  regarded  the  entire  duration  of  her  pon- 
tificate as  a  vacancy  in  the  Holy  See,  and 
cause  Benedict  the  Third,  to  succeed  Leo  the 
Fourth,  under  the  pretence  that  a  woman 
could  not  fill  the  sacerdotal  functions,  admin- 
ister the  sacraments,  nor  confer  the  sacred 
orders.  More  than  thirty  ecclesiastical  authors 
allege  this  as  a  reason  for  not  counting  Joan  in 
the  number  of  the  popes,  but  a  very  remarka- 
ble fact  gives  a  formal  lie  to  their  opinion. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century 
the  cathedral  of  Sienna,  having  been  restored 
by  order  of  the  prince,  there  were  sculptured 
in  marble  the  busts  of  all  the  popes  down  to 
Pius  the  Second,  who  was  then  on  the  See, 
and  there  was  placed  in  its  rank,  between 
Leo  the  Fourth,  and  Benedict  the  Third,  the 
portrait  of  the  popess,  with  this  inscription, 
"John  the  Eighth,  the  female  pope."  This 
imjiortant  fact,  would  then  authorize  us  to 
count  Joan  as  the  one  hundred  and  eighth 
pontiff,  who  has  governed  the  church  of  Rome, 
if  custom  were  not  stronger  than  truth.  It 
nothing  else  remains,  it  proves,  however,  that 
the  reign  of  the  popess  is  authentic ;  and  that 
a  woman  gloriously  occupied  the  sacred  chair 
of  the  pontifls  of  Rome. 

Some  ultra  Catholics  yet  reject  the  truth, 
and  refuse  to  admit  the  authenticity  of  all  this 
proof,  under  the  pretext  that  God  would  not 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


231 


have  permitted  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  founded 
by  Josus  Christ  himself,  to  be  thus  occupied 
by  a  shameless  woman. 

But  then  we  will  ask.  How  God  could  have 
suffered  the  sacrilegious  profanations  and 
abominations  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  ?  Has 
not  Christ  permitted  the  Holy  See  to  be  soiled 
by  heretical,  apostate,  incestuous,  and  assassin 
popes  ?  Was  not  St.  Clement  an  Arian ;  Anas- 
tasius  a  Nestorian  ;  Honorius  a  Monothelile; 
John  the  Twenty-second,  an  atheist :  and  did 
not  Sylvester  the  Second  say  he  had  sold  his 
soul  lo  the  devil  to  become  pope  ? 

Baronius,  that  zealous  defender  of  the  tiara, 
himself  says,  that  Boniface  the  Sixth,  and 
Stephen  the  Seventh,  were  infamous  wretches, 
execrable  monsters,  who  filled  the  house  of 
God  with  their  crimes ;  he  accuses  them  of 
having  surpassed  all  that  the  most  cruel  per- 
secutors of  the  church  had  caused  the  faithful 
to  sutler. 

Genebrard,  archbishop  of  Aix,  afhrms,  that 
durinir  almost  two  centuries,  the  Holy  See  was 
occupied  by  popes  of  a  libertinism  so  fright- 
ful, that  they  were  worthy  of  being  called 
apostatics,  and  not  apostolics;  he  says  that 
women  governed  Italy,  and  that  the  pontifical 
chair  was  converted  into  a  distaff.  In  fact, 
the  courtezans  Theodora  and  Marozia,  mon- 
sters of  lubicrity,  disposed,  according  to  their 
caprice,  of  the  place  of  vicars  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
the)^  placed  upon  the  throne  of  St.  Peter  their 
lovers  or  their  bastards:  and  the  chroniclers 
relate  of  these  women,  facts  so  strange,  so 
monstrous,  and  recount  debaucheries  so  re- 
volting, that  it  is  impossible  to  place  them  in 
our  history. 

Thus,  since  the  clemency  of  God  has  tole- 
rated all  these  abominations  in  the  Holy  See, 
it  might  equally  permit  the  reign  of  a  popess. 

Besides,  Joan  is  not  the  tirst,  nor  the  only 
•woman  who  has  worn  the  garment  of  a  priest. 
A  courtezan,  named  Marguerite,  disguised 
herself  as  a  priest,  and  entered  a  monastery 
of  men,  where  she  took  the  name  of  brother 
Pelagian.  Eugenea,  the  daughter  of  the  cele- 
brated Phillip,  the  governor  of  Alexandria, 
during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Gallienns, 
governed  a  convent  of  monks,  and  only  dis- 
covered her  sex  to  disprove  an  accusation  of 
seduction  which  hail  been  brought  against  her 
by  a  young  girl.  The  Chronicle  of  Lombardy, 
composed  by  a  monk  of  Monte  Cassino,  also 
relates,  from  the  account  of  a  priest  named 
Herembert,  who  wrote  thirty  years  after  the 
death  of  Leo  the  Fourth,  the  history  of  a  wo- 
man who  became  patriarch  of  Constantinople. 
'•  A  prince  of  Beneventum.  named  iElchisus," 
says  he,  "had  a  divine  revelation,  in  which 
an  angel  warned  him,  that  the  patriarch,  who 
occupied  the  See  of  Constantinople,  was  a 
woman.  He  hastened  to  inform  the  emperor 
Basil,  and  the  false  patriarch,  after  having 
been  despoiled  of  all  her  garments  before  the 
clergy  of  St.  Sophia,  was  discovered  to  be  a 


woman,  driven  disgracefully  from  the  church, 
and  shut  up  in  a  nunnery." 

After  the  recital  of  all  these  fact.s,  which 
have  been  preserved  in  legend.s,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  faithful,  should  not  the  priests  avow, 
that  God  permitted  the  pontilicate  of  the 
popess  for  the  purpose  of  abasing  the  pride 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  of  showing  that  the  vicars 
of  Christ  are  not  infallible  ? 

Besides,  the  history  of  Joan  does  not  ap- 
proach, in  the  marvellous,  to  that  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  1  The  mother  of  Christ,  did  she  not 
conceive  and  bring  forth  without  ceasing  to 
be  a  virgin  ?  and  did  she  not  command  God 
himself;  since  the  Scriptures  tells  us,  -'Jesus 
Christ  was  subject  to  his  mother. ''" 

If,  then,  the  Creator  of  all  things  did  not 
disdain  to  obey  a  woman,  why  should  his 
ministers  desire  to  be  prouder  than  the  all- 
powerful  God,  and  refuse  to  bend  their  fore- 
heads before  a  popess? 

Moreover,  until  the  seventh  century,  the 
faithful  had  recognized  priestesses  ;  for  the 
proceedings  of  the  council  of  Chalcedon  form- 
ally declare,  that  women  might  receive  the 
orders  of  the  priesthood,  and  be  solemnly 
consecrated  as  clerks.  St.  Clement,  the  im- 
mediate successor  of  the  apostles  of  Jesus, 
enters  at  length,  in  one  of  his  epistles,  upon 
the  functions  of  the  priestesses.  He  says, 
they  might  celebrate  the  holy  nuptials,  preach 
the  gospel  to  men  as  well  as  women,  and 
disrobe  them  to  anoint  them  over  all  their 
body  in  the  ceremony  of  baptism. 

Atton,  bishop  of  Verceil,  relates  in  his 
works,  that  priestesses  in  the  primitive  church, 
presided  in  the  temples,  and  gave  religious 
and  philosophical  instruction  ;  that  they  had 
under  their  orders,  deaconesses,  who  served 
them  as  the  deacons  did  the  priests.  St. 
Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  St. 
Cyprian,  explain  themselves  more  at  length  in 
regard  to  these  women.  They  complain  of 
many  of  them  departing  from  the  rules  im- 
posed on  them,  practising  coquetry,  being  e.x- 
travagant  in  their  dress,  painting  their  faces, 
having  no  reserve  nor  modesty  in  their  con- 
versation, frequented  the  public  baths,  and 
bathing  entirely  naked  with  the  priests  and 
young  deacons. 

The  elevation  of  a  woman  to  the  priesthood 
was  then  no  novelty  in  the  church,  when  the 
popess  Joan  appeared.  ]\Iany  other  females 
before  her  had  been  consecrated  priestesses, 
had  received  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  had 
exercised  ecclesiastical  functions.  Why,  then, 
do  the  adorers  of  the  Roman  purple  seek  to 
contest  the  certainty  of  historical  and  unde- 
niable facts  ?  Why  are  they  willing  to  deny 
'  the  existence  of  a  celebrated  woman  ?  The 
majesty  of  the  priesthood,  the  pontifical  in- 
j  fallibility,  the  pretensions  of  the  Holy  See  to 
I  universal  rule,  all  that  scaffolding  of  supersti- 
\  tinn  and  idolatry  on  which  is  placed  the  chair 
I  of  St.  Peter,  falls  before  a  female  pope !  !  ! 


232 


HISTORY  OF   THE  POPES. 


BENEDICT  THE  THIRD,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  855.] 

Benedict  the  Third,  the  successor  of  the  popess  Joan — The  deputies  of  the  emperor  wish  to  choose 
Anctslasius — The  pontiff  Benedict  is  driven  from  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  by  clubs — The 
bishops  refuse  to  consecrate  Anastasius — Anastasius  in  turn  driven  in  disgrace  from  the  palace 
— Consecration  of  Benedict — Etheluph,  the  king  of  Essex  in  England,  places  his  kingdom 
binder  the  protection  of  the  Holy  See — Misconduct  of  the  deacon  Hubert,  brother-in-law  of  king 
Lothaire — Death  of  Benedict. 


The  pontifT  who  succeeded  the  popess  Joan 
was  a  Roman  by  birth.  His  father  had  placed 
him  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateian,  among  the 
young  clerks  who  studied  religious  singing 
and  the  sacred  books.  Gregory  the  Fourth 
had  ordained  him  sub-deacon,  and  the  prede- 
cessor of  Joan  had  consecrated  him  a  priest  of 
the  order  of  St.  Callixtus. 

After  the  death  of  the  popess,  the  clergy 
and  people  ran  in  crowds  to  St.  John  the 
Lateran,  to  proceed  to  a  new  election,  and  to 
efface  the  scandal  of  the  accouchement  of 
Joan,  by  the  election  of  a  pope  whose  lofty 
piety  might  restore  to  the  Holy  See  its  lustre 
and  its  majesty. 

Benedict  the  Third  was  declared  by  their 
unanimous  suffrages  worthy  to  occupy  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter.  The  clergy  immediately 
went  to  the  church  of  St.  Callixtus  to  seek  for 
the  new  pope,  and  conduct  him  to  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran.  On  the  arrival  of  the  bishops, 
Benedict,  who  was  on  his  knees  and  engaged 
at  his  prayers,  rose  to  salute  them;  but  as 
soon  as  he  had  learned  of  his  nomination  to 
the  supreme  dignity  of  the  church,  he  fell 
on  his  knees  before  them,  and  exclaimed, 
shedding  tears,  '■'!  beseech  you,  my  brethren, 
do  not  draw  me  from  my  church ;  my  brow 
is  incapable  of  supporting  the  weight  of  the 
tiara." 

Li  spite  of  his  entreaties,  the  people  bore 
him  in  triumph  to  the  patriarchal  palace,  and 
he  mounted  the  throne  of  the  apostles  amid 
the  noise  of  general  acclamations.  After  this 
ceremony,  the  decree  of  the  election  was 
given  him,  which  was  sent  to  the  emperor 
Louis  the  Second  by  two  deputies,  Nicholas, 
bishop  of  Anaguia,  and  Mercury,  the  captain 
of  the  Roman  militia. 

On  their  route,  the  embassadors  met  Arse- 
nes,  prelate  of  Eugubio,  who,  turning  them 
from  the  party  of  Benedict,  induced  them  to 
enter  into  a  conspiracy  which  had  for  its  ob- 
ject the  election  of  Anastasius,  an  ambitious 
priest,  who  had  formerly  been  deposed  from 
his  sacerdotal  functions  by  Leo  the  Fourth. 
The  legates  of  the  Holy  See,  seduced  by  the 
promises  of  Anastasiu.s,  returned  into  Italy, 
announcing  that  the  French  monarch  had  re- 
fused to  ratify  the  ordination  of  Benedict,  and 
that  he  was  about  to  send  commissioners 
bearing  his  orders. 

In  fact,  the  deputies  of  Louis  the  Second 
arrived  in  the  states  of  the  church,  and  stopped 
at  Horta,   a  city   situated  forty  miles  from 


Rome,  to  confer  with  Anastasius.  The  holy 
father,  informed  of  their  hostile  dispositions, 
addressed  to  them  letters  full  of  submission, 
to  engage  them  in  his  cause,  and  he  sent  the 
bishops  Gregory  and  Maion  with  his  message ; 
but  at  the  solicitation  of  Anastasius,  the 
embassadors  caused  the  messengers  of  the 
pope  to  be  arrested  without  hearing  them,  and 
detained  them  as  prisoners.  The  pope  then 
deputed  to  them  Adrian  and  Duke  Gregory, 
who  experienced  as  rigorous  a  treatment. 
Finally,  the  commissioners  of  Louis  advanced 
with  Anastasius  beyond  the  Ponto-Molo, 
stopped  before  the  church  of  St.  Lucius  the 
Martyr,  and  in  the  name  of  their  master  or- 
dered the  senate,  the  clergj*,  and  the  people, 
to  appear  before  them. 

After  divine  service,  the  delegates  of  the 
prince  marched  towards  the  holy  city,  pro- 
tected by  numerous  troops.  Anastasius,  who 
led  the  procession,  first  entered  the  church 
of  St.  Peter  to  burn  the  tableau  of  the  coun- 
cil, on  which  was  inscribed  his  deposition. 
He  then  invaded  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
and  ordered  his  satellites  to  drag  Benedict 
from  the  pontifical  throne.  He  himself  de- 
spoiled him  of  his  pontifical  ornaments,  over- 
whelmed him  with  reproaches,  struck  him 
with  his  bishop's  cross,  and  then  gave  him 
over  to  priests,  who  had  been  deposed  from 
the  priesthood  by  Joan  on  account  of  the 
enormity  of  their  crimes.  These,  to  obtain 
the  favour  of  their  new  master,  bound  the 
unfortunate  Benedict  with  cords,  and  drove 
him  from  the  palace,  striking  him  with  sticks. 

Anastasius,  left  master  of  the  episcopal 
palace,  declared  himself  pope,  and  mounted 
upon  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  in  the  presence  of 
the  clergy  and  the  soldiers.  Rome  was  then 
plunged  into  consternation  and  affright. — 
Bishops  and  priests  beat  their  breasts,  shed- 
ding tears,  and  remained  prostrate  on  the 
steps  of  the  altars,  invoking  the  protection  of 
the  all-powerful  God.  Soon  after,  a  low  ru- 
mour was  spread  through  the  city  ;  the  citi- 
zens assembled  in  the  church  of  Emilius,  and 
all  swore  to  resist  the  oppression  of  the  ty- 
rants. The  commissioners,  informed  of  this 
revolt,  surrounded  with  their  soldiers  the 
church  in  which  the  priests  and  the  citizens 
were  assembled.  The  officers  mounted  into 
the  building,  and  advancing  towards  the 
bishops,  who  Ave  re  singing  sacred  psalms, 
presented  to  them  the  points  of  their  swords, 
[  exclaiming  with  fury,  "Surrender,  wretches! 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


233 


recognize  Anastasius  for  the  sovereign  pon- 
tiff." The  prelates  replied  with  firmnes3, 
"  Strike,  if  you  dare ;  but  never  will  we  re- 
ceive as  head  of  the  church  a  man  deposed 
and  anathematized  by  a  pope  and  council." 

This  energetic  reply  intimidated  the  offi- 
cers. They  retired  into  a  chapel,  to  consult 
on  the  part  they  should  perform  under  such 
circumstances.  All  their  judgments  being  for 
violence,  they  re-entered  the  sanctuary  with 
their  soldiers,  and  addressing  themselves  again 
to  the  bishops,  threatened  to  massacre  them 
upon  the  altar  itself,  if  they  refused  to  conse- 
crate Anastasius.  The  citizens  then  fell  upon 
the  officers,  and  snatched  from  them  their 
swords;  they  represented  to  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  emperor  the  injustice  of  their 
conduct,  and  proposed  to  inform  them  of  the 
treason  of  the  unworthy  minister. 

The  French,  alarmed,  consulted  among 
themselves,  and  consented  to  quit  the  church. 
The  prelates  and  the  people  then  followed 
them  to  the  church  of  St.  John  the  Lateran, 
exclaiming, — '•  We  want  the  blessed  pope 
Benedict — it  is  he  whom  we  desire."  The 
deputies  of  Louis  then  yielded  to  this  unani- 
mous manifestation  of  the  Romans,  and  re- 
nounced the  hope  of  consecrating  their  pro- 
tege. They  assembled  the  clergy  in  a  saloon 
of  the  patriarchal  palace,  for  the  purpose  of 
deliberating  on  the  part  to  be  taken  to  put  an 
end  to  these  disorders.  The  discussion  was 
long  and  stormy,  but  the  ecclesiastics  gave 
such  powerful  reasons  against  the  election  of 
Anastasius,  that  the  French  yielded  to  their 
opinion.  "Take,  then,  for  pope,  him  whom 
you  have  chosen,"  said  the  chief  of  the  em- 
bassy; "and  place  him  within  the  church 
which  you  shall  choose ;  we  will  drive  his 
competitor  from  the  pontifical  apartments, 
seeing  he  has  merited  deposition  for  his 
crimes  and  debaucheries." 

Guards  were  sent  to  the  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran, and  Anastasius  was  driven  in  disgrace 
from  the  pontifical  chair. 

The  bishops  then  went  in  procession  to  the 

E risen  of  Benedict  the  Third ;  they  placed 
im  on  horseback,  and  conducted  him  in 
triumph  to  the  church  St.  Maria  Majora, 
where  they  passed  three  days  and  three  nights 
in  fasting  and  prayer.  Those  who  had  joined 
the  party  of  Anastasius,  also  went  into  the 
church,  to  kiss  the  feet  of  the  pope,  and  to 
confess  their  fault.  Benedict  received  them 
all  with  kindness,  pardoned  and  embraced 
them.  Peace  being  thus  re-established  in  the 
church,  the  clergy  led  back  the  pontiff  to  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran;  and  on  the  following 
Sunday  ho  was  solemnly  consecrated  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter. 


In  856,  Ethelwolf,  king  of  England,  made 
a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  and  placed  his  kingdom 
under  the  protection  of  the  pope.  He  offered 
to  St.  Peter  a  crown  of  gold  weighing  forty 
pounds,  and  magnificent  presents ;  he  made 
great  largesses  to  the  clergy  and  the  people, 
and  constructed  new  buildnigs  for  the  English 
school,  which  had  been  burned  down.  On 
his  return  to  Great  Britain,  he  held  a  council 
at  Winchester  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and 
made  a  decree,  by  which  for  the  future  the 
tenth  part  of  the  land  in  his  kingdom  apper- 
tained to  the  church  and  was  exempt  from 
all  charges ;  he  re-established  Peter's  pence 
in  all  his  kingdom,  and  finally,  left  by  will  a 
rental  of  three  hundred  marks  of  gold,  pay- 
able yearly  to  the  Holy  See. 

At  the  same  period,  the  abbot  Loup  de  Fer- 
riere  sent  to  the  pontiff  two  pilgrim  monks,  to 
be  instructed  in  the  customs  of  the  Roman 
church,  as  he  wished  to  introduce  its  rites  into 
his  abbey. 

The  holy  father  also  received  embassadors 
from  Michael  the  Third,  emperor  of  the  East, 
who  brought,  in  the  name  of  their  master, 
considerable  presents  destined  for  the  church 
of  the  apostle.  The  Greek  monarch  asked  in 
his  letter,  that  the  holy  father  would  approve 
of  the  sentence  of  deposition  which  he  had 
rendered  against  Gregory,  bishop  of  Syracuse, 
in  Sicily,  which  Benedict  confirmed  without 
examination . 

On  the  requisition  of  Hincmar,  metropo- 
litan of  Rheims,  the  holy  father  approved  of 
the  synod  which  had  been  held  at  Soissons, 
and  of  which  Leo  the  Fourth  had  rejected  the 
decisions.  The  archbishop  besought  the  pon- 
tiff at  the  same  time  to  cite  before  his  tribunal 
the  deacon  Hubert,  brother  of  Thietberge,  the 
wife  of  King  Lothaire,  an  infamous  priest,  who 
had  transformed  a  nunnery  into  a  brothel, 
from  which  he  drew  immense  revenues,  by 
making  a  shameful  traffic  in  the  virginity  of 
the  nuns.  He  also  accused  him  of  carrying 
on  criminal  intercourse  with  the  queen  his 
sister.  As  Hincmar  was  histrucled  by  Lo- 
thaire, to  pursue  before  the  court  of  Rome, 
the  punishment  of  the  guilty,  and  to  demand 
a  punishment  which  should  be  in  keeping 
with  the  enormity  of  the  crimes  of  the  deacon ; 
he  wrote  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  to  give  him  a 
detailed  account  of  the  incestuous  intercourse 
of  the  beautiful  Thietberge  with  her  brother. 

Hubert  received  orders  to  appear  at  Rome 
before  the  expiration  of  thirty  days,  to  justify 
himself  from  the  accusations  brought  againsc 
him,  and  under  penalty  of  undergoing  eccle- 
siastical censures  if  he  failed  to  appear;  but 
Benedict  the  Third  died  on  the  10th  of  JNlarch 
858,  before  the  convocation  of  the  synod. 


Vol.  I. 


2E 


234 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


NICHOLAS  THE  FIRST,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  858.] 

Election  of  Nicholas — Louis  the  German  comes  to  kiss  the  feet  of  the  holy  father — Union  of  the 
churches  of  Bremen  and  Hamhurg — Treatise  of  Ratramnus  or  Bertram  on  the  Eucharist — 
Sect  of  the  Sterconarists — Photius  usurps  the  See  of  Constantinople — the  legates  approve  of 
the  elevation  of  Photius  to  the  patriarchal  See — Incest  of  Queen  Thietberge  with  the  deacon 
Hubert,  her  brother — Adulteries  of  higeltrude,  wife  of  Boson — Affair  of  John,  archbishop 
of  Ravenna — Lothaire  repudiates  Queen  Thietberi^e — Charles  the  Bold  pardons  the  ravisher  of 
his  daughter  Judith— Return  of  the  legates  of  the  Holy  See — Nicholas  excommunicates  them — 
Condemnation  of  Photius  and  of  Gregory  of  Syracuse — The  council  of  Metz — The  pope  erases 
the  decrees  of  the  council,  which  he  calls  an  assembly  of  brigands  and  robbers — Excommunica- 
tion of  the  beautiful  Ingeltrude — The  French  bishops  accuse  the  pontiff  of  being  the  protector 
of  all  the  abominations  of  Rome  :  they  compare  it  to  hell,  and  the  pontiff  Nicholas  to  Satan — 
The  emperor  comes  to  Rome — Hildivin,  bishop  of  Cambray,  enters  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
armed,  at  the  head  of  his  soldiers — The  troops  of  the  emperor  Louis  pillage  the  churches  of 
Rome  and  violate  the  nuns — Pride  of  the  pontiff — Letters  to  the  princes  Louis  and  Charles — 
Lothaire  pardons  Queen  Thietberge — Nicholas  excommunicates  Waldrade,  the  second  wife  of 
Lothaire — The  conversion  of  the  Bulgarians — Photius  excommunicates  the  pope  in  a  general 
council — Dissentions  between  Queen  Thietberge  and  Lothaire — Council  of  Troyes — Photius 
repulses  the  emperor  Basil  from  the  communion  of  the  faithful — Ignatius  is  re-installed  upon 
the  See  of  Constantinople — Nicholas  claims  from  the  king  of  Germany  the  revenues  of  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter — Death  of  the  pontiff — His  excess  of  pride  and  presumption — He  com- 
pares himself  with  God,  and  raises  himself  above  the  judgment  of  men. 


Nicholas  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the 
son  of  a  poor  physician ;  Pope  Sergius  the 
Second  had  received  him  into  the  patriarchal 
palace,  and  had  named  him  subdeacon.  Bene- 
dict the  Third  conceived,  in  his  turn,  so  lively 
an  affection  for  the  young  priest,  that  he  at- 
tached him  to  his  person  in  the  quality  of 
private  secretary,  and  intrusted  him  with  the 
most  secret  affairs  of  the  church.  On  the 
death  of  his  protector,  Nicholas  rendered  him 
the  last  duties,  placed  him  in  his  shroud  with 
his  own  hands,  and  assisted  by  several  dea- 
cons, bore  him,  with  lilial  and  religious  re- 
spect, to  the  place  of  his  sepulchre. 

The  Holy  See  remained  vacant  an  entire 
month,  the  Romans  being  obliged  to  wait  the 
arrival  of  the  emperor  Louis,  in  order  to  name 
a  pontilF.  As  soon  as  the  prince  had  entered 
within  the  walls  of  the  holy  city,  the  clergy, 
grandees  and  people,  assembled  to  proceed  to 
an  election,  and  Nicholas,  having  united  the 
majority  of  the  suffrages  in  his  favour,  was 
declared  sovereign  pontiff  of  Rome.  They 
conducted  him  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
and  proceeded  to  his  consecration  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  emperor. 

This  ceremony  was  performed  with  extra- 
ordinary magnificence,  and  the  holy  father 
showed  in  this  circumstance  more  impudence 
and  pride  than  his  predecessors  had  ever  ex- 
hibited. He  was  the  first  who  ordained  that 
the  accession  of  the  popes  should  be  celebrated 
by  a  brilliant  enthronement,  and  to  leave  to 
posterity  an  example  of  his  own  audacity  and 
the  mean  spirit  of  the  emperor,  he  exacted 
that  Louis  should  come  on  foot  to  meet  him, 
that  he  should  hold  the  bridle  of  his  horse, 
and  thus  conduct  him  from  the  church  of  St. 
Peter  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  Finally, 
the  bigot  monarch,  before  taking  his  leave  of 


the  pontiff,  bent  his  forehead  in  the  dust  and 
kis.sed  his  sandals ! 

Some  time  after  his  accession  to  the  Holy 
See,  Nicholas  transformed  into  an  archbishop- 
ric the  churches  of  Bremen  and  Hamburg, 
and  gave  them  to  his  favourite  Anscaire. 
Gonthier,  the  metropolitan  of  Cologne,  at  first 
opposed  this  decision,  maintaining  that  it  was 
not  just  to  erect  into  an  archbishopric  a  See 
which  was  dependant  on  his,  but  afterwards, 
yielding  to  the  solicitations  of  the  king  and 
the  bishops,  he  consented  to  this  connection, 
in  order  not  to  bring  a  scandal  on  the  church. 
The  disputes  being  terminated,  Louis  sent  to 
Rome,  Solomon,  bishop  of  Constance,  and  the 
priest  Norful,  a  disciple  of  Anscaire.  They 
were  received  with  great  honours  by  Nicholas, 
and  carried  back  with  them  the  decree  which 
elevated  Anscaire  to  an  archiepiscopal  See, 
with  the  rank  of  legate  of  the  Holy  See,  and  the 
right  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  Swedes, 
Danes,  Slavi,  and  all  the  nations  adjoining 
these  people. 

At  this  period,  Ratramnus  or  Bertram,  priest 
and  monk  of  Corbia,  a  man  profoundly  learn- 
ed in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  wrote,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Charles  the  Bald,  a  treatise  "  on  the 
body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  Numerous 
theological  discussions  upon  the  Eucharist  then 
divided  the  clergy  of  France,  and  the  king, 
desirous  of  putting  an  end  to  the  disorders, 
had  confided  the  decision  of  the  question  to 
the  man  whom  he  thought  the  best  inform- 
ed in  his  kingdom.  The  monk  of  Corbia 
combatted  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation, 
maintaining,  that  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar, 
the  body  of  Christ  was  not  really  present  under 
the  appearance  of  bread  and  wine,  and  that 
the  faithful  received  it  in  the  communion 
spiritually  and  not  materially. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


235 


This  doctrine,  which  was  opposed  to  the 
principles  taught  by  the  churcli,  excited  the 
wralli  of  the  fanatics,  who  maintained  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  not  only  present  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  altar,  but  still  more,  that  he  is 
f)artaker  of  the  nature  of  bread  and  wine,  and 
ike  those  substances  he  is  subservient  to  the 
law  of  digestion  and  passes  in  the  excrements ; 
an  opinion  which  has  given  to  these  sectaries 
the  names  of  Sterconarists. 

Whilst  they  were  disputing  in  France  as  to 
the  real  presence  of  God  in  the  service  of  the 
altar,  the  church  of  Constantinople  was  scan- 
dalized by  the  disorders  of  its  chiefs.  St.  Ig- 
natius had  been  driven  from  his  See  on  account 
of  his  pride  and  fanaticism,  and  the  emperor 
had  elevated  to  the  dignity  of  patriarch  the 
celebrated  Photius,  who  was  only  a  lapnan. 

As  the  priests  murmured  at  the  irregularity 
of  his  election,  he  undertook  to  have  it  ratified 
by  the  holy  father,  and  sent  embassadors  to 
present  his  justification  at  Rome.  In  his  let- 
ter to  Nicholas,  the  patriarch  rendered  the 
following  account  of  his  elevation  to  the  See 
of  Constantinople  : — "I  advise  you,  most  holy 
father,  that  my  predecessor  renounced  the 
episcopal  dignity  to  retire  to  a  convent,  where 
he  has  found  the  rest  which  his  great  age  and 
infirmities  rendered  necessary  for  him.  In 
order  to  replace  him,  the  clergy,  the  metropoli- 
tans, and  our  gracious  emperor,  have  sought 
me  out.  impelled  by  a  supernatural  force,  and 
without  listening  to  my  excuses,  without  even 
giving  me  time  to  refuse,  they  constrained  me 
to  accept  the  dignity  of  patriarch,  without  any 
regard  to  my  tears  or  my  despair." 

Michael  the  Third,  at  the  same  time, 
addressed  confidential  letters  to  the  pope 
through  his  embassadors,  offering  him  large 
sums  to  confirm  Photius.  Nicholas  received 
the  envoys  of  the  prince  and  the  patriarch 
with  honour,  and  accepted  the  presents,  but 
using  circumspection,  he  evaded  a  decision  of 
the  afiajr  of  Ignatius,  and  promised  to  send  as 
legates  to  Constantinople,  Rodoalde,  bishop 
of  Porto,  and  Zachary,  bishop  of  Anaguia. 
They  were  to  convoke  a  council  in  the  impe- 
rial city,  on  the  subject  of  the  worship  of 
images,  and  to  inform  themselves  judicially 
as  to  the  case  of  Photius,  but  without  decid- 
ing anything  until  they  shoukl  receive  new 
instructions  from  the  court  of  Rome. 

Nicholas  replieil  in  these  terms  to  the  letter 
of  the  emperor  :  "We  cannot  give  our  approval 
to  the  ordination  of  Photius,  before  knowing  ex- 
actly how  the  deposition  of  Ignatius  was  accom- 
plished. We  therefore  wi.sh  that  he  should 
present  himself  before  a  council,  and  in  the 
presence  of  our  loccate,  state  the  reasons  which 
induced  him  to  abandon  his  people  and  his 
pontificial  duties ;  they  will  then  examine  if 
his  deposition  has  been  regular,  and  this  afl'air 
being  terminated,  they  will  decide  on  the  steps 
to  be  taken  to  assure  peace  to  Christendom. 

••But  first,  in  order  to  remove  the  principal 
obstacles  which  separate  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches,  we  demand  the  re-establishment  of 
the  jurisdiction  of  our  See  over  the  provinces 
of  the  empire,  the  restitution  of  the  patrimo- 


nies of  St.  Peter  in  Calabria  and  Sicily,  and 
also  the  right  to  nominate  prelates  to  the 
bishopric  of  Syracuse." 

When  the  prelates  of  the  holy  father  had 
arrived  in  Constantinople,  they  were  taken  to 
a  palace,  by  order  of  the  prince,  where  they 
were  surrounded  by  all  kinds  of  seduction, 
and  magnificent  presents  were  made  to  them ; 
and  at  last,  in  the  midst  of  feasts  and  orgies, 
a  promise  was  extracted  from  them  to  conform 
to  the  orders  of  the  emperor. 

Photius  then  convoked  a  council  at  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  church  of  the  apostles; 
three  hundred  and  eighteen  bishops,  the  le- 
gates of  the  pope,  the  magistrates,  and  a  large 
number  of  citizens,  composed  the  assembly, 
over  which  Michael  the  Third  presided.  The 
prevost  Blanc  was  sent  to  seek  Ignatius,  who 
addressed  him,  saying,  "Ignatius,  the  great 
and  holy  council  calls  you  ;  come  and  defend 
yourself  against  the  crimes  of  which  you  are 
accused."  The  patriarch  replied  to  him,  "Tell 
me  if  I  am  to  present  myself  before  the  as- 
sembly in  the  quality  of  bishop,  priest,  or 
monk  ?"  The  prevost  preserving  silence.  Ig- 
natius refused  to  follow  him. 

The  next  day  the  same  ofTicer  presented 
himself  anew,  and  said  to  the  prelate,  "  The 
envoys  of  the  pope  of  old  Rome,  Rodoalde  and 
Zachary,  order  you  to  appear  in  the  council 
without  delay,  and  to  declare  in  their  presence 
the  sentiments  which  your  conscience  shall 
dictate  to  you." 

St.  Ignatus  immediately  clothed  himself  in 
his  patriarchal  dres.s,  and  went  to  the  synod 
on  foot,  followed  by  a  great  number  of  bishops, 
priests,  monks,  and  laymen.  But  on  the  route 
the  patrician  John  arrested  him  in  the  name 
of  the  emperor,  and  ordered  him,  under  pen- 
alty of  death,  to  take  off  his  pontifical  orna- 
ments, and  to  clothe  himself  in  the  dress  of  a 
monk.  He  then  appeared  before  the  council 
in  his  monastic  habits,  and  addressing  him- 
self to  the  legates  of  the  pope,  demanded  from 
them  their  letters  of  creclence,  and  the  in- 
structions of  the  pontifT.  They  replied  that 
they  came  to  judge  his  cause,  but  that  they 
had  not  brought  to  him  letters,  as  he  was  no 
longer  regarded  as  patriarch,  since  his  depo- 
sition had  been  decreed  by  the  couucil  of  his 
province. 

Ignatius  replied  to  the  legates,  "As  you 
come  in  the  name  of  the  successors  of  the 
apostle  St.  Peter,  to  decide  in  conformity  with 
the  canons,  on  my  case,  you  ought,  before 
proceeding  to  my  justification,  to  drive  from 
my  church  the  eunuch  Photius ;  and  if  you 
have  not  this  power,  do  not  announce  your- 
selves as  my  judges,  for  I  will  refuse  you." 

The  officers  who  surrounded  the  emperor, 
then  approached  the  patriarch  and  urged  him 
to  give  in  his  resignation  ;  their  prayers  and 
entreaties  were  useless;  he  was  unwilling  to 
renounce  his  dignity,  and  the  council  not  being 
able  to  subdue  his  firmness,  deposed  and  ana- 
thematized him.  The  envoys  of  the  pontifT 
confirmed  this  sentence,  and  demanded  that 
he  should  be  conducted  to  prison ;  but  his 
captivity  was  not  of  long  duration". 


236 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


Photius,  fearing  a  sedition  in  Constantino- 
ple, set  him  at  liberty,  and  the  excommuni- 
cated patriarch  retired  to  the  palace  of  Posam, 
the  former  residence  of  his  mother.  It  was 
in  the  quiet  of  this  retreat  that  he  wrote  a 
memorial,  which  he  sent  to  Pope  Nicholas. 
It  was  carried  secretly  into  Italy,  by  Theo- 
nostus,  one  of  his  partizans,  who  informed 
the  holy  father  of  all  the  circumstances  of  this 
important  affair. 

The  legates,  Rodoalde  and  Zachary,  re- 
turned to  Rome  with  Leo,  the  embassador  of 
the  emperor,  and  bore  to  the  holy  father  rich 
presents,  the  letters  of  the  emperor,  those  of 
the  new  patriarch,  and  two  volumes  contain- 
ing the  proceedings  of  the  council  which  had 
deposed  Ignatius. 

The  letter  of  Photius  is  an  historical  docu- 
ment of  much  value,  as  it  contains  an  explana- 
tion of  the  dogmas  which  continue  to  separate 
the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows: "Nothing  is  more  precious  than  the 
charity  which  reconciles  distant  persons,  and 
I  attribute  to  this  virtue  the  deference  which 
I  have  shown  to  your  opinion,  in  bearing  with 
the  reproaches  which  your  holiness  addresses 
to  me,  and  attributing  them  not  to  evil  pas- 
sions, but  to  an  excess  of  zeal.  Thus  con- 
forming myself  to  the  precepts  of  the  gospel, 
which  recommend  equality  among  all  men, 
I  address  to  you  in  all  freedom,  the  defence 
of  my  conduct,  in  order  to  induce  you  to  com- 
miserate, not  blame  me. 

"I  yielded  to  force  when  I  mounted  the  pa- 
triarchal See ;  and  God,  from  whom  nothing 
is  concealed,  knows  the  violence  which  I  en- 
dured. He  knows  that  I  have  been  retained 
within  the  walls  of  a  prison  as  a  criminal,  that 
guards  have  placed  their  swords  at  my  breast, 
and  that  it  has  been  impossible  for  me  to  re- 
sist the  wishes  of  the  prince  and  his  people. 
I  wished  to  preserve  the  peace  and  happiness 
which  I  tasted  in  the  midst  of  the  learned 
men,  who  assisted  me  in  the  study  of  philo- 
sophy, and  in  spite  of  myself  I  have  left  this 
tranquil  and  happy  life. 

"For  I  knew,  even  before  I  had  proved  them, 
the  sorrows  which  the  cares  of  high  sacerdotal 
functions  induce.  I  knew  that  a  bishop  should 
constantly  restrain  himself  before  men,  and 
disguise  from  them  the  emotions  of  his  soul, 
as  well  as  those  of  his  face.  I  knew  that  he 
should  at  all  times  repress  the  sentiments  of 
liberty  which  agitate  the  people,  and  govern 
by  fear  the  emperors  who  rule  them. 

"  Among  my  friends,  I  had  no  need  to  place 
upon  my  face  a  mask  of  deceit.  I  could  mani- 
fest among  them  my  joy  or  my  sadness,  and 
loudlydeclaremysentimentsand  my  thoughts. 
In  a  word,  I  could  appear  as  I  am.  But  now, 
ecclesiastical  greatness  condemns  me  to  hy- 
pocrisy and  deceit,  and  sometimes  even  forces 
me  to  acts  of  cruelty.  What  would  I  not  en- 
dure to  prevent  the  simony,  the  debauchery, 
and  the  exactions  of  the  priests  1 

"I  foresaw  all  the  evil  which  would  happen 
unto  me,  before  accepting  the  episcopate,  and 
my  fears  induced  me  to  avoid  it ;  but  I  have 
been  condemned  to  lose  my  body  and  my  soul. 


No  one  has  pitied  me,  and  they  have  refused 
to  believe  in  the  sincerity  of  my  opposition. 
Thus  do  not  accuse  me  of  a  fault  of  which  I 
am  not  the  author,  but  the  victim ;  and  if  the 
canons,  which  prohibit  the  elevation  of  a  lay- 
man to  the  patriarchate,  have  been  violated 
in  my  election,  let  the  blame  fall  upoji  the 
true  guilty. 

"The  emperor  threatened  me  with  his  au- 
thority, and  I  submitted  to  his  will;  after 
having  resisted  with  courage,  I  accepted  with 
resignation,  to  avoid  a  revolution,  and  I  have 
sacrificed  my  liberty  to  my  country. 

"I  am,  however,  now  patriarch,  as  God  has 
willed,  and  I  declare  to  your  reverence  that 
I  will  defend  the  rights  of  my  See,  and  in 
the  name  of  all  the  clergy  of  Constantinople,  I 
deny  the  pretended  canons,  which  you  quote 
against  my  election.  Our  fathers,  from  time 
immemorial,  have  ordained  mere  laymen  as 
bishops,  and  have  not  supposed  that  in  so 
doing,  they  were  violating  the  holy  rules  of 
the  Eastern  church. 

"Let  each  of  us  preserve  religiously  the  cus- 
toms of  our  ancestors.  At  Rome  your  priests 
no  longer  contract  legitimate  marriages,  and 
publicly  support  several  concubines;  at  Con- 
stantinople on  the  other  hand,  we  permit  our 
priests  to  marry  and  live  in  the  bonds  of  holy 
matrimony.  It  is  not  the  robe  which  they 
wear,  nor  the  length  of  time  passed  by  men 
in  the  hypocrisy  of  seminaries,  which  ren- 
der them  worthy  of  the  episcopate ;  but  it  is 
their  ability  and  the  purity  of  their  morals. 
I  do  not  say  this  in  my  own  defence,  as  I  do 
not  recognize  myself  but  as  ignorant  and  im- 
pure; I  only  wish  to  recall  to  your  beatitude 
the  examples  of  Taraisus,  my  great  uncle,  of 
Nicephorirs,  and  St.  Ambrose,  the  glory  of  our 
country,  who  composed  sublime  works  on  the 
religion  of  Christ. 

"You  have  not  condemned  St.  Nectairus 
and  St.  Ambrose,  whose  ordination  was  con- 
firmed by  a  general  council,  yet  these  holy 
persons  were  only  laymen  before  their  elec- 
tion, and  had  not  even  been  baptized  when 
they  were  elevated  to  the  episcopal  office.  I 
will  not  speak  of  Gregory  of  Nanziazum, 
the  father  of  theology,  nor  of  the  numerous 
bishops  whom  the  church  honours,  and  \Ahom 
the  Roman  clergy  have  never  reproached  for 
having  been  elected  as  we  were,  according  to 
the  Eastern  custom. 

"  But  in  order  to  satisfy  the  request  of  your 
holiness,  and  to  establish,  as  much  as  our 
power  will  permit,  concord  between  your  See 
and  ours,  I  have  prohibited,  in  full  council, 
that  for  the  future,  any  layman  or  monk  should 
be  ordained  bishop,  without  having  passed 
through  all  the  ecclesiastical  orders  and  de- 
grees. We  will  be  always  ready  to  destroy  all 
causes  of  division  between  the  two  churches, 
but  we  cannot  censure  the  custom  by  which 
we  have  ourselves  been  declared  patriarch, 
and  which  would  be  a  grievous  injury  to  the 
fathers  who  have  chosen  us. 

"Would  to  God  that  the  church  of  Con- 
stantinople had  for  ever  preserved  the  usages 
of  the   Latin  church!     I  should  then  have 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


237 


avoided  the  grief  by  which  I  have  been  over- 
whelmed, in  seeing  myself  surrounded  by  im- 
pious men,  who  ofread  Christ  in  his  images, 
or  who  deny  his  two  natures,  and  blaspheme 
the  fourth  council. 

"  We  have  excommunicated  those  guilty 
priests  in  the  synod  at  which  you  assisted  by 
your  legates,  and  we  would  have  followed  all 
the  instructions  which  you  gave  us,  if  the  em- 
peror had  not  opposed  our  will.  It  is  there- 
fore by  his  orders  that  we  have  refused  to  re- 
establish your  jurisdiction  over  the  churches 
of  lUyria  and  Syracuse.  He  is  governed  in 
this  grave  question  by  territorial  limits,  which 
concern  the  af^iirs  of  temporal  government, 
and.  notwithstanding  all  my  desire  to  be  agree- 
able to  you,  I  could  not  obtain  any  concession 
from  the  prince. 

"For  myself,  I  would  yield  to  St.  Peter  all 
that  belongs  to  him,  and  even  still  yield  to  him 
a  part  of  the  ancient  dependencies  of  the  See 
which  I  govern ;  for  I  would  be  under  an  in- 
finite obligation  to  liim  who  would  lighten  my 
burthen.  I  am  far  from  denying  the  rights 
which  belong  to  any  other  bishop,  and  e.spe- 
cially  to  a  father  such  as  you,  who  reclaim 
them  by  the  voice  of  holy  legates,  whose  pru- 
dence, mildness,  and  ability,  are  like  to  those 
of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  We  hope  that  your  beatitude  will  be  en- 
tirely informed  by  them  of  the  truth  of  the 
events  which  occurred  at  our  election ;  we 
received  them  with  the  honours  which  embas- 
sadors sent  by  you  merited,  and  to  whom  we 
wished  to  prove  all  the  attachment  we  have 
for  your  holiness;  we  beseech  you  to  act  so 
towards  us,  and  to  listen  favourably  to  our 
delegates. 

'•'  We  are  delighted  that  the  faithful  hasten 
to  come  to  kiss  your  feet ;  but  we  observe  to 
you  that  this  zeal  encourages  adulteries,  the 
incestuous  ravishers,  homicides,  and  whatso- 
ever crimes  are  most  frequent,  since  the 
guilty  can  free  themselves  from  punishment 
by  a  pilgrimage  to  the  holy  city." 

The  letters  of  the  emperor  and  of  Pho- 
tius,  as  well  as  the  proceednigs  of  the  council 
of  Constantinople,  confirmed  to  the  pontiff  the 
treason  of  his  legates.  Deeply  irritated  by 
their  unfaithfulness,  he  assembled  the  bishops 
of  the  Roman  church,  and  in  the  presence  of 
Leo,  the  emba,gsador  of  Michael  the  Third,  he 
declared  that  the  envoys  of  the  Holy  See  had 
received  no  instructions  to  approve  of  the  de- 
jwsition  of  Ignatius,  or  the  election  of  Pho- 
tius,  and  that  by  virtue  of  the  authority  he 
had  received  from  St.  Peter,  he  disapproved 
of  all  that  had  been  done  in  his  name  in  that 
assembly,  and  that  he  would  not  consent  to 
ratify  the  engagements  of  his  legates.  Leo 
immediately  (juitted  the  holy  city,  and  bore 
this  reply  to  the  court  of  the  emperor.  The 
Greek  church  then  resolved  to  separate  itself 
for  ever  from  the  Latin. 

Some  months  after  this  rupture,  Rome  was 
scandalized  by  a  new  accusation  of  incest, 
brought  against  the  deacon  Hubert,  who  hacl 
been  surprised  in  the  night,  in  the  bedchamber 
of  Queen  Thietberge,  his  sister,  the  wife  of 


King  Lothaire.  Hubert  had  already  incurred 
ecclesiastical  censures  during  the  pontificate 
of  Benedict  the  Third ;  but  the  sudden  death 
of  the  pontiff"  had  prevented  the  confirmation 
of  the  judgment.  In  this  last  case,  the  queen 
herself  having  admitted  her  crime,  had  been 
confined  in  a  convent  to  await  the  decision 
which  the  bishops  of  the  kingdom  should  pro- 
nounce against  her.  Fearing,  however,  the 
vengeance  of  Lothaire,  she  escaped  from  this 
retreat,  and  took  refuge  with  her  brother  Hu- 
bert, in  the  dominions  of  Charles  the  Bald, 
whose  mistress  she  became.  This  shameless 
woman  then  had  the  impudence  to  send  en- 
voys to  the  pope,  to  complain  of  the  judgment 
which  the  French  bishops  had  pronounced 
against  her. 

Lothaire,  on  his  side,  fearful  lest  the  queen 
should  excite  against  him  the  wrath  of  the 
holy  father,  hastened  to  send  to  Rome  Teut- 
gard,  the  metropolitan  of  Treves  and  Halton, 
the  chief  of  the  clergy  of  Verdun,  with  letters 
of  credence  from  all  the  bishops  of  his  king- 
dom, affirming  that  they  had  not  yet  pro- 
nounced any  sentence  against  Thietberge, 
but  only  had  imposed  on  her  a  penance,  after 
the  public  confession  which  she  had  made  of 
her  crime.  They  at  the  same  time  besought 
the  holy  father  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  de- 
ceived by  the  tricks  of  this  incestuous  queen 
and  her  abominable  brother,  but  to  read  at- 
tentively the  two  letters  which  the  princes 
Lothaire,  and  Louis,  his  uncle,  addressed  to 
him  through  their  envoys. 

The  two  kings  also  complained  of  Charles 
the  Bald,  and  besought  the  holy  father  to  go 
into  Gaul,  as  his  predecessors  had  done,  to 
maintain  the  faith  of  treaties  by  threatening 
the  prevaricator  of  the  censures  of  the 
church.  Nicholas  was  already  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Thietberge,  whose  beauty  or  whose 
presents  had  seduced  all  the  prelates  of  the 
court  of  Rome  ;  a  synod  was  indeed  assembled, 
but  the  queen  was  declared  innocent,  and  the 
king  of  Lorraine  was  condemned  to  take  back 
his  wife  under  penalty  of  excommunication  ! 

During  the  same  year  a  new  council  was 
convoked  by  the  popes  to  try  an  accusation  of 
adultery,  brought  against  the  beautiful  Ingel- 
trude,  the  daughter  of  Count  Matfrid,  and  the 
wife  of  Count  Boson  of  Lombardy,  whose 
treasures  she  had  stolen  before  flying  with  her 
lover.  The  unfortunate  husband  had  par- 
doned his  guilty  spouse,  and  had  employed 
all  the  means  of  mildness  to  bring  her  back  to 
him ;  but  all  his  advances  having  been  re- 
jected, he  addressed  himself  to  the  holy 
father,  and  besought  him  to  use  all  his  influ- 
ence to  constrain  this  criminal  woman  to  re- 
turn to  a  sense  of  her  duty. 

Nicholas,  yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  Bo- 
son, assembled  at  Milan  a  council,  before 
which  Ingeltrude  was  cited  to  appear,  failing 
to  do  which,  the  assembly,  after  a  fixed  time, 
was  to  declare  her  excommunicated.  The 
countess  having  refused  to  appear  before  the 
synod,  was  condemned  by  the  pope  as  an 
adullress,  and  driven  from  the  communion  of 
the  faithful. 


238 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


But  the  anathema  produced  no  better  effect 
than  the  exhortations.  When  the  decree  of 
the  holy  father  was  presented  to  her,  she 
threw  it  into  the  fire,  and  laughing,  said  to 
the  envoys,  "  If  your  pope  Nicholas  is  about 
to  assemble  synods  to  make  women  faithful, 
and  to  prevent  adultery,  I  declare  to  you  he 
will  lose  his  time  and  his  Latin  ;  he  had  better 
reform  the  abominable  morals  of  his  clergy, 
and  extirpate  sodomy  from  his  own  house." 

The  holy  father,  rendered  furious  by  the 
sarcasm  of  Ingeltrude,  wrote  to  the  bishops  of 
Lorraine  to  reprimand  them  for  their  negli- 
gence, and  to  enjoin  on  them  to  drive  away 
this  bad  woman;  declaring  to  them,  that  if 
she  refused  to  rejoin  her  husband,  they 
should  excommunicate  her  a  second  time,  and 
drive  her  from  their  dioceses  under  penalty 
of  being  themselves  anathematized  and  de- 
posed. He  addressed  at  the  same  time  a  let- 
ter to  King  Charles  the  Bald,  beseeching  him 
to  constrain  his  nephew  Lothaire  to  send 
away  this  criminal  female  from  his  domi- 
nions, and  to  employ  even  the  force  of  arms, 
if  he  refused  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  Holy 
See.  Ecclesiastical  menaces  and  thunders 
failed  before  the  obstinacy  of  Ingeltrude ;  the 
beautiful  adultress  retired  near  to  the  bishop 
of  Cologne,  with  whom  she  publicly  entered 
into  a  guilty  connection. 

A  more  important  affair  for  the  interests  of 
the  court  of  Rome  than  that  of  Ingeltrude,  then 
occupied  all  the  attention  of  the  holy  father. 
John,  the  metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  a  prelate 
of  remarkable  firmness,  undertook  to  re-esta- 
blish the  independence  of  his  See,  and  re- 
placed all  the  priests,  whom  he  supposed  to 
be  creatures  of  the  pope,  by  young  ecclesias- 
tics devoted  to  his  own  person. 

Anastasius  affirms,  that  the  archbishop 
seized  upon  the  property  of  the  church, 
usurped  the  patrimonies  of  St.  Peter,  distri- 
buted his  revenues,  deposed,  without  a  ca- 
nonical judgment,  the  priests  and  deacons  of 
his  clergy,  whom  he  cast  into  prison,  to  con- 
strain them  to  deny  the  obedience  which  they 
owed  to  the  holy  father. 

Nicholas  cited  him  three  times  before  a 
council  convened  to  judge  him;  but  the 
archbishop  having  refused  to  appear  before 
this  assembly,  or  even  to  be  represented,  the 
holy  father  declared  the  metropolitan  de- 
posed from  his  See  and  excommunicated. 
John  addressed  reclamations  to  the  emperor, 
and  obtained  from  him,  that  French  embassa- 
dors should  accompany  him  to  Rome  to  justify 
his  conduct.  The  protection  of  the  weak  mo- 
narch was  useless.  The  pope  corrupted,  by 
rich  presents,  the  envoys  of  Louis  the  Second, 
and  the  unfortunate  prelate,  finding  himself 
at  the  mercy  of  his  enemies,  consented  to  re- 
new the  act  of  submission  of  his  diocese.  He 
took  the  oath  of  fidelity  and  obedience  upon 
the  cross  and  the  gospels,  and  the  next  day  he 
went  to  the  church  of  the  Lateran,  where  he 
justified  himself,  by  oath,  from  the  crimes  of 
which  he  had  been  accused. 

The  holy  father  then  received  him  to  his 
communion,  permitted  him  to  celebrate  mass, 


I  and  on  the  following  day  he  was  seated  at  the 
council,  where  Nicholas  made  a  decree  in 
I  these  words:  "We  command  the  archbishop 
j  John  to  come  every  year  to  Rome,  to  renew 
the  oath  of  obedience  which  he  has  taken  to 
us,  and  we  prohibit  him  from  ordaining,  with- 
out authority  from  our  See,  the  bishops  of 
Emilia,  and  the  suffragans  of  Ravenna.  We 
also  prohibit  him  from  demanding  from  his 
priests  any  thing  contrary  to  the  canons  or  the 
privileges  of  our  See,  and  not  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  goods  of  clergy  or  laity,  at  least 
until  they  shall  have  been  juridically  ad- 
judged to  him  by  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
church."  John  then  obtained  permission  to 
return  to  Ravenna. 

But  the  pontiff,  desirous  of  avenging  him- 
self on  the  emperor,  who  had  protected  the 
metropolitan,  feigned  to  have  received  from 
God,  in  a  revelation,  an  order  to  call  Charles 
the  Bald  to  the  empire,  in  the  place  of  Louis 
the  Second ;  and  he  induced  the  king  of 
France  to  seize  upon  the  sceptre  of  his  bro- 
ther, promising  to  sanctify  the  usurpation. 
This  affair  was  of  no  consequence  at  the  mo- 
ment, still,  in  the  proceedings  at  the  corona- 
tions of  the  French  monarchs,  published  by 
Pithon,  it  is  said,  that  Pope  John  the  Eighth, 
a  successor  of  Nicholas,  had  fortified  his  de- 
cree by  the  fact  that  God  himself  had  desig- 
nated Charles  the  Bald  as  emperor,  in  a 
vision  in  which  he  had  appeared  to  Pope  Ni- 
cholas. 

The  separation  of  Thietberge  and  Lothaire 
was  not  yet  terminated,  and  excited  a  great 
scandal  in  state  and  church.  To  put  an  end 
to  it  the  prince  sent  to  Rome  two  lords  of  his 
court,  instructed  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the 
pope  the  proceedings  of  a  council  of  the  bi- 
shops of  Lorraine,  in  which  they  had  autho- 
rized the  monarch  to  repudiate  his  criminal 
wife,  and  to  contract  a  new  union  with  Wal- 
drade.  The  stupidity  of  princes  %vas  then  so 
great  that  they  dare  not  undertake  any  thing 
without  the  authority  of  the  court  of  Rome  ! 
In  consequence  the  monarch  besought  the 
pontiff  to  name  legates,  who  should  decide 
upon  this  grave  question  with  the  bishops  of 
his  kingdom. 

Nicholas  replied  that  he  would  send  dele- 
gates to  order  the  convocation  of  a  synod,  but 
that  in  the  meantime  he  prohibited  clergy  and 
laity,  no  matter  what  their  rank,  from  making, 
up  to  that  time,  any  decision  in  favour  of  Wal- 
drade  against  the  queen.  Some  months  after, 
he  deputed  to  the  court  of  Lorraine,  Rodoalde, 
bishop  of  Porto,  the  same  ecclesiastic  who 
had  been  his  legate  to  Constantinople,  and 
John,  bishop  of  Cervia,  in  the  Romagna.  He 
also  wrote  to  the  emperor  Louis,  the  German, 
and  to  the  two  kings,  uncle  and  nephew  of 
Lothaire.  to  send  each  two  bishops  of  their 
kingdoms,  to  represent  them  in  the  council 
which  was  about  to  examine  into  the  case  of 
Thietberge. 

Nicholas  ordered  the  emperor,  Louis  the 
Second,  to  take  measures,  that  his  legates 
should  be  in  safety  in  the  states  of  Lothaire, 
his  brother ;  and  m  his  letters  to  the  bishops 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES, 


239 


of  Gaul  and  Germany,  he  besought  them  to 
£jo  to  Metz,  the  place  fixed  on  for  the  council, 
and  incited  them  against  the  king,  inducing 
them  to  punish  this  monarch  severely  for  his 
want  of  respect  towards  the  Holy  See. 

We  remark  a  most  surprising  contradiction 
in  the  policy  of  the  holy  father,  who  declared 
himself  the  protector  of  an  incestuous  queen 
at  the  very  time  in  which  he  was  excommu- 
nicating the  adulterous  wife  of  Boson.  But 
the  court  of  Rome  had,  throughout  all  Chris- 
tendom, such  a  reputation  for  simony,  that  it 
was  publicly  said,  that  with  money  one  was 
always  sure  of  obtaining  the  protection  of  the 
popes.  The  following  adventure  gives  new 
force  to  this  reputation  for  avarice,  so  justly 
acquired  by  the  Holy  See. 

A  count  of  Flanders,  named  Baldwin,  smit- 
ten by  the  charms  of  Judith,  the  daughter  of 
Charles  the  Bald,  had  the  boldness  to  carry 
off  this  princess  from  Senlis,  and  took  refuge 
with  her  in  his  estates.  Troops  were  imme- 
diately sent  after  the  fugitive,  but  the  count 
having  routed  them,  was  enabled  to  brave 
with  impunity  the  French  monarch.  Charles, 
doubly  irritated  by  his  defeat  and  the  ravish- 
ment of  his  daughter,  had  then  recourse  to 
the  pope,  who  anathematized  Baldwin.  The 
terror  which  the  thunders  of  the  church  in- 
spired, obliged  the  ravisher,  who  had  not 
feared  the  army  of  a  powerful  monarch,  to 
submit  immediately  to  tlie  orders  of  Nicholas. 
He  went  to  Rome  with  his  young  wife  to  im- 
plore the  protection  of  St.  Peter,  and  having 
taken  care  to  carry  with  him  laige  sums  and 
magnificent  presents  in  gold  and  silver,  which 
he  offered  to  the  pope ;  then,  having  been  ad- 
mitted to  his  presence,  he  cast  himself  at  his 
feet,  antl  swore  to  him  entire  submission  and 
fidelity  under  every  trial.  Nicholas,  melted 
by  the  richness  of  the  presents,  immediately 
took  back  the  anathemas  which  he  had  lanched 
against  Baldwin,  declared  him  a  son  of  the 
church,  and  even  wrote  to  Charles  the  Bald 
to  engage  him  to  pardon  him. 

The  holy  father,  in  pleading  the  cause  of 
the  young  couple,  employed  by  turns  flatte- 
ries and  menaces;  he  said  to  the  emperor 
that  Juiiith  had  given  all  her  tenderness  to 
her  ravisher,  and  that  a  separation  would  ren- 
der the  princess  the  most  wretched  of  women. 
He  brought  forward  the  disorders  which  an 
inflexible  rigour  might  produce,  if  he  drove 
to  despair  a  powerful  lord,  who  might  join  his 
armies  to  those  of  the  Normans  and  invade  the 
kingdom  of  France.  He  also  addressed  a 
touching  letter  to  Ermentrude,  the  mother  of 
Judith;  and  finally,  by  his  exhortations,  he 
was  enabled  to  reconcile  the  two  families. 

The  council  convened  at  Metz,  to  judge  of 
the  matter  of  King  Lothaire,  did  not  assemble 
at  the  period  which  had  been  designated  for 
its  session  ;  the  prince  fearing  a  condemna- 
tion, wished  to  gain  time  to  bring  over  to  his 
cause  the  envoys  of  the  Holy  See;  in  foct, 
rich  presents  and  large  sums  of  money  en- 
tirely changed  the  views  of  the  legate  Rodo- 
alde,  who  behaved  in  France  as  he  had  done 
in  Constantinople.     The  friends  of  the  queen 


hastened  to  inform  Nicholas  of  this  treason, 
and  the  pontiff,  wounded  in  his  pride  by  the 
culpable  condescendence  of  his  delegate,  im- 
mediately convened  the  bishops  of  the  neigh- 
bouring provinces  to  judge  the  traitor  Rodo- 
alde,  and  to  nominate  another  embassador. 

This  year  was  remarkable  for  the  extreme 
severity  of  the  cohl ;  the  Adriatic  sea  was 
entirely  frozen  over,  and  the  merchants  on 
both  sides  of  it,  transported  their  merchan- 
dize across  it  in  wagons  instead  of  using 
vessels. 

The  council  which  was  convened  by,  the 
holy  father,  assembled  in  the  oratory  of  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran;  they  read  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  synod  of  Constantinople,  and 
the  letters  of  the  emperor  Michael ;  they  then 
brought  into  the  presence  of  the  Italian  pre- 
lates, the  bishop  Zachary,  the  legate  who  had 
formerly  been  sent  to  Constantinople.  He  was 
convicted  of  simony  and  prevarication  on  his 
own  avowal,  and  confessed  that  he  had  con- 
sented to  the  deposition  of  Ignatius,  and  com- 
muned with  Photius,  notwithstanding  the 
orders  of  the  pontiff.  The  council  pronounced 
a  sentence  of  deposition  and  excommunication 
against  him. 

After  this,  the  holy  father  thus  spoke  :  ••  In 
the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  by  the  autho- 
rity transmitted  to  us  from  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  havhig  taken  cognizance  of  all  the 
complaints  brought  against  the  patriarch  Pho- 
tius, we  declare  him  deposed  of  his  sacerdotal 
functions,  for  having  sustained  the  schisma- 
tics of  Byzantium  ;  for  having  been  ordained 
bishop  by  Gregory,  bishop  of  Syracuse,  during 
the  life  of  Ignatius,  the  legitimate  bishop  of 
Constantinople;  for  having  corrupted  our  en- 
voys, and  finally,  for  having  persecuted  the 
orthodox  priests  who  remained  attached  to 
our  brother  Ignatius. 

"We  have  discovered  Photius  to  be  gniUy 
of  crimes  so  enormous,  that  we  declare  him 
to  be  for  ever  deprived  of  all  the  honours  of 
the  priesthood,  and  divested  of  all  clerical 
functions,  by  the  authority  which  we  hold 
from  Jesus  Christ,  the  apostles  St.  Peter  and 
Paul,  from  all  the  saints,  and  the  six  general 
councils. 

"  The  Holy  Spirit  pronounces  by  our  mouth 
a  terrible  judgment  against  Photius,  and  con- 
demns him  for  ever,  no  matter  what  may 
happen,  even  at  the  moment  of  death,  from 
receiving  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Saviour. 

"We  aflirm  our  brother  Ignatius,  who  has 
been  driven  from  his  See  by  the  violence  of 
the  emperor,  and  despoiled  of  the  episcopal 
ornaments  by  the  prevarication  of  our  legates, 
to  be  the  vicar  of  Christ ;  that  he  has  never 
been  deposed  nor  anathematized,  and  we 
maintain  him  in  his  sacerdotal  dignity ;  we 
ordain  that  in  future  all  clergy  or  laymen  who 
shall  dare  to  oppose  him  shall  be  excommu- 
nicaleil,  no  matter  what  their  rank  in  church 
or  state.  We  also  command,  that  the  pre- 
lates exiled  since  the  unjust  expulsion  of  Ig- 
natiu.^,  be  re-installed  in  their  Sees."  Thus 
(he  council  of  Rome,  which  had  assembled  to 
judge  Rodoalde,  changed  the  object  of  its  de- 


240 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


liberations,  and  condemned  the  patriarch  of 
Constantinople  and  the  legate  Zachary. 

Rodoalde  quietly  opened  the  synod  of 
Metz  in  the  name  of  the  pope :  none  of  the 
prelates  of  Germany  nor  Neustria  were  con- 
vened, and  all  who  were  there,  were  from  the 
kingdom  of  Lothaire.  The  fathers  made  a 
decision  favourable  to  the  king ;  the  envoys 
of  the  Holy  See,  gained  by  the  liberality  of 
the  prince,  despised  the  instructions  they  had 
received  from  Nicholas,  and  declared  that 
Lothaire,  having  repudiated  Thietberge,  in 
consequence  of  the  decree  of  the  bishops 
of  his  kingdom,  was  fully  justified  in  his  con- 
duct. 

The  proceedings  of  the  synod  were  borne 
to  the  holy  father  by  Gonthier,  metropolitan  of 
Cologne,  and  Teutgard,  archbishop  of  Treves. 
These  prelates  were  instructed  to  have  them 
approved  by  the  clergy  of  Rome,  by  availing 
themselves  of  the  credit  of  the  legates  John 
and  Rodoalde.  But  the  pontiff,  already  ad- 
vised of  the  prevarication  of  his  embassadors, 
convened  a  new  assembly  of  bishops  to  judge 
Rodoalde.  The  latter,  troubled  by  the  re- 
proaches of  his  conscience,  ai\d  fearing  a  chas- 
tisement as  terrible  as  that  which  had  been 
inflicted  on  Zachary,  his  former  colleague,  fled 
from  the  city,  during  the  night,  and  abandoned 
even  the  treasures  which  he  had  brought  from 
France.  Through  the  remains  of  shame,  the 
pope  deferred  his  judgment,  not  being  willing 
to  pronounce  a  condemnation  without  hearing 
the  defence  of  his  old  favourite. 

Teutgard  and  Gonthier,  having  presented  to 
Nicholas  the  proceedings  of  the  synods  of 
Metz  and  Aix-la-Chapelle,  he  caused  them  to 
be  read  in  public,  and  demanded  from  the 
French  metropolitans,  if  they  were  willing  to 
maintain  them  before  the  bishops  of  Italy. 
They  replied,  that  having  subscribed  to  those 
decisions,  they  would  never  deny  them.  The 
pontiff  kept  silence,  but  a  few  days  after  he 
caused  the  envoys  of  Lothaire  to  be  conducted 
before  the  council,  which  was  already  assem- 
bled in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  in  their 
presence,  he  erased  the  decrees  of  the  synod 
of  Metz,  which  he  called  an  assembly  of 
brigands  and  robbers.  He  declared  the  French 
prelates  to  be  deprived  of  episcopal  power, 
for  having  illy  judged  the  cause  of  Lothaire 
and  his  two  wives  Thietberge  and  Waldrade, 
and  for  having  treated  with  contempt  the 
orders  of  the  Holy  See  in  regard  to  the  sen- 
tence pronounced  against  Ingeltrude,  the  wife 
of  Count  Boson.  For  the  third  time  Ingel- 
trude was  pronounced  infamous  and  an  adul- 
teress, and  the  holy  father  lanched  against  her 
a  terrible  anathema.  He  always,  however, 
promised  her  pardon  for  her  crimes,  if  she 
Avould  consent  to  come  to  Rome  to  demand 
absolution  for  them. 

At  length  Nicholas  e.vcommunicated  all 
those  who  did  not  obey  his  decrees;  he  de- 
posed from  the  episcopate,  Haganon,  bishop 
of  Bergamus,  who  hatl  drawn  up  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  synod  of  Metz,  as  also  John, 
metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  ^^'ho  notwithstanding 
his  oath,  still  endeavoured  to  render  himself 


independent,   and   openly  conspired    against, 
the  authority  of  the  Holy  See. 

Teutgard  and  Gonthier,  did  not  permit 
themselves  to  be  intimidated  by  the  pontiff; 
they  hurled  back  on  Nicholas,  in  full  council, 
his  anathemas  and  his  abuse,  and  to  repress 
his  audacious  pride,  they  announced,  that 
they  would  go  at  once  to  the  emperor  Louis 
to  induce  him  to  chastise  the  pope,  who  had 
dared  to  insult  the  embassadors  of  King  Lo- 
thaire. 

Louis  was  so  indignant  at  the  arrogance  of 
the  holy  father,  that  he  resolved  to  inflict  on 
him  marked  vengeance ;  he  assembled  his 
troops  and  marched  towards  Rome,  accom- 
panied by  two  metropolitans  whom  he  wished 
to  re-instal  upon  their  Sees. 

The  metropolitan  of  Cologiie.  the  firmest 
defender  of  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican 
church,  then  sent  to  the  bishops  of  the  king- 
dom of  Lothaire,  a  letter  written  in  his  own 
name,  and  in  that  of  the  primate  of  Belgium. 
He  thus  expresses  himself: — "We  beseech 
you  my  brethren,  to  supplicate  Heaven  for 
us,  without  troubling  yourselves  with  the 
harsh  tales  which  the  Roman  priests  will 
spread  against  us.  For  the  lord  Nicholas, 
whom  they  call  pope,  and  who  calls  himself 
the  apostle  of  the  apostle-s,  and  the  emperor 
of  all  nations,  has  wished  to  condemn  us  ;  but 
thanks  be  to  God  we  have  resisted  his  bold- 
ness. 

"Visit  frequently  our  king,  and  say  to  him, 
that  we  will  faithfully  accomplish  the  em- 
bassy which  has  been  confided  to  us ;  en- 
courage him  by  your  conversation  and  your 
letters,  conciliate  all  the  friends  you  can,  and 
faithfully  preserve  the  fidelity  due  to  our 
sovereign,  without  allowing  yourselves  to  be 
influenced  by  a  sacrilegious  pope." 

Gonthier  addressed  this  other  letter  to  the 
pontiff,  "Listen,  lord  pope;  we  have  been 
sent  by  our  brethren  to  you  to  ask  your  ap- 
proval of  the  judgment  we  have  given,  by- 
explaining  to  you  the  authorities  and  the  mo- 
tives which  induced  our  action.  After  having 
waited  for  three  weeks  for  your  reply,  you 
have  caused  us  to  be  conducted  into  your 
presence;  and  when  we  advanced  without 
fear,  the  doors  of  the  saloon  by  which  we  en- 
tered were  closed  upon  us. 

'•'We  then  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of 
a  troop  of  clergy  and  laity,  and  there,  without 
judges,  accusers,  witnesses,  or  even  an  in- 
terrogation, you  have  declared  us  driven  from 
the  church,  deposed  from  our  Sees  and  anathe- 
matized, if  we  should  refuse  to  submit  to 
your  tyranny. 

"  We  reject  your  sentence  and  treat  with 
contempt  your  insulting  discourse  ;  for  we  are 
content  with  the  communion  of  the  whole 
church,  and  with  the  society  of  our  brethren, 
of  which  you  have  shown  yourself  unworthy 
through  your  pride  and  arrogance. 

"You  condemn  yourself  in  anathematizing 
him  who  shall  not  observe  the  apostolic  pre- 
cepts, for  you  are  the  first  to  violate  them — 
you  who  trample  upon  sacred  canons  and  the 
divine  laws.  .  .  ." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


241 


Such  is  the  language  which  the  cardinal 
Baronius,  the  most  zealous  defender  of  the 
Holy  See,  attributes  to  Gonthier;  but  the  let- 
ter of  the  archbishop  had  a  still  more  ener- 
getic character.  The  historian  Lesuour,  gives 
it  as  follows :  "Pontiff,  you  have  treated  us, 
and  our  brethren,  contrary  to  the  rights  of 
nations,  and  the  decrees  of  the  church,  and 
thou  hast  surpassed  in  thy  conduct  thy  proud- 
est predecessors.  Thy  council  was  composed 
of  some  inimical  monks  and  priests  as  de- 
bauched and  infamous  as  thyself,  and  in  their 
presence  thou  hast  dared  to  pronounce  against 
us  a  sentence,  unjust,  rash  and  opposed  to 
religion,  of  which  thou  pretendest  to  be  the 
chief,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  world. 

"Jesus  Christ  has  enriched  the  church  his 
spouse;  he  has  given  to  it  an  imperishable 
diadem  and  an  eternal  sceptre ;  he  has  granted 
to  it  the  power  of  consecrating  saints,  of 
placing  them  in  heaven,  and  of  rendering 
them  immortal.  But  thou,  like  a  greedy  rob- 
ber, thou  hast  seized  upon  all  the  treasures 
of  the  church,  thou  hast  even  ravished  them 
from  the  altar  of  Jesus  Christ ;  thou  murdercst 
Christians;  thou  snatchest  from  heaven  the 
valiant  and  the  good,  to  hurl  them  into  the 
abyss  of  hell;  thou  coverest  with  honey,  the 
blade  of  thy  sword,  and  dost  not  permit  the 
dead  to  return  to  life. 

"  Iniquitous  and  cruel  priest,  thou  hast  not 
but  the  vestments  of  a  pontiff  and  the  name 
of  a  pastor;  for  under  thy  sacred  ornaments 
we  perceive  the  sanguinary  wolf  which  rends 
the  flock. 

'•Cowardly  tyrant,  thou  bearest  the  name 
of  the  servant  of  servants,  and  thou  employest 
treason,  gold,  and  iron,  to  be  the  Lord  of  lords; 
but  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles, 
thou  art  the  most  infamous  of  the  ministers 
of  the  temple  of  God  ;  thus,  thy  unbridled  love 
of  rule  will  cast  thee  into  the  abyss  into  which 
thou  wonldst  precipitate  thy  brethren.  Dost 
thou  think,  thou  who  born  of  man,  that  thou 
art  above  a  man  and  that  crime  is  sanctified, 
because  thy  hand  shall  have  committed  it? 
No,  shameless  cockatrice,  thou  hast  become 
to  Christians  the  venomous  serpent  which  the 
Jews  adored;  thou  art  the  dog  whom  rage 
pushes  on  to  devour  his  kind. 

"We  doubt  neither  thy  venom  nor  thy  bite; 
we  have  resolved  with  our  brethren  to  tear 
thy  sacrilegious  decretals,  thy  impious  bulls, 
and  will  leave  thee  to  growl  forth  thy  power- 
less thunders.  Thou  darest  to  accuse  of  im- 
piety those  who  refuse  from  love  to  the  faith 
to  submit  to  thy  sacrilegious  laws !  Thou 
who  castest  discord  among  Christians;  thou 
who  violates!  evangelical  peace,  that  immor- 
tal mark  which  Christ  has  placed  upon  the 
forehead  of  his  church;  thou,  execrable  pon- 
tiff, who  spits  upon  the  book  of  thy  God. 
thou  darest  to  call  us  impious!  How  then 
wilt  thou  call  the  clergy  which  bends  before 
thy  power,  those  unworthy  priests  vomited 
forth  from  hell,  and  whose  forehead  is  of 
wax,  their  heart  of  steel,  and  their  sides 
are  formed  of  the  wine  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah!   Go  to,  these  ministers  are  well  made  to 

Vol.  I.  2  F 


'  crawl  under  thy  abominable  pride,  in  thy 
Rome,  frightful  Babylon,  which  thou  callest 
the  holy  city,  eternal  and  infallible!  Go  to, 
thy  cohort  of  priests  soiled  with  adulteries, 
incests,  rapes  and  assassinations,  is  well  wor- 
thy to  form  thy  infamous  court ;  for  Rome  is 
the  residence  of  demons,  and  thou,  pope,  thou 
art  its  Satan!  !" 

Gonthier,  Teutgard.  John  of  Ravenna,  and 
a  great  number  of  bishops,  in  whose  name 
this  letter  was  written,  circulated  copies  of  it 
in  all  the  cities  of  Ital}-.  France,  England,  and 
Spain;  it  even  went  to  Constantinople,  where 
Nicholas  was  held  in  execration  by  the  people, 
the  grandees  of  the  clergy;  this  circumstance 
still  strengthened  the  Greeks  in  their  desire 
to  remain  separate  from  the  Latin  church. 

Nicholas  having  learned  that  Louis  the 
Second  was  coming  to  Rome  at  the  head  of 
his  army,  to  render  justice  to  the  deposed 
bishops,  commanded  a  general  fast  and  pro- 
cession through  all  the  streets,  in  order  to  ex- 
cite the  fanaticism  of  the  Romans,  and  to 
push  them  on  to  revolt;  but  the  citizens,  re- 
strained by  fear,  dared  not  rise  against  their 
sovereign.  Then  the  pope,  yielding  to  neces- 
sity, ordered  public  prayers  that  God  might 
confound  his  arch-enemies,  and  inspire  the 
prince  with  sentiments  favourable  to  the 
court  of  Rome. 

On  his  arrival  in  the  city,  Louis  established 
himself  with  his  suite  near  to  the  church  of 
St.  Peter,  and  at  the  moment  when  the  clergy 
and  the  people  were  going  to  the  temple  in 
procession,  the  soldiers  fell  upon  the  fanatical 
multitude,  which  immediately  took  to  flight. 
The  crosses  were  broken  and  the  banners 
torn;  in  the  midst  of  the  tumult  an  admirable 
cross,  which  had  been  offered  by  St.  Helena 
to  St.  Peter,  and  which  was  said  to  enclose 
some  wood  of  the  true  cross,  was  thrown 
down  into  the  dirt  and  trampled  upon  by  an 
officer. 

Nicholas,  during  this  collision,  remained 
concealed  in  the  cellars  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran.  but  as  he  feared  discovery,  he  was 
conducted  during  the  following  night,  by  the 
Tiber,  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  re- 
mained concealed  for  two  entire  days  in  the 
tomb  of  the  apostles.  His  trusty  friends,  how- 
ever, were  at  work  in  the  dark,  and  poison 
was  soon  to  avenge  the  pontiff;  on  the  third 
day  the  officer  who  had  broken  the  cross  of 
St.  Helena,  was  suddenly  attacked  by  an  un- 
known illness,  his  body  being  covered  with 
black  spots.  The  emperor  himself  was  at- 
tacked by  a  violent  fever,  which  plunged  into 
consternation  all  those  who  surrounded  him, 
and  particularly  the  empress. 

The  Roman  clcrcy  proclaimed  that  these 
misfortunes  were  sent  by  God  to  punish  the 
guiltv  who  outraged  his  church:  the  ignorant 
and  superstitious  people  exclaimed  a  miracle, 
and  tiie  empress  herself  in  alarm,  secretly 
sought  the  pope  to  beseech  him  to  come  to 
Louis,  that  (iod  might  restore  to  him  health. 

After  having  all  the  necessary  precautions 
for  his  safety,  Nicholas  came  before  the  em- 
peror and  had  a  long  conference  with  him. 


242 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


This  prince,  weakened  by  the  suiferings  of 
his  sickness,  alaraied  by  the  menaces  of  the 
holy  father,  yielded  to  the  sohcitations  of  his 
wife,  and  granted  all  the  demands  of  the 
pope.  Nicholas  returned  in  triumph  to  the 
patriarchal  palace,  and  ordered  the  archbi- 
shops of  France  to  quit  Rome  within  three 
hours,  under  penalty  of  being  treated  as 
malefactors,  and  of  having  their  eyes  torn 
out,  and  their  tongue  cut  off. 

Gonthier,  in  despair  at  the  cowardly  aban- 
ilonment  of  Louis,  sent  his  brother  Hildwyn 
to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  pope  an  energetic 
remonstrance  against  the  infamous  violence 
of  which  the  Holy  See  had  made  him  the 
victim.  Nicholas  refused  to  receive  the  young 
Hildwyn;  the  latter  then  went  armed  and 
followed  by  his  soldiers  to  the  church  of  St. 
Peter.  The  guards  who  kept  this  church 
having  endeavoured  to  prevent  his  entrance 
into  it,  he  repelled  them  with  blows  of  the 
mace,  and  several  were  beaten  to  death  on 
the  spot ;  he  then  deposited  the  protest  of 
Gonthier  upon  the  sepulchre  of  St.  Peter,  and 
sallied  from  the  church  sword  in  hand.  During 
this  scene  of  tumult  and  carnage,  the  soldiers 
of  the  emperor  forced  the  mbnasteries,  mur- 
dered the  priests,  and  violated  the  nuns  on 
the  steps  of  the  altar. 

Louis  shortly  recovered,  and  quitted  Rome 
with  the  metropolitans  who  had  accompanied 
him  into  that  city.  Gonthier  and  Teutgard 
returned  to  France. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  metropolis  of  his  See, 
the  archbishop  of  Cologne,  treating  with  con- 
tempt the  anathemas  of  the  pope,  celebrated 
divine  service,  in  the  presence  of  his  clergy 
and  the  faithful ;  he  consecrated  the  holy 
oil,  administered  confirmation,  and  ordained 
priests ;  in  fact,  he  performed  all  the  duties  of 
the  episcopate.  But  Teutgard,  yielding  to  a 
superstitious  terror,  abstained  from  exercising 
any  sacerdotal  function.  Lothaire  himself, 
soon  after,  submitted  to  the  orders  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  and  declared  against  Gonthier ;  he 
refused  to  attend  on  mass  celebrated  by  his 
metropolitan,  to  commune  with  him,  and  dis- 
possessed him  of  the  archbishopric  of  Cologne 
to  give  it  to  Hugh,  his  cousin  german.  The 
prelate  then  exclaimed  in  the  bitterness  of 
his  soul,  "foolish  is  the  man  who  counts  upon 
the  friendship  of  kings,  no  matter  how  great 
the  services  rendered  them." 

Driven  on  by  displeasure  against  the  prince, 
Gonthier  resolved  on  vengeance,  he  sent  one 
of  his  deacons  to  the  holy  city  to  treat  with 
the  pontiff",  and  to  induce  him  to  excommuni- 
cate in  turn  the  ungrateful  monarch,  who  re- 
compensed his  devotion  by  cowardly  perlidy. 
But  fearful  of  the  issue  of  this  enterprize,  he 
decided  to  plead  his  cause  in  person.  He  took 
the  money  which  remained  in  the  treasury  of 
the  church  at  Cologne,  and  went  to  Rome. 
Lothaire,  advised  of  the  departure  and  the 
plans  of  Gonthier,  immediately  despatched 
the  bishop  Batolde  into  Italy,  to  assure  the 
holy  father  that  he  would  comply  with  his 
decision,  and  even  offering  to  go  in  person  to 
justify  himself  before  the  tomb  of  the  apostle. 


To  his  letters  was  attached  an  act  of  submis- 
sion from  the  bishops  of  Lorraine. 

Nicholas  replied  to  them  in  these  terms : — 
'•'You  affirm  that  you  are  submissive  to  your 
sovereign,  in  order  to  obey  the  words  of  the 
apostle  Peter,  who  said,  'Be  subject  to  the 
prince,  because  he  is  above  all  mortals  in  this 
world.'  But  you  appear  to  forget  that  we,  as 
the  vicar  of  Christ,  have  the  right  to  judge  all 
men;  thus,  before  obeying  kings,  you  owe 
obedience  to  us ;  and  if  we  declare  a  monarch 
guilty,  you  should  reject  him  from  your  com- 
munion until  we  pardon  him. 

'•'We  alone  have  the  power  to  bind  and  to 
loose,  to  absolve  Nero,  and  to  condemn  him ; 
and  Christians  cannot,  under  penalty  of  ex- 
communication, execute  other  judgment  than 
ours,  which  alone  is  infallible.  People  are 
not  the  judges  of  their  princes ;  they  should 
obey,  without  murmuring,  the  most  iniquitous 
orders;  they  should  bow  their  foreheads  un- 
der the  chastisements  which  it  pleases  kings 
to  inflict  on  them ;  for  a  sovereign  can  violate 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  state,  and  seize 
upon  the  wealth  of  the  citizens,  by  imposts 
or  by  confiscations)  ha  can  even  dispose  of 
their  lives,  without  any  of  his  subjects  having 
the  right  to  address  to  him  simple  remon- 
strances. But  if  we  declare  a  king  heretical 
and  sacrilegious — if  we  drive  him  from  the 
church,  clergy,  and  laity,  whatever  their  rank, 
are  freed  from  their  oaths  of  fidelity,  and  may 
revolt  against  his  power.  .  .  ."  Such  was 
the  execrable  policy  taught  by  the  pontifl' 
Nicholas. 

One  of  the  ablest  commentators  of  Tacitus, 
indignant  at  the  excess  of  arrogance  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  refutes  all  the  maxims  of  the 
holy  father,  and  terminates  with  this  reason- 
ing: "When  men  have  consented  to  recog- 
nize kings  by  oaths  of  fidelity,  they  hope  to 
find  in  the  monarch  an  assured  gage  of  pro- 
tection and  prosperity.  But  wh^n  they  have 
discovered  that  sovereigns  have  failed  in  their 
mission,  have  become  perjured,  do  not  re- 
spect the  rights  of  the  nation,  they  have  then 
returned  to  the  exercise  of  their  liberty,  and 
have  punished  kings  who  were  beCome  their 
oppressors." 

Arsenes,  bishop  of  Orta,  was  deputed  to 
carry  the  letters  of  the  pope  to  Lothaire. 
The  pontiff  threatened  him,  if  he  did  not  at 
once  repudiate  the  princess  Waldrade,  to  con- 
vene a  council  to  pronounce  against  him  a 
sentence  of  excommunication.  Nicholas  at 
the  same  time  wrote  to  Charles  the  Bald,  to 
excite  him  against  the  king  of  Lorraine. — 
"  You  say,  my  lord,  that  you  have  induced 
Lothaire  to  submit  to  our  decision,  and  that 
he  has  replied  to  you  that  he  would  go  to 
Rome  to  obtain  our  judgment  upon  his  mar- 
riage. But  are  you  not  aware  that  he  has  him- 
self already  informed  us  of  this  design  by  his 
embassadors,  and  that  we  have  prohibited  him 
from  presenting  himself  before  us  in  the  state 
of  sin  in  which  he  is?  We  have  waited  long 
enough  for  his  conversion,  deferring  even  unto 
this  time  from  crushing  him  beneath  our 
anatliema,  in  order  to  avoid  war  and  eflusiou 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES 


243 


of  blood.  A  longer  patience,  however,  will 
render  us  criminal  in  the  eyes  of  Christ,  and 
we  order  you.  in  the  name  of  religion,  to  in- 
vade his  states,  burn  his  cities,  and  massacre 
his  people,  whom  we  render  responsible  for 
their  resistance  of  their  bad  prince." 

The  legate  arrived  at  Frankfort  in  the  month 
of  February,  865,  and  was  received  with  groat 
honours  by  King  Louis.  He  then  went  to  Gon- 
dreville,  near  the  residence  of  Lothaire,  and,  of 
his  own  authority,  convened  the  bishops  of 
the  kingdom.  Arsenes  declared  to  the  mon- 
arch, in  a  full  synod,  that  he  had  to  choose 
between  Queen  Thietberge  and  the  excommu- 
nication of  the  pope.  Through  weakness  and 
superstition,  the  king  of  Lorraine  promised  to 
be  reconciled  with  his  wife.  The  incestuous 
Thietberge  was  then  recalled  to  the  court, 
and  twelve  counts  swore  in  the  name  of  their 
sovereign,  that  they  regarded  her  as  their 
legitimate  queen. 

Waldrade  was  sent  out  of  the  kingdom,  and 
condemned  to  go  to  Rome  to  obtain  absolution 
for  her  faults.  Then  the  legate  published  a 
fourth  excommunication  against  the  adulter- 
ous spouse  of  Boson,  and  placed  him  in  the 
possession  of  the  territory  of  Vandoeuvre, 
which  the  emperor  Louis  the  P'asy  had 
formerly  given  to  the  Roman  church,  antl 
which  the  count  Guy  had  seized  upon  in  the 
last  war. 

Arsenes  then  departed  for  Italy,  accompa- 
nied by  Waldrade.  On  the  route  he  was 
joined  by  the  countess  Ingeltrude,  who  came 
to  cast  herself  at  his  feet,  and  demand  abso- 
lution from  him.  The  legate  could  not  resist 
the  charms  of  the  beautiful  excommunicated. 
He  consented  to  reconcile  her  to  the  church; 
and  the  deed  of  absolution  was  given  to  the 
adulterous  wife  at  a  secret  audience !  She 
even  promised  to  rejoin  him  at  Augsburg,  and 
to  accompany  him  into  Italy  ■.  but,  under  the 
pretext  of  going  to  the  house  of  one  of  her 
relatives  to  obtain  equipages  and  horses,  to 
continue  her  journey  conveniently,  she  forsook 
the  legate,  and  returned  to  France  to  rejoin 
one  of  her  lovers  at  the  court  of  Charles  the 
Bald.  Furious  at  having  been  the  dupe  of 
this  artful  woman,  the  prelate  exhaled  his 
rage  in  the  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the  pre- 
lates of  Gaul  and  Germany,  enjoining  on 
ihem,  in  the  name  of  the  pope,  not  to  receive 
this  adulteress  into  their  dioceses,  and  not  to 
regard  the  deed  of  absolution  which  she  had 
obtained  by  criminal  means. 

Waldrade  imitated  the  example  of  the 
beautiful  Ingeltrude.  She  feigned  a  violent 
passion  for  Arsenes,  obtained  from  him  a  de- 
cretal of  absolution,  and  left  him  on  the  very 
night  on  which  she  was  to  fulfil  the  promise 
she  had  made  him  as  the  price  of  his  com- 
plaisance. Such  was  the  success  of  the  em- 
bassy of  the  holy  father. 

Nicholas  then  prepared  to  send  legates  to 
the  East ;  but  at  the  very  moment  of  their  de- 
parture, jNIichael,  the  piotropalhary  of  the 
emperor,  entered  Italy,  bearing  a  letter  to  the 
pontiff  from  his  master,  in  which  that  prince 
threatened  to  chastise  the  Holy  Sec,  if  it  did 


not  immediately  revoke  the  anathema  lanched 
against  Photius. 

These  hostile  dispositions  changed  the  ideas 
of  the  holy  father.  He  then  determined  not 
to  send  a  legation  to  Constantinople,  and  only 
gave  to  the  oilicer  Michael  a  reply  conceived 
in  the  following  terms  : — '•'  Know,  prince,  that 
the  vicars  of  Christ  are  above  the  judgment 
of  mortals ;  and  that  the  most  powerful  sove- 
reigns have  no  right  to  punish  the  crimes  of 
popes,  how  enormous  soever  they  may  be. 
Your  thoughts  should  be  occupied  by  the 
efforts  which  they  accomplish  for  the  correc- 
tion of  the  church,  without  di.squieting  your- 
self about  their  actions;  for  no  matter  how 
scandalous  or  criminal  may  be  the  debauche- 
ries of  the  pontiffs,  you  should  obey  them,  for 
they  are  seated  on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 
And  did  not  Jesus  Christ  himself,  even  when 
condemning  the  excesses  of  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees,  command  obedience  to  them,  be- 
cause they  were  the  interpreters  of  the  law 
of  Moses  ■? 

"You  say  that,  since  the  sixth  council,  no 
pope  has  received  from  your  court  the  honour 
you  have  done  us  by  addressing  a  letter  to  us. 
This  reflection  is  to  the  shame  of  jour  prede- 
cessors and  the  glor)-  of  ours  ;  for,  since  that 
period  the  Greek  church  has  been  constantly 
infected  with  heresy.  The  chiefs  of  the  em- 
pire being  heretics,  we  should  reject  them 
from  our  communion  with  horror,  and  pursue 
them  with  our  anathemas  upon  earth  and  in 
heaven.  We  should,  to  restore  concord  among 
Christians,  employ  the  aid  of  the  arms  of 
strange  nations  to  overthrow  the  odious  power 
of  the  emperors  of  the  East.  This  conduct, 
which  you  call  infamous,  was  alone  worthy 
of  the  Holy  See. 

"You  treat  the  Latin  language  as  a  barba- 
rous ton2:ue,  because  you  do  not  understand  it ; 
and  yet  you  lay  claim  to  the  title  of  emperor 
of  the  Romans,  and  call  yourself  the  heir  of 
the  old  Caesars,  the  supreme  chief  of  the  state 
and  the  church. 

'•In  contempt  of  the  canons,  and  by  the 
abuse  of  an  usurped  authority,  you  convene 
an  assembly  of  laymen  to  judge  a  bishop,  and 
to  be  the  spectators  of  his  shame.  You  reverse 
all  the  rules  of  judgment ;  you  submit  a  su- 
perior to  the  judgment  of  his  inferiors ;  you 
seduce  his  judges  by  your  gold,  and  you 
choose  his  accuser  to  be  his  successor  upon 
the  episcopal  See. 

"We  have  regarded  with  pity  that  abomi- 
nable cabal  which  you  call  a  council,  anu 
which,  in  your  mad  priilo,  you  place  on  an 
equality  with  the  general  council  of  Nice. 
Wo  declare,  by  virtue  of  the  privileges  of  our 
church,  that  this  assembly  was  sacrilegious, 
impure,  and  abominable.  Cease,  then,  to  op- 
pose our  rights,  and  obey  our  orders,  or  else 
we  will,  in  our  turn,  raise  our  power  against 
yours,  and  will  say  to  the  nations — People, 
cease  to  bow  your  heads  before  your  proud 
masters.  Overthrow  these  impious  sovereigns, 
tliese  sacrilegious  kings,  who  have  arrogated  to 
themselves  the  right  of  commanding  men,  and 
of  taking  away  the  liberty  of  their  brethren. 


244 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


"Fear,  then;  our  wrath,  and  the  thunders 
of  our  vengeance;  for  Jesus  Christ  has  ap- 
pointed us  with  his  own  mouth  absolute 
judges  of  all  men ;  and  kings  themselves  are 
submitted  to  our  authority.  The  power  of 
the  church  has  been  consecrated  before  your 
reign,  and  it  will  subsist  after  it.  Do  not 
hope  to  alarm  us  by  your  threats  of  ruining 
our  cities  and  our  fields.  Your  arms  will  be 
powerless,  and  your  troops  will  fly  before  the 
forces  of  our  allies. 

''Cowardly  and  vain-glorious  emperor,  be- 
fore undertaking  the  conquest  of  Italy,  drive 
away  the  infidels  who  have  ravaged  Sicily 
and  Greece,  and  who  have  burned  the  suburbs 
of  Constantinople,  your  capital !  No  longer 
threaten  Christians,  who  call  you  an  heretic, 
unless  you  wish  to  imitate  the  Jews,  who 
delivered  Barabbas,  and  put  to  death  Jesus 
Christ." 

After  the  departure  of  the  envoy,  Michael, 
Nicholas  pronounced  a  new"  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  Waldrade,  who  had 
returned  to  the  court  of  Lothaire.  He  even 
accused  her  of  having  wished  to  poison  Queen 
Thietberge,  and  he  ordered  all  the  prelates  of 
France  and  Germany  to  publish  in  their  dio- 
ceses the  anathema  pronounced  against  her, 
and  to  drive  her  from  the  churches. 

Aventius,  bishop  of  Metz,  immediately 
wrote  to  Rome  in  justification  of  Lothaire  ;  he 
thus  terminated  his  letter  :  "Since  the  depar- 
ture of  your  legate,  the  king  has  entertained 
no  criminal  relations  with  Waldrade  ;  he  has 
himself  signified  to  her  that  she  must  obey 
your  orders,  under  penalty  of  being  confined 
in  a  monastery.  On  the  other  hand,  he  treats 
Queen  Thietberge  with  kindness  ;  she  assists 
with  him  at  divine  service ;  she  partakes  of 
his  table  and  his  bed,  and  his  condescendence 
to  the  princess  has  gone  so  far  as  to  permit 
her  brother,  the  deacon  Hubert,  to  be  recalled 
to  court.  Finally,  in  all  the  private  conversa- 
tions which  I  have  had  with  the  prince,  I 
have  discovered  nothing  but  entire  submission 
to  your  counsels  and  your  authority."  This 
letter  of  the  prelate  of  Metz  contained  no- 
thing but  falsehoods,  for  Thietberge,  steadily 
ill-treated  by  Lothaire,  was  soon  olsliged  to  go 
to  Rome,  to  ask  herself  for  the  dissolution  of 
the  marriage. 

In  the  same  year.  Bagoris,  a  Bulgarian 
prince,  and  a  new  convert  to  the  Christian 
faith,  sent  his  son  and  some  lords  into  Italy, 
to  offer  rich  presents  to  St.  Peter.  The  depu- 
ties of  the  monarch  were  at  the  same  time  to 
consult  the  pope  on  religious  questions,  and  to 
ask  from  him  bishops  and  priests.  This  em- 
bassy of  the  Bulgarians  gave  great  joy  to  the 
holy  father,  who  saw  his  authority  extending 
over  new  people. 

By  his  orders,  Paul,  bishop  of  Populania,  in 
Tuscany,  and  Formosus,  bishop  of  Porto, 
(luitted  Italy  to  go  to  Bagoris,  and  carry  to  him 
his  reply.  The  letter  of  the  pope  contained 
one  hundred  and  six  articles,  drawn  from  the 
Roman  laws  and  the  Institutes  of  Justinian. 
Nicholas  professes  in  this  recital  a  singular 
morality:  "You  advise  us,"  he  says,  to  the 


Bulgarian  king,  that  "you  have  caused  your 
subjects  to  be  baptized  without  their  consent, 
and  that  you  have  exposed  yourself  to  so  vio- 
lent a  revolt  as  to  have  incurred  the  risk  of 
your  life.  I  glorify  you  for  having  maintained 
your  authority  by  putting  to  death  those  w  an- 
dering  sheep  who  refused  to  enter  the  fold ; 
and  you  not  only  have  not  sinned,  by  showing 
a  holy  rigour,  but  I  even  congratulate  you  on 
having  opened  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  the 
people  submitted  to  your  rule.  A  king  need 
not  fear  to  command  massacres,  when  these 
will  retain  his  subjects  in  obedience,  or  cause 
them  to  submit  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  God 
will  reward  him  in  this  world,  and  in  eternal 
life,  for  these  murders." 

An  infamous  policy,  which  changes  a  su- 
blime religion  into  blind  fanaticism,  and 
which  is  sufficient  to  cause  to  be  execrated 
all  the  priests  and  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  ! 
Religion  should  be  a  bond  of  fraternal  union 
among  men,  and  not  serve  as  a  pretext  to  ty- 
rants to  legitimatize  their  cruelties  and  their 
brigandages  !  No — pontifi's  and  monarchs 
have  no  right  to  constrain  people  to  embrace 
a  belief;  and  nations  submitted  to  their  autho- 
rity cannot  be  deprived  of  the  mos-t  beautiful, 
the  most  admirable  of  human  rights,  that  of 
rendering  to  the  Deity  the  worship  which 
they  believe  to  be  the  most  agreeable  to  him. 
The  learned  Barbeyrac  thus  expresses  his 
opinion:  "A  man  can  never  give  another  an 
arbitrary  thought  over  his  thoughts  and  life, 
of  which  the  empire  appertains  to  God  alone  ; 
and  the  efforts  of  violence  only  serve  to  make 
hypocrites.  In  matters  of  religion,  as  in  those 
of  policy,  kings  have  no  right  to  constrain  their 
subjects  by  force  of  arms,  to  embrace  even  the 
purest  of  rehgions  or  the  best  of  governments." 
The  following  are  additional  charitable  in- 
structions given  by  Nicholas  to  the  king  of  the 
Bulgarians  :  "  If  you  have  not  sinned  in  mas- 
sacreing  your  people  in  the  name  of  Christ,  you 
have  committed  an  enormous  crime  in  perse- 
cuting a  Greek,  who  called  himself  a  priest, 
and  who  baptized  a  great  number  of  infidels 
in  your  kingdom.  It  is  true  that  this  man 
was  not  an  ecclesiastic,  and  that  you  have 
wished  to  punish  him  for  his  knavery,  by 
condemning  him  to  have  his  nose  and  ears  cut 
off,  and  to  be  driven  from  your  kingdom  after 
his  punishment ;  but  your  zeal  in  this  case 
was  not  enlightened,  for  this  man  did  great 
good  by  preaching  the  morality  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  by  baptizing.  I  declare,  then,  to  you, 
that  those  who  have  received  from  him  that 
sacrament,  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
are  canonically  baptized,  for  the  excellence 
of  the  sacraments  does  not  depend  upon  the 
virtue  of  the  ministers  of  religion.  You  have 
grievously  sinned  by  mutilating  this  Greek, 
and  you  will  undergo  a  severe  penance  there- 
for, unless  you  send  us  a  sum  of  money  to 
purchase  forgiveness  for  your  fault. 

"As  to  the'customsof  the  Roman  church,  of 
which  you  desire  to  be  informed,  we  observe 
the  following :  The  solemn  days  of  baptism 
are  fixed  at  the  periods  of  Easter  and  the 
Pentecost,  but  for  you,  who  have  not  yet  been 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


245 


subjected  to  the  practices  of  Christianity,  you 
should  have  no  fixed  time  lor  the  observance 
of  the  regenerative  sacrament,  and  you  should 
be  considered  as  those  who  are  in  danger  of 
death. 

"  You  say  that  the  Greeks  do  not  permit  you 
to  commune  without  having  on  girdles,  and 
that  they  regard  it  a  crime  to  pray  in  church, 
unless  the  arms  are  crossed  upon  the  breast. 
These  practices  are  indifferent  among  us  ;  we 
only  recommend  to  the  laymen  to  pray  daily 
at  certain  hours,  as  it  is  recommended  to  all 
the  faithful  to  entreat  Jesus  Christ  M-ithout 
ceasing.  You  must  feast  on  Sunday,  and  not 
on  Saturday ;  you  should  abstain  from  labour 
on  the  days  of  the  festivals  of  the  Holy  Vir- 
gin, of  the  twelve  apostles,  the  evangelists. 
Saint  John  the  Baptist,  Saint  Stephen  the 
first  martyr,  and  of  the  saints,  whose  memory 
is  held  in  veneration  in  your  country. 

'•'On  these  days,  and  during  Lent,  you 
should  not  administer  judgment,  and  you 
should  abstain  from  flesh  during  the  fast  of 
Lent^  on  Pentecost,  on  the  Assumption  of  the 
Virgm,  and  on  Christmas ;  you  must  also 
fast  on  Fridays,  and  the  eve  of  great  feasts. 
On  Wednesdays  you  may  eat  meat,  and  it  is 
not  necessary  to  deprive  yourselves  of  baths 
on  that  day  and  on  Fridays,  as  the  Greeks  re- 
commend. You  are  at  liberty  to  receive  the 
communion  daily  in  Lent,  but  you  should  not 
hunt,  nor  gamble,  nor  enter  into  light  conver- 
sation, nor  be  present  at  the  shows  of  jug- 
glers during  til's  season  of  penitence.  You 
must  not  give  feasts,  nor  assist  at  marriages, 
and  married  people  should  live  in  continence. 
We  leave  to  the  disposal  of  the  priests  the 
duty  of  imposing  a  penance  on  tho.se  who 
shall  have  yielded  to  the  desires  of  the  flesh. 

"You  may  carry  on  war  in  Lent,  but  only 
to  repel  an  enemy.  You  are  at  liberty  to  eat 
all  kinds  of  animals,  without  troubling  your- 
self about  the  distinction  of  the  old  law ;  and 
laymen,  as  well  as  clergj-,  can  bless  the  table 
before  eating,  by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
It  is  the  custom  of  the  church  not  to  eat  be- 
fore nine  o'clock  in  the  mornina",  and  a  Chris- 
tian should  not  touch  game  killed  by  a  Pagan. 

''The  Roman  custom  concerning  marriages 
ordains,  that  the  contract  and  agreements  be- 
tween the  spouses  should  take  place  after  the 
betrothal ;  they  then  make  their  offerings  to 
the  church  by  the  hands  of  the  priest,  and 
receive  the  nuptial  benediction,  and  the  veil 
for  virgins  who  are  now  married  for  the  first 
time;  they  then  place  on  their  heads  crowns  of 
flowers,  which  are  preserved  in  the  church.  All 
these  ceremonies  are  not  essential  to  the  va- 
lidity of  the  marriage,  and  the  consecration  of 
the  secular  laws  is  alone  rigorously  exacted. 

'•'Tho.se  who  have  two  wives,  snould  keep 
the  first,  and  repudiate  the  second,  and  do 
penance  for  the  past.  INIarried  people  should 
observance  continence  on  fete  days  and  Sun- 
days onlv.  When  a  mother  nourishes  her 
own  child,  she  can  enter  the  church  after  her 
confinement ;  but  she  should  be  driven  from 
it  if  she  confides  the  nourishment  of  her  child 
to  mercenary  women. 


"  Before  declaring  war  on  your  enemies, 
you  should  assist  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass, 
and  make  rich  offerings  to  the  churches;  and 
we  order  you  to  take,  as  your  military  ensign, 
instead  of  the  horse's  tail,  which  serves  you 
for  a  standard,  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  We 
also  prohibit  you  from  forming  any  alliance 
with  the  infidels;  and  when  you  conclude  a 
peace  in  future,  you  will  swear  upon  the 
evangelists,  and  not  upon  the  sword. 

"  VVe  can  decide  upon  nothing  in  relation  to 
the  nomination  of  a  patriarch  for  your  coun- 
try, until  after  the  return  of  the  legates  whom 
we  send  you.  We  will,  however,  give  you  a 
bishop,  and  afterwards  will  bestow  upon  him 
the  privileges  of  an  archbishop ;  he  will  thus 
be  enabled  to  establish  prelates  who  can  aid 
him  in  great  afl'airs,  and  after  his  death,  we 
will  designate  his  successor,  who  can  be  con- 
secrated without  being  compelled  to  come  to 
Rome." 

Nicholas,  in  fact,  sent  with  the  Bulgarian 
embassadors  three  legates,  who  were  to  go  to 
Constantinople,  Donatus  bishop  of  Ostia  ;  Leo, 
a  priest  of  the  order  of  St.  Lawrence;  and 
Marin,  a  deacon  of  the  Roman  church.  He 
sent  by  them  letters  for  Michael  the  Third, 
and  the  Greek  bishops. 

In  the  letter  addressed  to  the  emperor,  the 
pontiff  thus  expresses  himself:  '-You  declare 
that,  notwithstanding  our  anathemas,  Photius 
shall  guard  the  See  of  Constantinople  and  the 
communion  of  the  Eastern  church,  and  that 
our  violence  will  only  aggravate  the  condition 
of  Ignatius,  the  deposed  patriarch.  We  think, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  Christians  of  your 
empire  will  not  forget  the  canons  of  Nice, 
which  prohibit  communion  with  excommuni- 
cated, and  we  trust  that  a  member  separated 
from  the  body  of  the  faithful  will  not  live 
many  years.  We  have  performed  our  duty, 
and  our  proceedings  cannot  be  censured  by 
you.  The  judgment  of  it  is  from  God,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  having  spoken  by  our  month, 
those  who  have  been  condemned  will  remain 
for  ever  blasted.  Recollect  that  Simon,  the 
Magician,  was  beaten  down  by  St.  I'eter; 
Acacius,  of  Constantinople,  by  Pope  Felix, 
and  Anthimus  by  the  pontiflT  Agapet,  in  spite 
of  the  will  of  princes. 

We  have  received,  during  the  past  year,  a 
writing  filled  with  insults  and  blasphemies; 
he  who  has  composed  it  in  your  name  ap- 
pears to  have  dipped  his  pen  in  the  venom 
of  the  serpent,  to  produce  a  work  the  most 
cruel  to  our  dignity ;  we  exhort  you  to  burn 
publiciv  this  infamous  writing,  in  order  to  tree 
yourself  from  the  charge  of  having  subscribed 
it  in  vermilion  with  your  own  hand.  Other- 
wise know,  that  in  full  council,  we  will  ana- 
thematize it.  and  that  we  will  attach  it  to  a 
stake  in  the  court  yard  of  our  palace,  and  de- 
liver it  to  the  flames,  in  the  presence  of  the 
pilgrims  of  all  nations,  who  come  to  visit  the 
tomb  of  St.  Peter. 

The  legates,  after  having  finished  their  mis- 
sion in  Bulgaria,  went  towards  Constantino- 
ple; but  as  soon  as  they  had  set  foot  on  the 
Greek  territorv.  thev  were  arrested  bv  the  sol- 


246 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


diers,  and  conducted  under  the  charge  of  a 
gtrong  escort,  before  the  prince;  without  hav- 
ing been  allowed  to  communicate  with  any 
one.  Michael,  having  read  their  letters,  fell 
into  a  great  rage ;  he  ordered  one  of  his  offi- 
cers to  strike  them  in  the  face,  and  drove  them 
from  his  jDresence.  They  returned  immedi- 
ately to  Bulgaria,  where  they  were  received 
with  great  distinction.  Paul  and  Formosus 
converted  and  baptized  a  great  number  of  Bul- 
garians, and  the  king,  enchanted  with  their 
preachuig,  expelled  from  his  kingdom  the  mis- 
sionaries of  other  nations.  Bagiris  even  sent  a 
second  embassy  to  Piome,  to  ask  the  pontiff  to 
bestow  the  title  of  metropolitan  of  the  Bulga- 
garians  on  the  bishop  Formosus. 

This  success  was  a  feeble  compensation  to 
the  holy  father,  who  had  hoped  to  excite  all 
the  East  against  the  emperor  ;  forPhotius,  in- 
formed of  the  progress  of  the  Latin  clergy  in 
Bulgaria,  and  having  learned  that  the  legates 
of  the  pope  had  cast  into  the  mire  the  holy 
oil  which  had  been  consecrated  by  him,  re- 
solved to  avenge  himself  on  his  enemies.  He 
assembled  an  (Ecumenical  council,  over  which 
the  emperor  Michael,  and  Ba^il  presided,  and 
at  which  the  legates  from  the  three  patriar- 
chal Sees  of  the  East  assisted,  as  well  as  the 
senate  and  a  great  number  of  bishops,  abbots, 
and  monks.  Nicholas,  accused  before  the 
fathers  of  crimes  and  assassinations,  was  de- 
posed from  his  pontificate,  and  anathema- 
tized. A  sentence  of  excommunication  was 
also  pronounced  against  those  who  communed 
with  him. 

Photius,  who  directed  the  proceedings  of 
the  assembly,  being  desirous  of  bringing  the 
emperor  Louis  into  his  hiieresls,  declared  him 
sovereign  of  Italy,  with  the  title  of  king,  and 
sent  him  the  proceedings  of  the  council,  by 
legates  who  carried  with  them  magnificent 
presents  to  the  princess  Ingelberge,  his  wife. 
In  their  letters,  the  fathers  besought  the 
prince  to  drive  from  Rome,  the  infamous  Ni- 
cholas, whom  they  called  sacrilegious,  simo- 
niacal,  a  murderer,  and  a  sodomite. 

The  patriarch  then  sent  to  the  Eastern  pre- 
lates a  circular,  in  which  he  thus  expressed 
himself  in  regard  to  the  Latin  church :  "  Here- 
sies are  extmguished,  and  faith  has  spread 
from  the  imperial  city  over  infidel  nations; 
the  Armenians  have  abandoned  the  schism  of 
the  Jacobites  to  re-unite  themselves  to  the 
church,  and  the  Bulgarians  renounced  Pagan 
superstitions  to  embrace  the  evangelical  faith; 
but  soon  men,  sallying  forth  from  the  darkness 
of  the  West,  come  to  re-establish  the  errors 
of  the  schismatics,  and  to  corrupt  the  ortho- 
dox purity  of  the  new  converts. 

"  These  heretical  priests  recommend  fasts 
on  Saturdays.  They  cut  off  the  fnst  week  in 
Lent,  by  permitting  food  made  of  milk  to  be 
eaten.  They  condemn  the  legitimate  mar- 
riages of  the  priesthood,  and  tolerate  de- 
bauchery and  corruption  in  the  clergy.  They 
administer  several  times  the  unction  of  the 
sacred  oil ;  and  finally,  in  the  excess  of  their 
impiety,  they  dare  to  add  new  words  to  the 
sacred  creed,  authorized  by  all  the  councils. 


They  affirm  that  the  Holy  Spirit  does  not  pro- 
ceed from  the  Father  alone,  but  that  it  pro- 
ceeds from  the  Father  and  the  Son.  They 
also  admit  two  principles  in  the  Trinity,  and 
confound  the  distinction  of  the  Father  and 
Son  !  An  impious  doctrine  which  is  contrary 
to  the  Gospels,  and  to  all  the  decisions  of  the 
fathers ! 

"  On  learning  what  abominable  errors  they 
had  spread  among  the  Bulgarians,  our  entrails 
were  moved,  as  those  of  a  father  who  sees  his 
children  rent  by  cruel  beasts,  and  we  resolved 
not  to  take  any  repose,  until  we  had  snatched 
those  new  Christians  from  the  execrable  in- 
fluence of  Pope  Nicholas.  We  have  then  con- 
demned in  a  council,  this  minister  of  Anti- 
christ, as  well  as  all  the  abominable  priests, 
who  aid  him  in  spreading  his  infamous  doc- 
trines. We  advise  you  of  all  these  proceed- 
ings, my  brethren,  that  you  may  concur  with 
us  in  the  execution  of  the  sentence  pronounced 
against  the  Romans,  and  with  your  aid  we 
hope  soon  to  bring  back  the  Bulgarians  to  the 
faith  which  they  leceived  from  us,  and  to  give 
them  a  Greek  patriarch. 

"  We  have  received  from  Italy  a  synodical 
letter,  filled  with  complaints  against  the  pope. 
The  prelates  of  that  country  conjure  us  not  to 
abandon  them  to  the  tyranny  of  this  impure 
man.  We  have  been  already  implored  by 
Bishops  Basil  and  Zozimus,  and  by  the  vene- 
rable Metrophanes,  to  come  to  the  succour  of 
the  church ;  but  for  some  months  past  the 
complaints  of  the  laity  and  clergy  of  the  West 
have  been  more  energetic  and  frequent  than 
ever ;.  all  beseech  us  to  hurl  from  the  ponti- 
fical throne  the  Satan  who  is  crowned  with  a 
tiara." 

Whilst  the  holy  father  was  being  excom- 
municated at  Constantinople,  Segilon,  bishop 
of  Sens,  and  Adon,  bishop  of  Vienne  came  to 
Rome  to  place  in  the  hands  of  Nicholas,  the 
letters  of  Thietberge,  who  declared  that  she 
renounced,  of  her  own  full  accord,  her  royal 
dignity,  and  consented  to  a  separation  with 
Lothaire,  for  the  purpose  of  terminating  her 
days  in  a  holy  retreat ;  she  recognized  that  her 
marriage  with  the  king  should  be  declared 
null  on  account  of  sterility,  and  that  Waldrade 
was  the  legitimate  spouse  of  the  prince. 

Nicholas  made  this  reply  to  the  queen  : 
"The  testimony  which  you  bear  for  Wal- 
drade, could  not  be  of  advantage  to  this 
criminal  woman ;  for  even  although  you  were 
no  longer  in  existence,  Waldrade  shall  never 
be  the  spouse  of  Lothaire,  because  such  is  our 
will.  We  prohibit  you  from  coming  near  us, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  insecurity  of  the 
journey,  but  also  because  it  would  be  crimi- 
nal to  abandon  the  royal  church  to  ihe  adul- 
teress. Your  sterility  does  not  arise  from  your- 
self, but  from  the  injustice  of  the  prince,  who 
refuses  to  fulfil  towards  you  the  duties  of  a 
husband.  Your  union  cannot  be  then  broken 
for  a  fault  of  which  he  alone  is  guilty. 

"  Do  not  then  labour  more  for  a  separation 
which  we  will  never  authorize,  how  unworthy 
soever  may  be  the  treatment  which  the  king 
of  Lorraine  causes  you  to  endure ;  besides, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


247 


it  is  better  to  receive  death  at  the  hands  of 
another,  than  to  slay  your  soul ;  and  it  is  better 
to  sufFer  a  glorious  martyrdom  for  the  truth, 
rather  than  live  by  falsehood.  We  do  not  re- 
ceive a  confession  which  is  wrested  by  vio- 
lence;  besides,  husbands  might  oblige  their 
wives  by  bad  treatment  to  declare  that  their 
union  is  not  legitimate,  or  that  they  have  com- 
mitted a  capital  crime,  which  renders  neces- 
sary their  repudiation. 

"We  trust  Lothaire  will  never  abandon 
himself  to  such  an  excess,  for  he  would  ex- 
pose himself  to  the  danger  of  losing  his  crown 
were  he  to  attempt  the  life  of  a  queen  who  is 
under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  See.  If  the 
king,  your  husband,  exacts  that  you  must 
come  to  Rome,  you  must  be  accompanied  by 
Waldrade,  in  order  that  she  may  submit  to 
the  chastisement  of  her  faults.  You  give,  as 
a  motive  for  separation,  your  ardent  desire  to 
preserve  the  purity  of  your  body  ;.but  our  will 
is,  that  you  receive  the  embraces  of  your  hus- 
band, unless  he  should  make  a  vow  of  conti- 
nence and  retire  to  a  monastery." 

Nicholas  then  wrote  to  the  metropolitans 
of  France  and  Germany,  '•  You  are  guilty,  my 
brethren,  for  not  having  constrained  the  king 
of  Lorraine  to  show  more  condescendence  for 
our  will,  and  whoso  among  you  shall  not  show 
more  zeal  to  execute  our  orders,  in  regard  to 
Queen  Thietberge,  will  be  regarded  as  a  fa- 
vourer of  the  adulterer,  and  will  be  driven 
from  our  communion." 

Adventius,  of  Metz,  hastened  to  inform  the 
bishop  of  Verdun,  of  the  dispositions  of  the 
holy  father,  in  the  following  letter:  "The 
pope  has  addressed  to  me  a  terrible  bull,  on 
the  resolution  which  he  has  taken  against  the 
king  our  master.  If  on  the  eve  of  the  festival 
of  the  purification,  Lothaire  does  not  quit 
Waldrade;  he  orders  us  to  interdict  him  from 
entering  the  church.  This  decision,  which 
we  are  constrained  to  obey,  under  penalty  of 
deposition,  places  us  in  mortal  disquiet.  We 
beseech  you,  then,  to  find  the  king,  and  to 
represent  to  him  the  peril  which  threatens  him. 

"  We  think  that  the  best  thing  for  him  to  do, 
would  be,  to  make  a  journey,  two  davs  before 
the  festival  of  the  purification,  to  Floriquing. 
with  three  bi.'^hops,  to  confess  his  sins  with  con- 
trition and  promise  of  correction  ;  he  will  then 
swear  to  submit  to  the  will  of  the  holy  father, 
in  the  presence  of  his  faithful  servants,  and 
we  will  be  able  to  admit  him  into  the  church 
of  St.  Arnoul,  where  he  will  attend  at  the  cele- 
bration of  a  solemn  mass.  If  he  acts  other- 
wise, he  will  place  his  crown  in  peril,  and 
draw  on  our  heads  the  thunders  of  Rome." 

The  partizans  of  Lothaire  feared,  and  with 
reason,  lest  his  uncles  should  take  advantage 
of  an  excommunication  pronounced  against 
him,  to  seize  on  his  kingilom  ;  and  Nicholas, 
who  was  aware  of  the  ambition  of  the  family 
of  the  Carlovingians,  retained  the  princes  of 
of  this  race  in  constant  dread,  by  threats  of 
anathema.  The  pontiff  addressed  to  the  pre- 
lates of  the  kingdom  of  Charles  the  Bald,  the 
sentence  which  he  had  rendered  against  the 
king  of  Lorraine,  and  a  writinir  which  he  had 


composed  against  the  Greek  emperors,  and 
the  patriarch  of  Constantinople. 

"In  the  midst  of  all  our  sulferings,"  wrote 
Nicholas,  "we  endure  one  more  grievious 
still  from  the  nnju.st  reproaches  of  the  princes 
Michael  and  Basil,  who.  animated  by  an  en- 
vious hatred,  have  dared  to  accuse  us  of 
heresy.  The  cause  of  their  fury  is  our  re- 
fusal to  approve  of  the  ordination  of  the  lay- 
man Photius,  and  the  protection  which  we 
grant  to  Bagiris,  king  of  the  Bulgarians,  who 
asked  from  us  missionaries,  and  instructions 
for  his  people,  newly  converted  to  Christianity. 

"  In  their  ill-humour  at  not  being  able  to  re- 
duce this  nation  beneath  their  laws,  the  Greek 
monarchs  charge  the  Roman  church  with  out- 
rages and  calumnies,  which  might  be  able  to 
avert  from  us  ignorant  men,  who  know  not 
how  to  make  a  distinction  between  the  sub- 
lime morality  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  sacri- 
legious conduct  of  some  priests  of  our  church. 

"'Photius  blames  us  for  fasting  on  Saturday 
and  condemning  the  marriages  of  priests ;  ho 
accuses  us  of  preventing  ecclesiastics  from 
anointing  with  holy  oil,  and  he  maintains  that 
we  are  Jews,  because  we  bless  a  lamp  upon 
the  altar  on  the  solemn  day  of  Easter;  he 
condemns  the  habit  of  shaving  the  beard,  and 
of  consecrating  mere  deacons,  who  have  not 
been  ordained  priests,  as  bishops.  These 
practices,  however,  which  scandalize  the  pa- 
triarch of  Byzantium  have  been  observed  for 
ages  in  the  Latin  church,  and  we  cannot 
change  them. 

"  This  proud  prelate  also  arrogates  to  him- 
self the  name  of  universal  bishop,  when  we 
alone  have  the  right  to  this  title.  But  we 
will  pre.serve  it  by  the  grace  of  God,  despite 
the  intrigues  and  threats  of  the  Greeks  .  .   ." 

Whilst  the  pope  was  sending  this  libel  into 
France,  grave  events  were  changing  the  des- 
tinies of  Constantinople.  Basil,  tired  of  the 
sage  remonstrances  of  Michael,  who  had 
drawn  this  monster  from  the  lowest  ranks  of 
his  g-uards,  to  elevate  him  to  the  empire,  caused 
his  protector  to  be  assassinated,  that  he  might 
become  the  sole  ruler  of  the  state. 

This  horrible  crime  had  excited  the  just  in- 
dignation of  Photius,  and  on  the  day  of  a 
solemn  festival,  Basil  having  presented  him- 
self in  the  cathedral  to  receive  the  commu- 
nion, the  indignant  patriarch  had  repelled  him 
from'  the  holy  table,  saying  to  him,  "Quit  the 
house  of  God,  infamous  usurper,  who  hast 
soiled  thy  hands  in  the  blood  of  thy  benefac- 
tor." Irritated  at  the  boldness  of  the  prelate, 
Basil  seized  the  venerable  Photius.  deposed 
him  from  his  See,  and  recalled  Ignatius  to 
Constantinople.  But  in  order  to  give  more 
lustre  to  the  re-installation  of  the  old  patri- 
arch, he  wrote  to  Nicholas,  the  implacable 
enemy  of  Photius,  to  ask  iiom  him  authority 
to  convene  a  general  council  on  this  subject. 

At  the  same  time  Louis,  the  German,  and 
all  the  bishops  of  his  kingdom,  urged  the  pon- 
tifl'  to  re-instate  Teutgard  and  Gonthier  in 
their  Sees.  Nicholas  demanded,  that  the 
guilty,  in  order  to  buy  ofT  the  excommunica- 
tion pronounced  against  them,  should  pay  into 


248 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


his  purse  large  sums,  and  should  make  an 
honourable  amende  for  the  pretended  crimes 
that  they  had  committed  against  the  Holy 
See.  These  fiery  prelates  replied,  that  they 
M'ould  consent  to  pay  the  conscience  of  the 
pope  with  gold,  but  not  with  their  own  in- 
famy, and  that  they  refused  to  gain  an  arch- 
bishopric if  they  must  lose  their  honour. 

By  this  noble  refusal,  the  churches  of 
Treves  and  Cologne  finding  themselves  with- 
out pastors,  the  pope  wrote  to  King  Louis,  that 
he  should  present  to  him  ecclesiastics  worthy 
to  occupy  these  important  Sees.  His  letter 
terminated  by  complaints  against  Lothaire. 
''Your  nephew,"  wrote  the  pope,  "has  in- 
formed me,  that  he  would  come  to  the  tomb 
of  the  apostles,  without  having  obtained  my 
authority.  He  need  not  try  to  execute  his 
project,  for  we  will  cause  the  gates  of  our 
city  to  be  shut,  that  it  may  not  be  soiled  by 
the  presence  of  an  excommunicated  person. 
Before  coming  to  Rome  he  must  humble  him- 
self and  implore  our  pardon,  and  we  will  that 
he  should  accomplish  our  orders,  not  by  pro- 
mises, but  by  actions. 

'■  Thietberge,  it  is  true,  has  been  recalled 
to  court,  but  it  is  to  see  her  rival  reign ;  and 
what  avails  to  this  princess  the  vain  title  of 
queen,  if  she  has  not  the  authority  of  one  1 
Is  it  not  Waldrade,  the  royal  concubine,  who 
braves  our  anathemas,  reigns  with  Lothaire, 
and  disposes  at  her  caprice  of  the  ranks  and 
oilices  of  the  kingdom '?  It  must  be  that  this 
guilty  woman  is  first  handed  over  to  our  jus- 
tice, to  be  punished  for  her  obstinacy  and 
blindness ;  then  we  will  authorize  Lothaire  to 
come  to  prostrate  himself  at  our  feet." 

The  pontiff,  however,  had  not  the  satisfac- 
tion of  subjugating  the  king  of  Lorraine,  nor 
the  joy  of  learning  the  deposition  of  Photius. 
He  died  on  the  13th  of  November,  867,  after  a 
reign  of  nine  years,  seven  months  nad  twenty- 
eight  days  ;  he  was  interred  near  to  the  porch 
of  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

The  Roman  church  has  placed  Nicholas  in 
the  number  of  the  saints,  whose  memory  she 
honours,  admiring  his  insupportable  pride, 
which  she  calls  apostolic  vigour  ! 

Reginon  says,  that  the  pope  commanded 
people  and  kings  as  if  he  had  been  the  sove- 
reign of  the  universe,  and  Gratian  relates  a  de- 
cree in  which  this  abominable  prelate  makes 
himself  equal  with  God  himself.  '•'  It  is  evi- 
dent," wrote  Nicholas,  '■  that  the  popes  can 
neither  be  bound  nor  unbound  by  any  earthlj' 
power,  nor  even  by  that  of  the  apostle  if  he 
should  return  upon  earth ;  since  Constantine 


the  Great  has  recognized  that  the  pontiffs  held 
the  place  of  God  upon  earth,  the  divinity  not 
being  able  to  be  judged  by  any  living  man. 
We  are  then  infallible,  and  whatever  may  be 
our  acts,  we  are  not  accountable  for  them  but 
to  ourselves  !  !  !" 

In  our  own  age  there  still  exist  fanatical 
writers  who  sustain  this  doctrine,  and  endea- 
vour to  induce  others  to  partake  of  their  ridi- 
culous admiration  for  the  popes,  by  repre- 
senting them  as  the  vigorous  defenders  of  the 
cause  of  the  people  against  kings  and  empe- 
rors. Folly,  bhndness,  or  bad  faith,  for  if 
history  shows  us  the  papacy  constantly  strug- 
gling with  the  temporal  power,  it  also  indi- 
cates to  us,  what  were  the  causes  of  the 
incessant  war  between  the  civil  and  reli- 
gious powers.  The  sovereign  pontiffs  sought,  it 
is  true,  to  overthrow  tyrants,  but  it  was  to 
place  themselves  in  their  stead,  and  all  their 
efforts  tended  to  substitute  their  own  autho- 
rity for  the  despotism.  Their  opposition  then 
was  neither  useful  nor  profitable  to  humanity, 
and  it  matters  little  to  the  people,  whether 
the  altar  rules  the  throne,  or  the  throne  the 
altar,  if  they  are  to  remain  crushed  beneath 
the  yoke  :  it  matters  little  whether  their  mas- 
ters are  kings  or  priests,  if  they  are  to  remain 
slaves.  Alas !  the  e.xperience  of  the  past 
shows  us,  that  neither  happiness  nor  tran- 
quillity can  remain  on  earth,  so  long  as  the 
nations  shall  obey  popes  or  absolute  kings. 
Peace  is  for  them  a  precious  time,  which  they 
employ  in  pressing  down  the  nations'  war  is 
more  precious  still,  for  it  allows  them  to  steal 
all  that  has  escaped  the  extortioners. 

Formerly  in  the  Roman  empire,  as  in  all 
the  countries  submitted  to  despots,  life  was 
considered  as  a  gift  of  so  little  value  to  man, 
that  the  unfortunate  sold  themselves  to  the 
rich,  who  bought  the  execrable  right  of  slaying 
a  fellow  man  for  a  small  sum  of  money,  to  be 
paid  to  the  wife  and  children  of  their  victim. 
Exactions  and  injustice  had  become  so  in- 
tolerable, that  to  avoid  them,  the  citizens  fled 
among  the  barbarians,  where  they  recovered 
their  liberty.  Later,  during  the  middle  age, 
thanks  to  the  system  of  darkness  of  the  popes, 
the  degradation,  misery  and  slavery  of  the 
people,  surpassed  all  that  was  most  horrible 
in  antiquity.  Entire  nations  disappeared  from 
the  soil,  and  were  annihilated  by  iron,  water, 
fire,  in  the  name  and  by  the  will  of  the  pon- 
tiffs of  Rome  ;  and  in  our  own  days,  have  we 
not  seen  the  papacy  make  superhuman  efforts 
to  arrest  the  car  of  civilization,  and  unite  itself 
with  kings  to  eradicate  liberty  ? 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


249 


ADRIAN  THE  SECOND,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TENTH  PORE. 

[A.  D.  867.] 

The  birth  of  Adrian — Miracle  of  the  forty  pennies — Election  of  Adrian — Sack  of  Rome — 
Lothaire  sends  embassadors  to  the  pontiff — He  taJccs  off  the  excommunication  of  Waldrade — 
Opposes  the  divorce  of  Lothaire  and  Tnietberge — Letters  from  the  emperor  Basil  to  the  pope 
— Council  of  Rome — Decree  against  the  council  of  Photius — Elcutherus  seduces  the  affections 
of  the  wife  and  daughter  of  the  pope,  and  murders  them  in  a  phrenzy — Anastasius,  the  libra- 
rian, is  excommunicated — the  affair  of  Hincmar  of  Laon — Journey  of  Lothaire  to  Italy — 
He  is  admitted  to  the  communion  of  the  pontiff — Death  of  Lothaire — the  pope  disposes  of 
cro^vns — He  sends  legates  to  Constantinople — Their  interview  with  the  emperor  of  the  East — 
The  Orientals  submit  to  the  pope — Scandalous  condemnation  of  Photius — Conferences  about 
the  Bulgarians — Return  of  the  legates  to  Rome — Letter  of  the  archbishop  Hincmar  to  the 
holy  father — Charles  the  Bald  causes  molten  lead  to  be  poured  into  the  eyes  and  mouth  of  his 
son  Carloman — The  bishops  of  France  reject  the  authority  of  the  pontiff— Recantation  of  the 
pope — The  Bulgarians  submit  to  the  church  of  Constantinople — Death  of  Adrian. 


Adrian  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  the  son  of 
the  bishop  Talarus,  of  the  same  family  as 
Popes  Stephen  the  Sixth,  and  Sergius  the 
Second  ;  the  Holy  See  appertained  to  him,  if 
we  may  so  speak,  by  right  of  inheritance. 
Admitted  when  very  young  into  the  patriar- 
chal palace  of  the  Lateran,  ho  had  been  the 
constant  object  of  the  solicitude  of  the  pontiffs. 
Gregory  the  Fourth  ordained  him  a  subdea- 
con,  and  his  successor  conferred  on  him  the 
priesthood.  In  all  his  sacerdotal  functions, 
the  young  Adrian  displayed  great  piety,  and 
e.specially  a  truly  Christian  charity.  The  le- 
gends relates,  on  this  subject,  a  miracle  which 
Ave  will  quote  : 

Adrian  had  received  from  pope  Sergius 
forty  pennies,  as  a  mark  of  his  satisfaction ; 
but  the  deacon  instead  of  keeping  this  sum 
in  his  purse,  or  spending  it  in  his  pleasures, 
like  the  youth  of  his  age,  assembled  the  poor 
of  his  quarter,  to  distribute  it  among  them. 
These  came  in  so  great  numbers,  that  Adrian 
was  obliged  to  select  the  most  infirm.  In  his 
grief  at  not  being  able  to  solace  all  their  suf- 
ferings, he  addressed  fervent  prayers  to  God 
and  commenced  the  distribution.  The  blind 
and  the  infirm  received  each  a  penny;  the 
aged,  the  lame,  women  and  children  advanced 
in  succession  and  received  each  a  penny ; 
new  poor  arrived  and  others  followed  after 
them ;  they  thus  succeeded  each  other  from 
the  rising  of  the  sun  until  night,  and  the  young 
deacon  continued  to  draw  pennies  from  his 
purse  ;  finally,  after  having  distributed  a  pro- 
digious (juantity,  he  filled  several  coffers  for 
the  alms  of  the  following  day. 

His  miraculous  multiplication  of  the  forty 
peruiies  had  so  increased  the  veneration  of 
the  Romans  for  Adrian,  that  on  the  death  of 
Pope  Leo  the  Fourth  he  was  chosen,  without 
opposition,  to  succeed  him ;  he  refused  this 
glorious  distinction  ;  after  the  reign  of  Bene- 
dict the  Third,  the  suffrages  of  the  people 
again  elevated  him  to  the  pontificate;  his  re- 
solution was  still  the  same. 

Finally,  on  the  death  of  Nicholas  the  First, 
the  concourse  of  the  people,  the  grandees, 
and  the  clergy  was  so  general,  that  all,  by 
acclamation,  chose  Adrian  to  govern  the  Holy 

Vol.  I.  2G 


See,  and  their  urgency  on  him  to  accept  the 
tiara  was  so  pressing,  that  he  was  induced  to 
consent,  notwithstanding  his  great  age,  to 
bear  the  burthen  of  the  pontifical  dignity. 
Holy  personages  affirmed  that  celestial  reve- 
lations had  announced  to  them  the  high  dig- 
nity to  which  Adrian  was  called.  Some  said 
that  he  had  appeared  to  them  wearing  the 
pallium;  others  said,  that  he  had  been  shown 
to  them  surrounded  by  an  aureole  of  fire, 
wearing  the  simar  and  distributing  pieces  oi 
gold  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter;  and  several 
affirmed,  that  they  had  seen  him  on  the  horse 
of  Pope  Nicholas,  entering  the  patriarchal 
palace. 

After  the  election,  the  people,  the  grandees, 
and  the  clergy,  went  to  the  church  of  St.  JNIa- 
ria  Major,  where  they  found  Adrian  at  prayer. 
They  immediately  raised  him  in  their  arms 
and  bore  him  in  triumph  to  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran.  This  enthronement  made  in  the 
absence  of  the  commissioners  of  the  emperor 
Louis,  excited  the  discontent  of  his  court ;  but 
the  priests  alleged  as  an  excuse,  that  they 
had  been  constrained  to  yield  to  the  urgency 
of  the  multitude.  The  prince,  satisfied  with 
the  explanations  made  to  him,  consented  to 
the  consecration  of  the  new  pontiff,  and  con- 
firmed the  decree  of  his  election  ;  and  not 
only  did  he  refuse  the  tribute  usually  paid  at 
the  consecration  of  new  popes,  but  he  even 
declared  that  his  absence  compelled  him  to 
restore  to  the  Roman  church  the  domains 
which  had  been  unjustly  taken  from  it. 

Adrian,  having  made  the  prayers  and  vigils 
usual  on  the  election  of  a  pope,  was  conducted 
to  St.  Peter's  and  solemnly  consecrated  by 
Peter,  bishop  of  Gabii,  a  city  of  Palestrina,  by 
Leo  of  the  White  Forest,  and  by  Donatus, 
bishop  of  Ostia.  These  three  venerable  per- 
sonages were  chosen,  because  the  bishop  of 
Albano  was  dead,  and  Formosus,  bishop  of 
Porto^  was  then  absent  from  Italy,  being  occu- 
pied in  converting  the  Bulgarians. 

When  his  ordination  was  finished,  the  pon- 
tiff celebrated  a  solemn  mass,  and  admitted 
to  his  communion  Teutgard,  the  mefropohtan 
of  Treves,  Zachary,  bishop  of  Arragonia,  as 
well  as  the  priest  Anastasius,  who  had  been 


250 


HISTORY  OF   THE   POPES, 


excommunicated  during  the  preceding  reign. 
On  his  return  to  the  patriarchal  palace  he  re- 
fused the  presents  oflered  him,  and  replied  to 
those  -who  surrounded  him,  '-My  brethren, 
we  should  contemn  this  shameful  traffic  in 
money,  in  which  the  popes  have  unfortunately 
been  too  much  engaged  to  the  disgrace  of  the 
Holy  See,  for  we  should  give  gratuitously, 
that  which  we  have  received  gratuitously, 
following  the  precept  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus, 
instead  of  accumulating  in  our  treasury  the 
offerings  of  the  faithful  for  the  purpose  of 
enriching  hypocritical  priests  or  debauched 
monks,  we  declare  to  you,  that  all  our  re- 
venues shall  be  spent  among  the  poor  of  the 
city." 

Scarcely  had  the  consecration  of  Adrian 
been  achieved,  when  Lambert,  duke  of  Spo- 
letto,  without  any  declaration  of  war  or  pre- 
vious warning,  assembled  his  soldiery  and 
invaded  the  city  of  Rome,  which  he  pillaged. 
Palaces,  houses,  monasteries,  and  churches 
were  sacked,  nuns  violated,  and  many  young 
girls  of  patrician  families  torn  from  their  pa- 
rents and  led  into  slavery.  God,  however, 
permitted  that  the  author  sf  this  depredation 
should  be  severely  punished,  first  by  the 
holy  father,  who  declared  Lambert  excom- 
municated, and  then  by  the  emperor,  who 
conquered  the  dutchy  of  Spoletto. 

Anastasius,  the  librarian,  expresses  his 
opinion  on  the  state  of  the  Roman  clergy,  in 
a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Adon,  metropolitan 
of  Vienne,  "I  announce  to  yon,  my  brother, 
very  sad  news ;  the  holy  pope  Nicholas  has 
gone  to  a  better  life,  and  has  left  us  in  this 
world  much  afflicted.  Now  that  he  is  no 
more,  all  those  whom  he  condemned  lift  up 
their  criminal  heads  and  labour  with  ardour 
to  destroy  that  which  he  had  done  :  we  are 
assured  that  even  the  emperor  Louis  grants 
them  his  aid.  Warn,  then,  our  brethren  of 
these  guilty  enterprises,  and  urge  them  to 
defend  the  memory  of  the  pontiff  in  such 
way  as  you  shall  judge  best  to  maintain  our 
interests;  for  if  the  doings  of  a  pope  are 
broken,  what  will  become  of  our's  '? 

"We  have  a  new  pope  named  Adrian,  a 
man  venerable  for  the  holiness  of  his  life. 
He  is  married  to  a  woman  named  Stephania, 
who  rears  their  young  daughter,  whose  beauty 
is  remarkable.  The  holy  father  exhibits  great 
zeal  in  maintaining  the  purity  of  morals,  but 
we  do  not  yet  know  what  will  be  his  mode  of 
governing  the  church;  whether  he  will  super- 
intend all  ecclesiastical  affairs,  or  abandon 
the  direction  of  them  to  his  ministers.  He 
appears  to  have  entire  confidence  in  my  uncle 
Arsenes,  your  friend,  whose  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  Roman  clergy  has  been  a 
little  cooled  since  the  unworthy  treatment  he 
received  from  Nicholas.  I  beseech  you,  how- 
ever, by  your  wise  counsels  to  lead  him  back 
to  those  charitable  sentiments,  in  order  that 
we  may  be  enabled  to  profit  by  his  credit  over 
the  mind  of  the  emperor  and  the  pope ;  I  also 
beseech  all  the  archbishops  of  Gaul,  if  a 
council  is  held  to  anathematize  the  decrees 
of  Nicholas,  not  to  place  themselves  in  the 


ranks  of  his  accusers,  but  on  the  contrary,  lo 
resist  his  enemies  courageously." 

The  fears  of  Anastasius  of  the  condemnation 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  infamous  Nicholas, 
were  chimerical ;  for  his  successor  showed 
himself  a  faithful  imitator  of  his  policy,  and 
manifested  the  most  ardent  zeal  to  maintain 
the  infallibility  of  the  Holy  See.  He,  however, 
pardoned  the  prelates  who  had  been  deposed 
and  anathematized,  and  recalled  those  who 
were  in  exile;  and  at  his  request,  the  em- 
peror also  freed  from  prison  all  the  ecclesias- 
tics who  had  been  guilty  of  the  crime  of  lese- 
majesty. 

Adrian  decorated  magnificently  the  church 
which  Nicholas  had  built  in  the  interior  of  his 
palace,  and  in  all  his  actions  he  showed  so 
great  a  deference  for  the  acts  of  his  predeces- 
sor, that  the  Romans  called  him  Adrian  the 
Nicolite.  Old  priests,  however,  Avho  were 
versed  in  the  trickery  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
affirmed  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  pope 
adroitly  tarnished  the  preceding  reign  by  the 
protection  which  he  granted  to  the  victims  of 
the  pride  and  tyranny  of  Nicholas. 

The  holy  father  having  invited  to  a  sump- 
tuous dinner  in  his  palace  a  great  number  of 
Greek  monks,  who  had  been  persecuted  by 
his  predecessor,  he  himself  presented  to  them 
the  ewers  and  linen  for  their  ablutions,  and 
served  to  them  with  his  own  hands  food  and 
drink,  which  no  other  pope  had  ever  done  be- 
fore him.  During  the  repast  the  young  clerks 
sang  spiritual  songs ;  and  when  the  monks 
arose  from  table,  Adrian  prostrated  himself 
before  them  with  his  face  to  the  earth,  and 
addressed  them  as  follows :  '■  My  brethren, 
pray  for  the  Holy  Catholic  church,  for  our  son 
the  most  Christian  emperor  Louis,  that  he 
may  subjugate  the  Saracens;  pray  for  me  and 
beseech  God  to  give  me  strength  to  govern 
his  numerous  faithful.  Let  your  prayers  rise 
in  remembrance  of  those  who  have  lived  holy 
lives,  and  let  us  all  thank  Christ  together  for 
having  given  to  his  church  my  lord  and  father, 
the  most  holy  and  most,  orthodox  Pope  Nicho- 
las, who  has  defended  it  like  another  Joshua, 
against  its  enemies." 

The  monks  of  Jerusalem,  Antioch,  Alexan- 
dria and  Constantinople,  for  some  time  pre- 
served silence;  finally,  they  exclaimed,  "God 
be  praised  for  having  given  to  his  people  a 
pastor  so  respectful  as  you  are  towards  your 
predecessor!"  and  they  repeated  three  times, 
'•  Eternal  memory  to  the  sovereign  pontiff 
Adrian,  whom  Jesus  Christ  has  established  as 
universal  bishop;"  but  the  holy  father  per- 
ceiving that  the  Greeks  wished  to  shun  ren- 
dering homage  to  the  memory  of  Nicholas, 
made  a  sign  with  his  hand  and  added,  '-'My 
brethren,  I  beseech  you  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
that  your  praises  be  addressed  to  the  most 
holy  and  orthodox  Nicholas.  Established  by 
God  sovereign  pontiff  and  universal  pope; 
glory  to  him  the  new  Elias,  the  new  Phineas, 
worthy  of  an  eternal  priesthood,  and  peace 
and  grace  to  his  followers."  This  acclama- 
tion was  repeated  three  times  by  the  monks, 
who  did  not  wish  to  disoblige  the  holy  father, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


251 


after  having  been  the  object  of  so  honourable 
a  distinction. 

Adrian  wrote  to  the  metropolitans  of  France, 
'•  We  beseech  you,  my  brethren,  to  re-establish 
the  name  of  Pope  Nicholas  in  the  books  and 
sacred  writings  of  your  churches,  to  name  him 
in  the  mass,  and  to  order  the  bishops  to  con- 
form to  our  decision  on  this  subject.  We 
exhort  you  to  resist  with  firmness  the  Greek 
princes,  who  undertake  to  accuse  his  memory 
or  reject  his  decrees ;  still,  we  do  not  wish  to 
be  inflexible  towards  those  whom  he  has  con- 
demned, if  they  will  implore  our  mercy,  and 
consent  not  to  justify  themselves  by  accusing 
that  great  pope,  who  is  now  before  God,  and 
whom  no  one  dared  to  attack  whilst  living 

'•Be  then  vigilant  and  courageous,  and  in- 
struct the  prelates  beyond  the  Alps,  that  if 
they  reject  the  decrees  of  a  pontifl',  they  will 
destroy  the  supreme  authority  of  the  minis- 
ters of  the  church;  all  should  fear  lest  their 
ordinances  be  despised,  when  they  have  at- 
tained the  power  which  rules  kings." 

As  soon  as  Lothaire  was  apprised  of  the 
death  of  Pope  Nicholas,  he  sent  to  Rome  Ad- 
ventius,  bishop  of  Metz,  and  Grimland.  his 
chancellor,  as  bearers  of  a  letter  thus  con- 
ceived :  "  Most  holy  father,  I  submitted  my- 
self to  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  in  obeying 
your  preilecessor ;  I  followed  his  paternal  ad- 
vice, and  the  exhortations  of  his  legates  even 
to  the  detriment  of  my  own  authority  ;  I  have 
not  ceased  to  demand  from  him,  in  the  name 
of  divine  and  human  laws,  the  tavour  of  pre- 
senting myself  before  him  with  my  accusers, 
to  justify  myself;  and  yet  he  has  always  re- 
fused to  me  permission  to  visit  that  Rome  of 
which  my  ancestors  were  the  protectors. 

■■'  We  have  been  edified  by  seeing  the  Bul- 
garians brought  by  him,  to  make  their  adora- 
tions at  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter;  but  we  have 
suffered  the  liveliest  AtHiction,  when  it  was 
declared  to  us  that  we  were  excluded  from 
Rome  for  ever.  We  trust  you  will  be  less 
rigorous  to  us  than  Pope  Nicholas,  and  that  in 
exchange  for  our  obedience  and  submission, 
you  will  permit  us  to  kiss  your  feet.  We  be- 
seech you  to  send  us  this  authority  by  our 
embas.sador,  or  that  of  the  emperor  Louis, 
our  brother;  informing  you  that  if  thi.s  step 
was  unsuccessful,  our  kingdom  would  incur 
great  risk  on  account  of  the  condescendence 
we  have  shown  for  your  See,  and  which  has 
taken  from  us  the  atfection  of  our  people.'' 

Adrian  made  this  reply  to  the  king  of  Lor- 
raine :  •'  The  court  of  Rome,  my  lord,  will 
always  receive  with  honour  one  of  the  sons 
of  Charlemagne,  when  he  .shall  come  to  ren- 
der it  homage;  and  it  will  not  refuse  to  listen 
to  his  justification,  if  that  is  conformable  with 
divine  and  human  justice.  You  can  then  pre- 
sent yourself  bokliy  at  the  tomb  of  the  apostle, 
if  you  are  innocent  of  the  crime  of  which  you 
are  accused;  but  it  will  not  be  permitted  to 
you  to  refuse  to  do  penance  if  you  are  judged 
guilty." 

For  eight  months,  the  emperor  Louis, 
seconded  by  the  troops  of  Lothaire,  had  car- 
ried on  a  successful  war  against  the  Saracens 


of  Africa,  who  ravaged  the  southwardly  part 
of  Italy  ;  thus,  Adrian  being  unable  to  reluse 
anything  to  his  powerful  protector,  granted  to 
him  the  authority  solicited  by  Lothaire,  as 
well  as  the  absolution  of  Waldrade.  He  even 
wrote  to  this  princess  in  these  terms:  '-We 
have  been  informed  by  the  emperor  Louis,  of 
the  repentance  which  you  prove  for  your  sins, 
and  ol  the  perseverance  with  which  you  shun 
refalling  into  the  same  fault.  Now  that  you 
detest  your  errors,  we  free  you  Trom  anathe- 
ma and  excommunication  ;  we  readmit  you 
into  the  society  of  the  faithful,  and  we  grant 
you  permission  to  enter  the  church  to  pray,  and 
to  eat  and  speak  with  other  Christians.  But 
be  upon  your  guard  for  the  future,  that  God 
may  give  you  in  heaven  the  absolution  you 
receive  from  us  on  earth;  for  if  you  use  dis- 
simulation to  obtain  the  remission  of  your 
sins,  know,  that  instead  of  being  unbound,  you 
will  be  the  more  bound  before  him  who  sees 
our  consciences." 

To  this  letter  the  pope  joined  another  for  the 
bishops  of  Germany,  to  whom  he  announced 
the  absolution  of  Waldrade  ;  he  thus  expresses 
himself:  "Our  dear  son,  the  emperor  Louis, 
combats  against  the  enemies  of  the  faith,  for 
the  safety  of  the  church,  for  the  increase  of 
our  power,  and  for  the  deliverance  of  the 
faithful  of  the  province  of  Samnium.  The 
Saracens  were  already  advancing  on  our  terri- 
tories and  preparing  to  ravage  the  domains  of 
St.  Peter,  when  he  abandoned  his  repose  and 
his  family  to  expose  himself  to  the  dangers 
of  war,  and  soon  the  infidel  fell  beneath  his 
victorious  arms,  or  became  converts  to  Christi- 
anity. 

"We  inform  you  that  in  consequence,  you 
should  render  homage  to  those  who  belong  to 
him,  as  Lothaire ;  for  he  who  attacks  his  bro- 
ther will  attack  himself.  Know  then,  that  the 
Holy  See  is  strongly  united  to  this  valiant 
prince,  and  that  we  are  ready  to  employ  for 
him  the  powerful  arms  which  God  has  placed 
in  our  hands,  through  the  intercession  of  St. 
Peter,  as  he  employs  those  which  Jesus  Christ 
has  intrusted  to  him  for  the  defence  of  the 
church." 

After  all  these  protestations  of  the  pontifT 
Adrian,  Lothaire,  supposing  that  he  would  not 
dare  to  refuse  him  anything,  sent  to  Rome  his 
wife  Thietberge,  to  demand  herself  the  disso- 
lution of  the  marriage.  But  this  prince  was 
deceived  in  his  hopes,  and  the  pope  addressed 
to  him  the  following  vehement  letter :  "  The 
queen,  your  spouse,  has  informed  us,  that  her 
union  with  you  not  having  been  legitimately 
contracted,  she  desires  to  separate  herself 
from  your  royal  person,  renounce  the  world, 
and  consecrate  herself  to  God.  This  strange 
resolution  has  surprised  us,  and  though  you 
have  given  your  consent,  we  cannot  grant 
ours.  Hence  it  is  by  our  orders,  that  Queen 
Thietberge  returns  to  you,  to  sustain  the  rights 
of  her  marriage.  Tne  motives  alleged  for 
breaking  off  your  union,  shall  be  examined 
by  our  brethren  in  a  council,  but  until  that 
time  we  exhort  you,  not  to  listen  to  the  evil 
counsellors,  who   surround   you.     We  order 


252 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


you  to  receive  the  queen  with,  the  affection 
which  is  her  clue,  and  to  grant  her  in  your 
kingdom  an  honourable  asylum,  where  she 
may  live  in  the  shade  of  your  royal  protection, 
and  finally,  to  place  in  her  hands  the  abbeys 
which  you  have  promised  her,  that  she  may 
be  enabled  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  her  rank. 
Those  who  oppose  our  decision  shall  be  ana- 
thematized, and  we  will  declare  you  yourself 
excommunicated,  if  you  refuse  to  submit  to 
our  orders." 

In  order  to  assure  himself  of  the  execution 
of  his  will,  the  pontifT  wrote  to  Charles  the 
Bald,  to  beseech  him  to  constrain  his  nephew 
to  the  obedience  which  was  due  to  the  Holy 
See ;  and  he  induced  this  prince  to  pledge 
himself  to  invade  at  once  the  kingdom  of  Lo- 
thaire,  if  he  should  separate  himself  from 
Thielberge,  before  their  divorce  had  been 
canonically  ordained  by  a  synod.  For  this 
purpose  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to 
the  metropolitan  Hincmar:  "I  have  known 
for  a  long  time  your  great  reputation,  my  bro- 
ther, but  I  am  yet  more  particularly  informed 
of  your  rare  merit  by  Arsenes,  the  nuncio  of 
the  Holy  See,  by  the  bishep  Actard,  and  by 
our  dear  son  Anastasius,  the  librarian. 

"Their  eulogies  have  inspired  in  me  as  much 
affection  as  esteem  for  you,  and  I  hope  that  you 
will  welcome  the  testimony  of  our  friendship 
and  confidence,  by  favouring  with  all  your 
power  the  interestsof  theHoly  See,  inthe  affair 
between  King  Lothaire  and  Thietberge  his 
wife.  You  know  how  much  Popes  Benedict 
and  Nicholas  were  occupied  during  their  reigns 
with  this  important  cause,  and  in  what  man- 
ner they  have  directed  it ;  we  have  the  same 
views  as  our  predecessors,  and  will  follow  up 
that  on  which  they  decided.  We  exhort  you 
then,  not  to  allow  your  devotion  to  the  court 
of  Rome  to  chill,  and  to  speak  boldly  in  our 
name  to  kings  and  powerful  persons,  in  order 
to  prevent  them  from  re-establishing  by  force 
or  artifice,  that  which  has  been  destroyed  by 
the  ecclesiastical  authority." 

Euthymius,  having  been  sent  as  envoy  to 
Italy  by-  the  emperor  Basil,  then  brought  the 
news  of  the  deposition  of  Photius,  and  of  the 
re-establishment  of  Ignatius,  on  the  See  of 
Constantinople.  Adrian  manifested  great  joy 
at  this  change,  and  ordered  that  they  should 
celebrate  solemn  masses  in  honour  of  the  pa- 
triarch. In  his  reply  to  Basil,  the  holy  father 
addressed  to  him  cowardly  flatteries;  he  con- 
gratulated him  on  the  abominable  parricide 
which  he  had  committed  upon  the  person  of 
his  benefactor,  and  declared  that  his  reign 
was  a  special  blessing  from  God.  He  com- 
pared him  to  Solomon,  and  declared  that  it 
was  by  the  inspiration  of  Christ  that  he  assas- 
sinated Michael  to  drive  away  Photius,  and 
re-instate  Ignatius  on  his  See. 

Some  months  after,  new  embassadors  came 
to  congratulate  Adrian  on  his  election,  in  the 
name  of  Basil  and  Ignatius.  The  pope  re- 
ceived them  with  great  honours,  and  admitted 
them  into  the  secret  saloon  of  St.  Maria  Majo- 
ra,  to  confer  with  them.  The  envoys  brought 
lo  him  magnificent  presents,  and  the  following 


letter  from  the  emperor:  ^^ On  our  advent  to 
the  throne,  having  found  the  church  deprived 
of  its  legitimate  pastor,  and  submitted  to  the 
tyranny  of  a  stranger,  we  hastened  to  drive 
away  this  man,  to  recall  Ignatius,  our  father, 
who  had  been  unworthily  oppressed  by  oui 
predecessor.  We  however,  submit  to  your 
approval,  that  on  which  we  have  decided,  and 
we  ask  from  you,  how  those  ought  to  be 
treated  who  have  communed  with  Photius. 
The  bishops  and  priests  who  were  pledged 
not  to  abandon  Ignatius,  have  failed  in  their 
oaths ;  others,  led  on  by  the  seductions  of  the 
usurper  or  by  violence,  have  consented  to  be 
consecrated  by  the  false  patriarch;  finally, 
almost  all  the  ecclesiastics  have  given  way  by 
recognizing  his  authority.  We  beseech  you 
then,  to  have  pity  on  them,  in  order  to  shun 
an  universal  shipwreck  in  our  church." 

Ignatius,  in  his  letter,  gave  the  same  de 
tails,  and  recognized  the  primacy  of  the  Holy 
See  and  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  pope. 

The  embassadors  of  Basil  then  presented  to 
the  pontiff  a  book  which  had  been  found 
among  the  papers  of  Photius,  and  which  esta- 
blished the  crimes  of  Nicholas ;  it  also  con- 
tained the  relation  of  the  council  held  at  Con- 
stantinople at  the  time  of  the  condemnation 
of  Ignatius;  they  besought  Adrian  to  examine 
this  work.  He  declared,  however,  that  he 
would  do  nothing  but  condemn  the  author  ol 
it  the  third  time ;  then  one  of  the  Greek  bi- 
shops seized  the  book  and  cast  it  on  the 
ground,  exclaiming  ''  Thou  hast  been  cursed 
at  Constantinople,  be  again  cursed  at  Rome  !" 
He  then  trampled  it  under  foot  and  cut  it 
with  a  sword,  adding,  "The  devil  dwells  in 
this  work,  and  has  himself  spoken  by  the 
mouth  of  the  abominable  Photius ;  I  declare 
that  the  signatures  of  the  emperor,  Michael 
of  Basil,  and  of  almost  all  the  bishops  of  the 
East  have  been  counferfeited  by  Satan  him- 
self with  such  skill,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
recognize  the  criminal  fraud." 

Adrian  did  not  allow  so  favourable  an  oppor- 
tunity to  escape  of  avenging  the  Holy  See  of 
the  outrages  which  Photius  had  heaped  upon 
it ;  he  ordered  his  monks  to  take  up  the  book 
and  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  those  who  were 
acquainted  with  both  the  Greek  and  Latin 
languages,  that  it  might  be  censured. 

After  their  examination  of  it,  he  convened  a 
council,  at  which  the  book  was  solemnly 
condemned  in  the  presence  of  the  deputies 
from  the  East,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  synod 
he  thus  spoke  :  "  We  order  that  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  last  cabal  held  at  Constantinople 
by  Photius  and  the  emperor  Michael,  his 
guilty  protector,  be  burned  and  anathema- 
tized. We  also  order,  that  all  the  writings 
published  by  those  two  laymen  against  the 
Holy  See,  undergo  the  same  disgrace;  and  we 
reject  with  execration  the  two  cabals  which 
deposed  our  dear  brother,  Ignatius. 

"Finally,  we  excommunicate,  for  the  third 
time,  this  Photius,  already  condemned  by  our 
predecessor,  until  he  submits  himself  to  the 
ordinances  of  Pope  Nicholas  and  to  ours,  by 
publicly  abjuring  his  pretensions  to  the  epis- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


253 


copacy.  If  he  makes  thus  a  proper  apology, 
we  will  not  refuse  him  lay  communion,  but 
he  will  remain  for  evur  despoiled  of  the  sacred 
ornaments  in  which  he  was  clothed  by  an  in- 
famous usurpation. 

''As  to  those  who  have  assisted  at  the  im- 
pious assemblies  of  Photius,  if  they  return  to 
the  communion  of  Ignatius,  if  they  anathema- 
tize and  burn  the  copies  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  cabal,  they  shall  re-enter  the  bosom  of  the 
church)  but  he  who,  having  cognizance  of 
our  apostolic  decree,  shall  still  preserve  those 
cursed  copies,  shall  be  for  ever  excommuni- 
cated and  deposed.  We  give  this  order  for 
the  cities  of  Constantinople,  Alexandria,  Jeru- 
salem, as  well  as  for  all  the  faithful  of  the 
East ;  this  sentence  is  not,  however,  applica- 
ble to  our  son,  the  emperor  Basil,  although  his 
name  is  inserted  in  the  acts  of  the  condemned 
synod,  and  we  receive  him  into  the  number 
of  Catholic  emperors." 

This  decree  was  subscribed  by  forty  bi- 
shops, and  the  book,  after  having  been  a  se- 
cond time  trampled  under  foot,  was  then  cast 
into  a  heated  furnace. 

The  same  year  a  scandalous  event  troubled 
the  tranquillity  of  Rome.  The  bishop  Arsenes 
had  a  son  named  Eleutherus,  who  was  admit- 
ted into  the  family  of  Adrian,  which  was  com- 
posed of  his  wife  and  young  daughter.  Eleu- 
therus became  violently  enamoured  of  this 
young  girl,  who  was  already  affianced  to  an- 
other ;  he  carried  her  off  during  the  night, 
and  retired  with  her  and  her  mother  to  a 
strong  castle  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pavia. 
Arsenes.  in  despair  at  the  boldness  of  his  son, 
and  foreseeing  the  fatal  consequences  of  the 
vengeance  of  Ailrian,  cast  himself  at  his  feet 
to  obtain  his  approval  of  the  marriage  of  their 
children.  But  all  his  entreaties  were  use- 
less ;  the  pontiff  remained  inflexible  ;  then  the 
venerable  Arsenes,  who  feared,  on  account  of 
Eleutherus,  the  wrath  of  Adrian,  resolved  to 
interest,  in  the  defence  of  his  son,  a  powerful 
court,  which  could  protect  him  after  his 
death;  he  consequently  bequeathed  a  great 
part  of  his  wealth  to  the  empress  Ingelberge, 
the  wife  of  Louis,  on  condition  that  she  would 
furnish  troops  to  his  son,  in  case  the  pontiff 
desired  to  employ  violence  against  him. 

Scarcely,  however,  had  the  pious  bishop 
closed  his  eyes  in  death,  when  Eleutherus 
found  himself  without  defence,  exposed  to  the 
wralh  of  the  pope  ;  his  friends  were  alienated 
from  him ;  several  monks,  creatures  of  the 
Holy  See,  came  to  his  retreat  to  assassinate 
him  ;  his  wife  herself  yielding  to  secret  in- 
fluences, endeavoured  to  escape  with  her  mo- 
ther; his  servants  endeavoured  to  kill  him  by 
mingling  poison  with  the  water  served  up  at 
table;  finally,  the  unfortunate  man,  seeing 
himself  betra)-(;d  by  all  the  world,  lost  his  rea- 
son, and  in  a  lit  of  phrenzy,  killed  his  wife, 
and  his  mother-in-law,  Stephania.  He  was 
immediately  arrested.  The  emperor  Louis 
caused  him  to  be  bcheatled  in  the  presence 
of  the  commissioners  of  the  pope,  and  his  pro- 
perty was  confiscated  for  the  benelil  of  the 
monarch  and  of  the  Holy  See.   The  vengeance 


of  Adrian  was,  however,  unsatisfied  ;  he  con- 
vened a  council  to  blacken  the  memory  of 
Arsenes  and  Eleutherus,  and  he  even  anathe- 
matized the  librarian  Anastasius,  because  he 
belonged  to  this  wretched  family.  The  sen- 
tence was  thus  conceived:  "All  the  church 
of  God  has  known  the  crimes  committed  by 
Anastasius,  as  well  as  the  decrees  passed 
against  him  by  our  predecessors,  Leo  and 
Benedict,  who  despoiled  him  of  his  sacerdotal 
garments. 

''  Nicholas,  seduced  by  the  flatteries  of  this 
priest,  alterwards  consented  to  re-instate  him 
111  his  dignity ;  then,  under  cover  of  this  pro- 
tection, Anastasius  gave  himself  up.  with  im- 
punity, to  his  robberies;  he  has  pillaged  the 
patriarchal  palace;  he  has  carried  olf  the 
proceedings  of  the  council  which  condemned 
him;  he  has  allowed  heretical  prisoners  to 
escape,  to  free  them  from  punishment ;  and 
finally,  he  has  sown  disorder  between  the 
princes  and  the  church.  It  is  he  who  caused 
the  disgrace  of  Adalgrim,  and  his  calumnies 
condemned  the  unfortunate  victim  to  lose  his 
eyes  and  his  tongue ;  it  is  he  who  lent  a  guilty 
assistance  to  the  ravisher  of  our  well-beloved 
ilaughter.  and  it  is  still  he  whose  perverse 
councils  led  the  execrable  Eleutherus  to  the 
murder  of  my  wife  and  child. 

In  consequence  of  these  things,  we  ordain, 
in  conformity  with  the  judgment  of  Popes  Leo 
and  Benedict,  that  Anastasius,  the  librarian, 
be  deprived  of  all  communion,  until  he  shall 
justify  himself  from  his  crimes  before  a  ca- 
nonical assembly.  Those  who  shall  commune 
with  him,  whatever  be  their  rank,  shall  incur 
the  same  penalty;  and  if  he  shall  fiy  from 
Rome,  he  shall  be  laden  with  a  perpetual  ana- 
thema, and  without  hope  of  pardon."  Anas- 
tasius was  arrested  at  his  residence,  led  before 
the  council,  and  this  sentence  publicly  made 
known  to  him  in  the  church  of  St.  Praxedes, 
on  the  12th  of  October,  868. 

Some  time  after,  Adrian  received  a  letter 
from  Hincmar,  bishop  of  Laon,  complaining 
of  a  sentence  rendered  against  him  by  his 
uncle,  Hincmar,  the  metropolitan  of  Rheims. 
This  sentence  had  been  induced  by  his  de- 
baucheries and  shameful  conduct.  He  had 
rendered  himself  odious  to  the  clergy  and 
people  of  his  church  by  his  injustice,  his  ex- 
actions and  his  violence.  He  trafficked  in  the 
tlomains  of  his  See,  and  sold  them  to  power- 
ful lords  or  to  the  prince,  as  had  already  hap- 
pened with  several  abbeys,  which  he  had  sold 
to  the  monarch,  and  which  had  passed  into 
the  hands  of  a  leader  named  Normand.  He 
not  only  sought  to  procure  large  sums  by  ex- 
tortions, but  when  his  courtezans  had  ex- 
hausted his  wealth,  he  recovered,  by  arms, 
the  property  for  which  he  had  been  paid,  and 
sold  it  a  second  time.  He  even  pushed  his 
audacity  so  far  as  to  drive  the  lord  Normand 
from  the  domains  sold  to  King  Charles,  and 
he  e.vcommunicated  him  under  the  pretext 
that  he  had  seized  u^jon  the  lands  of  the  dio- 
cese of  Laon. 

Charles,  informed  of  the  conduct  of  Hinc- 
mar, cited  him  before  a  council  convened  at 


254 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


Verbery,  in  order  to  hear  his  justification  of 
the  crimes  of  which  he  had  been  accused  by 
a  great  number  of  witnesses.  Hincmar  ap- 
peared before  the  synod,  but  he  had  the  im- 
pudence to  load  his  uncle,  who  presided  over 
the  assembly,  with  the  most  outrageous  in- 
sults; he  was  tnen  unanimously  condemned, 
and  ordered  to  take  off  the  anathema  which 
he  had  lanched  against  Normand,  and  to  re- 
store to  him  the  property  which  he  held 
through  the  liberality  of  his  sovereign. 

Hincmar  refused  to  conform  to  this  decision, 
and  appealed  from  the  judgment  of  the  pre- 
lates of  France  to  the  pontiff,  as  alone  pos- 
sessing the  right  of  judgment  in  a  difference 
between  a  king  and  a  bishop.  The  assembly 
opposed  his  appeal,  maintaining,  with  reason, 
that  this  step  was  contrary  to  the  privileges 
of  the  Galilean  church,  and  to  the  canons  of 
the  Sixth  Council  of  Carthage ;  but  the  wary 
prelate,  well  knowing  the  pride  and  ambition 
of  the  holy  father,  persisted  in  his  determina- 
tion, and  deputed,  secretly,  to  Rome,  a  clerk 
called  Celsan,  to  claim  the  interference  of 
Adrian. 

The  latter,  having  been  informed  of  the  de- 
cree of  the  council  of  Verbevy,  wrote  to  the 
metropolitan  of  Rheims  and  to  King  Charles, 
that  they  should  permit  Hincmar  to  come  on 
a  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  the  apostles,  order- 
ing them  even  to  bear  the  expenses  of  his  jour- 
ney. The  holy  father  threatened  with  ex- 
communication the  lord  Normand,  if  he  did 
not  restore  at  once  the  property  of  the  diocese 
of  Laon,.  which  he  had  usurped,  and  he  de- 
nounced the  vassals  who  should  sustain  him 
in  his  criminal  enterprise.  On  the  receipt  of 
the  letter  of  the  pope,  Charles  wrote  to  the 
stubborn  prelate  to  come  immediately  to  his 
court,  to  sign  a  retraction  with  his  own  hand, 
by  which  he  should  recognize  his  faults,  and 
promise  submission  to  his  king  and  superior, 
the  archbishop  of  Rheims.  Hincmar  not  only 
refused  a  second  time  to  obey  the  orders  of 
the  prince,  but  he  even  detached  his  vassals 
from  the  obedience  they  had  sworn  to  King 
Charles.. 

Irritated  at  this  audacity,  the  monarch  sent 
two  prelates,  Odon  of  Beauvais,  and  Gilbert 
of  Chalons,  with  troops,  to  bring  him  before 
him,  voluntarily  or  by  force,  as  well  as  to 
subdue  his  vassals,  who  had  taken  part  in  his 
rebellion.  But  the  prelate  finding  himself 
sustained  in  his  resistance  by  the  pontiff  of 
Rome,  dared  to  await  the  arrival  of  his  troops 
at  the  head  of  his  clergy,  whom  he  had  as- 
sembled in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  his 
cathedral ;  and  there,  before  the  crowd  of 
citizens,  holding  the  cross  in  one  hand,  and 
the  Gospels  in  the  other,  he  mounted  the  pul- 
pit of  his  church,  and  pronounced  in  a  loud 
voice  the  following  anathema  : — "  I  declare 
all  those  excommunicated  who  shall  enter  by 
violence  into  the  holy  place,  or  who  shall  pass 
the  bounds  of  our  diocese  ;  and  in  especial  do 
I  anathematize  Hincmar,  my  uncle,  and  King 
Charles,  who  dares  renew  towards  the  faith- 
ful of  his  kingdom,  the  persecutions  of  the 
cruel  Domitian." 


The  officers  of  the  king,  however,  made 
their  way  into  the  church,  followed  by  their 
soldiers.  Hincmar  then  took  refuge  in  the 
sanctuary  with  the  clergy,  called  the  people 
to  his  aid,  ordering  them  to  drive  from  the 
house  of  God  the  hired  assassins  of  a  tyrant 
who  defiled  it  by  their  abominable  presence. 
The  soldiers  drew  their  swords,  and  wished 
to  carry  him  by  force  from  the  church  ;  but  at 
a  bound  he  sprang  upon  the  altar,  embraced 
the  crucifix,  and  called  down  upon  them,  with 
cries  of  fury,  the  malediction  of  God.  These 
stopped,  alarmed ;  and  such  was  the  super- 
stition of  the  time,  that  they  dared  not  tear 
him  from  the  altar,  and  abandoned  their 
enterprise. 

After  their  departure,  Hincmar  came  out 
from  the  church,  and  returned  to  his  palace, 
borne  in  triumph  by  the  clergy.  The  next 
day,  when  their  minds  were  calmer,  they 
thought  with  dread  on  the  consequences  of 
the  wrath  of  Charles.  The  priests  themselves 
went  to  the  prelate  to  declare  to  him  that 
they  should  refuse  in  future  to  obey  his  or- 
ders until  he  had  given  satisfaction  to  the 
prince.  Transported  Avith  fury,  he  excom- 
municated all  the  ecclesiastics  of  his  church, 
prohibited  them  from  saying  mass;  from  bap- 
tizing children,  even  in  the  last  extremity ;  of 
administering  the  sacrament  to  the  dying,  and 
of  burying  the  dead. 

The  king  put  an  end  to  all  this  violence  by 
sending  new  troops,  who  seized  upon  the 
bishop,  and  conducted  him  to  a  fortress. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  events,  Lothaire 
was  preparing  to  go  into  Italy  to  kiss  the  feet 
of  the  pontiff,  and  wrote  to  the  emperor  to  in- 
duce that  prince  to  use  his  influence  over 
Adrian,  in  order  to  obtain  for  him  authority  to 
leave  Thietberge,  and  take  Waldrade  as  his 
legitimate  wife.  But  the  superstitious  Louis, 
fearing  to  break  off  the  good  understanding 
which  he  had  with  the  pope,  refused  his  as- 
sistance to  Lothaire,  and  sent  deputies  to  him 
to  induce  him  to  return  to  his  kingdom.  The 
king  of  Lorraine,  who  knew  the  weak  and 
pusillanimous  character  of  the  emperor,  how- 
ever went  on  and  came  to  Beneventum  to  find 
him.  His  presence  gained  to  his  side  the  em- 
press Ingelberge,  who  ruled  her  husband,  and 
she  determined  herself  to  accompany  him  to 
the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino,  x^here  the 
pontiff  was  to  come  by  the  orders  of  Louis. 

Adrian  yielded  to  the  requests  of  the  em- 
press, and  consented  to  receive  to  his  com- 
munion King  Lothaire,  and  Gonthier,  metro- 
politan of  Cologne.  He  nevertheless  exacted 
that  this  latter  should  sign  the  following  re- 
traction: — "I  declare  before  God  and  his 
saints,  to  you,  my  Lord  Adrian,  the  sovereign 
pontiff,  as  also  to  the  faithful  who  are  sub- 
mitted to  your  orders,  and  to  all  the  assembly 
of  Christians,  that  I  bear  humbly  the  sentence 
of  deposition  canonically  rendered  against  me 
by  Pope  Nicholas.  I  affirm  that  I  will  never 
exercise  any  sacred  function,  unless  you  re- 
instate me,  through  kindness,  in  the  episcopal 
dignity ;  and  I  swear  that  I  will  never  excite 
any  scandal  against  the  church  of  Rome,  or  its 


«? 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


255 


chief,  to  whom  I  renew  my  oath  of  submis- 
sion and  absolute  obedience,  even  ahhough 
his  orders  shall  be  contrary  to  the  interests  of 
the  king,  my  master." 

Ingelberge  then  returned  to  her  husband, 
and  the  pope  took  the  route  to  Rome  with  King 
Lothaire.  The  prince,  however,  could  not 
obtain  permission  to  enter  the  city  on  the  first 
day.  No  member  of  the  cleriiy  came  to  meet 
him,  and  he  passed  the  night  at  the  convent 
of  St.  Peter  without  the  walls.  On  the  next 
day  he  was  only  permitted  to  go  with  his  es- 
cort to  the  sepulchre  of  St.  Peter,  to  deposit 
there  the  rich  offerings  which  he  had  brought. 
He  was  then  conducted  to  the  palace  destined 
for  him  near  the  church,  and  where  the 
apartments  had  not  even  been  prepared  for 
his  reception. 

Some  days  after,  the  holy  father  caused 
Lothaire  to  be  informed  that  he  would  con- 
sent to  give  him  an  audience.  The  prince 
went  immediately  to  the  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran,  and  prostrated  himself  at  the  feet  of 
Adrian,  who  did  not  deign  to  raise  him  up, 
and  sharply  apostrophized  him,  demanding 
from  him  if  he  had  followed  exactly  the  de- 
cisions of  Pope  Nicholas.  Lothaire  replied 
that  he  had  observed  them  as  orders  sent 
from  heaven ;  and  he  took  the  lords  who  sur- 
rounded him  to  witness  as  to  his  sincerity. — 
The  pontiff  then  replied  :  "If  your  testimony 
is  true,  we  offer  for  it  solemn  thanks  to  Jesus 
Christ.  Let  us  go,  then,  my  dear  son,  to  the 
confessional  of  St.  Peter,  where  we  will  im- 
molate a  saving  sacrifice  fox  the  safety  of 
your  body  and  your  soul ;  for  you  must  par- 
ticipate with  us  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar  in 
order  to  be  re-incorporated  among  the  faithful 
from  whom  you  were  separated. 

After  the  sacrifice  of  the  mas.s,  the  pope  in- 
vited Lothaire  to  approach  the  holy  table,  and 
taking  the  Eucharist,  he  said  to  him  :  '•  If  you 
regard  yourself  innocent  of  the  adultery  for 
which  you  have  been  condemned  by  our  pre- 
decessor, and  if  you  have  formed  the  resolu- 
tion never  to  enter  into  criminal  relations 
with  Waldrade,  your  concubine,  approach 
boldly  and  receive  the  sacrament  of  eternal 
salvation.  But  if  you  intend  to  return  to  your 
adultery,  have  not  the  rashness  to  receive  the 
communion,  lest  the  heavenly  bread,  which 
God  has  given  to  the  faithful  as  a  remedy  for 
their  safety,  causes  your  eternal  damnation." 
Lothaire  advanced  boldly  and  received  the  con- 
secrated host.  The  holy  father  then  turned  to 
the  lords  who  accompanied  the  king,  and  said 
to  them,  presenting  to  them  the  communion, 
"If  you  have  not  consented  to  the  crime  of  your 
master,  if  you  have  not  communicateil  with 
the  excommunicated,  may  the  body  and  blootl 
of  Christ  procure  for  you  eternal  life."  Some 
retired,  but  the  greater  number  receiTcd  the 
communion. 

Lothaire  accompanied  the  pope  to  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  where  he  was  admitted 
to  his  table.  After  the  repast,  the  prince  of- 
fered to  the  holy  father  new  presents  in  vases 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  received  in  exchange 
a  lioness,  a  branch  of  a  palm-tree,  and  a  cane. 


The  monarch  thus  explained  the  allegory  of 
the  pope  :  the  lioness  represented  Waldrade, 
who  was  about  to  be  restored  to  him  ;  the 
palm  was  the  emblem  of  his  victory,  and  the 
rod  designated  the  authority  granted  to  him 
over  obstinate  bishops.  This  rod  was  only 
an  African  plant,  the  stem  of  which,  strong 
and  light,  served  to  aid  old  men  in  their  walk, 
and  to  schoolmasters  to  punish  their  scholars. 
Lothaire  quitted  Rome  with  a  joyful  heart, 
cxpectinir  to  be  soon  authorized  to  unite  him- 
self with  the  beautiful  Waldrade.  But  the 
hatred  of  the  priests  followed  the  monarch. 
On  arriving  at  Lucca,  a  violent  fever  seized 
him.  and  he  died  three  days  after  his  inter- 
view with  Adrian.  He  was  inter-i^d,  without 
any  pomp,  in  a  small  monastery,  near  the  city. 

As  Lothaire  left  no  legitimate  children,  the 
emperor  Louis,  his  brother,  was  the  rightful 
heir  of  his  kingdom.  But  fearing  the  ambi- 
tion of  his  uncle,  Charles  the  Bald,  that  prince 
dared  not  claim  his  succession  by  force.  He 
brought  the  pope  into  his  interests,  and  in- 
duced him  to  write  several  letters  to  the  lords 
of  the  kingdom  of  Lorraine. 

Adrian  commanded  the  prelates,  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  to  remain  faithful  to  the  le- 
gitimate heir,  and  to  yield  neither  to  promises 
nor  threats.  His  letter,  addressed  to  the  me- 
tropolitans, dukes,  and  counts  of  the  kingdom 
of  Charles,  contained  threats  of  excommuni- 
cation against  those  who  did  not  range  them- 
selves on  the  side  of  the  emperor,  and  exalted 
the  services  which  he  had  rendered  the 
church  by  combatting  the  Saracens.  The 
pope  recalled  to  the  recollection  of  the  French 
the  solemn  oaths  by  which  the  grandchildren 
of  Charlemaane  had  bound  themselves  to  ob- 
serve religiously  the  agreements  which  had 
governed  the  division  between  them  and  their 
nephews.  He  added  :  •'  Know,  bishops,  lords 
and  citizens,  that  whosoever  among  you  shall 
oppose  himself  to  the  pretensions  of  Louis, 
whom  we  declare  sovereign  of  Lorraine,  shall 
be  struck  by  the  arms  which  God  has  placed 
in  our  hands  for  the  defence  of  this  prince." 
Thus  the  popes  already  disposed  of  empires, 
and  forced  the  people  to  endure  the  slavery 
of  masters  whom  they  chose  for  them  !  The 
orders  of  the  Roman  pontiff  arrived,  however, 
too  late  ;  for  immediately  on  the  death  of  Lo- 
thaire, Charles  had  marched  on  iSIetz,  and  had 
been  crowned  king  of  Lorraine. 

Such  were  the  events  which  were  transpir- 
ing in  France  at  the  time  when  the  legates 
of  the  pontiff,  and  the  embassadors  of  the 
emperor  Louis  landed  at  Selimbria,  a  city 
situated  sixty  leagues  from  Byzantium.  By 
the  orders  of  Basil,  forty  horses  from  the  im- 
perial stables  were  furnished  to  them  for  their 
equipages,  and  a  service  of  silver  plate  for 
their  table.  A  great  many  officers  came  there 
to  meet  them,  and  conducted  them  to  a  cha- 
teau called  Strongile.  where  they  passed  the 
night.  The  next  day,  in  order  to  continue  on 
their  route  to  Constantinople,  fresh  horses 
were  brouaht  to  them  magnificently  capari- 
soned, and  covered  with  harness  of  gold,  em- 
broidered  with    precious    stones.      All   the 


256 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


schools;  companies  of  officers  of  the  palace, 
the  priests  weaiing  glittering  copes,  and  car- 
rying crosses  and  banners,  awaited  for  them 
at  the  gates  of  the  city  ;  and  as  soon  as  they 
had  passed  the  walls,  the  cortege  took  up  the 
march,  having  at  its  head  the  librarian  Paul, 
Joseph,  the  guardian  of  the  sacred  vessels, 
Basil  the  treasurer,  and,  finally,  all  the  Syn- 
celli  of  the  patriarch,  carrying  candles  and 
torches. 

The  emperor  gave  audience  to  the  legates 
in  the  gilded  saloon;  and  as  soon  as  they  ap- 
peared before  him,  he  rose,  took  with  his  own 
hand  the  letters  of  the  pope  and  kissed  them, 
bowing  himself ;  he  then  addressed  them  as 
follows: — "I  thank  the  most  holy  father  for 
the  care  which  he  has  already  taken  of  our 
church,  which  was  rent  by  the  schism  of  the 
eunuch  Photius  ;  we  hope,  by  the  aid  of  God, 
to  put  an  end  to  the  troubles  which  still  di- 
vide the  patriarchs,  metropolitans,  and  bishops 
of  the  East.  We  wait  with  impatience  for 
the  decision  of  the  church  of  Rome,  our  mo- 
ther; we,  therefore,  beseech  you  to  hasten 
your  labours  to  determine  upon  the  measures 
which  shall  be  necessary  to  re-establish  union 
and  tranquillity  in  our  kingdom." 

The  envoys  of  Adrian  replied  to  Basil, 
'■•  That  they  had  received  orders  to  convene  a 
general  council,  to  bring  back  concord  among 
the  Eastern  ecclesiastics  ;  but  that  they  could 
not  receive  the  Greek  bishops  into  their  as- 
sembly, until  they  had  subscribed  a  letter  of 
submission  to  the  Holy  See,  according  to  a 
formula  which  they  brought  from  the  archives 
of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran."  They  then 
exhibited  to  the  emperor,  the  patriarch,  and 
the  prelates  the  formulary  of  these  letters ; 
these  last  promised  to  make  correct  copies  of 
them,  and  to  return  them  to  the  legates  with 
their  names  attached. 

Three  days  after,  the  council  re-assembled, 
and  the  presidency  of  it  was  bestowed  on  the 
Latin  bishops,  which  had  never  before  been 
seen  in  any  general  assembly. 

Photius,  cited  to  appear  before  the  fathers 
to  reply  to  the  accusations  bi'ought  against 
him,  presented  himself  with  dignity.  He  de- 
clared that  he  did  not  regard  himself  as  cul- 
pable for  having  rejected  from  the  church  a 
parricide,  who  had  murdered  his  benefactor 
Michael,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  do  so. 
His  defence  was  calm,  notwithstanding  the 
exasperation  of  his  accusers;  his  eloquence 
and  firmness  so  shook  the  convictions  of  the 
fathei's,  that  the  representatives  of  the  pon- 
tiff endeavoured  to  close  the  deliberations, 
from  fear  of  an  acquittal.  They  heaped  the 
grossest  insults  upon  Photius,  declared  him 
excommunicated,  and  ordered  the  soldiery  to 
drive  him  from  the  church  with  the  wood  of 
their  lances.  Thus,  in  a  few  hours,  and  by 
the  will  of  an  assassin,  the  clergy  of  the  East 
found  themselves  submitted  to  the  authority 
of  the  court  of  Rome.  In  the  end,  however, 
the  Greeks  refused  to  recognize  the  decisions 
of  this  council,  which  they  called  a  sacrile- 
gious and  irregular  cabal. 

The  synod  had  terminated  its  sessions,  when 


the  Bulgarian  embassadors  came  to  Constan- 
tinople to  inquire  of  which  See  their  church 
was  a  dependency.  The  legates  of  Rome  at 
once  decided,  "  that  the  Holy  See  having  for- 
meily  governed  the  old  and  new  church  of 
Ephesus,  all  Thessaly  and  Dardania,  which 
had  since  taken  the  name  of  Bulgaria,  it  re- 
sulted, that  the  invasions  of  the  barbarians 
could  not  deprive  it  of  its  right  of  jurisdiction, 
and  that  Rome  should  recover  it,  when  these 
people  became  Christians.  They  added,  that 
Bogoris,  their  king,  had  already  submitted  to 
the  authority  of  the  pontiffs,  and  that  Pope 
Nicholas,  at  his  request,  had  sent  the  bishops 
Paul,  Dominick,  Leopard,  Formosus  and  Gri- 
moald,  as  well  as  a  great  number  of  priests 
and  deacons,  to  teach  the  faithful  of  that 
country ;  that  they  had  established  churches, 
ordained  priests,  founded  monasteries,  cate- 
chised the  inhabitants,  and  had  in  fact  taken 
possession  of  the  whole  kingdom  in  the  name  of 
the  Holy  See.  They  then  declared  that  the  court 
of  Rome,  having  had  the  charge  of  the  conduct 
of  the  Bulgarians  for  three  years,  could  not  be 
deprived  of  its  authority  over  these  people." 

The  clergy  of  Constantinople,  wounded  in 
their  dignity,  then  protested  against  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  legates.  "  It  is  not  just,'"  said 
the  Greek  priests,  •'  that  Rome,  which  has 
already  fallen  off  from  the  obedience  which  it 
owed  to  the  empire,  by  making  criminal  al- 
liances with  the  Franks,  should  wish  to  arro- 
gate to  itself  a  jurisdiction  over  states,  which 
are  snatched  from  our  princes.  AVe,  there- 
fore, decide  that  the  country  of  the  Bulgarians, 
which  was  in  former  times  under  the  sway 
of  our  emperors  and  patriarchs,  shall  now  re- 
turn under  the  rule  of  Byzantium." 

But  the  envoys  of  Rome  exclaimed  against 
this  declaration,  and  replied  to  the  observa- 
tions of  the  clergy  by  a  bull  of  prohibition. 
"We  absolutely  break  and  declare  void,  even 
as  the  judgment  of  the  supreme  chief  of  the 
universal  church,  the  sentence  which  they 
shall  dare  to  pronounce,  without  having  been 
named  as  judges  in  the  affair  of  the  Bulga- 
rians; and  we  beseech  the' patriarch  Igna- 
tius, to  whom  we  have  granted  an  absolute 
authority  over  the  clergy  of  the  East,  not  to 
lay  claim  to  jurisdiction  over  the  Bulgarians, 
and  to  prohibit  his  clergy  from  entering  that 
kingdom,  if  he  does  not  wish  us  to  deprive 
him  of  the  rights  which  the  H0I3-  See  has 
granted  him  over  the  faithful  of  the  East." 

Ig-natius,  trembling  for  his  authoiity,  im- 
mediately sought  out  the  legates,  and  said  lo 
them,  "  God  keep  me,  my  brethren,  from 
undertaking  anything  against  my  superior,  the 
pontifl'of  Rome;  I  am  neither  young  enough 
to  allow  myself  to  be  overtaken  by  ambition, 
nor  old  enough  to  allow,  through  weakiress. 
others  to  do  that  which  I  would  not  do  my- 
self." 

The  emperor,  however,  whose  interests 
were  attacked,  was  irritated  by  the  cowardice 
of  the  patriarch,  and  addressed  to  him  severe 
reproaches:  but  through  policy  he  dissimula- 
ted his  resentment,  and  loaded  with  presents 
the  legates  of  Adrian.     On  their   departure 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


257 


from  Constantinople,  he  granted  them  an 
escort  commanded  b}'  Theodosius.  his  master 
of  the  horse ;  he,  in  accordance  with  his  in- 
structions, leit  tliem  at  Dyrachinrn,  and  a  few 
days  afterwards  they  fell  into  the  power  of 
some  pirates,  who  robbed  tliem  of  all  their 
treasures  and  carried  them  ofT  as  prisoners, 
in  order  to  extract  from  them  rich  ransoms; 
alarmeil,  however,  by  the  threats  of  the  em- 
peror Louis,  they  released  the  legates,  who 
entered  Rome  on  the  22d  of  December,  870. 

Adrian,  into.xicated  by  the  triumph  which 
he  hail  obtained  in  the  East,  determined  to 
act  in  France,  as  he  hatl  ilone  in  Constantino- 
ple. King  Charles,  without  disquieting  him- 
self at  the  threats  of  the  court  of  Rome,  had 
taken  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Lothaire. 
The  holy  father  immediately  wrote  to  him, 
that  he  regarded  this  step  as  an  insult  to  his 
authority;  he  accused  him  of  having  violated 
his  oath,  and  treated  with  contempt  his  le- 
gates, instead  of  prostrating  himself  at  their 
feet,  as  other  sovereigns  had  done.  His  letter 
thus  concluded  : — '•  Impious  king,  we  order 
thee  to  retire  from  the  kingdom  of  Lorraine, 
and  to  surrender  it  to  the  emperor  Louis;  if 
thou  refusest  submission  to  our  will,  we  will 
ourselves  go  into  France  to  excommunicate 
thee  and  drive  thee  from  thy  wicked  throne." 

At  the  same  time  Adrian  wrote  to  the  me- 
tropolitan of  Rheims,  to  reprimand  him,  for 
not  having  turned  aside  the  king  from  his 
projects  of  usurpation,  and  reproached  him 
with  having  rendered  himself  guilty,  through 
his  weakness,  of  being  a  criminal  accomplice 
in  the  rebellion  of  the  monarch.  He  ordered 
him  to  repair  his  fault  by  anathematizing 
Charles,  by  not  having  any  communication 
with  him,  and  by  prohibiting  all  the  bishops 
of  Gaul  from  receiving  the  usurper  in  their 
churches  under  penalty  of  deposition  and  ex- 
communication. 

His  legates,  John  and  Peter,  had  secret  in- 
structions to  excite  the  ambition  of  the  young 
son  of  Charles,  and  to  lead  him  to  revolt 
against  his  father.  The  young  Carloman  had 
already,  some  years  before,  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  discontented  of  the  kingdom, 
and  Charles  to  punish  him,  had  caused  him 
to  be  ordained  a  deacon,  notwithstanding  his 
resi.stance  and  his  imprecations,  and  had  con- 
fined him  in  close  prison.  The  legates  of 
Adrian  availing  themselves  of  a  religious  mo- 
live,  had  asked  from  the  monarch  pardon  for 
his  son,  and  when  the  young  prince  had  left 
his  prison,  they  surroundeil  him  with  power- 
ful seductions,  and  raised  his  spirit  by  ihe 
liope  of  a  crown.  They  finally,  by  their  in- 
trigues, iletermined  him  to  unfold  the  stand- 
ard of  revolt.  Thi^  troops  were  already  gained 
over  by  the  gold  of  the  Holy  See.  and  the  day 
even  fixed  on  which  they  were  to  attack  the 
palace  to  carry  ofli"  the  king,  when  one  of  the 
conspirators  revealed  the  plot.  Charles,  warn- 
ed of  the  treason  of  his  son,  arrested  him  im- 
mediately and  ordered  him  to  be  beheaded. 
Thinking  the  punishment  too  mild,  he  retract- 
ed the  sentence  of  death  at  the  moment  when 
thev  were  conducting:  the  voung  prince  to  the 

Vol.  L  2H    ' 


place  of  execution,  and  the  e.xecutioner.  by 
his  orders,  poured  molten  lead  into  his  eyes 
and  mouth. 

Notwithstanding  his  just  indignation  against 
the  Holy  See,  Charles  was  compelled  to  dis- 
simulate with  the  legates.  He  sent  them, 
however,  from  his  court,  accompanied  by  his 
embassadors,  Rusegisilus.  the  abbot  of  St. 
Michael,  and  a  layman  named  Lothaire.  The 
envoys  of  the  prince  were  instructed  to  pre- 
sent to  the  pontifl"  a  magnificent  altar  cloth, 
two  crowns  of  gold  enriched  with  precious 
stones,  and  the  letters  of  the  archbishop  Hinc- 
mar. 

In  his  reply  to  Adrian,  Hincmar  affirmed, 
that  he  had  always  executed  his  orders,  and 
that  he  hatl  even  sent  to  the  kings  ami  bishops 
of  the  three  kingdoms  a  protest,  of  which  he  ail- 
dressed  to  him  a  copy.  '•  The  sovereign  pontitT 
prohibits,  under  penalty  of  an  anathema,  the 
invasion  of  the  stales  of  the  king  of  Lorraine, 
which  belong  of  hereditary  right  to  the  em- 
peror Louis;  and  if  any  prelate  aulhoriiies  this 
usurpation,  he  shall  no  longer  be  regarded  as 
a  pastor,  but  we  pronounce  him  a  mercenary 
priest,  paid  for  his  crime.  I.  Hincmar,  in  par- 
ticular, am  ordered  to  divert  princes  from  this 
guilty  enterprise. 

•'In  contempt,  however,  of  my  warning, 
the  sovereigns  of  Gaul  and  Germany,  have 
made  a  treaty  concerning  the  kingdom  of 
Lothaire,  of  which  they  call  themselves  the 
legitimate  successors.  They  have  divitled 
his  provinces  between  them,  under  the  pre- 
text that  their  people  would  drive  them  into 
terrible  and  disastrous  wars  if  their  agree- 
ments were  not  faithfully  executed.  Reside.*, 
they  maintain  that  kingdoms  cannot  remain 
without  chiefs,  when  they  are  exposed  to  the 
invasions  of  the  Pagans,  and  that  in  such  a 
case,  the  people  have  the  liberty  of  choosing 
a  king,  who  can  defend  them  against  their 
enemies. 

"Thus  finding  myself  placed  between  the 
grief  of  disobeying  the  Holy  See  and  the  fear 
of  seeing  Lorraine  exposed  lo  the  fury  of  the 
Pagans,  I  have  not  dared  to  resolve  on  any 
thing  without  the  advice  of  other  bishops,  and 
I  reserve  for  the  pope  the  decision  of  this  un- 
fortunate question.  Such,"  added  Hincmar, 
"has  been  my  language.  Do  not  render  me 
then  responsible  for  events  which  are  accom- 
plishing under  my  very  eyes,  most  holy  father, 
by  charging  me  to  direct  the  clergy  and  the 
princes,  from  my  being  the  ecclesiastic  most 
elevated  in  diiiiiity  at  the  court  of  Charles.  It 
is  false  to  say  that  I  am  above  the  other  metro- 
politans of  France,  since  we  are  all  elevated 
to  the  same  rank. 

"Vou  order  me  to  excommunicate  the 
prince  if  he  persists  in  his  ambitious  projects, 
under  penalty  of  being  myself  driven  from 
the  communion  of  the  faithful!  I  will  reply 
to  you  what  the  ecclesiastics  and  laymen, 
from  whom  I  could  not  conceal  your  oiders, 
said,  on  reading  your  letters — No  pontiff  has 
ever  dared  to  give  like  orders  to  the  clergy 
of  Gaul,  although  our  unhappy  country  has 
been  constantlv  ravaged  bv  civil  wars,  be- 


258 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


tweea  fathers  and  children,  brothers,  uncles 
and  nephews,  who  disputed  in  turn  a  bloody 
throne;  never  diil  jour  predecessor,  whose 
violence  desolated  the  East  and  the  West, 
push  thus  far  his  anger  against  Lothaire. 

"It  is  the  duty  of  the  popes,  to  appear 
themselves  before  tyrants,  to  condemn  to  their 
faces  heretical  princes,  as  the  most  illustrious 
of  your  predecessors  practised  towards  Con- 
stantine  the  Arian,  Julian  the  Apostate,  and 
Maximus  the  Cruel.  If  I  even  had  the  weak- 
ness to  separate  myself  from  the  communion 
of  the  king  to  obey  you,  the  other  prelates 
would  abstain  from  mine,  because  Prince 
Charles  has  not  been  judicially  convicted  of 
the  crime  of  perjury  and  usurpation,  as  musr 
be  done  in  the  case  even  of  a  mere  citizen, 
before  his  condemnation. 

"  Do  you  not  fear  lest  they  should  demand 
of  you,  what  difference  exists  between  the 
present  pontiffs  and  those  who  reigned  under 
the  Merovingian  dynasty?  We  know  that 
King  Pepin  was  consecrated  by  Pope  Stephen, 
who  came  to  France  to  implore  his  aid ;  and 
we  have  not  forgotten  that  this  prince  con- 
quered Astolphus  the  Lombard,  not  by  the 
thunders  of  Rome,  but  by  his  victorious  troops. 
We  will  recall  to  you  what  Charlemagne  did 
for  Pope  Adrian  the  First ;  and  for  what  ser- 
vices the  pontiff  Leo  gave  to  him  the  title  of 
patrician,  and  the  dignity  of  emperor;  we  will 
also  tell  you  for  what  motives  Stephen  so- 
lemnly consecrated  Louis  the  Good  Natured, 
and  through  what  an  infamous  policy  Gregory 
excited  Lothaire  to  revolt  against  his  father. 
Finally,  the  bishop  of  Rome  should  not  forget, 
that  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom  is  made  by 
war  and  victory,  and  not  by  the  excommuni- 
cations of  a  prelate. 

"  When  we  exhort  the  people  to  dread  the 
power  of  Rome,  to  submit  to  the  pontiff,  and 
to  send  their  wealth  to  the  sepulchre  of  the 
apostle  in  order  to  obtain  the  protection  of 
God,  they  reply  to  us :  Defend  then  by  your 
thunders,  the  state  against  the  Normans  who 
wish  to  invade  it,  and  let  the  Holy  See  no 
more  impjore  the  succour  of  our  arms  to  pro- 
tect it. 

••  If  the  pope  wishes  to  preserve  the  aid  of 
our  people,  let  him  no  more  seek  to  dispose 
of  thrones ;  and  say  to  him,  that  he  cannot  be 
at  once  king  and  priest.  That  he  cannot  im- 
pose on  us  a  monarch,  nor  pretend  to  subju- 
gate us — us  who  are  Franks,  for  we  will  never 
support  the  yoke  of  the  slavery  of  princes  or 
popes,  and  will  follow  the  precepts  of  Scrip- 
ture, combatting  without  ceasing  for  liberty, 
the  only  heritage  which  Christ  left  to  the 
nations  when  dying  on  the  cross. 

•'•  If  the  holy  father  excommunicates  Chris- 
tians, who  refuse  to  cringe  blindly  beneath 
his  authority,  he  unworthily  abuses  the  apos- 
tolic power,  and  his  anathemas  have  no  power 
in  heaven;  for  God,  who  is  just,  has  refused 
to  him  the  power  of  disposing  of  temporal 
kingdoms. 

■  •  I  ha ve  done  my  best  to  lead  our  prelates  into 
sentiments  more  conformable  to  your  wishes; 
but  all  my  words  have  been  useless;  I  ought 


not  then  to  be  separated  from  your  communion 
for  the  sins  of  others.  Your  legates  are  my  wit- 
nesses, that  in  the  execution  of  your  orders.  I 
have  resisted  the  lords  and  the  king,  until 
they  have  threatened  me,  that  if  I  persisted 
in  defending  you,  they  would  make  me  sing- 
alone  before  the  altar  of  my  church,  and 
would  take  from  me  all  power  over  the  pro- 
perty and  persons  of  my  diocese.  Threats 
more  terrible  still  have  been  made  against 
you,  which  they  will  not  fail  to  execute  if 
God  permits.  Thus  I  declare  to  you,  after 
having  had  sad  experience,  that  neither  your 
anathemas,  nor  your  thunders,  will  prevent 
our  monarch  and  his  lords  from  keeping  Lor- 
raine, on  which  they  have  seized." 

This  energetic  and  lengthily  argued  reply 
of  the  metropolitan  of  Rheims,  witnesses  that 
that  prelate,  instead  of  seconding  Adrian  and 
his  bold  ambition,  was  persuading  Charles, 
that  in  this  great  question,  the  royal  authority 
and  the  liberty  of  the  Galilean  church  were 
compromised.  Thu.s,  by  his  counsels,  the 
court  of  France  separated  itself  from  the  court 
of  Rome.  The  pontiff,  transported  with  rage, 
sent  new  letters  still  more  violent  and  auda- 
cious than  the  first. 

In  the  meanwhile,  took  place  the  judicial 
condemnation  of  Hincmar  of  Laon,  and  of 
young  Carloman,  who  had  both  appealed  to 
the  Holy  See. 

Adrian  wrote  immediately  to  King  Charles 
in  these  terms  :  "  Execrable  prince,  not  only 
hast  thou  committed  frightful  excesses  in 
usurping  the  kingdom  of  thy  nephew,  but 
thou  even  surpassest  wild  beasts  in  tearing 
thine  own  entrails  and  mutilating  thy  son 
Carloman.  We  order  thee,  unnatural  father, 
since  thou  canst  not  restore  sight  and  speech 
to  thy  innocent  son,  to  re-establish  him  in  his 
property,  his  honours  and  his  dignities,  until 
the  time  in  which  our  legate  shall  go  into  thy 
accursed  kingdom,  to  take,  in  behalf  of  this 
unfortunate,  the  measures  which  we  shall 
judge  proper.  In  the  mean  time,  whatever 
may  be  the  enterprises  of  Carloman  against 
thee,  we  prohibit  thy  lords  from  taking  arms 
in  thy  defence,  and  we  enjoin  on  the  bishops 
not  to  obey  thy  orders,  under  penalty  of  e.v- 
communication  and  eternal  damnation ;  for 
God  wills  that  division  should  reign  between 
the  father  and  the  son,  to  punish  thee  for  the 
usurpation  of  the  kingdoms  of  Lorraine  and 
Burgundy.  As  to  the  bishop  of  Laon,  we  will 
and  order  by  our  apostolic  authority,  that  thou 
placest  him  at  liberty,  in  order  that  he  may 
come  to  us  and  obtain  the  aid  of  our  clemency 
against  all  thy  iniquities." 

The  king,  irritated  by  the  audacity  and  in- 
solence of  this  letter,  instructed  the  metropo- 
litan of  Rheims  to  send  his  reply  to  the  pope. 
It  is  found  in  the  works  of  Archbishop  Hinc- 
mar, and  Lesueurhas  translated  it  as  follows: 
'■  We  will  and  ordain  by  apostolic  authority 
.  .  .  .  say  you  .  .  ?  Know  then  that  we,  the 
king  of  France,  born  of  an  imperial  race,  we 
are  not  the  vicar  of  a  bishop,  but  the  lord  of  the 
earth.  We  are  established  by  God,  sovereign 
over  the  people,  and  are  armed  with  a  two- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


259 


edged  sword,  to  strike  the  wicked  and  defend 
the  good " 

The  firmness  of  the  king  crashed  the  pride 
of  the  pope,  and  he  endeavoured  to  retract  his 
offence  by  this  recantation,  "  Prince  Charles, 
we  have  been  apprised  by  virtuous  persons, 
that  you  are  the  most  zealous  protector  of 
churches  in  the  world.  That  there  exists  not 
in  your  immense  kingdom  any  bishopric  or 
monastery,  on  which  you  have  not  heaped 
wealth,  and  we  know  that  you  honour  the 
See  of  St.  Peter,  and  that  you  desire  to  spread 
your  liberality  on  his  vicar,  and  to  defend 
him  against  all  his  enemies. 

'•'  We  consequently  retract  our  former  de- 
cisions, recognizing  that  you  have  acted  with 
justice  in  punishing  a  guUty  son  and  a  pre- 
latical  debauchee,  and  in  causing  yourself  to 
be  declared  sovereign  of  Lorraine  and  Bur- 
gundy. We  renew  to  you  the  assurance,  that 
we,  the  clergy,  the  people,  and  the  nobility 
of  Rome,  wait  with  impatience  for  the  day, 


on  which  you  shall  be  declared  king,  patri- 
cian, emperor,  and  defender  of  the  church. 
We,  however,  beseech  you  to  keep  this  letter 
a  secret  from  your  nephew  Louis. '' 

Whilst  the  pontifical  power  was  undergoing 
a  check  in  the  West,  the  Bulgarians  in  their 
turn  drove  away  the  Roman  bishops  and 
priests  to  submit  themselves  to  the  direction 
of  the  Greek  church,  and  returned  under  the 
rule  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  from 
which  they  have  never  since  separated  them- 
selves. With  them,  they  brought  in  new 
Christians  from  the  Russian  provinces. 

Adrian  the  Second  died  some  time  after,  in 
the  month  of  November.  872.  This  pope, 
whose  hypocrisy  and  false  humility  had  ele- 
vated him  to  the  Holy  See,  proved  himself 
still  more  haughty  in  his  pride,  more  per- 
fidious in  his  policy,  and  more  insatiable  hi 
his  ambition,  than  Pope  Nicholas;  but  we 
should  remember  that  these  vices  v.-ere  those 
which  belonged  to  a  sovereign  pontiff  of  Rome. 


JOHN  THE  EIGHTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  ELEVENTH  POPE. 

Election  of  John  the  Eighth — The  eunuch  Dominick  raised  to  the  See  of  Torcella — Death  of  the 
emperor  Louis — John  the  Eighth,  offers  the  imperial  crown  to  Charles  the  Bald — Council  of 
Pavia — Conspiracy  against  the  pope — Council  of  Pontion — Council  of  Rome — Ravages  nf  the 
Saracens  in  Italy — Death  of  Charles  the  Bald — The  pope  makes  a  treaty  of  peace  u-ilh  the 
Saracens — Counts  Albert  and  Lambert  heap  outrages  on  the  holy  father  and  strike  him  on  the 
face — John  the  Eighth  comes  into  France — Council  of  Troves — Coronation  of  Louis  the  Bald 
— Photius  remounts  the  See  of  Constantinople — John  the  Eighth  confirms  the  re-installation 
of  Photius — Councd  of  Constantinople — Affairs  of  Italy — Charles  the  Gross  is  crowned  em- 
peror— Death  of  John  the  Eighth — Character  of  the  pontiff. 


When  the  pontiff  Adrian  died,  the  emperor 
was  engaged  in  a  war  against  Adalgisus,  duke 
of  Bencventum,  who  had  raised  the  south  of 
Italy  against  his  authority,  and  had  called  in 
the  Greeks  to  sustain  this  revolt.  After  hav- 
ing reduced  the  rebels,  Louis  entered  Bene- 
ventum  asa  conqueror;  the  duke  cast  himself 
at  his  feet,  made  protestation  of  his  innocence, 
implored  the  clemency  of  the  monarch,  and 
swore  to  be  ever  after  his  most  faithful  and 
submissive  subject. 

Seduced  by  protestations  of  such  absolute 
devotion,  the  emperor  dismissed  his  army 
and  remained  in  the  palace  of  Beneventum 
with  the  officers  of  his  household.  This  im- 
prudence was  almost  fatal  to  him  ;  the  trai- 
tor Adalgisus,  seeing  the  troops  discharged, 
formed  the  project  of  seizing  on  the  person 
of  the  prince.  One  day  when  the  emperor 
was  making  his  siesta,  the  duke  entered  the 
palace  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  soldiers  :  but 
at  the  noise  of  the  arms  Louis  awoke,  de- 
fended himself,  and  courageously  resisted  his 
assailants,  until  his  officers  came  to  his  aid. 
He  then  took  refuge  in  a  tower  with  his 
wife,  daughter,  and  all  the  French ;  and  dur- 
ing three  days  they  repulsed  the  soldiers  of 
Adalgisus.  The  latter,  despairing  of  forcing 
the  stronghold  in  which  Louis  had  shut  him- 
self up,  determined  to  employ  policy  to  ob- 


tain a  new  pardon,  and  the  bishop  of  Bene- 
ventum was  instructed  to  obtain  from  the 
bigot  monarch,  inviolable  guaranties  against 
the  consequences  of  his  vengeance. 

The  prince  consented  to  all  that  was  de- 
manded of  him  in  the  name  of  religion ;  he 
swore  upon  the  sacred  relics,  as  did  the  em- 
press his  wife,  the  princess  his  daughter,  and 
all  the  officers  about  him,  that  none  of  them 
would  pursue,  directly  nor  indirectly,  the  per- 
jured Adalgisus  to  punish  him.  But  once  es- 
caped from" the  danger,  the  emperor  made  a 
compromise  with  his  conscience,  and  resolved 
to  punish  the  duke  of  Beneventum;  still,  in 
order  to  preserve  the  appearance  of  honour, 
he  (lid  not  make  war  in  penson  ;  the  empress 
his  wife,  took  the  command  of  the  troops, 
and  marched  towards  Campania.  This  cam- 
paign was  not  favourable  to  the  monarch,  and 
he  had  even  renounced  the  hope  of  conquer- 
ing the  rebels,  when  he  learned  of  the  death 
of  Adrian  and  the  election  of  John  the  Eighth, 
archdeacon  of  the  Roman  church. 

The  emperor  hastened  to  approve,  through 
his  commissioners,  of  the  enthronement  of 
John,  who  was  the  godfather  of  Adalgisus. 
He  besought  the  new  pontiff  to  go  to  Capua, 
under  pretext  of  asking  pardon  for  the  guilty, 
but  in  reality  to  reconcile  him  with  the  duke. 
Peace  having  been  concluded,  the  emperor 


260 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


returned  to  his  capital,  where  he  died  after  a 
reign  of  twenty  years. 

Some  time  before  the  death  of  Louis,  John 
held  a  council  at  Ravenna,  to  terminate  a 
violent  division,  which  had  taken  place  be- 
tween Nisus.  duke  of  Venice,  and  Peter,  pa- 
triarch of  Grada.  The  bishopric  of  Torcel- 
la,  a  city  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Venice, 
having  become  vacant,  Duke  Nisus  had  ele- 
vated to  that  See,  Dominick,  abbot  of  the  mo- 
nastery of  Altino;  but  the  archbishop  Peter 
refused  to  ordain  the  new  prelate,  under  pre- 
text that  Dominick  was  unworthy  of  com- 
manding the  faithful,  because  he  had  per- 
formed upon  himself  the  operation  which 
Origen  recommended  to  his  disciples,  as  the 
only  sure  mode  of  preserving  the  vow  of  chasti- 
ty. The  duke  of  Venice  affirmed,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  the  abbot  of  Altino,  merited  for  that 
act  alone,  to  be  honoured  with  the  episcopate, 
and  threatened  the  patriarch  of  Grada  to  pun- 
ish him  severely,  if  he  refused  any  longer  to 
consecrate  him. 

John  the  Eighth  put  an  end  to  the  dispute, 
by  deciding  that  the  revenues  of  the  church 
of  Torcella  should  be  granted  to  the  new 
bishop,  but  that  he  should  not 'exercise  sacer- 
dotal functions,  because  the  canons  prohibited 
the  ordination  of  eunuchs  to  the  supreme  dig- 
nity of  the  church. 

At  this  period,  southern  Italy,  unceasingly 
exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  Arabs,  had 
need  of  a  powerful  protector,  whose  arms  could 
repulse  the  Saracens  and  other  enemies  of 
Rome,  as  Pepin  and  Charlemagne  had  done. 
But  the  popes,  who  aspired  to  absolute  sway 
in  Italy,  were  unwilling  that  their  defender 
should  reside  in  the  Roman  peninsula,  and 
their  policy  led  them  to  seek  an  alliance  with 
princes  whose  states  were  situated  beyond  the 
Alps,  and  not  with  the  lords  of  Naples,  Bene- 
ventum,  or  Venice. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  policy,  John  the 
Eighth,  after  the  death  of  Louis,  resolved  to 
choose  Charles  the  Bald  as  the  protector  of 
the  Holy  See.  He  sent  a  pompous  embassy 
to  him,  inviting  him  to  come  to  Rome  to  re- 
ceive the  imperial  crown,  which  he  offered 
him  as  a  property  of  which  the  popes  had  the 
entire  disposal.  The  king  went  in  haste  to 
the  pontiff.  On  his  arrival,  the  clergy,  magis- 
trates, and  schools  went  to  meet  him,  preceded 
by  banners  and  crosses.  The  pope  received 
him  on  the  steps  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  in 
the  midst  of  the  bishops  and  high  dignitaries 
of  the  church ;  and  on  the  following  day, 
Charles  the  Bald  was  crowned  emperor,  at 
the  tomb  of  the  apostle,  in  the  presence  of  an 
immense  crowd. 

In  placing  the  crown  on  the  brow  of  the 
monarch,  John  said  to  him,  '•  Do  not  forget, 
prince,  that  the  popes  have  the  right  to  create 
emperors."  Since  that  time,  sa'ys  Sigonius, 
the  empire  was  no  longer  but  a  fief  or  bene- 
fice of  the  Holy  See,  and  the  duration  of  the 
reign  of  an  emperor  was  counted  only  from 
the  day  on  which  the  pope  had  confirmed  him. 

After  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration,  the 
new  emperor  and  the  pontiff  went  together 


from  Rome  and  came  to  Pavia,  where  Charles 
announced  Boson,  the  father  of  his  wife  Ri- 
childa,  to  be  duke  of  Lombardy,  and  imperial 
commissioner.  This  nomination  was  approved 
of  in  a  council  presided  over  by  the  holy  father. 
The  prelates,  in  the  speech  which  they  made 
to  the  king  of  France,  said  to  him  :  "  My  lord; 
since  divine  goodness,  through  the  intercession 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  the  ministry  of 
Pope  John,  has  elevated  you  to  the  dignity  of 
emperor,  we  unanimously  select  you  for  our 
protector,  submitting  joyfully  to  your  will,  and 
promising  to  observe  faithfully  all  that  you 
shall  order  for  the  utility  of  the  church  and 
our  safety." 

Maimbourg  affirms,  that  this  council  was 
only  convened  by  John  the  Eighth,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rendering  it  manifest  to  all  the  world, 
that  Charles  had  not  become  emperor  by  right 
of  succession,  but  that  he  had  obtained  this 
dignity  by  an  election.  -'This  example," 
adds  the  historian,  "  should  enlighten  nations, 
as  to  the  ambition  of  kings  who  only  raised 
themselves  above  other  men  by  treacherous 
and  base  actions,  which  dishonour  their  memo- 
ry for  ever."  Thus,  Charles  the  Bald,  in  order 
to  obtain  the  principal  sceptre,  against  the  he- 
reditary rights  of  the  legitimate  successors 
of  Charlemagne,  yielded  to  the  pontifi's  the 
sovereignly  which  the  emperors  exercised 
over  Rome  and  the  provinces  of  the  church, 
and  he  declared  the  Holy  See  to  be  an  inde- 
pendent state. 

The  authority  of  the  new  emperor  was  not 
however,  recognized  without  opposition.  Car- 
lom.an,  the  oldest  son  of  Louis  the  German,  in 
the  name  of  his  father,  to  whom  the  crown 
reverted  by  right  of  succession,  maintained 
an  understanding  at  Rome,  and  threatened 
Italy  with  his  arms.  Gregory,  the  nomencla- 
tor  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  George, 
his  son-in-law,  were  the  leaders  of  a  formida- 
ble conspiracy,  which  had  for  its  end  the  pun- 
ishment of  John  the  Eighth  for  his  cowardly 
condescendence  towards  Charles  the  Bald ; 
but  the  pope,  having  been  informed  of  their 
projects,  convened  a  council  to  try  them. 
They,  finding  the  pontiff  constantly  .surrounded 
by  his  guards,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to 
seize  upon  his  person,  retired  with  the  con- 
spirators, Formosus.  bishop  of  Porto.  Stephen, 
an  officer  of  the  pope,  Sergius,  the  leader  of 
the  militia,  and  the  bishop  Constantine.  They 
seized  upon  the  treasures  of  the  pope  during 
the  night,  and  all  left  the  city  by  the  gate  of 
St.  Pancrace. 

John  was  apprised  of  their  flight  on  the 
next  day,  but  Mas  not  able  hoAvever,  to  pur- 
sue them,  because  the  Saracens  had  advanced 
towards  the  Tiber,  and  made  incursions  up  to 
the  very  walls  of  Rome.  Not  wishing  to  re- 
main unrevenged,  he  excommunicated  the 
rebels,  declared  them  perjured,  infamous, 
and  sacrilegious;  as  having  intrigued  for  the 
sovereign  pontificate,  and  conspired  against 
his  person.  He  called  them  thieves  and  rob- 
bers, for  having  carried  off  with  them  the 
wealth  of  the  Holy  See.  The  assembly  rati- 
fied the  judgment  of  the  pope,  and  pronounced 


HISTORY   OF  THE  POPES. 


261 


against  them  a  sentence  of  deposition,  anathe- 
ma, and  excommunication. 

Whilst  the  pontiff  was  condemning  in  Italy 
the  conspirators,  who  wished  to  overthrow  his 
authority,  and  that  of  Charles  the  Bald,  that 
prince  was  holding  a  synod  of  bishops  in  the 
city  of  Ponthion,  at  which  he  caused  them  to 
recognize  the  supreme  authority  of  the  popes 
over  France.  The  Roman  legates  named  the 
deacon  John,  metropolitan  of  Sens,  and  Anse- 
gisus,  primate  of  the  Gauls  and  Germany, 
•with  the  title  of  vicar  of  the  Holy  See  in  the 
two  provinces.  They  conferred  on  this  last- 
named,  the  power  of  convening  councils,  of 
signifying  the  decrees  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
of  judging  ecclesiastical  causes,  of  executing 
the  orders  of  the  pope,  and  they  only  reserved 
appeals  to  Rome  in  the  greater  cases. 

The  prelates  of  France  protested  with  ener- 
gy against  such  an  institution,  which  destroyed 
all  the  liberty  of  the  Gallican  church ;  but  the 
emperor  maintained  the  sacrilegious  compact 
which  he  had  made  with  John ;  he  declared 
he  had  a  commission  to  represent  the  pope  in 
this  assembly,  and  that  he  would  execute  his 
orders.  He  then  commanded  a  seat  to  be 
placed  on  his  right  hand,  and  Ansegisus  seated 
himself  by  him  in  his  qualhy  of  primate. 

Hincmar,  of  Rheims,  boldly  opposed  the 
will  of  Charles  the  Bald.  He  represented  to 
him  that  his  undertaking  was  contrary  to  the 
canons ;  that  the  despotism  of  the  pontiffs 
should  never  press  its  odious  tyranny  on  the 
soil  of  France,  and  finally,  observed  to  him, 
that  a  king  could  not  arrogate  to  himself  any 
right  in  ecclesiastical  assemblies.  Notwith- 
standing the  vehemence  and  the  justice  of  the 
opposition  of  the  archbishop,  who  had  conse- 
crated Charles  king  of  Lorraine  and  Burgundy, 
the  new  emperor  persisted  in  supporting  the 
execution  of  the  orders  of  John  the  Eighth, 
and  confirmed  the  metropolitan  of  Sens,  and 
Ansegisus  in  their  new  dignities. 

At  anollier  session,  the  council  gave  audi- 
ence to  Gildebert,  archbishop  of  Cologne,  and 
to  two  counts,  embassadors  from  Louis  the  Ger- 
man, who  came  in  the  name  of  their  master 
to  reclaim  a  part  of  the  states  of  the  emperor 
Louis,  relying  upon  the  rights  of  succession 
and  the  treaties  which  had  been  concluded 
between  their  fathers.  The  bishop  of  Fosca- 
nella,  one  of  the  Roman  legates,  then  informed 
them  of  a  letter  of  the  holy  father,  in  which 
he  severely  blamed  King  Louis  for  having 
entered  with  arms  into  the  kingdom  of  King- 
Charles  at  the  period  of  his  coronation.  John 
reprimanded  the  weakness  of  the  bishops  of 
Germany,  who  had  not  dared  to  resist  their 
king,  ancl  who  had  not  hindered  him  from 
breaking  the  sacred  order  of  the  pope.  He 
applied  to  them  these  words  of  St.  Paul,  "You 
have  to  combat  princes  and  powers  to  make 
the  church  triumphant." 

Then,  in  the  very  presence  of  the  embassa- 
dors of  Louis,  and  as  if  to  brave  their  sovereign, 
the  legates  offered  to  Charles,  in  the  name  of 
John,  an  imperial  sceptre,  and  a  crown  of 
gold,  enriched  with  precious  stones;  they 
also  brought  for  the  empress  bracelets  of  gold 


and  stuffs  of  great  price.  By  an  order  from 
the  prince,  Richilda  then  entered  the  assem- 
bly, and  went  to  place  herself  in  the  highest 
seat,  in  order  to  preside  during  the  rest  of  the 
session :  but  the  bishops  were  so  indignant  at 
the  boldness  of  the  princess,  that  they  imme- 
diately rose  from  their  seats  and  left  the  synod, 
without  even  saluting  the  emperor. 

Some  months  after,  Louis  the  German  died 
in  his  palace  at  Frankfort ;  Cliarles  the  Bald 
immediately  advanced  at  the  head  of  his 
troops  to  take  possession  of  his  kingdom  ;  he 
was  defeated  in  a  great  battle,  and  the  young 
Louis,  who  had  succeeded  his  lather,  pursued 
him  even  into  his  kingdom.  The  disasters  of 
this  enterprise  prevented  the  emperor  from 
sending  to  the  pope  succour  against  the  Sara- 
cens, who  desolated  Italy,  and  against  the 
Italian  lords  themselves,  who  laid  waste  the 
territories  of  the  chvirch,  as  the  following  let- 
ter of  the  pontiff  teaches  us : 

"  The  blood  of  Christians  is  spilt  through 
all  our  provinces,"  wrote  the  holy  father;  "he 
who  escapes  fire  or  sword  is  led  away  into 
perpetual  captivity.  Cities,  towns,  and  vil- 
lages, become  a  prey  to  the  flames ;  bishops 
have  no  longer  a  place  of  refuge,  but  at  Rome ; 
their  episcopal  residences  serve  as  retreats  for 
savage  beasts,  and  they  are  themselves  wan- 
derers, and  reduced  to  beg  instead  of  preach- 
ing. Last  year  we  sowed  our  immense  do- 
mains ;  the  enemy  ravaged  them  and  we  have 
gathered  nothing;  this  year,  it  has  been  im- 
possible to  labour  even  in  our  fields,  and  a 
frightful  famine  threatens  the  apostolic  city. 

'•  Do  not  believe  that  our  evils  only  come 
from  the  Pagans;  Christians  are  still  more 
cruel  than  the  Arabs;  I  would  speak  of  some 
lords,  our  neighbours,  and  chiefly  of  those 
whom  you  call  marquisses  or  governors  of 
frontiers;  they  pillage  the  domains  of  the 
church  and  cause  us  to  die,  not  by  the  sworti, 
but  by  famine  ;  they  do  not  lead  people  into 
captivity,  but  they  reduce  them  to  servitude; 
anil  their  oppression  is  the  cause  why  we  find 
no  one  to  combat  the  Saracens. 

"  Thus,  my  lord,  you  alone,  after  God,  are 
our  refuge  and  our  consolation ;  we  beseech 
you  then,  in  ihe  name  of  the  bishops,  priests, 
and  nobles,  but  above  all  in  the  name  of  our 
people,  to  put  forth  a  hand  of  succour,  to  the 
church,  your  mother,  from  which  you  hold  not 
only  your  crown,  but  even  the  faith  of  Christ, 
and  which  has  elevated  yon  to  the  empire, 
notwithstanding  the  legitimate  rights  of  your 
brother." 

Carloman,  who  was  declared  king  of  Bava- 
ria, availed  himself  of  the  defeat  of  the  armies 
of  his  uncle,  Charles,  to  invade  Italy,  of  which 
he  claimed  possession,  as  an  heritage  that  jn-r- 
tainetl  to  hnn.  His  plan  was,  to  be  consecrated 
emperor,  by  a  general  council,  and  to  punish 
the  pontilf,  who  hail  disposed  in  an  ini(|uitons 
manner  of  estates  which  were  not  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  church. 

John,  fearing  the  vengeance  of  the  young 
prince,  immediately  assembled  a  council  in 
ihe  palace  of  the  Lateran,  to  confirm  anew 
the  coronation  of  Charles,  by  justifying  the 


262 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


conduct  of  the  Holy  See.  He  thus  opened 
the  assembly  :  "  According  to  ancient  usage, 
my  brethren,  we  solemnly  elevated  Charles 
to'the  imperial  dignity,  by  the  advice  of  the 
bishops,  of  the  ministers  of  our  church,  of  the 
senate,  and  of  all  the  people  of  Home,  and 
above  all,  to  accomplish  the  thought  which 
had  been  revealed  to  Pope  Nicholas  by  an 
heavenly  inspiration.  The  election  of  Charles, 
is  then  legitimate  and  sacred.  It  emanates 
from  the  will  of  the  people,  and  the  will  of 
God.  We  therefore  declare  anathematized 
him  who  would  condemn  it,  and  we  devote 
him  to  the  execration  of  men.  as  the  enemy 
of  Christ,  and  the  minister  of  the  devil !" 

Behold  how  the  popes  used  the  most  sacred 
names  to  defend  their  contemptible  interests  ! 

These  menaces  of  the  Holy  See  did  not  pre- 
vent Carloman,  from  making  rapid  progress 
in  the  Friuli,  whilst  the  Saracens  desolated 
the  Campagna  of  Rome.  John,  pressed  on  all 
sides  by  powerful  enemies,  thought  of  oppos- 
ing one  to  the  other,  by  recognizing  the  king 
of  Bavaria  as  emperor.  But,  before  under- 
taking an  enterprise,  the  consequences  of 
which  might  prove  fatal  to  hJm,  he  resolved 
to  write  again  to  Charles,  to  urge  him  to  hasten 
to  his  aid  in  Italy. 

"  The  remnant  of  the  people  of  Rome,"  said 
he,  "is  worn  down  by  extreme  misery  •  with- 
out the  city,  all  is  ravaged  and  reduced  to  soli- 
tude. Our  enemies  traverse  the  river,  even 
to  the  sea,  and  come  from  Tibur  to  Rome  to 
sack  the  Sabine  and  the  neighbouring  coun- 
tries. The  Arabs  have  burned  the  churches 
and  monasteries,  massacred  the  priests  and 
monks,  and  carried  otT  for  their  harems,  the 
young  boys  and  the  nuns.  On  the  other  side, 
bad  Christians  achieve  our  ruin,  and  Carloman 
threatens  us  with  his  vengeance.  Call  to  your 
remembrance  then,  the  labours  and  combats 
which  we  have  sustained  to  procure  for  you 
the  empire,  and  do  not  reduce  us  to  despair 
by  leaving  us  longer  a  prey  to  our  enemies, 
lest  we  should  be  forced  to  choose  a  new 
protector." 

When  Charles  learned  that  his  nephew 
had  crossed  the  Alps,  he  feared  some  new 
treachery  of  the  pope's,  and  in  order  to  pre- 
vent it,  he  passed  over  into  Italy,  with  the 
empress,  who  always  accompanied  him  in  his 
expeditions.  He  went  with  all  diligence  into 
Lombardy,  and  met  the  holy  father,  who  was 
on  a  journey  to  join  the  king  of  Bavaria,  on 
the  way.  Charles,  dissimulating  his  indig- 
nation, received  John  with  great  honours,  and 
they  went  together  to  Pavia,  to  decide  upon 
the  measures  to  be  taken  for  the  pacification 
of  Italy.  They  were  soon  apprised,  that 
Prince  Carloman,  irritated  by  the  perfidy  of 
the  pontiff,  was  advancing  by  forced  marches 
to  blockade  them  in  Pavia,  before  the  troops 
of  his  uncle  could  arrive  to  defend  them. 

At  this  news,  a  panic  fear  seized  upon  the 
sovereigns.  Charles  and  his  wife  precipitately 
quitted  Pavia,  and  took  refuge  in  Tortonia  ; 
from  thence,  Richilda  pursued  her  route  with 
the  treasures  of  the  ])rince,  even  into  the 
Maurienne.   The  holy  father,  more  frightened 


than  even  his  protectors,  took  in  all  haste  the 
route  to  Rome,  without  forgetting,  however, 
a  magnificent  crucifix  of  gold,  adorned  with 
precious  stones,  which  the  empress  had  given 
him  for  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

Carloman,  on  his  side,  as  cowardly  as  his 
uncle,  fled  on  false  intelligence,  that  the  em- 
peror was  advancing  to  meet  him  to  give  him 
battle.  As  appropriate  to  this  triple  flight,  a 
cotemporary  monk  said,  ''I  see  in  this  won- 
derful event  the  finger  of  Providence,  which 
exhibited  to  nations  the  cowardice  of  kings, 
and  dispersed  two  whole  armies,  without 
shedding  Christian  blood." 

John,  returned  to  Rome,  was  still  doubtful 
as  to  the  issue  of  the  war  between  the  king 
of  France  and  the  sovereign  of  Bavaria.  Let 
who  would  be  conqueror,  he  had  equally  to 
fear  the  resentment  of  both  parties,  whom  he 
had  by  turns  betrayed.  The  vengeance  of 
the  emperor  appearing  to  him,  however,  the 
most  imminent,  he  resolved  to  avoid  it.  By 
his  instigation,  some  French  lords,  discon- 
tented with  Charles,  formed  a  conspiracy 
against  him.  His  physician,  the  Jew  Sede- 
cias,  was  gained  over  to  their  side,  and  Charles 
died  of  poison  in  the  cabin  of  a  peasant,  on 
the  6th  of  October,  877. 

The  death  of  the  king  of  France  raised  the 
hopes  of  Carloman  ;  having  no  longer  a  com- 
petitor for  the  imperial  dignity,  he  wrote  to 
the  pontiff  letters  of  submission,  and  claimed 
from  him  the  heritage  of  his  ancestors.  John 
then  saw  himself  a  second  time  the  master 
and  dispenser  of  the  imperial  crown ;  before, 
however,  consecrating  the  new  prince,  he 
wished  to  profit  by  circumstances,  to  assure 
material  advantages  to  his  See ;  he  replied 
then  to  the  king  of  Bavaria  :  "We  consent  to 
recognize  you  as  emperor  of  Italy  ;  but  before 
giving  you  the  crown,  we  demand  that  )0u 
should  pour  into  the  purse  of  St.  Peter  all  the 
sums  which  are  in  your  treasur}^,  in  order  that 
you  may  be  worthy  to  receive  the  recompense 
of  him,  Avho  promised  to  honour  in  another 
world  those  who  honour  him  in  this.  We 
will  send  you  shortly  the  articles  which  treat 
of  that  which  you  should  grant  to  the  church  ; 
we  will  then  address  to  you  a  more  solemn 
legation,  in  order  to  conduct  you  to  Rome 
with  the  honours  due  to  your  rank.  We  will 
then  treat  together  of  the  good  of  the  state  and 
the  safety  of  Christian  people.  Until  that  time, 
I  beseech  you  to  give  no  access  near  to  you  of 
infidels,  or  of  such  as  wish  our  life,  whatever 
may  have  been  your  anterior  relation  with 
them  ;  and  I  conjure  you  to  remit  the  revenues 
of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  which  are  situ- 
ated in  Bavaria." 

Whilst  the  pope  was  seeking  to  re-estab- 
lish his  power  over  upper  Italy,  Sergius,  duke 
of  Naples,  was  forming  alliances  with  the 
Saracens,  in  contempt  of  the  excommunica- 
tions which  the  Holy  See  had  fulminated 
against  him  ;  but  he  soon  proved,  that  one 
cannot  brave  with  impunity  the  vengeance 
of  a  priest.  John  wrote  to  the  bishop  Atha- 
nasius,  the  brother  of  Sergius,  to  command 
him  in    the   name    of    religion,    to   surprise 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


263 


the  duke  during  the  night,  to  put  out  his  eyes 
and  send  him  a  prisoner  to  Rome.  The  pre- 
late, who  aspired  to  the  supreme  dignity  in 
Naples,  scrupulously  obeyed  the  holy  father. 

John  not  only  ratified  his  usurpation,  hut 
even  bestowed  great  eulogiunis  on  him,  be- 
cause he  had  obeyed  his  brother  in  God,  rather 
than  his  brother  alter  the  flesh ;  and  as  a  token 
of  his  satisfaction  sent  him  four  hundred  marks 
of  silver. 

After  having  committed  an  abominable 
crime,  to  punish  Sergius,  because  he  luul  al- 
lied himself  with  the  Saracens,  the  pontiff, 
strange  contradiction  of  the  human  mind,  not 
receiving  succours  from  the  king  of  the  West, 
himself  treated  with  the  infidels,  and  engaged 
to  pay  them  twenty  thousand  marks  of  gold 
annually,  to  get  back  the  domains  of  the 
church.  It  is  true  he  had  no  intention  of 
keeping  the  treaty  he  had  made  with  the 
Arabs ;  he  only  desired  to  gain  time,  to  wait 
for  the  Greek  troops  which  were  about  to  dis- 
embark in  Italy. 

Basil  consented  to  send  succours  to  the  Holy 
See,  under  a  promise  that  it  wouki  aid  him 
to  recover  the  rights  of  his  predecessors  over 
the  Roman  peninsula  ;  but  these  projects  were 
suddenly  overthrown  by  enemies  more  deadly 
to  the  Holy  See  than  the  Saracens.  The  counts 
Albert  son  of  Boniface,  and  Lambert  son  of 
Guy,  duke  of  Spoletto,  assembling  several 
other  lords,  who  partook  of  their  indignation 
against  the  policy  of  John  the  Eighth,  marched 
upon  Rome  at  the  head  of  numerous  troops, 
seized  the  city  without  striking  a  blow,  and 
besieged  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 

The  residence  of  the  pontilTs  was  invaded 
by  a  furious  soldiery;  Lambert  himself  pene- 
trated into  the  pontificial  apartment,  tore  the 
holy  father  from  the  place  where  he  hatl  taken 
refuge,  behind  the  curtains  of  a  window,  and 
.shut  him  up  in  the  saloon  of  the  church  of 
St.  Peter.  The  bishops  and  priests  who  wish- 
ed to  resist,  were  driven  from  the  temple  by 
blows  of  clubs.  The  dukes  then  clothed  the 
pope  in  sackcloth,  and  condemned  him  for 
several  days  to  a  rigorous  fast,  and  infiicted 
discipline  upon  him,  in  order,  as  they  said, 
that  he  might  obtain  from  God  the  remission 
of  his  sins.  Knowing,  however,  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  them  long  to  preserve  their 
position,  and  desiring  to  place  themselves  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  implacable  vengeance 
of  John,  they  assembled  <hc  people  in  the 
cathedral,  proclaimed  Carloman  emperor  of 
Italy,  and  received  in  his  name  the  oath  of 
fidelity  from  all  the  citizens.  After  the  cere- 
mony they  returned  to  their  estates,  hoping 
that  the  prince  who  owed  to  them  the  impe- 
rial crown,  would  always  interpose  between 
them  and  the  pontiff,  if  the  latter  should  dare 
to  declare  war  on  them. 

As  soon  as  the  pontiff  had  recovered  his 
liberty,  he  caused  the  treasure  of  St.  Peter  to 
be  carried  to  the  palace  of  the  Laterati,  covered 
with  sackcloth  the  tomb  of  the  apostle,  closed 
the  doors  of  the  churches,  ordered  divine  ser- 
vice to  cease  in  all  the  provinces,  and  sent  back 
the  pilgrims  who  were  at  Rome.     He  then  as- 


sembled a  synod,  and  e.vcomraunicated  Lam- 
bert and  the  other  dukes  who  had  seconded  him 
in  his  enterprise.  His  vengeance  not  beiiig  yet 
satisfied,  he  resolved  to  go  into  Gaul,  in  order  to 
lead  back  the  French  armies  into  Italy.  The 
duke  of  Spoletto.  informed  of  the  plans  of  the 
pope,  spread  his  soldiers  on  all  the  routes,  in 
order  to  arrest  his  escort.  John,  however,  man- 
aged to*embark  on  the  Tuscan  sea,  and  went 
to  Genoa  ;  from  thence  he  went  to  the  city  of 
Aries,  where  he  was  received  with  great 
honours  by  Boson  antl  his  wife,  ^ho,  in  her 
old  age,  had  returned  to  her  husband. 

John,  to  recompense  Boson  for  his  attach- 
ment to  the  Holy  See,  solemnly  consecrated 
him  king  of  Provence-  he  then  pursued  his 
way  to  Chalons-sur-Saone,  where  he  passed 
the  night.  It  is  related,  that  on  the  next  day, 
at  the  moment  of  his  departure,  as  he  was 
informed  that  the  monks  had  stolen  his  horses, 
and  that  a  priest  of  his  train  had  escaped  with 
his  plate,  he  fell  into  such  a  rage,  and  blas- 
phemed the  name  of  God  with  such  impreca- 
tions, that  the  priests  who  surrounded  him  fell 
on  their  knees,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
to  drive  away  the  infernal  spirit  which  they 
supposed  had  seized  upon  him.  John  apos- 
trophized his  servants  in  abominable  terms, 
and  fulminated  a  terrible  excommunication 
against  the  monks  and  priest  who  had  robbed 
him.  Finally,  when  his  wrath  was  appeased, 
he  journeyed  on  towards  the  city  of  Troyes, 
which  he  had  designated  as  the  place  of  hold- 
ing a  general  council. 

Thirty  bishops  only  assisted  at  this  synod. 
The  pontifi  pronounced  a  discourse  at  the 
opening,  which  he  had  prepared  for  an  im- 
mense assembly,  and  which  was  addressed 
to  all  spiritual  and  temporal  powers.  He  be- 
sought the  princes  to  furnish  him  with  the 
means  of  avenging  himself  on  the  enemies  of 
the  Holy  See,  and  in  particular  on  Lambert, 
the  son  of  the  duke  of  Spoletto,  against  whom 
he  had  pronounced  a  perpetual  anathema. 

The  council  gave  in  its  adhesion  to  the 
wishes  of  the  pontiff  in  these  terms:  "Lord 
and  most  holy  father,  we,  the  bishops  of  Gaul 
and  Belgium,  yonr  .servants  and  disciples, 
sympathize  with  the  evils  which  the  ministers 
of  the  devil  have  committed  against  Rome,  our 
holy  mother,  the  mistress  of  all  the  churches. 
We  will  unanimously  follow  the  judgment 
which  you  have  pronounced  against  them, 
according  to  the  canons,  by  putting  them  to 
death  with   the  sword  of  the  spirit.*' 

The  bishop  Hincmar,  of  Laon.  then  pre- 
sented a  new  complaint  ag-ainst  his  uncle. 
He  thus  expressed  himself:  ''The  archbishop 
of  Rheims  cited  me  before  a  synod  at  Douzi, 
to  answer  certain  points  of  which  I  was  ac- 
cused. As  I  was  preparing  to  go  to  the  as- 
semblj-,  armed  men  forced  their  way  into  my 
church,  drairged  me  from  the  altar,  seized 
upon  my  property,  and  dragged  me  by  force 
to  Donzi.  King  Charles  presided  over  the 
council.  He  presented  to  me  a  writing,  in 
which  I  was  accused  of  being  perjured,  be- 
cause I  had  appealed  to  Rome  from  an  iniqui- 
tous judgment,  and  the  archbishop  Hincraar, 


264 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


my  uncle,  imperiously  commanded  me  to  re- 
ply to  the  accusation  which  the  prince  brought 
against  me. 

•■I  showed,  that  by  the  canons,  a  priest  de- 
prived of  his  church,  and  brought  by  force 
before  his  judges,  was  not  compelled  to  justify 
himself:  and  I  added  that  my  uncle,  being 
my  avowed  enemy,  I  appealed  to  the  Holy 
See  against  the  injuries  he  had  inflicted  on 
me.  1  read  before  the  assembly  the  bulls  of 
Popes  Julius  and  Felix,  concerning  the  ap- 
peals of  bishops,  and  prostrating  myself  to  ask 
the  execution  of  them  in  my  favour.  I  pre- 
sented the  letters  of  the  pontiff  Adrian,  who 
ordered  me  to  come  to  Rome. 

'•'But  King  Charles  rejected  all  my  entrea- 
ties, the  orders  of  the  jiope  were  treated  with 
contempt,  and  the  metropolitan  of  Rheims 
pronounced  a  sentence  of  deposition  and  ex- 
communication against  me.  The  prelates 
mourned  over  this  odious  injustice;  their 
fears,  however,  caused  them  to  approve  of 
the  decree  which  the  archbishop  presented  to 
them,  and  to  which  they  added  these  words: 
'Saving  in  all  things  the  judgment  of  the  Holy 
See.' 

"I  was  then  exiled  into  another  province, 
where  I  was  cast  into  frightful  prisons,  where 
I  lived  burthened  with  chains,  and  linally, 
after  two  years  of  slavery,  the  executioner  tore 
out  my  eyes. 

'•'  After  the  death  of  Charles,  the  new  king 
set  me  at  liberty,  and  now  I  come  before  you, 
most  holy  father,  beseeching  you  to  judge  me 
according  to  the  canons,  and  to  punish  those 
who  have  persecuted  me,  if  I  am  declared 
innocent  by  your  justice." 

The  metropolitan,  Hincmar,  asked  for  time 
to  reply  to  the  complaints  which  his  nephew 
brought  against  him,  after  which  the  council 
was  engaged  in  making  canons  to  augment 
the  power  of  the  bishops.  They  decided  that 
all  the  prelates  should  unite  together  to  pre- 
vent the  encroachments  of  the  secular  power  ; 
that  they  should  not  receive  excommunicated 
clerks  or  laymen,  without  the  consent  of  him 
who  had  pronounced  the  sentence  of  ana- 
thema. 

The  bishops  of  Bourges  and  Autun,  Frotaire 
and  Adalgaire,  presented  tp  the  pope  the  will 
of  Charles  the  Bald,  in  which  that  prince  de- 
clared, that  he  gave  to  his  son  Louis  the  king- 
dom of  France,  to  which  he  added  the  sword 
of  St.  Peter,  as  a  mark  of  investiture,  which 
proved  that  the  states  of  Italy  and  the  impe- 
rial dignity,  were  included  in  this  donation. 
The  two  prelates  demanded  in  the  name  of 
the  king,  that  the  pontiff  should  confirm,  by 
a  decree,  the  donation  of  the  emperor  his 
father.  John,  on  his  side,  showed  a  donation 
from  the  emperor,  of  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis, 
which  he  pretended  was  signed  by  Charles 
the  Bald,  although  the  signature  Avas  visibly 
forged,  and  he  demanded  the  confirmation  of 
it  by  Louis,  if  he  wished  to  obtain  that  of  the 
empire.  But  this  abbey  bringing  in  to  the 
crown  large  sums,  the  khig  was  unwilling  to 
surrender  it  to  the  Holy  See  in  exchange  for  an 
empty  title. 


Notwithstanding  this  refusal,  Louis  the 
Stammerer  bestowed  great  honours  on  the 
holy  father,  and  even  wished  to  receive  the 
crown  from  his  hands,  in  the  presence  of  the 
grandees  and  people,  although  the  ceremony 
of  consecration  had  been  already  perlbrmed ; 
the  preceding  year  by  Hincmar  of  Rheims. 

During  the  last  session  of  the  council,  the 
pope  made  another  address  to  the  bishops  and 
lords:  "I  desire,  my  brethren,"'  he  said  to 
them,  "  that  you  would  unite  with  me  in  de- 
fence of  the  Roman  church,  and  that  you 
would  arm  all  your  vassals,  before  my  de- 
parture into  Italy.  I  beseech  you  then  to  take 
prompt  and  decisive  measures  for  this  war." 
Then  addressing  himself  to  the  king,  he  ad- 
ded, '-'I  beseech  you,  my  dear  son,  to  assem- 
ble at  once  your  armies  for  the  defence  of  the 
Holy  See,  as  your  ancestors  did,  and  as  your 
father,  the  illustrious  Charles,  has  recommend- 
ed you  to  do  ■.  for  you  are  the  vengeful  minister 
of  Christ  against  the  wicked,  and  you  carry  a 
sword  to  protect  the  popes.  Otherwise  trem- 
ble, lest  you  draw  on  yourself  a  chastisement 
such  as  befel  the  kings  of  old,  who  showed 
indifference  in  avenging  the  Holy  See  ;  and  I 
adjure  you,  as  well  as  all  the  lords  and  bishops 
who  hear  me,  to  tell  me  if  you  consent  to 
sacrifice  your  property,  wives  and  children, 
and  to  die  in  my  defence."  The  assembly 
kept  a  profound  silence  ! 

Thus  the  council  of  Troyes,  on  which  John 
the  Eighth  had  founded  great  hopes,  not  only 
did  not  advance  his  temporal  affairs,  but  even 
struck  a  great  blow  at  the  moral  influence  of 
the  Holy  See.  The  pontiff  returned  into  Italy, 
having  only  Prince  Boson  for  his  escort,  who 
sought  by  his  care  and  attention,  to  induce 
him  to  forget  the  great  affront  which  he  had 
received  at  the  court  of  France. 

During  the  absence  of  the  pope,  the  Greek 
emperor  and  the  patriarch  Ignatius,  had  sent 
to  Rome  messengers  bearing  important  letters. 
On  the  day  succeeding  his  arrival,  John  hasten- 
ed to  reply  to  them.  '-Prince,"  he  wrote  to 
the  emperor  Basil,  "  we  send  you  the  prelates 
Paul  and  Eugenius.  our  intimate  counsellors, 
whose  hearts  are  full  of  right.  We  have  given 
them  our  instructions,  that  they  may  be  ena- 
bled to  labour  successfully  in  bringing  back 
peace  to  the  churches  of  your  empire.  We 
have  also  given  them  secret  instructions  for 
Presiam,  king  of  Bulgaria,  to  whom  we  be- 
seech you  have  them  conducted  with  an  im- 
posing escort." 

In  his  letter  to  the  patriarch,  John  thus 
expresses  himself:  "We  address  to  you  this 
third  canonical  admonition  by  our  legates, 
in  order  that  you  may  send  without  delay 
into  Bulgaria,  diligent  men,  who  shall  traverse 
the  country  and  bring  back  to  Constantinople 
all  the  ecclesiastics  whom  they  may  find  to 
have  been  ordained  by  you  or  your  suffragans; 
for  we  will  not  permit  that  the  Greek  clergy 
should  infect  with  their  errors  this  new  church 
which  we  have  formed.  If  you  do  not  exe- 
cute our  orders  as  soon  as  they  shall  reach 
you,  if  you  do  not  renounce  all  jurisdiction 
over  the  Bulgarians,  you  shall  be  excommu 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


265 


nicatecl  and  deposed  from  the  patriarchal  dig- 
nity, in  which  you  have  been  re-installed  by 
our  favour."'  Ignatius  did  not  live  long  enough 
to  incur  the  anathema  of  the  Holy  See;  he 
died  before  the  arrival  of  the  legates  at  By- 
zantium, and  Photius  remounted  the  See  of 
that  city. 

John  the  Eighth,  knowing  the  influence 
which  this  eunuch  exercised  at  the  court  of 
Constantinople  by  his  wisdom  and  his  supe- 
rior abilities,  hastened  to  recognize  his  in- 
stallation, notwithstanding  the  rules  of  eccle- 
siastical discipline,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
protection  of  the  emperor  and  aid  against  the 
Saracens.  He  consequently  wrote  to  Basil : 
"  The  patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  Autioch,  and 
Jerusalem,  the  metropolitans,  bishops,  priests, 
and  all  the  ecclesiastics  of  Constantinople, 
who  are  of  the  ordination  of  Methodius  and 
Ignatius,  having  now  consented  unanimously 
to  the  return  of  Photius,  we,  like  them,  re- 
ceive him  as  bishop  of  your  capital,  a  brother 
and  colleague  ;  and  desirous  of  putting  an  end 
to  all  schisms  in  the  church,  we  relieve  him 
from  all  the  censures  pronounced  Eigainst  him, 
as  well  as  the  prelates,  clerks  and  laymen 
who  were  under  the  same  censures.  We 
erase  the  acts  of  our  predecessors,  by  virtue  of 
the  authority  given  us  by  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  person  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles.  Be- 
sides, we  declare  that  the  legates  of  Adrian, 
subscribed  to  the  proceedings  of  the  council 
which  condemned  Photius,  only  out  of  com- 
plaisance for  this  hypocritical  pope,  and  not 
in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  justice. 
We  do  not,  however,  confirm  the  re-installa- 
tion of  the  patriarch,  but  under  the  formal 
condition,  that  he  shall  never  pretend  to  any 
right  over  the  province  of  Bulgaria,  which 
was  given  up  to  our  See  by  the  emperor 
Michael." 

As  soon  as  Photius  had  received  the  appro- 
batory letters  from  the  Holy  See,  he  assem- 
bled a  council  at  which  four  hundred  bishops 
were  present,  as  well  as  the  Roman  legates. 
Popes  Nicholas  the  First  and  Adrian  the 
Second,  were  condemned  as  the  authors  of  all 
the  troubles  of  the  Eastern  churches,  and 
their  memory  was  anathematized.  It  pro- 
hibited from  adding  to  the  Nicene  creed  the 
words  "Filioque,"  an  addition  which  had 
been  decreed  by  a  council  held  under  Ignatius 
and  approved  of  by  the  court  of  Rome.  This 
dogma  by  turns,  admitted  and  condemned, 
still  remains  after  several  centuries  of  dispute, 
one  of  the  fmidamental  principles  of  the 
Christian  faith.  John  thus  expresses  himself 
on  the  subject  of  this  dogma  :  "We  preserve 
the  creed  as  we  have  received  it  from  the 
fathers,  without  having  taken  from  or  added 
anything  thereto.  We  condemn  the  priests 
who  have  caused  scandal  in  the  church  by 
saying  '  Filioque,'  and  not  only  do  we  refuse 
to  pronounce  these  impious  words,  but  we 
even  regard  those  who  have  the  audacity  to 
join  them  to  the  creed,  as  transgressors  agamst 
the  word  of  God  and  corrupters  of  the  mo- 
rality of  the  apostles  and  fathers.  We  com- 
pare them  to  Judas :  like  him  they  wrench  the 

Vol.  I.  2  1 


members  of  Jesus  Christ ;  for  '  Filioque'  is 
the  greatest  blasphemy  we  can  pronounce 
against  religion." 

The  pope,  having  then  purchased  the  aid  of 
the  Greeks  by  a  cowardly  condescendence 
towards  Photius,  set  himself  to  work  to  break 
off  the  treaties  between  the  Italian  lords  and 
the  Saracens,  and  wished  to  elude  those  which 
he  himself  had  made  with  that  people.  He 
addressed  several  letters  to  Palfar,  governor 
of  Amalfi,  to  whom  he  had  paid  ten  thousand 
marks  of  silver  for  the  defence  of  the  terri- 
tory of  St.  Peter.  He  reproached  him  with 
his  negligence,  and  demanded  from  him  the 
restitution  of  tne  sum  which  he  had  received, 
since  he  did  not  fulfil  liis  engagements,  and 
refused  to  declare  war  on  the  Arabs.  Not- 
withstanding the  claims  of  the  pontiff,  the 
Amalfitins  continued  to  live  on  a  good  un- 
derstanding with  the  infidel,  and  refused  to 
restore  the  money  of  the  Holy  See.  John 
declared  them  excommunicated,  giving  them 
only  to  the  end  of  the  year  to  repent  and  to 
avoid  the  execution  of  the  anathema  against 
them ;  he  pronounced  the  same  penalty 
against  the  bishops  of  Naples  and  Ga^la,  who 
had  made  treaties  with  the  Saracens. 

The  holy  father  was  so  governed  by  fear  of 
the  Arabs,  that  he  even  sacrificed  the  inter- 
ests of  religion,  in  all  the  measures  which 
appeared  favourable  to  his  design  of  expelling 
them  from  Italy.  Thus,  after  having  approved 
of  the  nomination  of  Lardulph,  bishop  of 
Capua,  who  had  been  canonically  chosen  by 
the  people,  he  retracted  his  first  decision,  and 
took  the  part  of  Pandenulph,  a  married  lay- 
man, brother  of  the  governor  of  that  city,  who 
was  desirous  of  obtaining  the  pontifical  See. 
In  vain  did  Leo,  bishop  of  Theana,  and  Ber- 
thier,  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  go  to  the  pope 
to  beseech  him  not  to  confirm  such  an  act  of  in- 
justice, representing  to  him,  that  this  scanda- 
lous ordination  would  cause  great  troubles  in 
Capua,  and  that  the  fire  of  sedition  once  lighted 
in  that  city,  would  extend  rapidly  to  Rome. 
All  the  remonstrances  of  the  bishops  were 
useless.  John  persisted  and  confirmed  the 
ordination  of  Pandenulph,  on  condition,  that 
the  governor  would  declare  war  on  the  Sara- 
cens. But  this  peogle,  who  were  apprised 
of  the  divisions  among  the  citizens  of  Capua, 
gave  no  time  to  Pandenulph  to  as.semble  his 
troops.  They  fell  suddenly  upon  ihe  city, 
ruined  the  country  and  retired  with  a  rich 
booty. 

After  their  departure,  the  governor  of 
Capua  claimed  the  rule  of  the  city  of  Gaeta, 
which  belonged  to  the  pope,  under  the  pre- 
text that  Docibilis,  the  governor,  was  in 
league  with  the  Saracen,  and  had  informed 
him  of  the  disorders  of  Capua.  The  pontiff 
then  placed  this  important  city  in  his  hands ; 
but  his  exactions  and  his  cruelties  soon  ex- 
cited such  discontent,  that  the  inhabitants,  in 
order  to  deliver  themselves  from  such  a 
tyrant,  resolved  to  go  to  the  Saracens  who 
were  encamped  near  to  Agropoli.  Confer- 
ences were  opened  and  the  Arabs  immedi- 
ately approached  the  city,  and  pitched  their 


266 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


tents  on  the  heights  which  commanded 
Formies. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  intelligence,  John 
perceived  the  mistake  he  had  made  in  com- 
mitting the  command  of  Gaeta  to  Pandenulph. 
He  immediatelj  retailed  PonihiliSj  who  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  troops  of  the  pro- 
vince, freed  the  city  ^-A  pursued  the  Mussul- 
mans even  to  the  coi-st.  At  the  same  time 
the  fleet  which  the  emperor  Basil  had  sent 
from  Constantinople  for  the  defence  of  the 
Holy  See,  having  encountered  the  enemy's 
vessels,  a  terrible  battle  took  place  and  vic- 
tory remained  with  the  Greeks. 

Rome  was  not  yet,  however,  delivered  from 
the  infidels,  who  occupied  all  the  fortified 
cities  of  Campania.  John,  desirous  of  placing 
Italy  entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  their  in- 
cursions, and  of  freeing  the  Holy  See  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  dukes  of  Pavia,  Beneventum 
and  Spoletto,  then  resolved  to  declare  as  em- 
peror, Charles  the  First,  king  of  Germany. 
He  consequently  wrote  to  the  prince,  who 
yielded  to  his  entreaties  and  came  to  Italy, 
where  he  was  solemnly  consecrated  emperor. 
The  new  protector  of  the  {loly  See,  showed 
himself,  however,  very  careless  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  church,  and  all  the  flatteries  of 
the  pontifl"  could  not  induce  him  to  send  his 
armies  into  Italy. 

The  court  of  Rome  remained,  nevertheless, 
submissive  to  the  will  of  the  monarch,  as  ap- 
peared in  a  religious  dispute  in  relation  to  the 
nomination  of  a  prelate  for  the  See  of  Geneva. 
The  emperor  had  designated  as  governor  of 
this  diocese  a  clergyman  named  Optandus; 


but  Otram,  archbishop  of  Vienne  and  the  sub- 
ject of  King  Boson,  refused  to  consecrate  the 
new  prelate,  who  had  neither  been  ordained 
nor  baptized  in  that  church,  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  established  by  the  canons,  and 
he  consecrated  a  new  bishop  to  govern  the 
faithful  of  Geneva.  John,  informed  by  Charles 
the  Gross  of  the  resistance  of  Otram,  wrote 
to  that  archbishop  to  come  to  Rome  to  justify 
the  irregularity  of  his  conduct,  and  commanded 
him,  under  penalty  of  excommunication,  to 
approve  of  Optandus,  who  had  been  recog- 
nized by  the  Holy  See.  The  pontiff  heaped 
the  most  violent  reproaches  on  the  venerable 
prelate)  he  accused  him  of  having  received 
money  for  the  election  of  his  protege,  and 
joining  ingratitude  to  baseness,  he  called 
King  Boson,  whom  he  had  himself  crowned 
as  a  recompense  for  his  services  and  submis- 
sion, an  usurper.  The  archbishop  treated 
with  contempt  the  threats  of  the  pontiff,  and 
instead  of  obeying  his  orders,  he  seized  Op- 
tandus and  confined  him  in  close  prison. 

Some  time  after,  John  the  Eighth  died,  and 
was  buried  on  the  18th  of  December,  882. 

The  annals  of  the  abbey  of  Fulda,  relate 
that  this  pope  was  poisoned  by  the  relatives 
of  a  Roman  lady,  whose  husband  he  had  car- 
ried off  to  become  his  minion,  and  be  used 
in  his  monstrous  debaucheries.  The  conspi- 
rators, seeing  that  the  poison  did  not  act  with 
sufficient  energy,  penetrated  into  his  apart- 
ments during  the  night,  and  broke  in  his  head 
by  blows  with  a  hammer.  •'  A  death  worthy 
of  this  execrable  pontiff,"  adds  Cardinal  Baro- 


MARTIN  THE  SECOND,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWELFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  882.] 

Simoniacal  election  of  3Iartin  the  Second — Photius  condemned — The  pallium  sent  to  Foulk — 
The  -pope  sells  the  king  of  England  apiece  of  the  true  cross — He  re-instals  the  bishop  For- 
mosus,  deposed  by  Pope  John — Death  of  Martin. 


After  the  death  of  the  sodomite,  John  the 
Eighth,  the  faction  of  the  counts  of  Toscan- 
ella  was  all  powerful  in  Rome.  Gallesien 
Falisque,  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  bought  the 
papacy  from  them,  and  by  aid  of  their  troops 
was  recognized  as  the  sovereign  pontiff.  He 
was  enthroned  under  the  name  of  Marin  or 
Martin  the  Second. 

The  new  pope  proved  to  be  as  depraved  in 
his  morals,  as  treacherous  in  his  polic}',  and 
as  proud  in  his  conduct  as  his  predecessor, 
John  the  Eighth,  whose  decrees  he,  however, 
wished  to  erase,  as  being  opposed  to  divine 
and  human  justice. 

Papebroch  relates,  that  before  being  eleva- 
ted to  the  pontificate,  Gallesien  had  been 
bishop  in  partibus  among  a  people  who  were 
slaves,  and  that  he  had  been  sent  to  Constan- 
tinople by  Adrian  the  Second,  as  legate,  to 


assist  at  the  council  which  condemned  Pho- 
tius :  thus  he  always  showed  himself  the 
enemy  of  this  patriarch,  and  as  soon  as  he 
reached  the  Holy  See,  he  anathematized  him 
anew,  and  renewed  the  schism  between  the 
churches  of  the  West  and  the  East. 

Like  his  predecessors,  he  sought  to  create 
in  France  a  powerful  party,  to  obtain  aid 
against  the  Saracens  and  the  other  enemies 
of  Rome,  and  for  this  end  he  sent  the  pallium 
to  Foulk,  the  successor  of  Hincmar,  a  very 
influential  prelate.  The  same  policy  led  him 
to  seek  the  aid  of  Alfred  the  Great,  king  of 
England,  to  whom  he  sold  a  piece  of  wood, 
wWch  he  affirmed  to  be  of  the  true  cross,  "  a 
treasure  more  precious,  wrote  the  pontiff,  than 
all  the  riches  of  the  world."  Martin,  how 
ever,  consented  to  receive  a  sum  of  money, 
for  which  he  diminished  the  tribute,  which 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


267 


the  English  paid  at  Rome  for  the  education  of 
the  children  who  were  destined  to  form  the 
clergy  of  Great  Britain.  He  did  not  bound 
his  ambitious  views  by  seeking  allies  in  re- 
mote provinces ;  he  also  endeavoured  to  re- 
attach to  the  Holy  See,  the  dukes  and  bishops 
of  Italy,  whom  the  violence  of  his  predecessor 
had  alienated.  He  conciliated  the  dukes  of 
Beneventum  and  Spoletto,  and  re-installed 
Formosus,  bishop  of  Porto,  in  his  dignity, 
branding  the   excommunication  which  John 


the  Eighth  had  pronounced  against  him,  as 
criminal  and  impious. 

Martin,  however,  did  not  long  enjoy  the 
favourable  results  of  his  policy;  he  died  in 
884.  after  a  reign  of  a  year  and  live  months, 
in  tlie  sufferings  of  an  horrible  malady  caused 
by  the  dissoluteness  of  his  morals;  "God 
permitting,  says  Platiims,  that  those  who  are 
elevated  to  the  sovereign  power  by  crime, 
should  have  a  deplorable  end  ;  a  just  chastise- 
ment for  their  guilty  ambition." 


ADRIAN  TIIK  THIRD,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  884.] 

Election  of  Adrian  the  Third — Letter  of  Pholius  on  the  dogma  ^'Fdioque^' — Disorders  of  the 
Roman  church — Scandalous  decree  of  the  pope — He  declares  that  the  imperial  crown  belongs 
to  the  pontiff's,  who  are  the  dispensers  of  it — Opinion  of  Siganius  on  the  pretensions  of  the  pope — 
Schism  of  the  Greeks — Death  of  Adrian. 


The  same  faction  which  had  elevated  Mar- 
tin to  the  pontificate,  sold  the  chair  of  St.  Peter 
anew  to  the  deacon  Adrian.  This  pope  was 
a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  a  priest  named 
Benedict.  His  ordination,  according  to  Baro- 
nius,  took  place  on  the  first  Sunday  in  March, 
in  the  year  844. 

He  was  scarcely  seated  on  the  pontifical 
throne,  when  he  made  a  decree  condemnatory 
of  the  council  of  Constantinople,  over  which 
Photius  had  presided,  and  put  in  force  the 
decree  of  the  assembly  which  had  anathema- 
tized that  prelate,  and  in  which  they  had  ap- 
proved of,  as  orthodox,  the  profession  of  the 
Nicene  faith,  with  the  addition  of  the  words 
''  Filioque,"  before  rejected  by  John  the 
Eighth. 

Photius,  being  informed  that  the  Latin 
priests  chanted  the  creed,  increased  by  the 
addition  of  these  words,  which  then  consti- 
tuted an  heresy,  wrote  a  violent  letter  against 
the  pontiff,  and  discussed  the  creed  with  a 
winning  logic,  demonstrating  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  only  proceeds  from  the  Father,  and 
strengthening  his  opinion  by  the  authority  of 
Leo  the  Third,  who  had  caused  the  silver 
buckler  to  be  suspended  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  on  which  was  engraven  the  creed, 
without  the  addition  of  "  Filioque."  He  final- 
ly concluded  by  showing  that  the  Roman 
church  had  always  shown  about  this  article 
of  faith,  the  same  sentiments  as  the  Sees  of 
Constantinople,  Ale.\andria,  Antioch,  and  Je- 
rusalem, which  persecutetl  those  who  held 
this  doctrine  as  rebellious  children,  whom  the 
church  should  condemn. 

At  this  period,  the  priests  of  the  holy  city 
■were  abandoned  to  the  most  unbridled  licen- 
tiousness; they  lived  publicly  with  courtezans, 
and  kept  houses  of  debauchery,  in  which  men 
disputed  with  women  the  wages  of  impurity. 
Incest,  robbery,  assassination,  were  employed 
by  turns  to  arrive  at  dignities  in  church  and 
state.     The  popes  arrogated  to  themselves  a 


sovereign  power  over  all  the  thrones  of  the 
earth,  and  Adrian,  in  the  intoxication  of  his 
pride,  dared  to  make  a  decree  which  author- 
ized the  pontiffs  to  nominate  as  emperors  of 
Italy,  the  princes  who  should  be  judged  most 
worthy  of  it  by  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  conduct  of  the  holy  father  ended  in 
exciting  the  wrath  of  Charles  the  Fat.  who 
resolved  to  pass  the  Alps  and  chastise  the  in- 
solence and  audacity  of  the  Roman  priests ; 
but  important  wars  calling  for  his  presence  in 
Austria,  he  was  obliged  to  instruct  his  gene- 
rals to  reduce  the  jirovinces  which  the  ordi- 
nances of  the  pope  had  excited  against  the 
imperial  authority.  The  hope  of  the  pontiff, 
in  publishing  these  decrees,  had  been,  not 
only  to  aggrandize  his  rule,  but  to  insure  for 
ever,  the  preponderance  of  the  church  over 
all  the  princes  of  Italy.  "  It  was  thus,"  says 
Maimburg,  "that  this  province  was  immedi- 
ately filled  with  disorder  and  desolation.  It 
was  miserably  torn  by  usurpers  and  tyrants 
unworthy  of  the  name  of  emperor,  and  from 
the  reign  of  Charles  the  Fat  to  that  of  Otho 
the  Great,  it  became  the  prey  of  all  the  wick- 
ed. The  people,  overwhelmed  in  ignorance 
and  shame,  cruelly  expiated  their  baseness 
and  murdered  each  other  like  gladiators,  to 
please  criminal  popes  or  insen.sate  kings." 

Adrian  the  Third,  by  his  pride,  also  lost  to 
the  Roman  church,  its  authority  over  the  East. 
Photius  entirely  separated  himself  from  the 
Latin  clergy,  and  commenced  the  schism 
which  still  exists  between  the  churches  of 
the  East  and  the  West. 

Basil  addressed  vehement  letters  to  the 
pope,  reproaching  his  ambition  ;  but  ihey  did 
not  reach  him.  for  he  died  on  the  2d  of  July, 
88.5,  before  the  arrival  of  the  embassadors 
from  Constantinople. 

This  pontiff  was  interred  in  the  abbey  of 
Nonantula,  and  the  church  honours  him  as  a 
saint ! 

During  the  short  period  of  his  reign,  the 


268 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Saracens  made  irruptions  into  the  territories 
of  Beneventum,  Rome,  and  Spoletto,  where 
they  committed  great  ravages,  partly  through 
hatred  of  the  Christian  rehgion,  and  partly  to 
avenge  the  defeats  they  had  suffered  during 
preceding  pontificates.  Sangdam,  who  was 
the  generalissimo  of  the  Mussulman  forces, 
was  very  bitter  against  the  churches  and  the 
monasteries.  The  rich  convent  of  St.  Vincent 
of  Volburna.  was  attacked  by  the  Arabs  and 
carried  by  assault,  notwithstanding  the  vigor- 
ous resistance  of  the  religious  ;  and  when  they 
became  masters  of  it.  they  put  to  death  all 
the  monks,  seized  upon  the  treasure,  the 
chalices,  the  holy  pyxes,  the  shrines  of  the 
relics,  set  fire  to  the  edifice,  and.  by  the  light 
of  its  burning,  afforded  his  troops  the  specta- 
cle of  a  frightful  orgy,  during  which,  his  ofii- 
cers  profaned  the  objects  of  Christian  worship, 
drinking  and  eating  from  the  chalices  and  per- 
fumed boxes,  and  using  censers  of  gold  to 
adore  Sangdam,  as  if  he  were  a  god.  The 
celebrated  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino,  al- 


most suffered  a  like  fate.  The  Saracens  in 
one  of  their  inroads,  fell  upon  the  province  of 
Gariglian,  and  surprised  the  little  abbey  of 
Monte  Cassino,  where  St.  Benedict  had  been 
interred,  before  the  religious  had  time  to  place 
it  in  a  state  of  defence.  All  the  brothers  were 
mercilessly  massacred;  the  heaps  of  corn 
piled  up  in  the  cellars,  as  well  as  the  tuns  of 
wine,  and  all  the  precious  objects,  became 
equally  the  prey  of  the  Mussulman.  The 
great  convent  alone  escaped  their  rapacity, 
thanks  to  the  height  of  the  walls  and  the 
bastions ;  but  the  great  church,  situated  on  the 
side  of  the  mountain,  and  in  which  were  found 
incalculable  riches,  extorted  by  the  monks 
from  people  and  kings,  was  pillaged  from  top 
to  bottom,  profaned  in  all  ways,  and  finally 
given  up  to  the  flames,  so  that  there  did  not 
remain  one  stone  upon  another.  The  Mus- 
sulmen  then  retired  into  the  southern  provin- 
ces of  Italy,  and  gave  to  the  monks  time  to 
repair  their  disasters  and  recover  an  hundred 
fold  the  losses  they  had  suffered. 


STEPHEN  THE  SIXTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FOURTEENTH  POPE. 

fA.  D.  885.] 

Education  of  Stephen  the  Sixth — He  is  chosen  pope — His  liberality  on  coming  to  the  throne — Mi' 
racle  of  the  holy  u-ater  and  the  grasshoppers — Letter  from  the  pontiff  to  the  emperor  Basil — 
Photius  renounces  the  See  of  Constantinople — Letters  of  Foiilk  to  the  pope — Guy  is  declared 
king  of  Italy — Letter  of  the  pope  to  Foulk — Death  of  Stephen  the  Sixth. 


Stephen  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the 
son  of  a  patrician  named  Adrian.  He  was 
educated  under  the  charge  of  Zachary,  bishop 
of  Anagina  and  librarian  of  the  Holy  See.  Pope 
Adrian  ordained  him  subdeacon,  and  attach- 
ed him  to  his  person  ;  he  afterwards  became 
a  favourite  of  the  pontiff  Martin,  who  ordained 
him  a  priest. 

When. the  funeral  rites  of  Adrian  the  Third 
were  over,  the  clergy,  lords,  and  people  having 
assembled  to  proceed  to  an  election,  unani- 
mously cried  out,  that  they  chose  for  pope,  the 
priest  Stephen,  whose  piety  alone  could  deliver 
them  from  the  grasshoppers,  the  drought,  and 
the  famine  which  desolated  the  city  and  coun- 
try of  Rome.  The  people  went  immediately 
to  the  residence  of  the  pontiff,  broke  open  the 
doors,  and  carried  him  off,  notwithstanding 
his  resistance,  to  conduct  him  to  his  church 
of  the  Four  Crowns,  where  he  was  proclaimed 
sovereign  pontiff;  after  which,  he  was  borne 
in  triumph  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  "  Du- 
ring the  progress  of  the  procession,"  say  the 
chronicles,  "God  manifested  his  joy  at  the 
elevation  of  his  servant ;  there  fell  an  abun- 
dant rain,  which  destroyed  a  great  part  of  the 
insects  which  desolated  the  fields,  and  brought 
back  hope  into  the  hearts  of  the  Romans!" 

Some  days  after  his  consecration,  Stephen, 
accompanied  by  the  bishops,  the  commission- 
ers of  the  emperor,  and  the  members  of  the 


senate,  visited  with  the  greatest  care,  the  in- 
terior of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  to  prove 
by  authentic  testimony,  the  state  in  which  the 
patriarchal  palace  was  when  he  took  posses- 
sion of  it,  and  if  there  remained  any  money, 
to  distribute  it  to  the  unfortunate.  They  dis- 
covered that  the  store  rooms  had  been  pillaged, 
so  that  there  did  not  remain  enough  house- 
hold utensils  for  the  necessities  of  the  pope. 
They  found  the  treasury  of  the  church  entirely 
empty,  as  well  as  the  granary  and  cellars,  and 
they  learned  by  irrefutable  testimony,  that 
the  money  of  St.  Peter  had  been  dissipated  to 
the  last  penny  by  the  unworthy  predecessors 
of  Stephen. 

In  his  distress  at  not  being  able  to  bestow 
any  largesses  on  the  clergy,  the  militia,  and, 
above  all,  the  poor,  who  were  dying  of  misery, 
the  pontiff  had  recourse  to  his  rich  patrimony. 
He  sold  his  numerous  domains,  and  distributed 
the  money  arising  from  them  to  the  unfortun- 
ate; he  attached  to  his  person  the  ablest  and 
most  virtuous  men,  and  daily  admitted  to  his 
table,  orphans,  whom  he  reared  as  if  they  had 
been  his  own  children. 

His  unchangeable  charity  soon  exhausted 
all  his  resources;  famine  and  drought  contin- 
ued to  desolate  Rome,  and  the  grasshoppers, 
whose  numbers  had  at  first  diminished,  fright- 
fully increased.  Stephen  then  published  an 
ordinance  to  excite  the  cultivators  to  the  de- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


269 


stmction  of  these  insects,  promising  twenty 
silver  pennies  to  all  who  should  bring  him  a 
bushel  of  grasshoppers.  The  decree  not  be- 
ing able  to  arrest  the  disasters  of  the  scourge, 
the  pontiff  went  to  the  oratory  of  St.  Gregory ; 
he  prostrated  himself  before  the  altar  and 
prayed  for  an  entire  day,  shedding  many 
tears ;  finally  towards  night,  he  rose  up  as  if 
inspired  by  God,  and  advancing  to  an  im- 
mense resei-voir  containing  holy  water,  he 
blessed  it  anew,  and  ordered  the  sexton  of  the 
church  to  distribute  some  of  this  water  to 
every  Roman,  enjoining  on  the  people  to 
sprinkle  with  it  the  grain  and  the  vines  in- 
fected by  the  grasshoppers  j  the  miraculous 
water  every  where  destroyed  the  insects ! 
The  news  of  this  prodigy  spread  quickly, 
through  all  the  country,  and  the  inhabitants 
came  in  crowds  to  obtain  the  water  conse- 
crated by  the  pontiff. 

Towards  the  end  of  tlie  year  885,  Stephen 
received  the  letters  which  the  emperor  Basil 
addressed  to  Pope  Adrian.  This  prince  se- 
verely reproached  the  holy  father,  and  threat- 
ened to  punish  his  audacity  if  he  should  per- 
sist in  wishing  to  govern  the  churches  of  the 
East.  Stephen  replied  in  these  terms  :  "  God 
has  given  to  princes  the  power  of  governing 
temporal  things,  as  he  has  given  to  us,  by  the 
authority  of  St.  Peter,  the  power  of  governing 
spiritual  things.  Sovereigns  have  the  right 
to  repress  a  rebellious  people,  to  cover  the 
land  and  sea  with  their  soldiers,  to  massacre 
men  who  refuse  to  recognize  their  rule,  or 
obey  the  laws  which  they  make  for  the  inter- 
ests of  their  crown.  To  us,  it  appertains  to 
teach  the  people,  that  they  ought  to  endure 
the  tyranny  of  kings,  the  horrors  of  famine, 
even  death  itself,  in  order  to  obtain  eternal 
life.  The  ministry  which  Chri.st  has  confided 
to  us  is  as  high  above  yours,  as  heaven  is 
above  the  earth,  and  you  cannot  be  the  judge 
of  the  sacred  mission  which  we  have  received 
from  God. 

"We  do  not  pretend,  in  addressing  this  lan- 
guage to  you,  to  detract  from  your  dignity, 
nor  censure  your  actions,  but  we  are  forced 
to  speak  thus  in  our  owji  defence,  and  that 
of  the  pontiff  Martin. 

"  We  learn  with  joy,  that  you  have  destined 
one  of  your  sons  for  the  priesthood.  We  be- 
seech you  to  re-establish  the  concord  between 
your  court  and  ours,  to  send  a  fleet  sufficient- 
ly armed,  to  cruise  upon  the  coasts  of  Italy 
from  the  month  of  April  to  that  of  September, 
and  a  numerous  garrison,  which  can  defend 
our  walls  against  the  incursions  of  the  Sara- 
cens. 

"  We  do  not  speak  of  the  misery  of  our  peo- 
ple, for  it  is  so  great  that  we  are  even  desti- 
tute of  oil  to  light  our  church." 

This  letter  did  not  arrive  at  Constantinople 
until  the  year  886,  after  the  death  of  the  em- 
peror Basil,  to  whom  had  succeeded  his  son 
Leo,  called  the  Philosopher.  But  a  strange 
revolution  had  already  taken  place  in  the  East- 
ern church.  The  new  prince,  a  personal  ene- 
my of  Photiu.s,  constrained  him  to  retire  to  a 
monastery,  in  order  to  bestow  the  patriarchal 


See  on  his  own  brother,  Stephen  the  Syncel- 
lus.  The  latter  wrote  to  the  pope  synodical 
letters,  containing  vehement  declarations 
against  Photius,  '•'  the  unworthy  patriarch,"  he 
said,  "whom  the  justice  of  the  prince  had 
driven  from  the  church  which  he  soiled  with 
his  crimes." 

The  holy  father  replied  to  him,  "It  is  not 
astonishing  if  the  eunuch  who  has  so  long 
enjoyed  the  cross  of  Christ,  is  finally  driven 
from  the  temple,  and  we  partake  of  the  lauda- 
ble sentiments  which  you  manife.st  ag-ainst 
this  execrable  layman.  We  shall  not  know 
how  yet  to  confirm  your  election,  as  we  find 
the  letters  of  the  emperor  entirely  different 
from  yours.  It  says  that  Photius  renounced 
in  writing,  and  of  his  own  accord,  the  epis- 
copal dignity,  in  order  to  embrace  a  solitary 
life.  If  his  determination  is  voluntary,  we 
shall  not  be  able  to  recognize  you  as  the 
legitimate  bishop;  for  there  exists,  according 
to  the  canons,  a  great  difference  between 
renouncing  a  See  and  being  regularly  deposed 
from  it. 

"  We  are  then  in  uncertainty  as  to  what 
has  transpired  in  Constantinople,  and  we  can- 
not make  any  decision  in  this  important  affair 
without  more  certain  information.  In  order 
to  give  an  equitable  judgment,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  two  parties  should  present  themselves 
before  us  by  their  envoys;  we  will  then  pro- 
nounce, in  the  presence  of  our  clergy,  the 
sentence  with  which  God  shall  inspire  us. 
The  Roman  church  is  the  model  of  the  other 
churches,  and  its  decrees  should  exist  eter- 
nally." 

Stephen,  though  occupying  himself  with  the 
disputes  of  the  Orientals,  did  not  lose  siyht  of 
the  West,  and  laid  his  plans  to  extend  his 
swaj'  over  the  clergy  of  France.  He  wrote 
to  Foulk.  archbishop  of  Rheims,  to  confirm 
him  in  his  archiepiscopal  dignitj',  and  con- 
dole with  him  in  the  afHictJons  which  the 
Normans  caused  him,  who  for  eight  years 
had  ravaged  the  north  of  Gaul,  and  descended 
even  to  the  environs  of  Rheims  and  Paris. 

Foulk,  in  his  reply,  renews  his  oath  of  obe- 
dience to  the  Holy  See,  and  devotion  to  the 
holy  father  and  all  his  family,  and  particularly 
to  Guy,  duke  of  Spoletto,  whom  the  pope  had 
adopted  as  his  son.  Finally,  after  having 
thanked  Stephen  for  his  confirmation  of  his 
title  to  the  archbishopric  of  Rheims,  he  be- 
sought him  to  command  the  metropolitans  of 
Sens  and  Rouen  to  excommunicate  Duke 
Ermenfroy,  who  had  seized  upon  a  monastery 
founded  by  Rampon,  the  brother  of  Foulk. 

In  the  following  year,  the  emperor  Charles 
the  Fat  being  dead,  the  clergj-  assembled,  in 
conformity  with  the  decree  of  Adrian  the 
Second,  and  proceeded  to  the  election  of  a 
new  monarch.  One  part  of  the  ecclesiastics 
recognized  as  king,  Berenger,  the  son  of  Ever- 
ard,  duke  of  Friuli,  and  another  elevated  to 
the  throne  Guy,  the  son  of  Lambert,  duke  of 
Spoletto.  This  latter,  aided  by  the  credit  and 
the  money  of  the  pope,  had  the  advantage  in 
the  wars  brought  about  by  this  double  elec- 
tion, and  Berenger,  to  escape  the  vengeance 


270 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


of  his  competitor,  took  refuge  with  Arnold, 
the  sovereign  of  Germany. 

After  the  death  of  Charles  the  Fat,  France 
was  parcelled  out  into  several  portions,  and 
the  chiefs  of  these  small  kingdoms,  desirous  of 
extending  their  sway,  covered  with  wars  and 
disasters  the  powerful  empire  of  Charlemagne. 

Boson,  who  had  re-established  the  kingdom 
of  Provence,  under  the  name  of  the  kingdom 
of  Burgundy,  was  dead,  and  had  left  his  crown 
to  his  son,  aged  nine  years;  but  the  lords  and 
bishops  having  refused  to  recognize  the  young 
prince  as  their  sovereign,  Bernoin,  the  metro- 
politan of  Vienne,  went  himself  to  Rome  to 
represent  tp  the  pope  the  miserable  state  of 
the  Gauls,  which  had  no  prince  sufficiently 
powerful  to  restrain  the  ambitious  in  their 
duty  and  drive  ofT  the  Normans  from  the  pro- 
vinces which  they  ravaged.  The  pope,  touched 
by  the  eloquent  pleading  of  the  archbishop, 
consented  to  crown  the  young  Louis  as  king 
of  Cisalpine  Gaul;  and  he  immediately  wrote 
to  the  French  prelates,  that  it  was  his  will, 
that  they  should  declare  the  heir  of  the  throne 
of  Burgundy,  sovereign  of  all  Gaul.  The 
bishops  Aurelian  of  Lyons,  Rostaing  of  Aries, 
Arnold  of  Embrun.  Bernoin t)f  Vienne,  as  well 
as  a  great  number  of  other  prelates,  assem- 
bled at  Valens,  and  by  order  of  the  pontiff, 
chose  and  consecrated  King  Louis,  the  son  of 
Boson,  and  Ermengarde,  the  daughter  of 
the  emperor  Louis  the  Second,  although  this 
prince  was  but  ten  years  old ;  the  regency 
was  confided  to  Richard,  duke  of  Burgundy, 
the  uncle  of  the  young  prince. 

The  troubles  which  divided  Gaul  had 
thrown  into  confusion  the  political  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  discord  reigned  m 
church  and  state.  For  ten  years  the  See  of 
Langres  was  in  deplorable  anarchy.  After 
the  death  of  Isaac,  its  last  titulary,  one  party 
had  chosen  the  deacon  Teutbold,  and  another 
had  named  Egilon  or  Geilon,  abbot  of  Noir- 
montiers,  who,  driven  from  his  convent  by 
the  Normans,  had  established  himself  with 
his  monks  in  the  monastery  of  Tournus.  The 
latter  was  consecrated  bishop  by  Aurelian, 
the  metropolitan  of  Lyons,  notwithstanding 
the  opposition  of  his  competitor,  and  he  main- 
tained himself  in  his  diocese  until  888,  the 
period  of  his  death.  The  party  of  Teutbold 
then  rallied,  and  proclaimed  that  deacon 
bishop  of  Langres ;  but  another  party  opposed 
his  nomination,  and  the  venerable  Argrim  ob- 
tained the  bishopric,  with  the  approbation  of 
the  archbishop  Aurelian. 

Teutbold,  furious  at  this  double  check, 
went  to  Rome  to  obtain  from  the  pontiff  the 
confirmation  of  his  nomination  to  the  bishopric 
of  Langres  ;  but  Stephen  behaved  in  this  affair 
with  laudable  moderation.  He  sent  back  the 
deacon  to  his  superior,  the  metropolitan  of 
Lyons,  \yho  was  to  consecrate  him  imme- 
diately, if  his  election  had  been  really  canoni- 
cal ;  at  the  same  time,  he  prohibited  Aurelian 
from  ordaining  another  bishop  for  the  See  of 
Langres  without  the  previous  authority  of  the 
Holy  See,  if  the  nomination  of  Teutbold  should 
prove  to  have  been  irregular.     The  pope  in- 


structed the  bishop  of  Sinigaille.  his  legate, 
to  inform  the  archbishop  of  Lyons  of  his  de- 
cision ;  but  the  latter  refused  to  follow  the 
instructions  of  the  court  of  Rome,  maintaining 
that  the  pope  had  no  right  to  interfere  in  the 
affairs  of  his  diocese.  Teutbold  then  returned 
to  Italy  with  the  decree  of  his  election,  and 
besought  the  holy  father  to  approve  it.  Ste- 
phen, notwithstanding  the  insubordination  of 
Aurelian,  did  not  dare  to  undertake  any  thing 
adverse  to  the  rights  of  the  church  of  Lyons ; 
he  wrote  anew  to  the  metropolitan  to  conse- 
crate the  deacon  Teutbold,  or  to  inform  him 
of  the  causes  of  his  refusal  to  do  so.  The 
archbishop  did  not  condescend  to  reply  to  the 
pope,  but  went  on,  ordaining  Argrim  bishop 
of  Langres,  and  put  him  in  possession  of  his 
diocese. 

The  pontiff  then  addressed  the  following 
letter  to  Foulk  of  Rheims,  '•'  Having  received, 
by  authority  from  St.  Peter,  power  to  govern 
all  the  churches,  and  knowing  that,  according 
to  the  canons,  he  cannot  be  counted  in  the 
number  of  bishops  who  has  been  neither 
chosen  by  the  clergy  nor  desired  by  the 
people;  moved  also  by  the  urgent  entreaty 
of  the  ecclesiastics  and  citizens  of  Langres, 
we  have  consecrated  as  chief  of  their  clergy 
the  deacon  Teutbold.  We  then  order  you, 
immediately  on  the  receipt  of  our  letters,  to 
go  to  that  city,  and  place  the  prelate  whom 
we  have  appointed,  in  possession  of  the  bishop- 
ric. You  will  declare  at  the  same  time  to 
all  the  bishops  of  Gaul,  that  we  have  taken 
this  church  into  our  particular  care,  to  punish 
the  metropolitan  of  Lyons  for  the  tyranny  he 
would  exercise  over  the  city  of  Langres." 

Foulk,  entirely  occupied  by  the  intrigues  of 
Count  Eudes,  who  had  been  declared  king  of 
France,  did  not  execute  the  orders  of  the 
Holy  See.  He  replied,  some  months  after,  to 
excuse  himself  for  not  having  accomplished 
the  wishes  of  the  court  of  Rome,  that  his 
sovereign,  Eudes,  had  counselled  him  to  de- 
fer the  execution  of  it  until  after  the  return 
of  his  embassadors  from  the  court  of  Rome. 
"Still,"  added  he,  "the  prince,  in  whose  pre- 
sence we  read  your  letters,  manifested  an 
extreme  joy  at  your  determination  to  pre- 
serve the  rights  and  privileges  of  all  the 
chirrches  inviolably.  We  also  beseech  you, 
most  holy  father,  to  address  to  us  in  writing 
your  decision  upon  this  question,  '  Can  our 
sufl~ragan  bishops  consecrate  a  king,  or  exer- 
cise any  like  prerogative  without  our  autho- 
rity V  " 

This  question  sufficiently  indicated  the  se- 
cret desires  of  the  archbishop  of  Rheims,  who 
wished  to  overthrow  Eudes.  and  elevate  Guy, 
his  relative,  to  the  throne  of  France.  Besides, 
the  count  of  Paris  was  not  consecrated  king  by 
Foulk,  nor  any  of  his  suffragans,  but  by  Van- 
tier,  the  metropolitan  of  Sens.  In  his  reply, 
the  pontiff  caused  it  to  be  understood,  that 
the  sentiments  of  the  Holy  See  were  opposed 
to  the  ambitious  views  of  the  archbishop. 

Stephen  died  on  the  7th  of  August,  891, 
after  a  reign  of  six  years.  We  can  praise  his 
liberality  towards  the  poor,  and  his  exactitude 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


271 


in  fulfilling  the  duties  of  the  pontificate,  but 
we  must  with  HeyJegger.  severely  blame  the 
pride  of  a  pope  who  elevated  himself  to  the 
same  degree  of  audacity  and  ambition  as  his 
predecessor.  We  quote,  to  fortify  our  opinion, 
a  decree  which  we  find  in  Gratiau,  '•  We  must 
always  and  invariably  bear  in  mind,  that  the 
Roman  church  has  ordained  one  faith." 


Notwithstanding  this  ma.xim,  the  pontifTa 
have  constantly  shown  themselves  in  contra- 
diction with  their  predecessors.  After  the 
death  of  one  infallible  pope,  his  successor 
as  infallible  himself,  accused  him  of  error, 
schism,  idolatry,  and  anathematized  his  acts, 
to  be  in  his  turn  pronounced  by  his  successoi 
an  heretic,  a  simoniac  and  an  idolater. 


FORMOSUS  THE  FIRST,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  891.] 

History  of  Formosus  before  his  pontificate — Irregularity  of  his  election — Letter  of  Stylien,  bishop 
of'Neocasarea — Reply  of  Formosus — Disorders  in  France — Coronation  of  Charles  the  Simple 
— Guy  and  Lambert  emperors — Siege  of  Rome  by  Arnold — Arnold  crowned  emperor  by  tht. 
pope — The  new  monarch  is  poisoned — Death  of  the  pontiff. 


Formosus,  while  legate  in  Bulgaria,  had 
accumulated  immense  wealth,  by  extorting 
enormous  sums  from  the  rude  people  of  that 
province,  thanks  to  superstition  and  ignorance. 

On  his  return  to  Rome  he  was  deposed 
from  the  episcopate  by  John  the  Eighth,  not 
for  the  crime  of  e.\tortion,  but  for  having  been 
accused  of  having  conspired  against  the  life 
of  this  pontiff,  and  the  authority  of  Charles 
the  Bald.  It  is  supposed  that  the  true  motive 
of  his  condemnation  was  the  opposition  he 
made  to  the  infamous  pontiff,  in  an  effort  to 
arrest  the  disorders  of  the  court  of  Rome. 
Jolm  employed  ecclesiastical  censures  to  ex- 
tract from  this  prelate  an  oath  never  to  return 
to  the  episcopate,  nor  to  inhabit  the  holy  city ; 
but  Pope  Martin  freed  him  from  his  oath,  and 
re-instated  him  in  his  honours  and  dignities. 

After  the  death  of  Stephen  the  Sixth,  the 
faction  of  the  duke  of  Spoletto,  chose  For- 
mosus for  sovereign  pontiff,  although  he  was 
already  bishop  of  Porto.  The  party  of  the 
count  of  Toscanella  opposed  this  election, 
under  the  pretext  that  it  was  contrary  to  the 
canons,  which  prohibited  ecclesiastics  from 
abandoning  one  See  to  occupy  another;  and 
tliey  elevated  to  the  pontificate  the  priest 
Sergius,  who  had  no  other  merit,  but  an  im- 
mense fortune.  But  Guy,  king  of  Italy,  hav- 
ing declared  for  Formosus,  he  was  enthroned 
in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  with  the  usual 
ceremonies,  notwithstanding  the  opposition 
of  his  enemies,  who  did  not  cease  to  trouble 
Rome  by  frequent  seditions  during  the  entire 
duration  of  his  reign. 

Some  time  after  his  elevation,  Formosus 
received  a  deputation  from  Constantinople, 
which  was  charged  to  inform  the  Holy  See 
of  the  affair  of  Photius,  as  Stephen  the  Sixth 
had  ordered.  A  metropolitan  and  an  officer 
of  the  emjicror  were  the  envoys  of  the  de- 
2)0sed  patriarch,  and  several  prelates  pre- 
sented themselves  in  the  name  of  Stephen 
the  Syncellus.  These  last  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  pontiff  a  letter  from  Stylian,  bi.shop  of 
Neocasarea,  and  the  favourite  of  the  young 
pontiff,    "  Most  holy  father,"  wrote  he,  "  you  i 


afiirm  that  you  have  found  contradiction  be- 
tween the  letter  of  the  emperor  and  ours 
Those  who  wrote  that  Photius  had  renouncec^ 
the  patriarchate,  are  ecclesiastics  who  recog- 
nized him  as  a  legitimate  bishop;  but  we  whc 
have  never  perceived  in  this  lay  eunuch,  the 
least  trace  of  the  priesthood,  in  accordance 
with  the  judginent  of  Popes  Nicholas  anc 
Adrian,  and  the  decrees  of  the  opcumenical 
council  of  Constantinople,  we  could  not  write 
that  he  had  renounced  the  episcopate.  Thus 
we  were  much  surprised  in  reading  at  the 
commencement  of  your  letter,  that  Photius 
was  rejected  from  the  church  by  the  autho- 
rity of  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  termination, 
in  which  you  pledge  yourself  to  judge  him  as 
if  he  were  a  legitimate  bishop. 

"  We  claim  your  indulgence  for  those  whc 
have  recognized  this  lay  eunuch  as  a  bishop, 
and  we  ask  you  to  send  circular  letters  to  the 
patriarch  of  the  East,  that  they  may  exercise 
the  same  charity  towards  those  who  have 
approved  of  the  election  of  the  infamou.'- 
Photius." 

The  holy  father  replied  to  Stephen  the 
Syncellus,  "You  ask  our  pity  for  the  guilty^ 
my  brother,  and  you  do  not  name  those  for 
whom  you  implore  it.  If  it  is  for  a  layman, 
he  merits  it;  if  for  a  priest,  you  forget  tha* 
Photius,  by  ordaining  ecclesiastics,  could  onlv 
transmit  to  them  the  anathema  of  his  owr 
condemnation,  since  he  has  never  had  the 
sacerdotal  power. 

"Our  church,  soiled  by  his  abominable 
contact,  should  be  purified  by  a  very  severe 
repentance,  if  our  piety  did  not  listen  to  the 
councils  of  mildness  and  humanity.  It  is  then 
necessary,  in  order  to  determine  the  measures 
which  should  be  taken  in  this  deplorable 
matter,  that  you  should  follow  the  advice  of 
our  legates,  liic  bishops  Remain,  Landulph  of 
Capua,  Thcophylactus,  the  metropolitan  ol 
Ancyra,  and  the  deacon  Peter,  in  whom  we 
have  placed  our  confidence.  You  will  con 
vene  a  synod,  at  which  they  will  assist,  anc 
you  will  renew  in  their  presence  the  sentence 
pronounced  against  Photius,  in  order  that  his 


272 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


condemnation  should  be  perpetual  and  irre- 
vocable. You  will  excommunicate  and  banish 
for  ever  from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  the 
ecclesiastics  ordained,  promising  to  them, 
however,  to  grant  them  lay  communion,  if 
they  shall  present  to  you  a  writing  subscribed 
with  their  own  hands,  in  which  they  shall 
recognize  themselves  as  guilty,  and  shall  im- 
plore pardon  for  their  fault." 

About  the  same  time  Foulk,  the  metropolitan 
of  Rheims,  wrote  to  the  pope  to  congratulate 
him.  He  testified  the  joy  which  he  felt  in 
seeing  one  of  the  members  of  his  family 
occupying  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  adding,  that 
he  regarded  this  event  as  a  striking  exempli- 
fication of  the  protection  which  God  granted 
to  the  church. 

Foulk  then  represented  to  the  holy  father, 
that  several  bishops  of  Gaul  demanded  the 
pallium  without  any  claims,  and  in  contempt 
of  the  authority  of  their  metropolitan.  He 
complained  at  seeing  that  such  an  honour  was 
granted  to  them  too  easily ;  and  to  shun  the 
renewal  of  this  abuse,  he  besought  him,  in  the 
name  of  Christianity,  not  to  grant  this  high 
distinction  except  upon  general  request,  in 
writing,  from  the  archbishops  of  a  province. 

In  his  reply,  the  pope  besought  his  relative, 
and  the  other  prelates  of  Gaul  and  Germany, 
to  have  compassion  on  the  evils  of  the  Roman 
church,  and  to  aid  it  with  their  treasures,  to  pre- 
vent its  being  ruined  by  the  prodigality  of  the 
Italian  clergy  and  the  incursions  of  the  infidels. 
He  added,  that  Rome  had  ceased  for  a  long- 
time to  find  any  support  from  the  Greek  em- 
pire, which  was  incessantly  troubled  by  dan- 
gerous heresies,  and  desolated  by  new  schisms. 
"In  order  to  decide  upon  the  measures  which 
we  should  take  to  re-establish  peace  in  the 
church,"  said  he,  '-'we  have  resolved  to  as- 
semble an  cccumenical  council  in  our  city,  on 
the  Ihst  of  March,  in  the  year  893 ;  and  we 
order  you  to  come  without  delay  to  this  synod, 
to  prepare  the  questions  which  we  shall  sub- 
mit to  the  learning  of  the  prelates  of  the 
assembly.  We  inform  you  that  we  have 
crowned  as  emperor  of  the  West,  Guy,  duke 
of  Spoletto,  your  relative  and  ours,  whose  au- 
thority contributed  to  strengthen  our  election. 
We  propose  also  to  crown  his  son  Lambert, 
whom  we  have  adopted  as  our  own." 

The  legates  who  bore  the  letters  of  the 
pontiff  to  the  metropolitan  of  Rhe.ms,  con- 
vened a  council  at  Vienne  by  the  order  of  the 
Ho\-  See.  The  fathers  of  that  assembly 
passed  several  canons  against  usurpations  of 
the  domains  of  the  clergy;  agaii.st  the  mur- 
ders, mutilations,  and  outrages  L-f  which  the 
laity  were  guilty  towards  the  ecclesiastics. 
They  prohibited  seculars  frona  disposing  of 
churches  without  the  consen*-  v.'f  the  bishops, 
from  receiving  a  right  of  investiture  over  pre- 
lates, and  from  falsifying  the  deeds  of  dona- 
tions which  were  made  fo  monasteries. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  following  year, 
Foulk,  whose  hatred  for  Eudes  had  even  in- 
creased since  an  interview  at  which  his  pride 
had  been  humbled  by  ,^ut  prince,  convoked 
a  synod  at  Rheims^  an '  proclaimed  as  king 


of  France,  the  young  Charles,  the  sni  of  Louis 
the  Stammerer,  Avho  was  only  fourteen  years 
old.  The  new  monarch  was  cro-vned  by  the 
bishops  and  lords  who  were  discontented  with 
Eudes.  The  metropolitan  of  Rheims  imme- 
diately informed  the  pope  of  the  consecration 
of  Charles  the  Simple. 

Formosus,  faithful  to  the  policy  of  his  pre- 
decessors, endeavoured  to  produce  discord 
among  the  French  princes,  in  order  to  exer- 
cise a  supreme  authority  over  them,  and  ob- 
tain from  their  ambition  all  the  advantages 
which  the  interests  of  the  Holy  See  demanded. 
He  wrote  to  Eudos,  prohibiting  him  from  at- 
tacking the  person  or  property  of  the  young 
Charles,  until  the  period  of  the  return  of  Arch- 
bishop Foulk,  who  had  gone  to  Rome  to  con- 
fer with  him  on  this  grave  question  ;  and  at 
the  same  time  he  ordered  the  prelates  of  Gaul 
to  urge  upon  King  Eudes  the  suspension  of 
hostilitios  against  the  son  of  Louis  the  Stam- 
merer. He  sent,  at  the  same  time,  to  the 
youthful  king  a  letter  of  congratulation  and  a 
holy  cake. 

Arnold,  sovereign  of  Germany,  informed  of 
the  coronation  of  Charles  the  Simple,  and  of 
the  aid  granted  him  by  the  pope,  sent  an  en- 
voy to  the  holy  father,  to  complain  that  he 
had  consecrated  a  monarch  without  his  au- 
thority, and  in  defiance  of  the  just  rights  which 
he  had  over  the  whole  empire  of  the  Gauls. 
He  threatened  to  invade  France  and  Italy,  and 
exterminate  the  people,  prie.sts,  and  princes 
of  those  kingdoms,  if  the  court  of  Rome  did 
not  do  justice  to  his  complaint.  Formosus 
gave  an  evasive  answer  to  the  envoys  of 
Arnold.  He  wrote  to  him,  that  he  owed  it  to 
himself  to  protect  the  young  monarch,  who 
was  his  relative,  and  that  he  ought  to  defend 
him  against  the  usurper  Eudes,  instead  of 
carrying  pillage  and  murder  into  his  estates. 
He  finally  finished,  by  threatening  him  Avith 
the  thunders  of  the  church,  if  he  invaded  the 
kingdom  of  Charles  the  Simple. 

Formosus  informed  Foulk  of  the  ■  letter 
which  he  had  written  to  Arnold,  and  replied 
to  the  metropolitan  on  the  subject  of  the  trou- 
bles which  were  agitating  France.  He  com- 
manded him  also  to  excommunicate  Richard, 
Manasses,  and  Rampon,  who  had  torn  from 
his  See  the  bishop  Teutbold,  had  cast  him 
into  prison  after  putting  out  his  ej^cs,  and  who 
had  finally  dared  to  depose  from  the  episco- 
pate the  metropolitan  of  Sens,  as  a  punish- 
ment for  having  reproached  them  with  their 
cruelties. 

The  pope  then  had  some  difficulty  with  the 
emperor  Guy,  in  relation  to  a  domain  which 
the  prince  wished  to  lake  away  from  the 
dutchy  of  Rome,  and  Formosus,  who  had  until 
now  manifested  an  inviolable  attachment  for 
the  prince,  his  relative,  turned  against  him, 
declared  him  deprived  of  the  throne,  antl 
named  as  emperor,  Berenger,  duke  of  Friuli. 
This  lord,  who  was  engaged  in  a  war  with  the 
Hungarians,  having  refused  aid  to  the  holy 
father,  Formosus,  in  order  to  place  himself 
beyond  the  reach  of  ihe  vengeance  of  the 
dukes  of  Spoletto,  who  threatened  Rome  with 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


273 


their  arms,  called  Arnold  into  Italy,  promising 
to  give  him  the  empire. 

The  ambitious  king  of  Germany  imme- 
diately passed  the  Alps  at  the  head  of  a  nu- 
merous army,  and  marched  right  on  Rome ; 
but  the  faction  of  Sergius,  aided  by  the  au- 
thority of  Lambert,  was  in  power  in  the  city, 
and  they  refused  to  open  the  gates  to  the 
German  soldiers.  Arnold  attacked  the  city 
Leonine,  which,  being  garrisoned  by  veteran 
troops,  offered  him  an  active  resistance.  His 
army  was  repulsed,  after  leaving  a  great 
number  of  dead  on  the  field.  Still  the  siege 
was  continued,  and  the  prince  built  entrench- 
ments around  it. 

A  singular  event  soon  rendered  him  master 
of  the  city.  Whilst  the  soldiers  were  occu- 
pied in  digging  ditches,  a  rabbit  started  from 
its  burrow,  and  ran  frightened  into  the  midst 
of  the  workmen.  The  latter  pursued  it  with 
shouts  up  to  the  walls  of  Rome.  The  citizens 
who  guarded  the  ramparts,  thinking  that  the 
assault  was  commenced,  abandoned  their 
posts,  and  immediately  spread  the  alarm 
through  all  quarters  of  the  city.  Arnold  hav- 
ing been  informed  of  this  panic,  judged  the 
moment  to  be  favourable.    He  advanced  with 


his  army,  scaled  the  walls,  and  took  posses- 
sion of  ixome,  without  striking  a  blow.  He 
then  went  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  where 
the  pope  crowned  him  emperor. 

At  the  entreaty  of  Formosus,  and  under  pre- 
tence of  punishing  the  outrage  committed  to 
religion  by  the  factious,  the  new  emperor  put 
to  death  the  principal  citizens  of  the  holy  city. 

These  cruelties  called  for  the  vengeance  of 
the  people !  A  generous  citizen  resolved  to 
deliver  the  nation  from  this  tyrant.  He 
clothed  himself  in  the  royal  livery,  became 
admitted  among  the  valets  of  Arnold,  and  ad- 
ministered to  him  a  poisoned  drink,  which 
rendered  him  dull  and  paralytic,  slowly  con- 
sumed his  bowels,  and  caused  him  to  die 
after  three  years  of  horrible  sufl'erings,  and 
almost  entirely  eaten  up  by  worms. 

Formosus  did  not  long  enjoy  his  triumph 
over  Lambert.  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty 
years,  after  having  put  to  death,  in  his  quar- 
rels, one  half  of  the  population  of  Rome.  He 
was  interred  on  the  7th  of  April,  896.  Mabil- 
lon  affirms  that  this  pontiff  was  a  model  of  all 
Christian  virtues;  that  he  had  never  commit- 
ted an  e.xcess  at  the  table,  and  that  his  whole 
life  was  passed  in  virginal  continence. 


BONIFACE  THE  SIXTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTEENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  896.] 

Election  of  Boniface — Cardinal  Bar onius  calls  him  an  infamous  iLretch — Uncertainty  among 
historians  as  to  his  expulsion  from  the  Holy  See — Versions  of  his  death. 

This  prince  will  call  himself  the  prince  of 
princes,  the  Lord  of  lords,  the  king  of  bishops, 
the  judge  of  all  mortals.  His  flatterers  will 
maintai^i  that,  by  virtue  of  the  plenitude  of 
his  power,  he  can  change  the  nature  of  things  ; 
make  right  wrong,  wrong  right,  under  the 
pretext  that  he  is  above  and  beyond  the  right, 
because  he  is  the  cause  of  causes.  They  will 
affirm  that  we  cannot  seek  for  the  origin  of 
his  power,  maintaining  that  it  is  absurd  to 
wish  to  assign  a  cause  to  the  first  cause, 
and  that  no  one,  without  being  heretical  and 
damned,  can  say  to  him,  '-Why  do  you 
so?" 

The  courtiers  and  flatterers  of  this  priest 
will  push  their  baseness  so  far  as  to  proclaim 
that  his  will  and  his  caprices  are  in  the  place 
of  laws ;  that  all  mortals  should  bend  in  the 
dust,  humiliate  themselves  before  him,  and 
blindly  obey  whatever  he  commands.  They 
will  even  establish  as  a  principle  and  article 
of  faith,  that  the  pope  is  infallible ;  that  he 
can  neither  sin  nor  be  deceived ;  that  all 
which  is  done  in  his  name,  emanates  from 
the  will  of  God ;  that  his  order  should  be 
considered  as  the  orders  of  the  Divinity,  whose 
place  he  holds  upon  earth;  and  finally,  that 
he  is  God  himself. 


The  funeral  rites  of  Formosus  were  not  yet 
over,  when  already  the  party  of  Sergius  had 
again  seized  upon  the  power  in  Rome,  and 
was  occupied  in  placing  on  the  throne  of  St. 
Peter  a  pope  of  its  choice. 

Boniface,  a  Tuscan  by  birth,  and  the  son 
of  Adrian,  showed  himself  one  of  the  most 
ardent  competitors.  Protected  by  Lambert, 
whose  creature  he  was,  he  scattered  his  gold 
with  a  bountiful  hand  among  the  people.  He 
was  prodigal  of  promises  to  the  grandees  and 
clergy,  and  was  proclaimed  pope,  though  he 
had  been  driven  from  the  diaconate  for  the 
crimes  of  adultery  and  murder.  He  was  en- 
throned under  the  name  of  Boniface  the  Sixth. 

He  did  not,  however,  remain  for  a  long  time 
the  possessor  of  the  Holy  See.  Stephen, 
bishop  of  Anaguia,  who  was  also  intriguing 
for  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  caused  him  to  be 
poisoned.  Such  is  the  version  of  the  most  reli- 
able historians  in  regard  to  Boniface  the  Sixth. 

Cardinal  Baronius,  who  calls  him  an  infa- 
mous wretch,  affirms  that  he  died  of  gout,  a 
cruel  malady,  caused  by  his  excesses  at  the 
table.  Be  the  cause  of  his  death  what  it 
might,  after  a  reign  of  fifteen  days,  he  left  the 
Holy  See  to  a  priest,  who  was  worthy  to  cover 
his  head  with  the  dishonoured  tiara  of  the 
pontiffs  of  Rome. 

Vol   I.  2  K 


274 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


STEPHEN  THE  SEVENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVEN- 
TEENTH POPE. 

[A.  D.  897.] 

Scandalous  election  of  Stephen — The  new  pontiff  causes  the  dead  body  of  Formosus  to  be  brought 
before  a  council — Sacrilegious  condemnation  of  the  dead — The  ordinations  of  Formosus  de- 
clared nidi  by  Stephen  the  Seventh — Death  of  the  pontiff — Character  of  the  ninth  century, 
called  by  the  historians  the  age  of  ignorance. 


Platinus  relates,  that  in  the  ninth  century 
the  pontificate  had  become  the  object  of  all 
ambition,  the  aim  of  all  intrigues,  and  that  it 
was  bought  with  gold  or  with  blood.  Stephen 
the  Seventh,  the  most  adroit  and  corrupt  of 
the  claimants,  was  declared  bishop  of  Rome. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  priest  named  John,  and  a 
courtezan.  He  did  not  disgrace  his  origin  ;  and 
in  the  whole  course  of  his  reign  he  showed  him- 
self to  be  debauched,  vindictive  and  cruel. 

He  was  scarcely  seated  on  the  throne,  when 
he  trampled  divine  and  human  laws  beneath 
his  feet.  With  the  rage  of  a  demon,  he 
caused  the  dead  body  of*  his  predecessor. 
Formosus,  to  be  exhumed,  to  punish  him  for 
having  usurped  the  supreme  dignity  to  his 
detriment.  By  his  orders,  the  Latin  bishops 
assembled  in  council,  and  there,  in  the  midst 
of  the  convention,  the  dead  body  of  Formosus 
was  placed  in  the  pontifical  seat,  the  tiara  on 
its  head,  the  pastoral  baton  in  its  hand,  and 
clothed  with  the  sacerdotal  ornaments ;  then 
an  advocate  was  given  to  it  to  defend  it ! 
Shocking  derision  ! 

Stephen  interrogated  Formosus  in  these 
terms: — "Bishop  of  Porto,  why  hast  thou 
pushed  thy  ambition  so  far  as  to  usurp  the 
See  of  Rome,  in  defiance  of  the  sacred  canons, 
which  forbade  this  infamous  action  ?"  The 
advocate  who  answered  for  Formosus,  con- 
fessed himself  guilty  of  the  greatest  crimes. 

The  holy  father  then  pronounced  a  sentence 
of  deposition  and  excommunication  against 
the  bishop  of  Porto ;  and  having  approached 
the  pontifical  seat,  he  gave  a  blow  to  the  dead 
body  which  made  it  roll  down  at  his  feet. 
He  himself  then  despoiled  it  of  all  the  sacer- 
dotal vestments,  cut  off  three  fingers  from  the 
right  hand,  and  finally  ordered  the  executioner 
to  cut  off  the  head,  and  cast  the  dead  body 
into  the  Tiber. 

Luitprand  affirms,  that  some  fishermen  hav- 
ing found  these  sacred  remains  upon  the 
banks  of  the  stream,  carried  them  secretly  to 
the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  that  the  images 
of  the  saints  before  which  they  passed,  all 
bowed  before  the  relics  of  Formosus.  If  weput 
faith  in  miracles,  as  the  church  orders  us,  we 
must  confess  that  paintings  and  statues  have 
entirely  lost  the  custom  of  politeness. 

The  cardinal  Baronius,  the  defender  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  Holy  See,  by  one  of  those 
contradictions  of  which  he  offers  us  so  many 
examples,  after  having  blackened  the  memory 
of  Boniface,  has  wished  to  justify  the  conduct 
of  Stephen.     He  contends  that  the  condemna- 


tion of  Stephen  was  not  contrary  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  nor  heterodox;  but  the  venerable 
Crantz  testifies,  in  the  most  energetic  terms, 
his  indignation  against  the  adorer  of  the  popes. 
"  How  does  Baronius  dare  to  sustain  an  action 
so  horrible  and  so  execrable  as  an  emanation 
from  an  infallible  being  1  Is  it  possible  that 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  could  ani- 
mate the  sacrilegious  pontiffs  who  governed 
Rome ;  those  infamous  priests,  who  were 
drunkards,  madmen,  furious,  robbers,  and 
murderers'?  No;  it  is  repugTiant  to  the  rea- 
son of  man  to  believe  that  God. could  have 
chosen  as  his  representatives  in  this  world, 
monsters  who  dishonour  humanity." 

After  having  mutilated  the  dead  body  of 
Formosus,  Stephen  introduced  into  the  conven- 
tion all  the  ecclesiastics  whom  that  pontiff  had 
ordained.  Their  consecration  was  declared 
null,  and  they  were  ordained  aneM^  Arnold 
was  deposed  from  the  dignity  of  emperor,  and 
Lambert,  Duke  of  Spoletto,  was  declared  em- 
peror of  the  West. 

But  this  abominable  priest  soon  received 
chastisement  for  all  his  crimes.  A  conspiracy 
was  formed  against  him  ;  he  was  hurled  from 
his  throne  and  plunged  into  a  prison,  and 
finally  strangled  with  the  shreds  of  his  dal- 
matics, on  the  2d  of  May,  897. 

Stephen  the  Seventh  was  so  ignorant,  that 
he  scarcely  knew  how  to  sign  his  name:  he 
was  ignorant  of  even  the  first  elements  of  re- 
ligion ;  and  his  depravity  was  pushed  to  such 
an  excess,  that  he  even  surpassed  John  the 
Eighth  in  his  monstrous  debaucheries. 

Baronius,  notwithstanding  his  devotion  to 
the  Holy  See,  avows  that  the  ninth  century 
was  a  time  of  desolation  for  the  church. 
"Never,"  says  he,  "had  divisions,  civil  wars, 
the  persecutions  of  pagans,  heretics,  and  schis- 
matics caused  it  to  suffer  so  much  as  the 
monsters  who  installed  themselves  on  the 
throne  of  Christ  by  simony  and  murders.  The 
Roman  church  was  transformed  into  a  shame- 
less courtezan,  covered  with  silks  and  pre- 
cious stones,  which  publicly  prostituted  itself 
for  gold ;  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  was  be- 
come a  disgraceful  tavern,  in  which  ecclesias- 
tics of  all  nations  disputed  with  harlots  the 
price  of  infamy. 

"  Never  did  priests,  and  especially  popes, 
commit  so  many  adulteries,  rapes,  incests, 
robberies,  and  murders ;  and  never  \yas  the 
ignorance  of  the  clergy  so  great,  as  during  this 
deplorable  period.  Christ  was  then  assuredly 
sleeping  a  profound  sleep  in  the  bottom  of  his 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


275 


vessel,  whilst  the  winds  buffeted  it  on  all  sides, 
and  covered  it  with  the  waves  of  the  sea.  And, 
what  was  more  unfortunate  still,  the  disciples 
of  the  Lord  slept  more  profoundly  than  he, 
and  could  not  awaken  him  either  by  their 
cries  or  their  clamours.  Thus  the  tempest  of 
abomination  fastened  itself  on  the  church,  and 
offered  to  the  inspection  of  men  the  most  hor- 
rid spectacle  !     The  canons  of  councils,  the 


creed  of  the  apostles,  the  faith  of  Nice,  the  old 
traditions,  the  sacred  rites,  were  buried  in 
the  abyss  of  oblivion,  and  the  most  unbridled 
dissoluteness,  ferocious  despotism,  and  insa- 
tiable ambition  usurped  their  place.  Who 
could  call  legitimate  pontiffs  the  intruders  who 
seated  themselves  on  the  chair  of  the  apostles, 
and  what  must  have  been  the  cardinals  select- 
ed by  such  monsters  ?" 


THE     TENTH    CENTURY. 

ROMANUS,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND   EIGHTEENTH  POPE. 

Election  of  Romanus — Reflections  on  the  popes — Character  of  the  tenth  century — The  thirty 
pontiffs  of  that  century  denounced  by  all  historians — Reign  and  death  of  Romanus. 


After  the  death  of  Stephen  the  Sixth,  Ro- 
manus Gallesius  was  elected  to  the  Holy  See. 
On  the  day  succeeding  his  election  he  erased 
the  decrees  which  his  predecessor  had  made 
against  Formosus,  for  it  appears  as  if  the  popes 
of  that  period  were  driven  on  by  an  infernal 
spirit,  which  induced  them  to  efface  from  the 
memory  of  men  the  actions  of  their  predeces- 
sors. 

This  principle  of  obscurity  is  the  basis  of 
the  spirit  of  the  church,  and  the  priests  have 
always  wished  to  destroy  the  past,  in  order  to 
govern  the  present,  and  lord  it  over  the  future. 
Platinus  affirms,  that  envy  and  fear  alone  have 
driven  on  the  clergy  to  put  out  the  lights  of 
information  ;  and  that  pontiffs,  defiled  with 
every  vice,  have  plunged  men  into  the  shades 
of  ignorance,  to  prevent  the  recital  of  their 
crimes  from  being  transmitted  to  posterity. 

In  fact,  the  tenth  century  is  the  most  fertile 
in  disasters  and  calamities !  Monsters,  un- 
worthy of  the  name  of  man,  governed  empires. 
Never  was  ignorance  so  profound ;  and  the 
cardinal  Baronius  himself  exclaims — ''The 
tenth  century  should  be  called  the  age  of  iron, 
on  account   of  the   innumerable   evils  with 


wliich  it  was  filled ;  the  age  of  lead,  on  ac- 
count of  the  tyranny  of  popes  and  kings,  and 
the  age  of  obscurity,  on  account  of  the  ster- 
ility of  literature  and  science !" 

Before  arriving  at  the  history  of  this  deplor- 
able period,  we  should  warn  our  readers,  that 
scandals  and  abominations  will  fill  the  reigns 
of  the  Roman  pontiff's ;  that  the  churches  of 
Christ  will  become  places  of  prostitution  ;  that 
courtezans  will  dispose  of  the  keys  of  Heaven; 
that  bishops  and  popes  will  prostrate  them- 
selves at  their  knees  ;  and  that,  during  more 
than  two  centuries,  incestuous  and  pedantic 
priests  will  soil  the  steps  of  the  altar  !  Finally, 
fifty  pontiffs,  apostates,  murderers  and  wan- 
tons are  about  to  occupy  the  chair  of  St.  Peter ! 

And  nature,  as  if  she  wished  to  leave  a 
strange  remembrance  of  that  period,  gave  birth 
to  a  monster  with  the  head  of  a  lion,  and  a 
human  body.  Platinus,  Genebrard,  Stella, 
Baronius,  in  their  writings,  call  the  pontiffs  of 
that  age  simoniacal  priests,  magicians,  sodom- 
ites, tyrants,  robbers,  and  assassins. 

Romanus  preserved  his  rank  among  those 
execrable  popes,  though  he  only  occupied  the 
Holy  See  for  four  months. 


THEODORE  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  -AND  NINE- 
TEENTH POPE. 

[A.  D.  898.] 

Election  of  Theodore — He  reccdls  the  bishops  who  had  been  ordained  by  Formosus — His  death, 
after  a  pontificate  of  twenty  days — Nicholas  the  Mystic. 

The  successor  of  Romanus  was  called  Theo- 1  and  encouraged  the  interests  of  the  seditious, 
dore.     He  wasboni  at  Rome,  and  was  the  son    in  order  to  elevate  the   sovereifrnty  of  Borne 


of  Photius.  His  first  act  of  authority  was  to 
recall  the  bishops  who  had  been  driven  from 
iheir  sees  by  Stephen.  He  reinstated  the 
priests  who  had  been  ordained  by  Formosus, 


above  the  crown  of  France.     After  a  reign  of 
twenty  days,  death  arrested  the  execution  of 
his  ambitious  projects. 
Some   authors  affirm   that   he  was  sober, 


in  the  exercise  of  their  sacerdotal  functions,    chaste,  and  liberal  to  the  poor:  but  a  pontificate 


276 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


so  soon  terminated  does  not  permit  us  to  pass  a 
serious  judgment  on  the  character  of  Theodore. 

The  See  of  Constantniople  being  vacant, 
Nicholas,  the  secretary  of  the  emperor  Leo 
the  philosopher,  was  elevated  to  the  dignity 
of  patriarch,  in  recompense  for  the  submission 
which  he  had  constantly  shown  to  his  master 
in  the  exercise  of  his  charge.  A  powerful  mo- 
tive determined  the  prince  to  make  this  choice. 
Up  to  this  time  he  had  no  heir,  though  he  had 
been  married  three  times.  His  third  wife 
being  dead,  he  had  married  a  fourth,  but  se- 
cretly, as  fourth  marriages  were  prohibited 
in  the  Greek  church,  and  he  had  himself  or- 
dained by  an  express  decree,  that  the  penal- 
ties inflicted  by  the  canons  on  this  subject, 
should  be  punctually  executed. 

His  fourth  wife,  named  Zoe,  having,  how- 
ever, given  birth  to  a  son,  the  interests  of  his 
dynasty  demanded  that  his  marriage  should 


be  declared  legitimate,  and  he  counted  upon 
the  compliance  of  Nicholas  the  mystic,  in  ar- 
ranging this  affair.  He  soon  learned  that  he 
had  done  wrong  in  placing  his  hopes  on  the 
new  prelate  ;  for  the  latter,  who  found  himself 
elevated  to  the  highest  dignity  of  the  empire, 
and  who  had  nothing  more  to  expect  from  his 
sovereign,  declared,  that  he  not  only  did  not 
approve  of  the  marriage  of  Leo  and  Zoe,  but 
that  he  would  refuse  to  baptize  the  son  of  this 
criminal  union,  unless  the  emperor  would  bind 
himself  by  oath  to  dismiss  the  mother.  The 
prince,  fearful  of  some  outbreak  among  the 
clergy  and  people,  resolved  to  elude  the  de- 
cision of  Nicholas.  He  obeyed  the  patriarch, 
exiled  his  wife,  and  had  his  son  baptized  ;  but 
three  days  afterwards  he  recalled  Zoe  to  his 
court,  caused  her  to  be  recognized  as  empress, 
and  publicly  celebrated  his  marriage  without 
employing  the  ministry  of  the  priests. 


JOHN  THE  NINTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTIETH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  898.] 

Tohn  the  Ninth  and  Scrgius  dispute  the  pontifical  chair — John  re-instates  the  memory  of  Formo- 
siis — Council  of  Rome — The  pope  condemns  the  council  before  which  Pope  Stephen  brought 
the  dead  body  of  Formosus — John  orders  a  levy  of  tithes — Re-installation  of  Argrim,  bishop 
of  Langres — Letters  from  the  bishops  of  Bavaria — The  pontiff  extends  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  See  over  the  kingdoms  of  Spain — Louis,  king  of  Provence,  is  proclaimed  emperor  of  Italy 
— Death  of  John  the  Ninth — Fanaticism  of  the  converters. 


After  the  death  of  Theodore,  the  Romans 
were  divided  in  the  choice  of  a  new  pontiff. 
The  priest  Sergius,  who  had  for  a  long  time 
been  occupied  in  intriguing  for  the  episcopal 
throne,  was  chosen  by  a  minority,  but  the  op- 
posing cabal  gave  the  papacy  to  the  son  of 
Rampaldus,  John  the  Ninth,  born  at  Tibur, 
and  drove  his  competitor  from  the  city  of 
Rome.  Sergius  then  retired  into  Tuscany, 
under  the  protection  of  the  marquis  Adalbert. 

John,  remaining  sole  master  of  the  power, 
undertook  to  re-instate  the  memory  of  Formo- 
sus, and,  notwithstanding  the  clamours  of  the 
people,  he  erased  the  decrees  of  the  infamous 
Stephen.  This  act  of  equity  exasperated  the 
clergy.  The  priests  placed  themselves  at  the 
head  of  an  infuriate  multitude,  and  beseiged 
the  pontiff  in  his  palace  ;  but  after  some  sharp 
combatSjVictory  remained  with  John  the  Ninth. 

The  emperor  Arnold,  having  left  Italy  in  896, 
and  Guy  having  died  the  same  year,  Berenger, 
duke  of  Friuli,  found  himself  the  most  pow- 
erful of  the  Italian  lords.  He  constrained  the 
pope  to  bestow  on  him  the  imperial  crown, 
but  scarcely  had  he  left  Rome,  when  the  pon- 
tiff called  in  Lambert,  the  son  of  Guy,  to  con- 
secrate him  emperor  of  the  West. 

To  give  a  more  imposing  character  to  his 
decisions,  the  holy  father  convoked  a  council 
at  Rome,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  bishops, 
read  a  long  article  upon  the  misfortunes  of 
Christianity,  indicating  the  means  to  be  taken 
to  bring  back  peace  to  the  church. 


After  the  reading  of  this,  the  fathers  de- 
clared that  as  they  had  no  business  to  occupy 
themselves  with  temporal  affairs,  they  should 
proceed ;  but  the  bishop  of  Aneza,  who  had 
been  gained  by  the  pope,  maintained  on  the 
contrary,  that  they  should  deliberate  during 
the  session,  on  the  propositions  contained  in 
the  memorial.  The  bishop  of  Albano,  he  of 
Turin,  and  several  others  sustained  the  mo- 
tion, and  called  for  the  reading  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  council  which  had  been  held  under 
Theodore. 

They  declared  that  it  was  permitted  by  the 
canons  to  re-instate  the  memory  of  a  pope  un- 
justly condemned,  and  to  take  back  the  pro- 
perty of  which  he  had  been  despoiled,  and  in 
consequence  thereof,  the  decrees  of  the  coun- 
cil at  which  the  dead  body  of  Formosus  had 
been  accused  of  perjury,  were  submitted  to 
the  convention,  and  his  accusers,  Peter,  Pascal, 
and  Sylvester  were  excommunicated.  These 
last  requested  that  the  sentence  of  their  judg- 
ment should  be  put  off  until  the  next  day. 
John  the  Ninth  yielded  to  their  entreaties,  and 
in  the  mean  time,  their  presents  softened  the 
severity  of  the  pontiff,  who  consented  to  re- 
ceive them  into  the  bosom  of  the  church,  on 
condition  that  they  should  implore  his  pity. 

The  twelve  articles  decreed  by  the  fathers, 
were  then  published,  the  following  is  their 
substance:  '-We  entirely  reject  the  council 
held  by  the  pontiff  Stephen,  and  we  condemn 
as  baneful  to  religion,  the  convention  by  which 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


!77 


the  dead  body  of  Formosus  was  torn  from  its 
sepulchre,  judged,  and  dragged  through  the 
streets  of  Kome  ;  a  sacrilegious  act,  until  that 

time  unknown  among  Christians The 

bishops  who  assisted  at  this  judgment,  having 
implored  our  pardon,  and  protested  that  fear 
alone  forced  them  into  this  horrible  synod,  we 
have  used  indulgence  in  their  behalf;  but  we 
prohibit  the  pontiffs,  our  successors,  from  hin- 
dering in  future,  liberty  of  deliberation,  and 
from  doing  any  violence  to  the  clergy. 

"  The  mortal  remains  of  Formosus  shall  be 
transferred  from  the  church  of  Porto,  to  the 
Holy  Apostolic  See,  on  account  of  his  merit; 
but  the  honours  which  we  render  to  our  pre- 
decessors, must  not  establish  a  precedent 
against  the  canons,  which  prohibit  inhuma- 
tions in  the  pontifical  church. 

"  We  also  prohibit  clergy,  who  shall  have 
been  deposed  in  a  council,  and  w'ho  shall  not 
have  been  canonically  re-instated,  from  being 
promoted  to  a  higher  station,  as  was  done  in 
the  election  of  Boniface,  previously  deposed 
from  the  subdeaconate,  and  then  from  the 
priesthood.  If  any  one  shall  dare  to  contra- 
vene this  rule,  we  declare  him  labouring  under 
the  anathema  of  the  Holy  See. 

"  We  also  condemn  re-ordinations  and  re- 
baptisms. 

'•  The  unction  of  the  holy  oil  which  was 
given  to  our  spiritual  son,  the  emperor  Lam- 
bert, is  confirmed ;  but  we  deprive  of  all  vir- 
tue that  which  Berenger  forced  from  us. 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  conventions  which 
we  have  censured  shall  be  burned;  Sergius, 
Benedict,  and  Marin  can  no  longer  be  regarded 
as  ecclesiastics,  unless  they  live  in  penitence. 
We  declare  them  separated  from  the  com- 
munion of  the  faithful,  as  well  as  all  those 
who  violated  the  sepulchre  of  Formosus,  and 
who  dragged  his  dead  body  into  the  Tiber. 

"  The  holy  Roman  church  suffers  great  vio- 
lence on  the  death  of  a  pope.  Disorders  attend 
the  elections  which  are  made  to  the  insult  of 
the  emperor,  and  without  waiting,  as  the 
canons  ordain,  the  presence  of  the  imperial 
commissioners.  We  order  that  in  future,  the 
pontiffs  be  elected  in  a  convention  of  the 
bishops,  at  the  request  of  the  senate  and  the 
people,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the  prince  ; 
and  we  prohibit  the  exaction  from  him  of 
oaths  which  usage  shall  not  have  consecrated. 

"  The  times  have  introduced  a  detestable 
custom.  On  the  death  of  a  pontiff,  the  patri- 
archal palace  is  pillaged,  and  the  pillage  ex- 
tends through  the  whole  city  ;  episcopal  man- 
sions even  are  treated  in  the  same  way  on  the 
death  of  bishops.  It  is  our  will  that  this  cus- 
tom .'should  cease.  Ecclesiastical  censures 
and  the  indignation  of  the  emperor,  will  punish 
those  who  shall  brave  our  prohibition. 

"We  also  condemn  the  usage  of  selling 
secular  justice  ;  if,  for  example,  prostitutes  are 
found  in  a  house  belonging  to  a  priest,  judges 
or  their  officers  drag  them  from  it  with  scan- 
dal, and  maltreat  them  until  theyare  ransomed 
by  their  masters,  in  order  to  acquire  the  right 
of  prostitution  .  .  .  ." 

This  custom  was  perhaps  the  remains  of 


an  ancient  usage,  abolished  by  the  emperor 
Theodosius,  and  which  served  as  a  punish- 
ment for  women  taken  in  adultery.  Besides. 
we  know  that  the  Roman  dames  had  permis- 
sion to  prostitute  themselves,  provided  they 
declared  before  the  edile,  that  they  wished  to 
become  courtezans  :  those,  however,  who  had 
as  a  grandfather,  father,  or  husband,  a  Roman 
knight,  could  not  avail  themselves  of  this  per- 
mission. 

The  council  of  Rome  being  tei-minated,  John 
the  Ninth  went  to  Ravenna,  where  he  presided 
over  a  new  assembly  of  bishops,  under  the 
protection  of  the  emperor  Lambert. 

We  report  one  of  the  decrees  which  was 
made  in  relation  to  Peter's  pence,  always  an 
important  matter  with  the  clergy.  "  If  any 
one  refuses  to  submit  to  the  canons  and  capi- 
tularies of  the  emperors,  Charlemagne,  Louis, 
and  Lothaire  his  son,  in  matters  concerning 
the  tithes,  he  shall  be  driven  out  from  the 
communion  of  the  faithful." 

Lambert  bound  himself  by  oath  to  preserve 
the  privileges  of  the  clergy,  and  promised  to 
punish  the  brigands  and  incendiaries  who 
desolated  the  territory  of  the  pontiff. 

John  was  also  occupied  with  the  affair  of 
Argrim,  the  bishop  of  Langres,  who  had  been 
ordained  by  the  archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  w'as 
afterwards  deposed  by  the  monarch.  The 
pope,  solicited  by  the  French  clergy,  appeared 
to  desire  this  re-installation,  and  he  wrote 
with  his  own  hand  to  King  Charles  to  obtain  it. 

During  the  same  year,  (900,)  the  emperor 
Arnold  died ;  the  nobles  of  Germany  then 
assembled  at  Forcheim,  and  recognized  as 
their  king  the  young  Louis,  his  son,  who  was 
but  seven  years  old.  The  bishops  infonned 
the  pontiff  of  it  by  a  letter  written  in  the  name 
of  Halten,  archbishop  of  Mayence,  and  signed 
by  all  his  suffragans.  Some  passages  of  this 
letter  are  remarkable  : — "  We  hesitated  for 
some  time,  in  the  choice  of  a  prince,''  .said 
they ;  "  but  we  feared  lest  the  kingdom  should 
soon  be  divided  by  factions ;  wo,  therefore, 
with  one  voice,  have  brought  to  the  throne 
the  descendant  of  our  kings. 

"By  this  election  we  have  maintained  the 
ancient  custom,  in  accordance  with  which, 
the  Frank  kings  always  come  of  the  same 
race.  If  we  have  acted  without  waiting  for 
your  sacred  orders,  it  is  because  the  Pagans, 
who  live  between  us,  stop  our  embassadors ; 
we  beseech  you  now  to  confirm  that  which  wo 
have  done  .... 

'•'  Our  brothers,  the  bishops  of  Bavaria,  have 
asked  from  us  assistance  again.st  the  Mora- 
vians; they  complain  of  having  been  falsely 
accused  of  maintaining  relations  with  idolatry, 
and  they  beseech  us  to  implore  your  bene- 
diction upon  them,  and  to  ask  from  you  aid  to 
repress  the  insolence  of  the  Slavi." 

The  bishops  of  Bavaria  also  wrote  to  the 
pope  several  letters,  which  bear  at  their  head 
the  names  of  Thomas,  archbishop  of  Sallzburg, 
and  some  other  prelates ;  they  afford  to  us  an 
exact  knowledge  of  the  manners  of  the  times, 
the  spirit  of  the  clergy,  and  the  barbarity  of 
the  people.  *' We  cannot  believe,"  they  wrote. 


278 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


"  that  there  emanates  from  the  Holy  See  any- 
thought  or  any  action  contrary  to  Divine  jus- 
tice ;  stili  our  enemies  daily  proclaim  it,  and 
offer  to  furnish  us  with  irrefutable  proofs  of  it. 
The  Moravians  affirm  that  through  the  means 
of  money,  they  have  obtained  from  you  the 
nomination  of  the  archbishop  John,  and  the 
bishops  Daniel  and  Benedict.  Since  that  time, 
these  people,  who  had  always  been  under 
our  authority,  in  their  spiritual  and  temporal 
affairs,  refuse  to  be  governed  by  us.  Our 
courts  can  no  longer  exercise  their  jurisdiction 
in  that  country,  and  the  tribute  heretofore  col- 
lected without  difficulty,  is  no  longer  brought 
to  our  cities.  The  Moravians  are  even  es- 
tranged from  Christianity,  and  their  boldness 
has  increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  dare 
to  make  war  on  us,  and  compel  us  to  conceal 
ourselves  within  our  walls. 

"  The  Slavian  bishops,  who  have  free  access 
to  your  legates,  have  brought  calumnies  against 
us,  and  have  accused  us  of  being  divided  in 
our  interests  and  thoughts,  from  the  Germans 
and  French.  Let  your  holiness  be  careful  not 
to  be  surprised  by  these  bad  Christians.  Our 
young  king,  is,  on  the  coijtrary,  the  worthy 
successor  of  his  ancestors,  and  wishes  to  be 
the  zealous  protector  of  the  Roman  church. 
It  is  false  that  we  have  made  an  alliance  with 
the  Hungarians,  to  the  prejudice  of  religion, 
or  that  we  have  taken  oaths,  swearing  by  the 
wolf  or  the  dog,  and  that  we  have  submitted 
to  abominable  ceremonies. 

'•'  God,  who  knows  all  things,  would  receive 
the  oath  of  our  innocence,  if  we  were  before 
you,  who  occupy  his  place  on  the  earth.  It  is 
true  that  the  Hungarians  persecute  without  re- 
laxation the  people  of  the  remote  provinces,  and 
that  we  have  been  compelled  to  buy  the  quiet 
of  our  brethren,  not  by  giving  to  them  gold, 
but  by  furnishing  to  them  clothing  and  linen. 

"The  Moravians  alone  are  guilty  of  the 
crimes  which  they  impute  to  us,  for  they  have 
placed  in  their  ranks  a  great  number  of  Hun- 
garians, and  after  having  shaved  their  heads 
to  disgui.se  them,  have  sent  them  against  us 
with  their  soldiers.  Our  country  has  been 
ravaged,  and  men  massacred ;  those  who  have 
been  spared  have  been  thrown  into  dungeons 
and  finished  their  lives  by  famine;  the  dwell- 
ings of  noblemen  and  women  had  been  given 
to  the  flames,  and  all  the  churches  have  been 
sacked.  Panonia,  which  is  a  Christian  pro- 
vince, has  been  devastated  three  times  by 
their  ferocious  bands,  and  the  bishops  whom 
you  have  sent  to  us,  will  tell  you,  how  many 
days  they  have  traversed  the  country,  finding 
it  a  desert.  Heaven  is  our  witness  of  all  the 
eflorts  we  have  made  to  obtain  peace  from 
the  Hungarians,  when  they  invaded  Italy; 
and  twice  the  Moravians  accuse  us  of  having 
paid  these  barbarous  hordes,  which  is  the 
most  execrable  calumny  our  enemies  have 
been  able  to  invent.  We  have  even  offered 
to  forget  the  past  and  to  exchange  our  prison- 
ers, in  order  to  be  able  to  defend  the  property 
of  the  Holy  See ;  but  they  have  refused,  in 
order  to  prevent  us  from  giving  this  brilliant 
proof  of  our  submission." 


This  letter  terminates  in  these  words :  ''  I^ 
Theodmar,  archbishop,  who  have  charge  of 
the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  and  who  levy  up- 
on the  people  the  tithes  which  you  have  or- 
dered, have  not  been  able,  from  the  hindrance 
of  the  Pagans,  as  yet  to  bring  or  to  send  to 
you  the  money  which  is  due  to  you ;  but  by 
the  grace  of  God,  as  soon  as  Italy  is  delivered, 
the  days  shall  not  accumulate,  before  it  is 
placed  in  your  hands." 

John  the  Ninth,  after  the  example  of  his 
predecessors,  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Eastern  church ;  but  the  interests  of  Chris- 
tianity occupied  less  of  his  attention  than  his 
own  private  ambitious  views.  The  popes 
have  always  concealed  their  pretensions  un- 
der the  specious  pretext  of  the  glory  of  the 
church,  and  the  people  have  not  known  how 
to  guard  against  the  system  of  hypocrisy  pur- 
sued by  the  court  of  Rome,  not  to  allow  them- 
selves to  be  seduced  by  the  deceitful  appear- 
ances of  exterior  piety. 

On  examining  attentively  the  letter  which 
the  sovereign  pontiff  addressed  to  Stylien, 
bishop  of  Neocsesarea,  we  will  discover  his 
purpose  in  bestowing  so  great  eulogiums  on 
this  bishop,  who  had  steadily  opposed  the 
schism  of  Photius.  "We  wish,"  wrote  John 
the  Ninth,  "  that  the  decrees  of  the  popes 
should  remain  inviolable ;  and  it  is.  therefore, 
that  we  reject  Stephen,  Anthony,  Ignatius, 
and  Photius  from  our  communion,  and  we 
grant  it  to  those  who  observe  this  rule." 

Alphonso  the  Third,  who  reigned  over  a 
part  of  Spain,  having  fortified  the  city  of  Ovi- 
edo,  his  capital,  engaged  in  building  a  magni- 
ficent church  in  honor  of  St.  James  of  Com- 
postella.  When  the  work  was  done,  he  sent 
to  Rome  an  embassy  composed  of  two  priests 
Severus  and  Smderedus,  and  a  layman  named 
Rinaldo,  to  obtain  from  the  pontiff  the  conse^ 
cration  of  his  new  cathedral.  John  consented 
to  erect  the  church  of  Oviedo  into  a  metropo- 
litan See,  and  he  authorized  the  king  to  hold 
a  council.  His  letter  concluded  thu.s,  "We 
are  afflicted  like  you,  by  the  presence  of  Pa- 
gans, and  we  combat  day  and  night  with 
them.  With  this  religious  interest,  we  shall 
ask  from  your  clemency,  good  Arabian  horses 
and  arms  .  .  .  ." 

In  accordance  with  the  authority  granted 
by  the  holy  father,  Alphonso  dedicated  the 
church  of  St.  James  of  Compostella,  -with 
great  solemnity,  and  he  held,  on  the  29th  of 
November  following,  a  synod  to  nominate  an 
archbishop  to  the  See  of  Tarragona.  This 
convention  chose  the  abbot  Ccesar,  but  the  me- 
tropolitan of  Narbonne  having  opposed  his  in- 
stallation, Cassar  appealed  to  the  pontifical  See, 
and  his  election  was  canonically  confirmed. 

In  the  year  900,  Louis,  the  son  of  Boson, 
the  king  of  Provence,  was  called  into  Italy  a 
second  time  by  the  Roman  lords,  and  brought 
with  him  a  numerous  army.  John  the  Ninth 
granted  to  him  the  title  of  king  of  Italy  and 
emperor  of  the  West,  but  with  the  promise 
that  this  prince  would  preserve  to  the  aposto- 
lic chair,  the  privileges  which  the  kings  of 
France  had  granted  to  the  pontiffs  of  Rome. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


279 


According  to  the  opinion  of  historians,  John  '  chased  the  conversion  of  the  Normans  with 
the  Ninth  died  towards  the  year  900,  without  *  the  treasures  of  the  people,  and  that  he  never 


having,  says  Platinus,  done  any  thing  which 
w^as  worthy  of  memory.  We  will  add,  that 
he  excited  the  religious  quarrels  which  had 
been  for  a  long  time  quieted  ;  that  he  pur- 


forgot  the  dues  of  the  church.  Le  Sueur  and 
Cardinal  Baronius  eulogize  him  by  saying, 
that  he  was  the  best  of  the  bad  popes. 


BENEDICT  THE  FOURTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  901.] 

Hideous  picture  of  the  corruption  of  the  pontiffs — Election  of  Benedict — The  priests  abandon 
themselves  to  all  kinds  of  debauchery — The  churches  become  places  of  prostitution — Death  of 
the  pope. 


It  is  certain  that  the  vacancy  in  the  Holy 
See,  after  the  death  of  John,  was  not  of  long 
duration ;  still  it  would  be  difficult  to  fix  its 
time.  The  new  pontifT  was  a  Roman,  the  son 
of  Mumnolas  and  of  noble  birth.  Some  au- 
thors speak  of  his  love  for  the  public  good, 
and  of  his  liberality  towards  the  poor;  but 
Platinus  assures  us,  that  in  these  unfortuate 
times,  in  which  reason  and  virtue  were  en- 
tirely banished  from  the  church,  it  was  not 
possible  to  find  a  pontiff  worthy  to  fill  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter. 

This  historian  thus  expresses  himself  on 
this  deplorable  falling  away  from  apostolical 
purity,  "  The  majesty  of  the  sovereign  pon- 
tificate was  established,"  he  says,  "  by  the 
holiness  of  morals,  and  the  purity  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine,  two  things  which  are  acquired 
by  great  labour  and  without  the  aid  of  riches. 
But  scarcely  was  luxury  introduced  into  the 
temple  of  God,  when  the  priests,  abandoning 
the  regularity  of  their  lives,  delivered  them- 
selves up  to  pleasure,  and  went  to  sleep  in 
the  arms  of  corruption.  Finally,  the  chair  of 
humility  and  chastity,  became  the  end  of  all 
ambition,  the  recompense  of  all  crimes,  the 
refuge  of  all  abominations." 

What  must  we  thiidc  of  the  infallibility  of 
the  popes,  on  reading  these  accusations  of  irre- 
proachable veracity  1  And  shall  we  be  able 
to  believe  that  the  apostolical  succession  of 
the  bishops  of  Rome  has  always  been  blessed 
by  God  ? 

As  soon  as  Benedict  was  seated  on  the 
Holy  See,  he  received  a  deputation  sent  by 
Arirrim,  who  was  not  yet  re-installed  in  the 
bishopric  of  Langres.  This  prelate  explained 
to  the  pope,  that  after  the  death  of  Geilon,  he 
had  been  elected  by  the  clergy  and  the  peo- 
ple, and  canonically  consecrated  by  his  me- 
tropolitan, Aurelian,  archbishop  of  Lyons,  as- 
sisted by  his  suffragans  and  by  Bernonin, 
primate  of  Vieime  ;  he  added,  that  after  having 
governed  his  church  for  ten  years  and  three 
months,  a  faction  had  driven  him  from  it 
during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Guy,  and 
that  in  his  absence,  great  disorders  had  been 
introduced  into  the  diocese.     That  for  a  Ions: 


time,  they  had  no  longer  consecrated  the  holy 
oil ;  that  children  remained  without  confirma- 
tion, and  that  the  episcopal  functions  were  no 
longer  exercised  in  his  province. 

Benedict,  not  wishing  to  decide  of  his  own 
private  authority,  on  an  atTair  so  important, 
assembled  a  council  in  tht  palace  of  the  La- 
teran,  at  which  it  was  decided  that  Argrim 
should  be  maintained  in  the  See  of  Langres, 
and  that  a  letter  should  be  addressed  to  the 
bishops  of  Gaul,  to  the  king  and  the  lords,  to 
confirm  the  consecration  that  the  prelate  had 
already  received  from  Pope  Formosus.  After 
many  vicissitudes,  the  holy  bishop  was  finally 
enabled  to  govern  his  people  until  911,  the 
period  at  which  he  became  a  monk. 

Soon  after,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  903, 
death  struck  the  head  of  the  Latin  church. 

The  speech  of  Edgar,  the  King  of  England, 
to  the  bishops  of  his  kingdom,  will  give  us  an 
exact  picture  of  the  disorders  of  the  pontiffs. 
"  We  see  in  Rome  but  debauchery,  dissolu- 
tion, drvnikenness.  and  impurity,"  said  the 
monarch ;  "  the  houses  of  the  priests  have 
become  the  shameful  retreats  of  prostitutes, 
jugglers,  and  sodomites ;  they  gamble  by  night 
and  day  in  the  residence  of  the  pope.  Bac- 
chanalian songs,  lascivious  dances,  and  the 
debauchery  of  a  Messalina,  have  taken  the 
place  of  fasting  and  prayers.  Is  it  then  thus, 
mfamous  priests,  that  you  dissipate  the  patri- 
mony of  the  poor,  the  alms  of  princes,  or 
rather  the  price  of  the  blood  of  Christ !"'  This 
precious  document  has  been  preserved  for  us, 
by  Aired,  abbot  of  Rhienbal. 

Stella  also  addresses  severe  reproaches  to 
the  bishops  of  the  tenth  century;  he  accuses 
them  of  having  opened  to  the  monks,  the  col- 
leges which  belonged  to  the  priests,  and  of 
having  given  them  the  means  of  enlarging 
their  treasures,  and  increasing  their  formi- 
dable influence  over  the  people. 

This  epoch,  he  adds,  gave  birth  to  no 
heresy,  because  the  impious  could  conceal 
themselves  in  the  depths  of  a  cloister,  where 
they  led  with  impunity  a  licentious  life,  aban- 
doning themselves  to  all  kinds  of  debauchery. 
Religion  was  no  longer  practised  in  any  place 


280 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


on  the  earth;  the  sacraments  were  not  ad- 
ministered ;  holy  things  were  forgotten ;  and 
priests  and  people,  lords  and  kings,  were 
all  addicted  to  magic :  iniquity  was  at  its 
height. 

Glabert  Rudolphe,  who  assisted  at  the  satur- 
nalia of  this  impious  age,  thus  expresses  him- 
self in  his  biblical  language  :  '•  The  ancient 
Leviathan  conceived  the  hope,  that  the  over- 
llowing  of  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  would  fill 
his  stream ;  I  would  say  that  the  multitude 
of  baptized  Christians  are  precipitating  them- 
selves into  hell,  through  avarice,  impurity, 
crime,  and  falsehood."     in.  fact,  corruption. 


cupidity,  violence  and  cruelty,  had  been 
pushed  to  such  a  degree  among  the  priests — 
thanks  to  the  example  of  the"  heads  of  the 
church — that  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  dis- 
tinguish ecclesiastics  from  secular  lords.  All 
were  abandoned,  without  shame,  to  an  un- 
bridled ambition,  an  insatiable  avarice  ;  they 
gave  themselves  up  to  the  enjoyment  of 
luxury  and  pleasure,  or  to  the  charms  of  the 
table,  and  expended  in  their  orgies  with  cour- 
tezans the  money  of  the  poor  and  of  the  altar. 
Society,  thanks  to  them,  soon  found  itself 
plunged  in  the  most  profound  brutishness,  and 
the  most  frightful  corruption. 


LEO  THE  FIFTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  903.] 

Sergius  still  disputes   the  See  of  Rome — Election  of  Leo — Christopher  drives   off  the  new 
pontiff-^Death  of  Leo — Death  of  Alfred  the  Great. 


After  the  death  of  Benedict  the  Fourth, 
the  marquisses  of  Tuscany  made  new  efforts 
to  place  their  relative,  Sergius,  on  the  pontifi- 
cal throne.  They  failed  in  their  efforts,  and 
the  Romans,  from  their  hatred  of  the  un- 
worthy minister  whom  they  wished  to  impose 
on  them,  hastened  to  choose  a  venerable 
priest,  who  was  enthroned  under  the  name 
of  Leo  the  Fifth. 

This  holy  man  being  incapable  of  governing 
the  church,  could  not  maintain  himself  in 
power,  and  was  soon  overthrown  by  an  ambi- 
tious person  named  Christopher,  whom  he 
had  brought  up  in  his  own  house. 

This  monster  dethroned  his  benefactor,  and 
cast  him  into  a  prison,  where  he  caused  him 
to  be  strangled.  This  cruelty  confirms  the 
sentence  of  Theocritus:  "If  you  cherish 
wolves,  they  will  eat  you." 

Whilst  the  Roman  church  was  given  up  to 
the  most  deplorable  anarchy.  King  Alfred  the 
Great  was  achieving  his  glorious  reign,  and 
left  to  his  son,  Edward  the  First,  the  monarchy 
of  Great  Britain,  which  his  grandfather  and 
father  had  bequeathed  to  him.  All  his  his- 
torians agree  in  passing  the  greatest  eulogies 
on  this  prince,  and  in  calling  him  the  regen- 
erator of  England.  He  established  at  Oxford 
the  schools,  which  were  the  origin  of  the 
celebrated  university  of  that  city ;  he  paid 
attention  to  his  marine,  and  the  internal  ad- 
ministration of  the  kingdom ;  he  published  a 
collection  of  laws  which  served,  at  a  later 


period,  for  the  basis  of  a  code  of  equity,  and 
of  British  legislation.  He  was  an  ardent 
protector  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  called 
around  him  learned  strangers  to  aid  him  in 
plucking  his  people  from  the  barbarism  in 
which  they  were  plunged.  He  wrote  himself, 
and  translated  into  Saxon  for  the  use  of  his 
subjects,  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Bede, 
the  pastoral  of  St.  Gregory,  and  the  consola- 
tions of  Boece ;  but  he  carefully  guarded 
against  constraining  the  consciences  of  men, 
and  placed  all  his  glory  in  converting  them 
through  the  example  of  his  virtues. 

Voltaire  has  said  of  him :  "  I  do  not  know 
that  there  was  ever  on  earth  a  prince  more 
worthy  of  the  respect  of  posterity  than  Alfred 
the  Great ;  history  reproaches  him  with  neither 
faults  nor  weaknesses,  and  places  him  in  the 
ranks  of  heroes  who  were  useful  to  the  hu- 
man race  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  counts  him  among 
the  extraordinary  men,  who  have  aided  their 
cotemporaries  to  come  forth  from  a  state  of 
barbarism."  To  this  eulogy  of  the  illustrious 
writer  we  will  add,  that  the  English  sovereign 
was  really  greater  than  Charlemagne,  the  re- 
generator of  letters  in  France,  because  he 
contented  himself  with  being  the  father  of 
his  people,  whilst  the  French  monarch  wished 
to  add  to  the  real  titles  which  he  had  to  the 
admiration  of  posterity,  those  of  a  conqueror, 
the  founder  of  despotism  in  the  West,  and 
the  protector  of  the  popes. 


HISTORY  OF   THE  POPES. 


281 


CHRISTOPHER  THE  FIRST,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  904.] 

Christopher  seizes  on  the  Holy  See — Sergius  in  his  turn  overthrows  the  new  pontiff,  who  is 
finally  condemned  to  die  by  starvation. 


We  cannot  place  political  ambition  and  its 
train  of  assassination,  poisoning,  and  massacre 
in  a  parallel  with  religious  ambition,  for  the 
atrocity  of  the  crimes  which  they  have  caused, 
and  the  greatness  of  the  evils  they  have 
drawn  upon  the  people.  In  the  one,  brute 
force  plays  the  principal  part ;  in  the  other, 
craft  and  treason  come  to  the  aid  of  material 
force. 

Despots  are  content  with  ruling  over  people 
and  of  robbing  them  of  their  wealth,  and  their 
power  stops  with  the  repression  of  visible  acts. 
Death  is  a  refuge  always  ready,  always  assur- 
ed against  tyranny.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
religious  authority ;  the  priests  wish  to  oppress 
in  this  world,  and  to  pursue  their  victims  even 
beyond  the  tomb.  They  wish  to  reign  over 
the  thoughts,  to  govern  the  convictions,  to 
arrogate  to  themselves  the  power  of  command- 
mg  souls ;  and  they  exact  that  men,  whether 
living  or  dead,  should  submit  to  their  detesta- 
ble omnipotence. 

The  history  of  the  church  at  this  period  is 
full  of  facts  which  demonstrate  how  ardent  is 
this  thirst  for  power  among  ecclesiastics,  and 
to  what  excesses  they  will  go  to  satisfy  their 
ambition.  When  a  priest  has  fixed  upon  an 
end,  and  that  end  is  authority,  all  the  means 
of  arriving  at  it  are  proper.     If  he  meets  with 


obstacles,  he  tramples  on  them  or  breaks  them 
down ;  justice,  honour,  morality,  are  for  him 
words  of  no  value  ;  good  faith  is  dupery,  the 
devotedness  of  madness,  and  probity  a  crime. 
Relatives,  friends,  men  or  women,  he  sacrifices 
all ;  deceives  or  corrupts  all  who  surround  him. 

It  was  by  putting  openly  into  practice  these 
abominable  doctrines,  that  Christopher  the  Ro- 
man elevated  himself  to  the  Holy  See  ;  but  the 
means  which  gave  him  power  were  employed 
by  the  infamous  Sergius,  who  had  for  a  long 
time  aspired  to  the  apostolic  chair,  to  over- 
throw lum. 

Christopher  was  torn  from  the  apostolic 
chair  and  confined  in  a  monastery.  After- 
wards, as  his  ambition  and  his  menaces  dis- 
quieted his  successor,  he  was  taken  from  the 
sacred  asylum  of  the  cloister,  and  plunged 
into  a  horrid  dungeon,  in  which  he  was  con- 
demned to  die  of  famine. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  revolutions  in  the 
palace,  the  ambitious  and  usurping  maxims 
of  the  court  of  Rome  still  pursued  their  way, 
and  became,  according  to  circumstances,  more 
and  more  exacting.  Thus  we  shall  see  the 
sacred  influence  of  the  See  of  Rome  fortifying 
itself  by  political  influence,  in  order  to  strength- 
en that  immense  net  in  which  it  will  enclose 
people  and  kings. 


SERGIUS  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  905.] 

• 
The  enthronement  of  Sergius — He  re-instates  the  memory  of  Stephen,  and  declares  Formosus  an 
infamous  and  sacrilegious  pontiff — Reflections  of  the  cardinal  Baronius — Adultenies  of  Pope 
Sergius  tviththc  infamous  courtezan  Marozia — Church  of  Constantinople — Founding  the  abbey 
of  Cluny — Church  of  Bremen — Death  of  Sergius — Reflections  on  the  shameful  vices  of  the 
pontiffs. 


The  ambitious  Sergius,  at  length  master  of 
the  pontifical  chair,  the  object  of  his  desire,  no 
longer  placed  a  rein  on  his  vices.  After  the 
death  of  Theodore  the  Second,  he  had  been 
already  once  nominated  as  pope,  and  was  then 
driven  from  the  Holy  See.  After  seven  years 
of  exile,  the  faction  which  had  placed  the 
tiara  on  his  brow  recalled  him  to  Rome,  in 
order  that  he  might  a  second  time  employ  the 
intrigues  and  means  of  corruption  which  were 
usual  in  order  to  seize  on  the  throne  of  the 
church. 

Vol.  I.  2L 


With  Sergius,  the  vindictive  spirit  of  the 
priest,  the  lubricity  of  the  monk,  and  the  vio- 
lence of  the  fanatic,  were  placed  on  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  This  pope,  regarding  John  the 
Ninth  and  the  three  popes  who  had  preceded 
him  as  usurpers,  erased  all  their  acts,  and 
spoke  out  against  the  memory  of  Formosus. 

In  a  council  composed  of  his  slaves,  he  ap- 
j)roved  of  the  proceedings  of  Stephen  the 
Seventh.  He  caused  the  body  of  that  pontiff 
to  be  transferred  into  the  apostolic  residence, 
in  contempt  of  the  canons,  and  he  engravea 


282 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


on  his  tomb  a  laudatory  and  lying  epitaph. 
Formosus,  on  the  other  hand,  was  solemnly 
declared  to  be  a  sacrilegious  pope,  and  his 
memory  was  anathematized. 

Cardinal  Baronius,  whose  pen  has  too  often 
flattered  the  Holy  See,  is  indignant  at  this 
strange  scandal.  '"'He  is  a  wretch,"  says  he, 
"  worthy  of  the  rope  and  of  fire  :  the  brazen 
bull  of  Phalaris,  with  his  sides  heated  by  the 
flames,  could  not  have  caused  this  execrable 
monster  to  suffer  the  punishments  which  he 
merited.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  such 
a  pope  was  a  lawful  one." 

Sergjus,  however,  sustained  by  the  arms 
of  Adalbert,  marquis  of  Tuscany,  and  sup- 
ported by  Charles  the  Simple,  who  hated  the 
party  of  Formosus,  reigned  in  Rome,  and 
caused  his  enemies  to  tremble. 

The  holy  city  was  then  governed  by  a  fa- 
mous courtezan,  named  Theodora,  who  had 
been  put  in  possession  of  the  castle  of  the  city 
by  Adalbert,  marquis  of  Tuscany,  her  para- 
mour. She  had  two  daughters,  whose  de- 
baucheries even  surpassed  those  of  their  mo- 
ther. The  eldest,  named  Marozia,  of  a  won- 
drous beauty,  became  in  her.turn  the  mistress 
of  Adalbert,  and  had  by  him  a  son  named  Al- 
beric.  She  then  surrendered  herself  to  Pope 
Sergius,  and  from  this  infamous  connection 
sprang  the  children  whom  we  shall  see  become 
popes  in  their  turn,  and  who  will  continue 
these  monstrous  incests  with  their  mother 
Marozia  for  three  generations. 

The  last  marriage  of  the  emperor,  Leo  the 
Philosopher,  had  incurred  the  blame  of  the 
clergy,  and  caused  a  great  division  in  the 
Eastern  church,  in  consequence  of  the  obsti- 
nacy of  the  patriarch  Nicholas,  who,  condemn- 
ing third  and  fourth  marriages,  wished  to  pro- 
hibit the  monarch  from  entering  the  churches. 
The  prince  at  first  condescended  to  entreat 
the  patriarch  to  withdraw  this  prohibition  ; 
but  at  length,  tired  of  entreaties,  he  resolved 
to  punish  his  temerity.  Nicholas  was  driven 
from  his  See  and  sent  into  exile,  and  Enthy- 
mius,  the  Syncellus,  a  man  of  rare  piety,  con- 
secrated in  his  stead. 

To  render  this  change  regular,  the  emperor 
wrote  to  the  patriarchs  of  Alexandria,  Antioch, 
Jerusalem,  and  to  Pope  Sergius,  and  requested 
them  to  examine  into  the  canonical  validity 
of  his  marriage.  They,  intimidated  by  the 
firmness  of  Leo,  sent  legates  to  Constantinople 
to  instruct  the  people,  that  the  marriage  of  the 
prince  was  not  condemnable  by  the  Christian 
religion,  and  that  the  canons  were  only  oblig- 
atory on  the  private  citizens. 

At  the  same  period,  Gaul  saw  built  the  ab- 
bey of  Cluny,  which  has  given  so  many  great 
men  to  France,  and  some  pontiffs  to  the  Holy 
See.  The  founder  of  this  celebrated  monas- 
tery was  Count  William,  duke  of  Aquitaine 
and  Berri,  the  son  of  Bernard,  count  of  Au- 
vergne,  and  the  grandson  of  another  Bernard, 
count  of  Poictiers.  He  had  married  Ingel- 
berge,  the  daughter  of  Boson,  king  of  Provence, 
and  the  sister  of  the  emperor  Louis.  He  had 
since  been  deprived  of  his  estates,  and  the 
usurper  had  caused  his  eyes  to  be  put  out. 


William  himself  explains  the  motive  of  this 
pious  action  in  the  charter  which  established 
this  foundation :  "  Wishing  to  employ  usefully 
for  the  safety  of  my  soul,  the  earthly  goods 
which  God  has  given  me,  I  do  not  believe 
that  I  could  belter  do  so,  than  by  drawing  on 
myself  the  benedictions  of  the  poor,  and  I 
have  founded,  at  my  own  expense  a  com- 
munity of  monks.  Desiring  that  this  work 
should  last,  I  declare  in  the  name  of  God,  and 
of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  that  I  give  to  the 
holy  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  the  territory  of 
Cluny,  situated  in  the  county  of  Macon,  on 
the  river  Garonne.  The  chapel  dedicated  to 
the  virgin  and  to  St.  Peter,  as  well  as  its  de- 
pendencies, will  form  a  part  of  the  donation, 
and  that,  for  the  repose  of  Monseigneur,  the 
king  Eudes,  and  for  that  of  my  relatives  and 
servants. 

'•'They  shall  build  at  Cluny,  a  monastery,  to 
assemble  together  the  brethren  who  shall  live 
according  to  the  laborious  rule  of  St.  Benedict. 
This  place  of  refuge  consecrated  to  the  apos- 
tles St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  shall  be  for  ever 
an  asylum  for  those,  who,  bemg  poor,  will  only 
bring  with  them  good  will.  The  monks  and 
all  the  property  shall  be  placed  under  the 
sovereign  rule  of  the  abbot  Bernon.  After 
his  death  the  power  of  choosing  an  abbot  of 
the  same  order  shall  return  to  the  brethren, 
without  we  or  any  other  authority  being  able 
to  prevent  a  regular  election. 

"  The  monks  however,  shall  pay  every  five 
years,  ten  golden  pennies  to  the  Holy  See,  to 
obtain  the  protection  of  the  apostles  and  pon- 
tiff. They  shall  perform  daily  labours  of  mer- 
cy towards  the  poor,  strangers,  and  pilgrims, 
and  from  this  moment  they  shall  not  be  in 
subjection,  neither  to  us,  nor  our  relatives,  nor 
the  king,  nor  any  earthly  power.  The  counts, 
bishops,  and  even  the  popes  (I  conjure  them 
by  the  name  of  God,  of  the  saints  and  by  the 
day  of  judgment)  shall  never  seize  on  the 
property  of  these  servants  of  Christ ;  and  they 
shall  not  be  able  to  sell,  diminish,  exchange, 
or  bestow  in  fief  the  lands  of  this  convent." 

Terrible  maledictions  and  a  fine  of  an  hun- 
dred pounds  of  gold  were  to  punish  those 
who  should  dare  to  act  against  the  tenor  of 
these  charters.  The  deed  of  donation  was 
deposited  dn  the  cathedral  of  Bruges,  in  910. 
It  was  subscribed  by  William,  by  the  metro- 
politan, and  by  bishops  Atton  and  Adalard ; 
the  princess  Ingelberge  and  several  lords  af- 
fixed their  seals  to  it. 

Bernon,  the  first  abbot  of  Cluny,  was  de- 
scended from  one  of  the  noblest  families  of 
Burgundy,  had  already  founded,  with  his  own 
wealth,  the  monastery  of  Gignis,  in  the  diocese 
of  Lyons,  and  had  reformed  that  of  Baume, 
near  to  Lons-le-Saunier ;  he  placed  in  his  new 
community  but  twelve  monks ;  later,  he  in- 
creased the  number  to  sixty,  and  gave  them  a 
great  number  of  domestics  to  serve  them. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  monks  of  Cluny  still  possessed 
seignorial  lands  in  the  provinces;  they  had  a 
college  in  which  were  taught  the  humanities 
and  philosophy ;  they  possessed  a  magnificent 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


i§^ 


church,  in  which  divine  service  was  celebra- 
ted with  the  same  ceremonies  as  at  St.  Peter's, 
at  Rome.  The  memory  of  St.  Hugh  was  held 
in  great  veneration  in  this  monastery,  and  the 
ashes  of  this  abbot  were  placed  beliind  the 
high  altar,  where  hung  a  lamp,  which  they 
said,  had  the  marvellous  privilege  of  constantly 
burning  without  the  oil  being  ever  exhausted. 
Whilst  they  were  labouring  at  the  founda- 
tion of  the  abbey  of  Cluny,  the  venerable 
Adalger,  archbishop  of  Hamburg,  came  to  the 
holy  father  to  ask  that  bishop  Hoger,  of 
Nouvelle-Corbie,  might  be  permitted  to  aid 
him  in  his  episcopal  functions.  But  the  pontiff, 
Sergius,  brutally  refused  this  authority  and 
paid  no  regard  to  the  complaints  and  en- 
treaties of  the  old  man.    He  went  still  further. 


and  erased  the  decrees  made  by  Formosus  ia 
favour  of  his  diocese ;  he  renewed  the  privi- 
leges of  the  church  of  Bremen,  and  confirmed 
those  which  Popes  Gregory  and  Nicholas  had 
granted  to  St.  Anscaire  and  St.  Rembert,  and 
finally,  he  imposed  on  him,  five  neighbouring 
bishops,  as  assessors,  to  aid  him  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  faithful. 

We  cannot  fix  with  exact  certainty,  the 
period  at  which  the  infamous  Sergius  dis- 
appeared from  the  earth;  still,  whether  he 
lost  the  patriarchal  throne  with  his  fife,  or 
whether  lie  was  driven  from  the  apostolical 
chair  by  his  successor,  and  still  continued  his 
disgraceful  intercourse  with  Marozia,  every 
thing  leads  us  to  believe  that  in  910  Christi- 
anity was  freed  from  this  monster. 


ANASTASIUS  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  910.] 

Election  of  Anastasius — Letter  of  the  patriarch  Nicholas  to  the  pove— Fourth  marriage  of  the 
emperor  Leo — Death  of  Anastasius,  the  Third. 


Anastasius  the  Third,  the  son  of  Lucian, 
was  born  at  Rome ;  the  events  of  his  pontifi- 
cate are  in  part  unknown ;  we  only  know  that 
he  exhibited  great  submission  to  Berenger, 
who  took  the  title  of  emperor  and  king  of 
Italy,  and  that  at  the  request  of  this  prince, 
he  permitted  the  archbishop  of  Pavia,  to  seat 
himself  under  a  dais,  to  ride  a  white  hackney 
at  great  ceremonies,  and  to  have  a  cross  car- 
ried before  him.  He  even  pursued  his  defer- 
ence to  the  orders  of  Berenger  so  far  as  to 
seat  this  prelate  at  his  left  hand  at  the  councils 
and  in  the  sacred  chapel. 

Like  his  predecessors,  he  built  churches,  re- 
paired the  deaconry  of  St.  Adrian,  and  solemn- 
ly consecrated  a  magnificent  altar  which  he 
built  with  his  own  hand. 

It  is  believed  that  it  was  to  this  pontiff,  that 
Nicholas,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  sent 
a  letter,  in  which  he  relates  the  persecution 
he  suffered  on  the  occasion  of  the  fourth  mar- 
riage of  the  emperor  Leo.  This  letter  is  re- 
markable as  exhibiting  the  predominance  of 
the  Western  over  the  Eastern  church.  Nicho- 
las complains  bitterly  of  the  harshness  of  tl^e 
legates  of  the  last  pontiff.  -'These  priests 
appear  to  have  come  from  Rome  only  to  de- 
clare war  on  us,"  said  he :  "  instead  of  care- 
fully informing  themselves  in  regard  to  the 
matter  which  was  submitted  to  their  investi- 
gation, and  of  reporting  upon  it  to  their  spiritual 
chief,  they  have  condemned  those  who  have 
incurred  the  indignation  of  the  prince,  by  re- 
fusing to  authorize  an  act  of  incontinence. 
These  two  or  three  men,  claiming  for  them- 
selves primacy  in  the  church,  have  caused 
their  scandalous  decision  to  be  approved  by 
the  bishops  of  the  West.     They  have  sold  to 


the  emperor  a  pretended  dispensation,  as  if 
by  dispensations,  we  could  violate  the  canons 
and  authorize  debauchery. 

"Under  any  circumstances  the  church  can- 
not permit  one  to  remain  in  the  sin  into  which 
he  has  fallen.  It  only  proposes  to  imitate  the 
mercy  of  God,  by  extending  a  hand  to  the 
sinner  to  lift  him  up.  Your  legates  maintain 
that  it  was  a  question  of  a  lawful  union,  and 
not  of  concubinage  ;  and  they  call  an  impure 
connection  with  a  fourth  female,  a  marriage. 
Why  then  do  the  canons  exclude  from  the 
communion  those  who  fall  into  this  fault? 
Why  do  they  treat  it  as  a  brutal  incontinence, 
exceeding  the  bounds  of  humanity?  They 
have,  however,  dared  to  avow  that  such  was 
the  usage  among  the  Romans.  Is  that  an 
eulogy  or  a  blame  of  the  Holy  See  ?  Is  it  true 
that  you  permit  a  man  to  take  a  fourth,  or 
fifth,  or  a  sixth  wife,  and  so  on  to  infinity, 
even  to  the  tomb  ?  You  will  quote  in  vain 
this  language  of  the  apostle  :  '  It  is  better  to 
marry  than  to  burn.'  It  is  not  for  you  that 
this  was  written,  as  it  is  said  that  second  mar- 
riages are  only  permitted  to  women  on  ac- 
count of  their  weakness,  which  condemns 
them  to  obey." 

Nicholas  cites  several  passages  from  the 
holy  books  in  favour  of  his  opinions,  and  after 
having  established  that  princes,  in  matters 
of  sin,  have  no  privileges  above  other  men, 
he  adds  :  "  I  did  not  say  this  to  oblige  you  to 
condemn  the  memory  of  the  emperor,  and 
that  of  Sergius  your  predecessor;  both  have 
already  gone  before  the  tribunal  of  the  sove- 
reign judge.  Leo,  however,  before  his  death, 
recognized  his  fault,  with  tears;  he  asked  for 
pardon  from  God,  and  I  prayed  with  him ;  for 


284 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


at  the  time  of  his  death,  he  had  recalled  me 
from  exile,  and  had  restored  to  me  the  govern- 
ment of  my  clergy  and  people.  I  do  not  ask, 
holy  father,  but  the  punishment  of  those  who 
remain,  and  who  have  caused  me  so  many 
troubles ;  it  is  your  duty  to  grant  it  to  me  ;  your 
dignity  and  the  honour  of  the  See  of  Rome 
demand  it.  We  also  ^beseech  you,  and  the 
prince  who  reigns  over  the  empire  sends  you 
his  master  of  the  palace,  to  beseech  you  to 
punish  our  enemies." 

The  obscure  life  of  Anastasius  the  Third, 
has  not  excited  the  attention  of  the  historians 
of  these  deplorable  times.  He  undertook  no- 
thing against  the  memory  of  those  who  had 
occupied  the  apostolical  chair  before  him,  and 
his  reign  is  not  distinguished  by  great  crimes. 
He  died  in  912,  after  a  pontificate  of  two  years 
and  some  months. 

Whilst  Christendom  was  plunged  in  the 
shades  of  darkness  and  ignorance,  the  follow- 
ers of  Mahomet  were  advancing  in  civiliza- 
tion and  science.  Abderane  the  Third,  sur- 
named  the  protector  of  the  worship  of  the  true 
God,  the  eighth  caliph  of  Spain,  of  the  race  of 
the  Ommiades,  was  seated  o^i  the  throne  of 
Cordova,  and  caused  the  arts,  industry  and 
commerce  to  flourish  among  the  Arab  in- 
habitants of  the  Spanish  peninsula.  Nume- 
rous workmen,  directed  by  skilful  metallur- 
gists and  lapidaries,  explored  the  rich  mines 
of  gold  and  rubies,  lying  near  Malaga  and 


Beja ;  agriculturists  raised  the  silk-worm  in 
the  fertile  countries  of  Cordova  and  Grenada, 
and  artizans  fabricated  brilliant  tissues,  which 
other  people  bought  by  their  weight  in  gold. 
In  vain  did  the  Catholic  kings  of  Leon  and  the 
counts  of  Castile,  endeavour  to  trouble  the 
tranquillity  of  the  kingdom  of  Abderane; 
they  were  defeated  by  him  in  twenty-two 
pitched  battles. 

Abderane  was,  beyond  all  contradiction, 
the  greatest  prince  of  the  tenth  century ;  he 
founded  a  medical  school,  which  was  then 
the  only  one  in  Europe ;  he  established  aca- 
demies for  the  study  of  the  abstract  sciences  ; 
thanks  to  his  intelligent  direction,  the  arts 
were  carried  to  such  a  degree  of  perfection, 
that  attempts  have  been  made  to  call  in  ques- 
tion the  existence  of  ihe  masterpieces  of  ar- 
chitecture and  sculpture  with  which  he  em- 
bellished the  city  of  Cordova.  Still,  notwith- 
standing the  splendour  which  surrounded  his 
throne,  the  caliph  was  not  happy.  He  has 
himself  avowed  it  in  a  book  of  maxims  he 
wrote  for  his  successor.  "Riches,  honours, 
pleasures,  I  have  enjoyed  all.  I  have  ex- 
hausted all.  All  that  men  desire  has  been 
prodigally  granted  to  me  by  Heaven.  Yet 
in  the  long  space  of  apparent  tranquillity,  I 
have  counted  the  number  of  days  in  which 
I  was  happy.  This  number  amounts  to  four- 
teen. Mortals,  appreciate  greatness,  the  world, 
and  life." 


LANDO,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY-SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  912.] 

Election  of  Lando — Obscurity  of  his  pontificate — His  death — Conversion  of  Rollo,  the  leader 

of  the  Normans. 


The  successor  of  the  pontiff  Anastasius  was 
the  deacon  Lando,  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  the 
son  of  a  priest  named  Anastasius. 

The  actions  of  this  pope  have  remained  in 
the  most  profound  oblivion.  Platinus,  follow- 
ing an  ancient  author,  says  that  he  employed 
his  authority  and  his  mediation  to  prevent 
Rerenger  and  Rodolph,  the  son  of  Count  Guy, 
from  making  war  and  disputing  for  the  impe- 
rial crown.  He  died  after  a  pontificate  of  six 
months  and  two  days. 

During  this  ephemeral  reign,  an  event  of 
great  importance  to  the  church  took  place  in 
Gaul.  Rollo,  one  the  fierce  leaders  of  the 
Normans,  to  whom  Charles  the  Simple,  in 
order  to  purchase  peace,  had  given  in  mar- 
riage the  princess  Gisella,  and  for  a  dowry 
the  country  comprised  between  the  Epse  and 
the  sea  of  Brittany,  as  also  Neustria,  received 
the  regenerating  water  of  baptism.  The  new 
Christian,  urged  on  by  Francon,  archbishop 


of  Rouen,  caused  his  counts,  knights,  and  army 
also,  to  be  baptized.  Rollo  was  then  compel- 
led, in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  rapine  which 
characterized  these  hordes  of  barbarians,  to 
make  such  terrible  ordinances  against  robbers, 
that  one  dared  not  to  pick  up  on  the  highway 
an  article  which  had  been  lost.  The  chronicles 
even  relate  that  the  duke,  wishing  to  try  in 
what  manner  his  orders  were  respected,  sus- 
pended a  gold  bracelet  from  a  branch  of  a 
tree  in  the  midst  of  the  country,  and  that  it 
remained  there  three  entire  years,  without 
man,  woman,  or  child  daring  to  touch  it. 

Rollo  was  not  only  an  object  of  salutary  fear 
to  the  robbers  of  his  own  states,  but  he  was 
so  dreaded  beyond  them,  that  the  pirates  who, 
before  his  installation  in  Neustria,  infested  its 
coasts,  and  made  incursions  even  into  the  inte- 
rior of  the  country,  dared  no  longer  show 
themselves,  and  the  Normans  were  now  com- 
pelled to  respect  the  soil  of  France. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


285 


JOHN  THE  TENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  912.] 

Election  of  John  the  Tenth — His  amours  tvith  Theodora — He  is  driven  from  the  See  of  Ravenna 
— He  combats  the  Arabs  at  the  head  of  his  army — Hypocrisy  of  John — Re-union  of  the  churches 
of  the  East  and  West — Decree  in  relation  to  marriages — 2  he  young  Hugh  is  consecrated,  at  the 
age  of  five  years,  archbishop  of  Rheims — Revolution  in  Italy — Incestuous  marriages  in  the 
family  of  Marozia — Death  of  John,  who  is  strangled  by  the  orders  of  Marozia. 


John  the  Tenth,  a  clerk  of  Ravenna,  suc- 
ceeded the  pontiff  Lando.  He  was  a  Roman 
by  birth — the  son  of  a  nun  and  a  priest.  His 
beauty  caused  him  to  be  remarked  by  Theo- 
dora, the  mistress  of  Pope  Sergius,  who  be- 
came violently  enamoured  of  him.  The  am- 
bitious youth  yielded  to  the  passion  of  Theo- 
dora, and  thus  prepared  the  way  of  arriving 
at  the  sovereign  pontiticate. 

His  mistress,  who  was  all-powerful  at  Rome, 
caused  him  first  to  be  named  to  the  bishopric 
of  Bologna;  but  before  he  was  consecrated, 
the  prelate  of  Ravenna  having  died,  he  was 
chosen  archbishop  of  that  city.  At  last  Theo- 
dora, fearful  of  the  infidelity  of  her  lover,  if  he 
remained  in  an  archbishopric  remote  from 
Rome,  caused  him  to  be  ordained  pope  on  the 
death  of  Lando. 

Platinus,  an  historian  always  correct  in  his 
assertions,  says,  that  previous  to  this  last  elec- 
tion, John  had  been  ignominiously  driven  from 
his  See  by  the  people  of  Ravenna,  for  his 
scandals  and  his  crimes. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  pontificate  he 
united  with  the  two  brothers  Landulph  and 
Atenuph,  princes  of  Capua,  and  marched  with 
them  against  the  Saracens, who  were  encamp- 
ed in  the  country  of  Garillan.  John  the  Tenth, 
a  soldier  rather  than  a  pope,  with  his  casque  on 
his  head  and  his  sword  by  his  side,  took  the 
command  of  the  troops,  fought  a  great  battle 
with  the  Arabs,  and  drove  them  entirely  from 
the  provinces  which  they  occupied.  Berenger 
.seconded  the  pontitF  in  his  warlike  projects, 
and  in  return  John  crowned  him  emperor,  al- 
though he  had  been  already  consecrated  by 
Stephen  the  Si.xth. 

The  holy  father  sent  into  Spain  a  legate, 
charged,  in  his  name,  with  performing  his 
devotions  before  the  body  of  the  blessed  St. 
James  of  Composiello.  In  his  letters  to  Bishop 
Sisenard,  the  hypocritical  John  enjoins  on  him 
to  burn  incense  upon  the  shrine  of  the  holy 
apostle,  and  to  pray  day  and  night  for  the  re- 
mission of  his  sins. 

Ordogne  the  Second,  who  then  reigned  in 
Spain,  received  the  legate  of  the  pope  with 
distinction,  and  heaped  rich  presents  on  him 
for  his  master,  notwithstanding  the  diversity 
of  opinion  between  the  Spanish  and  Latin 
clergy,  with  regard  to  the  mosarabic  ritual 
u.sed  through  the  whole  peninsula. 

The  priests  of  Constantinople  had  been  di- 
vided into  two  factions,  having  at  their  head 
the   patriarchs,  Nicholas  and  Euthymius. — 


After  the  death  of  Euthymius,  they  re-united, 
and  put  an  end  to  the  schism  which  had  been 
caused  by  the  fourth  marriage  of  the  emperor 
Leo.  The  decree  which  re-established  peace 
in  the  Eastern  church,  thus  terminates: — 
"From  this  year,  the  6428th  since  the  birth 
of  the  world,  we  prohibit  every  man,  clerk, 
prince,  or  layman,  from  contracting  a  fourth 
marriage.  If  any  one  is  bold  enough  to  dare 
to  contravene  our  command,  he  shall  remain 
tleprived  of  ecclesiastical  sacraments,  and  the 
entrance  into  the  holy  place  shall  be  closed 
against  him,  so  long  as  he  shall  persevere  in 
his  abominable  liens. 

"  The  fathers,  it  is  true,  authorize  third  mar- 
riages, but  as  a  disgraceful  weakness  of  man. 
From  this  time,  all  who  at  the  age  of  forty  years 
shall  marry  a  third  time,  and  shall  not  have  had 
children,  shall  remain  deprived  of  the  commu- 
nion for  five  years,  and  they  shall  only  receive 
it  once  at  Easter,  as  having  been  purified  by 
the  continence  of  Lent.  Those  who  have  had 
children,  shall  have  no  excuse  for  a  third 
union.  Those,  however,  who  at  the  age  of 
thirty  years,  having  had  children,  shall  es- 
pouse a  third  wife,  shall  remain  e.vcommuni- 
cated  for  one  hundred  and  fifteen  days.  They 
shall  be  permitted  to  receive  the  communion 
at  Easter,  at  the  Assumption  of  our  Lady,  and 
at  Christmas,  on  account  of  the  abstinence 
preceding  these  solemn  festivals.  Those  who 
have  not  had  children,  shall  remain  submis- 
sive to  the  repentance  at  present  observed. 

"  First  and  second  marriages,  although  per- 
mitted,  should   not   be   the   result  of  a  bad 
cause  :  as  rape,  anterior  debaucheries — under 
penalty,  for  the  guilty,  of  not  being  admitted 
to  the  communion  until  after  they  have  per- 
j  formed  the  penance  for  fornication.      This 
j  penance  lasted  for  seven  years,  and  cannot  be 
moderated   but  at   the   moment  of  death."' 
This  last  decree  was  to  be  read  every  year  in 
the   month  of  July,  from  the  pulpit  of  the 
j  cathedral  of  Constantinople. 
I      The   synodical  letter   was  carried  to   the 
I  Holy  See  by  the  orders  of  the  emperor,  as  we 
learn  from  a  letter  of  the  patriarch  Nicholai*, 
!  in  which  he  thus  expresses  himself:    ■'•You 
I  know,  holy  father,  the  alHictions  we  have  en- 
I  dured  for  fifteen  years;  but  when  our  hopes 
were  at  the  lowest.  Jesus  Christ  came  to  ap- 
pease this  violent  tempest.     We  write  to  you 
to  re-establish  the  concord  which  has  been 
•  interrupted  by  the  difficulty  of  the  times;  to 
.  ask  you  to  hear  us,  and  to  decide  with  you  on 


286 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


this  fourth  marriage,  which  has  caused  so 
much  scandal,  and  which  we  have  only  tole- 
rated through  an  extreme  indulgence  for  the 
person  of  the  prince,  and  through  fear  lest  his 
anger  should  draw  down  greater  evils  on  the 
church. 

"  They  will,  from  this  day,  re-commence 
reading  your  name  with  ours  in  the  sacred 
records,  and  we  will  enjoy  a  profound  peace. 
The  emperor  earnestly  beseeches  you  for  it, 
by  Basil,  his  embassador,  with  whom  we  have 
sent  the  priest  Euloges. 

"  You  will  also  send  to  us  legates,  that  we 
may  be  enabled  to  decide  with  them  what 
can  be  justly  modified  in  the  decrees  which 
we  submit  to  you." 

Towards  the  same  period,  John  the  Tenth 
received  complaints  from  the  clergy  of  Ton- 
gres,  against  Herman,  the  archbishop  of  Co- 
logne, who  had  nominated  Hildwyn  as  bishop 
of  their  city,  although  King  Charles  the  Simple 
had  given  the  See  of  it  to  the  abbot  of  Prom. 
Herman  was  sharjaly  reprimanded  by  the  pon- 
tiff for  having  ordained  Hiidwpi  without  the 
authority  of  the  king.  "We  should  not," 
says  he,  "  establish  bishops  in  any  diocese, 
without  the  consent  of  the  king."  Herman 
and  Hildwyn  were  ordered  to  Rome,  to  be 
judged  according  to  the  canons;  but  as  they 
refused  to  appear,  Hildwyn  was  excommuni- 
cated. The  abbot  of  Prom  gained  his  cause, 
and  was  ordained  by  the  pope,  who  gave  him 
the  pallium,  an  honour  which  none  of  his  pre- 
decessors had  obtained  before  him.  This 
affair,  however,  was  not  definitely  decided 
until  922. 

Heve,  metropolitan  of  Rheims,  having  died 
this  year,  Robert,  the  son  of  Robert  the  Strong, 
who  had  been  proclaimed  king  of  France,  in 
the  place  of  Charles  the  Simple,  caused  the 
archdeacon  Suelph  to  be  consecrated  as  arch- 
bishop. He,  finding  himself  firmly  seated  on 
his  See,  sent  to  Rome  to  demand  the  conse- 
cration of  his  election,  and  authority  to  bear 
the  pallium,  which  he  received  in  the  follow- 
ing year. 

After  an  ejDiscopate  of  three  years  and  five 
days,  Seul-ph  died  from  poison  administered  by 
the  partizans  of  Herbert,  count  of  Vermandois, 
who  was  intriguing  to  obtain  the  property  of 
the  bishopric.  As  soon  as  the  titular  was 
dead,  the  count  sent  for  Abbon  of  Soissons 
and  Bovon,  bishop  of  Chalons,  to  treat  with 
them  for  the  vacant  chair.     The  people  and 


'  clergy,  threatened  with  the  spectacle  of  the 
[  property  of  their  church  being  divided  and 
given  to  strangers,  declared  on  his  side,  and 
the  count  caused  them  to  elect  as  archbishop, 
his  fifth  son,  named  Hugh,  who  was  only  five 
years  old.  The  bishops  Abbon  and  Bovon 
were  sent  as  embassadors  to  King  Ralph  ;  who, 
through  their  counsels,  approved  of  the  ordi- 
nation of  this  child,  and  intrusted  to  his  father 
the  administration  of  the  episcopate.  Nothing 
was  wanting  to  this  act  of  religious  scandal 
but  to  obtain  the  approbation  of  the  Roman 
pontiff".  John  the  Tenth,  more  occupied  with 
his  lusts  and  debauchery  than  with  the  affairs 
of  Christianity,  confirmed  all  that  had  been 
done,  and  appointed  Abbon  to  exercise  sacer- 
dotal functions  in  the  diocese  of  Rheims,  until 
the  majority  of  the  infant  archbishop. 

Italy  was  then  the  theatre  of  one  of  those 
revolutions  which  so  often  stained  with  blood 
the  middle  ages.  The  Lombards  having 
driven  away  Rudolph,  king  of  Burgundy, 
called  to  the  throne  Hugh,  count  of  Aries,  the 
son  of  Count  Thibalt  and  of  Bertha,  the  daugh- 
ter of  King  Lothaire.  Hugh  reigned  twenty 
years ;  he  was  brave,  skilful,  liberal,  and  the 
protector  of  letters;  but  his  good  qualities 
were  tarnished  by  the  horrible  depravity  of 
his  morals.  His  kingdom  embraced  the  an- 
cient provinces  of  the  Lombards,  without  in- 
cluding the  city  of  Rome,  of  which  the  posses- 
sion remained  with  Guy,  his  uterine  brother, 
by  means  of  the  incestuous  marriage  which 
he  had  contracted  with  the  shameless  Marozia. 

This  execrable  woman,  after  this  public 
scandal,  became  tired  of  her  husband,  and 
entered  into  a  sacrilegious  commerce  with 
John  the  Tenth;  joining  cruelty  to  luxury,  she 
became  jealous  of  the  pontiff",  and  to  revenge 
herself  on  him  for  his  intercourse  with  her 
mother  and  sister,  she  resolved  to  assassinate 
him.  and  forced  her  husband  to  execute  the 
crime.  The  infamous  satellites,  commanded 
by  Guy  and  Marozia,  forced  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  murdered  the  brother  of  the  pope, 
bound  him  with  cords,  and  cast  him  into  pri- 
son, where  they  strangled  him  beneath  ma- 
tresses,  towards  the  end  of  the  year  928.  A 
death  worthy  of  such  a  pope  ! 

John  the  Tenth  was  ambitious,  avaricious, 
an  apostate,  destitute  of  shame,  faith,  and 
honour,  and  sacrificed  every  thing  to  his  pas- 
sions ;  he  held  the  Holy  See  about  sixteen 
years,  to  the  disgrace  of  humanity. 


LEO  THE  SIXTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY-EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  928.] 

Reflections  of  historians  in  regard  to  Leo  the  Sixth— Uncertainty  as  to  his  reign — Death  of  the 

pope. 

Leo  the  Sixth,  if  we  credit  Baronius  and  sen  in  928.  His  modesty,  the  integrity  of  his 
Papebroch,  was  a  Roman,  and  the  son  of  the  morals,  the  care  which  he  had  for  religion, 
treasurer  Christopher;  he  was  regularly  cho-    the  tranquillity  which  he  established  at  Rome, 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


287 


the  pacification  of  Italy,  and  the  expulsion  of 
the  barbarians  who  ravaged  it,  would  be  so 
many  beautiful  actions  with  which  we  oui^ht 
to  credit  him,  if  we  were  enabled  to  establish 
them  upon  authentic  testimony.      But   the 


usages  of  the  court  of  Rome  in  these  times  of 
corruption,  induce  us  to  believe  that  this  pon- 
tiff lived  like  his  predecessors.  He  died  after 
a  pontificate  of  six  months  and  some  days. 


STEPHEN  THE  EIGHTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWENTY- 
NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  929.] 
Uncertainty  as  to  the  pontificate  of  Stephen  the  Eighth. 


Stephen  was  the  son  of  Theudemond,  and  ' 
a  Roman  by  birth.     Although  he  possessed  ; 
the  Holy  See  for  two  years  and  six  months,  ' 
all  the  actions  of  his  pontificate  remain  in  the 
most  profound  oblivion.     His  mildness  and 
probity  were  laudable,  if  we  are  to  believe  | 
several  religious  writers;  his  death  is  placed 
in  931.  I 

According  to  some  ecclesiastics,  Stephen  ! 
the  Seventh  exhibited  great  severity  in  regard  ' 
to  the  morals  of  the  clergy;  but  this  assertion, 
which  they  do  not  sustain  by  any  testimony,  ; 
cannot  be  conscientiously  admitted  ;  and  the' 
more  so,  as  it  was  during  his  reign,  that  this  I 
singular  proposition,   made    by   the    Roman 
canonists  appeared  :  '-'ihat  laymen  cannot  ac- 
cuse a  priest  of  adultery,  even  if  they  should  sur- 
prise him  in  the  very  act  with  their  wives,  or 
their  daughters,  and  they  should  believe  that 
he  was  only  blessing  them  more  intimately." 

Besides,  it  was  impossible  for  a  pope  to  in- 
terdict concubinary  marriages  to  ecclesias- 
tics, since  priestesses  and  deaconesses  were 
then  authorized  in  the  church,  as  is  proved  by 
an  order  of  Telasperian,  bishop  of  Lucca,  in 
which  that  prelate  declared  that  he  granted 


to  priest  Romuald  and  Ratperga,  his  wife  and 
priestess,  the  direction  of  the  church,  the  con- 
vent, and  the  hospital  of  San  Quiiico  de  Capan- 
neli  in  the  valley  of  the  Arno.  An  authentic 
act  also  testifies  that  at  their  death,  they  be- 
queathed to  the  church  all  the  property  they 
possessed  in  the  states  of  Lucca  and  Pisa. 

In  France  as  well  as  in  Italy,  the  custom 
of  concubinary  marriages  between  priests  and 
priestesses  was  so  common  that  the  Chronicle 
of  Maus  speaks  of  a  bishop  named  Segenfried, 
who  espoused  a  young  deaconess,  although  he 
was  already  very  old. 

The  disorders  and  scandals  were  then  pushed 
to  such  an  excess  that  the  cardinal  Damian, 
in  one  of  his  works,  blames  the  culpable  tole- 
rance of  the  Holy  See ;  he  says.  "  that  he  is 
astonished  that  the  pope  permits  hands  conse- 
crated to  handle  the  bread  of  angels,  to  be 
soiled  in  the  lascivious  and  impure  attach- 
ments of  women.-'  He  adds,  "that  concu- 
bines espoused  by  priests,  are  the  marrow  of 
the  devil,  the  virus  of  intelligences,  the  prison 
of  drunkards,  the  gynoeceum  of  the  old  ene- 
my," and  adds  many  other  names  unnecessary 
to  repeat. 


JOHN  THE  ELEVENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTIETH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  931.] 

Birth  of  John  the  Eleventh — Chosen  bishop  of  Rome  at  eighteen — Incest  of  the  young  pontiff 
with  Marozia,  his  mother — She  poisons  her  husband  Guy — Her  incestuous  marriage  with  Hugh 
— Rathicr,  bishop  of  Verona — Albcric,  the  eldest  son  oj  Marozia,  seizes  upon  Rome,  and  con- 
fines his  brother,  Pope  John,  in  prison — His  incest  with  his  mx)ther — Death  of  the  pope. 

After  the  death  of  Stephen,  the  patrician- 
ness  A'larozia,  mistress  of  John  the  Tenth, 
availed  herself  of  the  absolute  power  which 
she  exercised  in  Rome,  to  cause  her  young 
son  Octavian,  whom  she  had  by  Pope  Sergius, 
to  be  ordained  pontiff.  His  criminal  birth,  atul 
his  youth,  did  not  prevent  the  Roman  citngv 
from  placinir  the  sacretl  tiara  on  the  head  of 
a  child  of  eighteen.  It  is  true  that  Marozia 
knew  how  to  pay  for  votes  by  caresses  and 
presents. 

This  abominable  woman,  who  was  then  in 


all  the  splendour  of  her  beauty,  wished  to  as- 
sure her  rule  over  the  mind  of  the  young  pope, 
by  becoming  liis  mistress,  and  she  abandoned 
herself  to  incestuous  amours  with  her  son  I 
Then,  (eternal  disgrace  to  the  Holy  See.)  was 
seen  on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  a  pope,  who 
left  the  shameless  arms  of  his  mother  to  ap- 
pear in  the  holiest  ceremonies  of  reliirion,  and 
priests  on  their  knees  before  a  Messalina,  who 
surpassed  in  her  debauchery  the  most  shame- 
less courtezans  of  Rome  and  Lesbos. 
Marozia,  soon  fearing  the  irresolution  and 


288 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


weakness  of  character  of  her  son,  wished  to 
assure  to  herself  a  more  powerful  protector. 
She  poisoned  her  husband,  Guy,  and  offered 
her  hand  and  the  principality  of  Rome  to 
King  Hugh,  his  half  brother.  This  prince  had 
the  baseness  to  consent  to  this  sacrilegious 
alliance. 

Before  his  marriage,  Hugh  had  given  the 
See  of  Verona  to  Bishop  Hildwyn.  who  had 
retired  to  his  court,  after  having  been  driven 
from  the  bishopric  of  Tongres,  by  Richer.  A 
monk,  named  Rathier.  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  that  age,  had  declared  himself  a  parti- 
zan  of  the  new  prelate,  and  had  followed  him 
to  the  court  of  the  prince,  under  the  promise 
of  succeeding  to  the  bishopric  of  Verona,  as 
soon  as  his  friend  should  be  elevated  to  higher 
digniiies.  Hildwyn,  having  soon  after  been 
nominated  as  archbishop  of  Milan,  Rathier 
hastened  to  Rome  to  demand  the  pallium; 
but  on  his  return,  Hugh,  who  had  changed 
his  mind,  opposed  his  election.  The  urgent 
solicitations  of  the  grandees  of  the  kingdom, 
joined  to  those  of  Hildwyn  and  the  sovereign 
pontiff,  compelled  him,  however,  to  receive 
the  new  prelate.  Rathier  had  the  mitre,  but 
the  king  continued  to  persecute  him,  and  ex- 
cited a  powerful  hatred  against  him  among 
the  clergy. 

By  his  marriage  with  Marozia,  Hugh  be- 
lieved his  power  firmly  fixed,  and  beyond  the 
reach  of  all  revolutions ;  he  no  longer  took 
any  pains  to  conceal  the  indignation  he  felt 
towards  Alberic,  the  incestuous  offspring  of 
his  wife,  and  the  marquis  Adalbert,  who  par- 
took with  John  the  Eleventh  in  the  monstrous 
caresses  of  their  mother.  Upon  one  occasion 
he  was  so  far  carried  away  as  to  strike  the 
young  prince  on  his  face.  Alberic,  exaspe- 
rated at  this  outrage,  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  party  of  malcontents,  assembled  the  peo- 
ple of  Rome,  and,  at  the  head  of  some  troops, 
attacked  the  castle  of  San  Angelo.  Hugh, 
surprised  by  the  sudden  attack,  with  difficulty 
escaped  from  his  enemies,  and  was  obliged  to 
save  himself  beyond  the  ramparts. 

Alberic,  master  of  the  castle,  caused  him- 
self to  be  proclaimed  duke  of  the  Romans, 
and  he  confined  in  a  close  prison  his  brother, 
Pope  John.  Marozia  still  commanded  in  the 
holy  city  with  the  new  patrician,  her  son,  and 
from  their  criminal  intercourse  sprang  a  child, 
whom  we  shall  see  hereafter  occupying,  in  his 
turn,  the  pontifical  throne,  and  prolonging  the 


incests   of   this  abominable  family,   even    to 
the  third  generation. 

During  his  captivity,  John  the  Elevenlh 
sent  apostolical  letters  to  the  emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople, to  confirm  the  election  of  one  of 
the  sons  of  the  admiral  Romanus  Lecapenus, 
who  had  been  promoted  to  the  patriarchal 
See  of  that  city,  at  the  age  of  five  years.  His 
holiness  granted,  besides,  to  this  infant,  the 
use  of  the  pallium,  in  perpetuity)  a  favour 
unknown,  and  which  none  of  the  prelates  of 
the  East  had  ever  yet  enjoyed.  Some  of  his 
friends  have  endeavoured  to  excuse  the  con- 
duct of  the  pontift',  by  maintaining  that  even 
before  his  imprisonment,  John  the  Eleventh 
had  never  freely  exercised  his  ministry;  his 
mother  Marozia,  having  seized  on  the  su- 
preme authority,  and  that  the  sceptre  of  the 
popes  had  been  turned  into  a  distaff.  A 
singular  justification,  which  is  not  adapted  to 
elevate  the  throne  of  the  apostle  in  the  eyes 
of  the  faithful. 

Besides,  that  which  was  passing  in  Italy  at 
this  period,  was  neither  stranger  nor  more 
scandalous  than  the  infamies  which  were 
taking  place  in  other  countries.  Every  where 
there  reigned  the  same  disorders,  the  same 
anarchy  in  church  and  state.  The  feudal 
system  elevated  itself,  threatening  kings  and 
people.  The  lords  declared  themselves  inde- 
pendent, and  united  M-ith  the  bishops  to  free 
themselves  from  the  yoke  of  their  suzerains, 
and  to  subjugate  the  provinces.  Heresy,  im- 
piety, debauchery,  poisoning,  robbery,  incen- 
diarism, and  murder  followed  in  their  train 
and  covered  Europe  with  disasters  from  the 
Bosphorus  to  the  Baltic,  and  from  the  ex- 
tremity of  Portugal  to  the  Ural  mountains. 

We  must-  not  then  be  astonished,  in  the 
midst  of  the  frightful  convulsions  which  agi- 
tated all  kingdoms,  at  seeing  courtezans  com- 
mand in  Rome,  occupy  the  part  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  dispose  of  the  Holy  See  at  their  plea- 
sure, and  place  upon  it  the  fruit  of  their  adul- 
teries and  incests. 

John  the  Eleventh,  enervated  by  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  table  and  by  debauchery,  lived 
in  debility  until  936,  when  death  came  to  put 
an  end  to  the  harsh  captivity  which  his  bro- 
ther had  imposed  upon  him.  For  a  long  time 
this  degraded  pontiff  tiid  not  leave  his  prison, 
unless  surrounded  by  the  satellites  of  Alberic, 
and  only  to  celebrate  divine  service  in  the 
great  solemnities. 


LEO  THE  SEVENTH,  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  936.] 

Election  of  Leo — The  abbot  Odon  at  Rome — Letter  from  the  pope  to  the  prelates  of  Bavaria — 
Blarriage  of  priests — Death  of  Leo. 

Lko  the  Seventh  was  consecrated  in  936;  1  After  his  ordination,  he  continued  to  live 
historians  represent  him  as  a  servant  of  God,  I  with  great  wisdom;  affable,  zealous,  agree- 
who.  far  from  seeking  dignities,  was  elevated  '  able  in  his  conversation,  his  piety  was  always 
to  the  Holy  See  in  despite  of  himself.  I  exemplary,  and   he   applied  himself  uncea- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


289 


singly  to  meditation?  on  heavenly  thingfs. 
Such  is  the  portrait  which  his  contemporary 
Frodoart  has  left  us. 

Alberic  was  still  the  master  of  Rome,  and 
rejected  the  proposals  of  Huph,  who  desired 
to  return  to  his  principality.  The  pope,  wish- 
ing to  reconcile  these  two  princes,  broui^ht 
into  Italy,  Odon,  the  abbot  of  Cliiny,  who  had 
before  enjoyed  great  credit  with  the  king. 
This  pious  abbot  succeeded  in  bringing  about 
a  peace  between  them,  and  Hugh  consented 
to  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  patri- 
cian Alberic,  as  a  sign  of  his  pardon. 

During  his  stay  at  Rome,  the  abbot  of  Cluny 
exhibited  a  humility  so  truly  Christian,  and  a 
charity  so  inexhaustible,  that  the  clergy, 
moved  by  his  fervent  and  sincere  piety,  be- 
sought him  to  re-establish  the  monastery  of  St. 
Paul,  with  the  severity  of  the  primitive  rule. 
That   cloister  thence  became  his  residence. 

Alberic  had  conceived  so  profountl  a  re- 
spect, and  so  lively  an  admiration  for  Odon, 
that  the  holy  abbot  having  been  one  day 
rudely  pushed  by  a  peasant  who  did  not 
know  him,  the  prince  condemned  him  to  lose 
his  two  hands,  which  .sentence  was  at  once 
put  into  execution  by  the  executioner. 

About  this  time,  Gerard,  archbishop  of 
Lorca.  whose  See  was  afterwards  transferred 
to  Salzburg,  came  to  consult  Leo  on  several 
abuses,  which  prevailed  in  Bavaria  and  the 
neighbouring  provinces.  He  relates  that  he 
quitted  Rome,  edified  by  the  conduct  of  the 
head  of  the  church.  The  holy  father  sent  by 
him  a  letter,  which  was  addressed  to  the 
kings,  dukes,  and  prelates  of  Salzburg,  Ratis- 
bonne,  and  some  other  Sees.  Leo  replied  to 
all  the  questions  put  to  him  by  Gerard  in  the 
name  of  the  clergy  and  grandees  of  those 
countries. 

We  quote  some  passages  from  the  letters 
of  the  prelates  and  the  pontiff:  "Should  we 
inflict  penance  on  those  who  have  put  to  death 
divines,  enchantresses,  sorcerers,  and  all  other 
abettors  of  magical  practices?"  wrote  the 
Bavarians. 

Pontifical  wisdom  thus  resolved  this  diffi- 
culty:— "  Althouijh  the  ancient  law  demands 
the  life  of  the  guilty  who  are  abandoned  to 
the  abominable  practices  of  magic,  ecclesias- 
tical judgment  preserves  them  to  lead  them 
to  repentance.  If,  however,  hardened  sin- 
ners refuse  to  submit,  they  become  subject  to 
human  laws,  which  cannot  be  executed  too 
rigorously  agjiinst  them." 

Should  we  say.  "Dominus  Vobiscum,  or 
Pax  Vobis."  To  this  question  Leo  made  this 
ambiguous  reply,  '-You  should  follow  the 
usuage  of  the  Roman  church,  which  employs 
'  Pax  Vobis'  on  Sundays  ami  fete  days,  ex- 
cept at  times  of  fasting,  and  'Dominus  Vobis- 
cum' on  ordinary  days.' 

Vol.  I.  2  M 


Leo  prohibited  them  from  saying  the  Lord's 
prayer  i'or  the  blessing  which  precedes  the 
repast ;  this  prayer,  in  his  opinion,  should  be 
reserved  for  divine  service.  He  strongly  op- 
posed the  marriage  of  priests.  "  The  arch- 
bishop Gerard,"  he  says,  "relates  to  us  a  de- 
plorable disorder.  Priests  publicly  marry'  and 
even  wish  that  their  children  should  be  pro- 
moted to  sacred  orders  I  You  will  see  how 
these  unions  are  blamed  by  the  council  of 
Nice,  which  prohibits  ecclesiastics  from  even 
lodging  with  women,  whatever  may  be  their 
age.  Thatof  Neoca!sarea  orders  prelates  even 
to  depose  clergymen  who  have  married.  We 
wish  these  decrees  to  be  executed  with  the 
utmost  rigour.  The  children,  however,  shall 
not  bear  the  iniquity  of  their  fathers. 

"Rural  bishops  shall  not  consecrate  tem- 
ples, nor  ordain  priests,  nor  administer  con- 
firmation. 

"  We  prohibit  the  faithful  from  espousing 
their  god-mother  or  god-daughter  :  and  those 
who  being  relatives  in  the  third  or  fourth 
degree,  have  married  vi'ithout  a  knowledge 
of  their  relationship,  should  submit  to  pen- 
ance." 

At  the  close  of  his  letter,  the  pontiff  ordered 
the  clergy  to  obey  Gerard  as  his  vicar;  and  he 
commanded  Eberhard,  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  to 
aid  him  with  the  strong  hand,  if  the  people 
refused  to  submit  to  his  authority. 

During  this  last  year,  the  Arabs,  who  had 
established  themselves  in  Lombardy,  sought 
to  extend  their  conquests,  and  laid  siege  to 
!  Genoa.  They  carried  it  by  assault,  massa- 
cred all  the  inhabitants,  except  the  women 
and  children,  whom  they  reduced  to  slavery, 
and  carried  off  from  the  churches  the  richea 
which  the  superstition  of  the  people  had  ac- 
cumulated in  them.  From  Genoa  they  went 
as  far  as  the  city  of  Agauna,  which  they  burn- 
ed, as  well  as  the  famous  monastery  of  St. 
Maurice.  They  then  made  themselves  masters 
of  all  the  roads  which  led  to  Rome,  and  at- 
tacked the  caravans  of  pilgrims  who  came 
to  pay  their  devotions  at  the  tomb  of  the  apos- 
tles. 

Leo,  seeing  the  revenues  of  the  Holy  See 
diminishing  in  consequence  of  the  tactics  of 
the  Arab.=i,  decided  to  enter  into  an  arrange- 
ment with  them,  and  sent  to  them  skilful 
priests,  who  showed  to  them,  that  it  was  their 
interest  to  allow  the  fanatics  who  crowded  to 
Rome,  to  go  to  the  tomb  of  Saint  Peter,  and  to 
constrain  them  only  to  pay  for  a  right  of  pas- 
sage. 

The  reign  of  Leo  the  Ninth  has  been  very 
sterile  in  events,  as  historians  have  preserved 
a  profound  silence  in  regard  to  the  actions  of 
this  pope.  He  died  in  939,  after  a  pontificate 
of  three  years  and  some  months,  and  was  in- 
terred in  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 


290 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


STEPHEN  THE  NINTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY- 
SECOND  POPE, 


[A.  D.  940.] 

The  election  of  Stephen — The  Romans  mutilate  him — Hugh,  archbishop  of  Rheivis- 

Stephen  the  Ninth. 


-Death  of 


The  exaltation  of  Stephen  the  Ninth,  who 
was  a  German  by  birth,  is  fixed  at  the  year 
940.  He  was  elevated  to  the  Holy  See  by  the 
assistance  of  King  Hugh,  and  a  faction  which 
was  devoted  to  the  emperor  Otho.  But  this 
election  having  been  made  without  the  con- 
sent of  Prince  Alberic,  he  incited  the  Romans 
against  the  holy  lather.  As  the  conclusion 
of  an  outbreak,  the  people  stormed  the  patri- 
archal palace,  and  tore  the  pontitf  from  his 
throne.  The  soldiers  gashed  his  face  with 
such  barbarity,  that  the  unfortunate  man  ap- 
peared no  more  in  public,  even  in  the  most 
solemn  ceremornals. 

Some  years  afterwards,  the  archbishop  of 
Rheims,  Artaud,  having  been  deposed  by  a 
council  held  at  Soissons,  Hugh,  the  son  of 
Count  Herbert,  was  ordained  in  his  place.  As 
soon  as  he  was  enthroned,  he  sent  deputies 
to  the  pope  to  ask  the  pallium  from  him ;  his 
embassadors  returned,  bearing  the  authority 
from  the  Holy  See,  but  accompanied  by  a 
legate  named  Damasus,  who  bore  letters  des- 
tined for  the  lords  of  France  and  Burgundy,  to 


force  them  to  recognize  the  authority  of  King 
Louis.  Stephen  threatened  them  with  eccle- 
siastical thunders,  if  they  did  not  obey  his 
orders  before  Christmas,  and  if  they  continued 
the  war. 

The  chiefs  of  the  clergy  of  Rheims  then 
besought  Count  Herbert  to  intercede  with 
Count  Hugh,  that  he  would  consent  to  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  Louis,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  freed  from  the  excommunication 
with  which  they  were  threatened. 

During  the  same  year,  (942,)  St.  Odon  came 
to  Rome  for  the  third  time,  to  establish  the 
basis  of  a  durable  peace,  between  Hugh  and 
his  son-in-law,  the  patrician  Alberic,  whose 
ambition  created  ceaseless  wars  which  stained 
Italy  with  blood.  The  abbot  of  Cluny  also 
undertook  the  reformation  of  the  monastery 
of  St.  Elias,  at  Suppenton,  near  to  Nepi,  where 
he  placed  one  of  his  disciples,  named  Theo- 
dart,  as  abbot.  Stephen  died  in  948,  after  a 
pontificate  of  three  years  and  four  months, 
without  having  achieved  any  thing  remark- 
able. 


MARTIN  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND   THIRTY- 
THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  943.] 

Election  of  Martin — His  devotion — Obscurity  of  his  history — His  quarrel  ivith  Simon,  bishop 

of  Capua — His  death . 


Some  days  after  the  death  of  Stephen,  the 
patrician  Alberic,  caused  a  pope  to  be  elected, 
whom  historians  call  Martin  the  Second,  or 
Martin  the  Third. 

It  is  related  of  him,  that  during  the  three 
years  and  a  half  of  his  pontificate,  he  applied 
himself  to  nothing  but  the  duties  of  religion 
and  monastic  practices.  In  consequence 
thereof,  the  priests  of  Rome  exhibited  a  great 
contempt  for  this  pontiff.  They  said  of  him, 
"  That  Christianity  had  never  had  such  a 
pope ;  and  that  the  reign  of  a  man  who  un- 
derstood the  art  of  increasing  the  possessions 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  of  causing  the  money  of 
the  people  to  flow  into  his  purse,  was  of  more 
advantage  to  them." 

In  accordance  with  this  reasoning  it  follows, 
that  the  greatness  and  majesty  of  the  church 
require  a  chief  who  does  not  possess  the  vir- 
tues of  an  apostle,  but  the  talents  of  a  skilful 


diplomatist.  The  clergy  wish  a  pontiff  who 
has  the  courage  to  damn  himself,  in  order  to 
increase  his  wealth  and  estates )  they  ask 
that  the  popes  should  sacrifice  themselves  for 
the  Christian  republic,  as  Curtius  and  Decius 
did  for  the  pagan. 

Martin  the  Third,  scrupulous  and  a  bigot, 
allowed  the  temporal  power,  which  was  ne- 
cessary for  the  maintenance  of  the  spiritual, 
to  weaken  in  his  hands ;  hence  he  has  come 
down  to  posterity  with  the  reputation  of  hav- 
ing been  a  bad  pope. 

Martin  granted,  however,  great  privileges 
to  several  dioceses,  and  we  are  assured  that 
he  wrote  a  very  remarkable  letter  to  Sicon, 
bishop  of  Capua,  an  ignorant  man,  and  a 
shameless  and  debauched  priest.  The  holy 
father  strongly  reproached  this  prelate  for 
having  given,  as  a  fief,  to  his  deacon,  a  church 
which  his  predecessors  had  granted  to  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


291 


Benedictine  monks,  for  the  purpose  of  estab- ' 
lishing  a  monastery.     He   imperiously  com-  ' 
manded  him  to  transform  this  church  and  its 
dependencies,  without  delay,  into  a  convent, 
which  should  be  declared  independent  of  the  ! 
See  of  Capua,  and  should  remain  under  the  ' 


direction  of  the  monks  of  the  order  of  St. 
Benedict.  He  also  prohibited  him  from  main- 
taining^ any  intercourse  with  the  young  dea- 
con, who  pas.sed  for  his  minion,  under  penalty 
of  being  deposed  and  excommunicated. 
Martin  the  Third  died  in  the  year  946. 


AGAPET  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY- 

FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  946.] 

Enthronement  of  Agapet — Profound  ignorance  of  the  popes — Council  of  Engclheim — Agapet 
calls  Otho  into  Italy — Death  of  the  pope. 


Agapet  the  Second,  was  a  Roman  by  birth, 
he  was  chosen,  like  his  predecessor,  by  the 
faction  of  Alberic.  This  ambitious  patri- 
cian, desirous  of  pursuing  his  credit  and  main- 
taining his  authority  in  Rome,  was  unwilHng 
to  elevate  to  the  Holy  See  but  weak  pontiffs, 
who  were  ignorant  and  incapable  of  governing 
temporal  affairs.  He  was,  however,  deceived 
in  the  new  head  of  the  church,  whom  he 
caused  to  be  enthroned  in  946. 

The  division  between  the  principal  lords  of 
Italy  was  at  its  height,  and  the  authority  of 
King  Hugh,  had  much  diminished,  since  Otho 
the  Great,  and  Herman,  duke  of  Suabia.  had 
sent  succours  to  Berenger  to  re-establish  his 
power  in  the  Roman  peninsula.  Agapet  en- 
deavoured to  reconcile  Alberic  and  king  Hugh, 
without  foreseeing  what  would  be  the  result 
of  his  negotiations. 

The  first  action  of  the  pope  was  to  establish 
his  political  rule  over  the  churches  of  the  em- 
pire. For  this  purpose  he  sent  Marin,  bishop 
of  Bormazo,  in  Tuscany,  as  a  legate  to  Otho. 
to  assemble  a  general  council.  This  conven- 
tion, composed  of  French  and  German  pre- 
lates, was  held  at  Ingelheim,  in  the  church 
of  St.  Remi,  on  the  7th  of  June,  948,  in  the 
presence  of  Kings  Otho  and  Louis.  Marin 
presided  over  it.  Notwithstanding  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  synod,  the  legate  re-established 


in  his  episcopal  dignity  Artaud,  the  former 
bishop  of  Rheims,  who  had  been  removed  from 
his  see  by  Hugh,  count  of  Paris. 

About  the  same  time,  Hadumar,  abbot  of 
Fulda,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  to  inform 
Agapet  of  the  strife  which  existed  between 
Herold  and  Gerard,  the  archbishops  of  Salis- 
bury and  Lorca  or  Laureac,  who  both  laid 
claim  to  being  the  metropolitans  of  all  Pano« 
nia.  The  pope  wrote  a  letter  to  them,  in 
which  he  declared  that  the  church  of  Laureac 
had  been  the  metropolitan  church  of  all  Pan- 
onia,  prior  to  the  irruptions  of  the  Huns,  but 
that  the  ravages  of  these  barbarians  had  caus- 
ed the  metropolitan  to  transfer  his  See  to 
another  city  •  and  that,  since  that  period,  Salis- 
bury had  been  erected  into  an  archbishopric ; 
that,  in  consequence  thereof,  they  occupied 
lawfully  their  respective  Sees,  and  that  both 
prelates  should  preserve  their  rank  and  their 
diocese.  He  decided  that  jurisdiction  over 
western  Panonia  belonged  to  Herold,  and  that 
the  eastern  part,  with  the  country  of  the  Avari 
and  Moravians,  belonged  to  Gerard. 

After  having  aided  the  interests  of  Berenger 
for  two  years,  Agapet  discovered  that  kings 
who  are  too  powerful  become  the  tyrants  of 
the  people.  He  then  called  the  emperor  Otho 
into  Italy;  but  before  the  arrival  of  that  prince 
he  was  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  died  in  956. 


292 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


JOHN  THE  TWELFTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY- 
FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  956.] 

Octavian,  the  incestuous  son  of  Alberic  and  Blarozia,  is  elevated  to  the  pontifical  See — Revolts  in 
Rome — Monstrous  incests  of  Marozia  and  the  young  pope — History  of  Theophylactus,  patri- 
arch of  Constantinople,  aged  sixteen  years — Debauchery,  scandal,  and  desolation  of  the  churches 
of  the  East  and  West — Wars  excited  by  Pope  John — Oiho  is  recalled  into  Italy — He  is  crowned 
emperor — Magdeburg  erected  into  a  metropolitan  See — John  revolts  against  the  emperor — The 
Ro77ians  bring  infamous  accusations  against  the  pope — He  sends  embassadors  to  Otho — The 
emperor  enters  Italy — the  pope  flies — Council  of  Rome — Cardinals  and  bishops  accuse  the  pope 
of  horrible  crimes — The  emperor  orders  him  to  appear  before  a  council — Deposition  of  Pope 
John. 


The  confusion  which  reigned  in  the  politi- 
cal government  of  Italy  was  daily  increased  by 
the  rivalries  of  kings  and  emperors :  the  same 
strife,  the  same  divisions,  soon  shone  forth  in 
the  government  of  the  church. 

In  every  city,  bishops  and  abbots  chosen  by 
one  prince,  were  soon  overthrown  by  other 
competitors,  sustained  by  a  new  master. 
There  existed  no  hierardbiy  in  the  church; 
inferiors  condemned  their  superiors,  and  fre- 
quently mere  laymen  seized  upon  the  benefi- 
ces, and  were  created  prelates  by  their  own 
authority.  It  was  thus  that  the  young  Octa- 
vian, the  son  of  the  patrician  Alberic,  himself 
the  son  and  lover  of  Marozia,  became  pope. 

According  to  some  authors,  the  new  head 
of  the  church  had  attained  but  twelve  years  ; 
others  affirm  that  he  was  eighteen ;  all  agree 
that  he  was  of  a  very  tender  age,  and  that  the 
infamous  Marozia  had  already,  by  a  double  in- 
cest, initiated  him  into  the  most  shameful 
debaucheries.  Intrigues,  promises,  and  pre- 
sents, acquired  for  the  young  Octavian  the  pon- 
tifical throne  ;  and,  immediately  after  his  ele- 
vation, he  dropped  his  own  name  and  took 
that  of  John  the  Twelfth. 

His  reign,  commenced  under  sacrilegious 
auspices,  will  finish  by  a  disgraceful  fall !  Ba- 
ronius  draws  the  portrait  of  the  infant  pope  in 
very  strong  terms.  He  calls  him  an  abortion, 
and  represents  him  as  an  actor  who  appeared 
upon  a  theatre,  wearing  the  tiara,  and  engag- 
ed to  play  the  part  of  the  pontiff. 

At  the  same  period,  and  as  if  Providence 
was  desirous  of  exhibiting  to  men  all  the 
horror  with  which  their  crimes  had  inspired 
the  Deity,  the  See  of  Constantinople  was  occu- 
pied by  Theophylactus,  a  patriarch  of  sixteen 
years,  who  ruled  over  the  corrupted  clergy  of 
the  Greek  church.  This  ambitious  youth, 
sustained  by  a  powerful  female,  had  been 
consecrated  in  the  presence  of  the  legates  of 
the  Roman  pontiff,  and  in  accordance  with  a 
decree  of  election  made  by  a  cabal  of  infa- 
mous priests. 

Theophylactus,  elevated  to  the  highest  dig- 
nity of  the  church,  at  an  age  in  which  the 
passions  are  in  all  their  effervescence,  aban- 
doned himself  to  the  most  criminal  and  dis- 
graceful actions.  He  consecrated  neither 
priestSj  deacons,  abbots,  nor  prelates,  except 


for  money,  which  he  soon  dissipated  with  his 
minions  and  courtezans.  Passionately  fond 
of  the  chase,  he  had  collected  in  his  stables 
more  than  three  thousand  dogs,  and  almost 
two  thousand  horses,  which  he  fed  on  pine- 
apples, pistachio  nuts,  hazle  nuts,  dates,  rais- 
ins and  figs  steeped  in  generous  wines,  and 
perfumed  with  the  sweetest  odours. 

It  is  related  of  him,  that  whilst  celebrating 
divine  service  on  a  Holy  Thursday,  one  of 
his  grooms  came  to  inform  him  that  a  favourite 
mare  had  foaled.  The  patriarch  immediately 
suspended  the  august  ceremony  to  go  to  the 
stables,  dressed  in  his  pontifical  robes,  leaving 
the  people  in  stupor  and  astonishment.  It  is 
affirmed,  that  in  order  to  render  religious  ce-  . 
remonies  more  attractive,  he  thought  of  ad- 
mitting into  the  churches,  actresses  and  cour- 
tezans, who  should  perform  lascivious  dances 
to  the  sound  of  music. 

Theophylactus  finally  met  jvith  a  dreadful 
fall  whilst  hunting,  and  in  consequence  of  it, 
expectorated  blood.  Notwithstanding  his 
disease,  he  was  unwilling  to  abandon  his 
mode  of  life,  and  died  of  exhaustion. 

Maimburg  says  of  John  the  Tenth,  "After 
his  exaltation,  Octavian  changed  his  name, 
but  not  his  morals  3  for  it  is  certain  that  there 
have  never  been  priests  who  dishonoured  the 
pontifical  title  by  all  kinds  of  vices  and  crimes 
more  than  he  did.  God,  however,  permitted 
that  his  death  should  be  as  painful  and  un- 
fortunate as  his  existence  was  shameful  and 
deplorable." 

Octavian  united  in  his  own  hands  spiritual 
power  and  temporal  authority,  or  rather 
weighed  down  Italy  under  a  double  tyranny 
which  he  could  exercise  without  fear,  being 
sustained  by  the  satellites  of  his  family.  He 
formed  the  project  of  seizing  upon  the  dutchy 
of  Spoletto,  and  he  marched  at  the  head  of 
an  army  against  Pandulph,  prince  of  Capua  ; 
but  the  latter  having  been  succeeded  by  Gi- 
sulph,  prince  of  Salerno,  John  was  forced  to 
retreat  and  to  sue  for  peace. 

Berenger,  no  less  ambitious  than  the  holy 
father,  wished  to  extend  his  dominion  over 
the  people,  and  to  treat  the  citizens  of  Rome 
as  the  serfs  of  his  domains.  He  became  so 
odious  that  the  pope  was  compelled  to  send 
two   legates,  John,  a  cardinal  deacon,  aud 


i 


294 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


Berenger,  who  had  taken  refuge  among  the 
Saracens,  to  induce  him  to  raise  the  standard 
of  revolt,  promising  him,  upon  the  Evange- 
lists, that  the  Holy  See  would  second  him  in 
his  enterprises  against  Otho. 

The  emperor  having  been  informed  of  this 
negotiation,  was  surprised  and  angry.  He 
however  hoped  that  the  young  pontiff'  might 
be  brought  back  to  more  favourable  senti- 
ments, through  the  counsels  of  men  of  sense. 
and  he  sent  some  old  officers  of  his  court  to 
protest  to  the  senate  of  Piome  against  this  in- 
fraction of  the  treaty  which  the  holy  father 
had  committed. 

The  Italian  lords,  indignant  at  being  com- 
pelled to  bow  beneath  the  yoke  of  a  sacrile- 
gious pope  who  filled  Rome  with  his  de- 
baucheries and  dissipation,  made  this  reply 
to  the  prince  :  '-'John  the  Twelfth  hates  Otho 
for  the  same  reason  that  the  devil  hates  his 
Creator.  You,  my  lord,  seek  to  please  God, 
and  desire  the  good  of  the  church  and  the 
state ;  the  pope,  on  the  other  hand,  blinded 
by  a  criminal  passion,  which  he  has  conceived 
for  the  widow  of  his  vassal.  Rainier,  has 
granted  to  her  the  goveniment  of  several 
cities,  and  the  direction  of  several  convents; 
and  to  heighten  the  scandal,  he  has  paid  for 
his  infamous  pleasures  with  the  golden  crosses 
and  chalices  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

"One  of  his  concubines,  Stephenette,  died 
before  our  very  eyes,  in  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  in  giving  birth  to  a  son,  whom  she 
declared  was  the  pontiff's.  The  sacred  resi- 
dence of  the  popes  has  become,  under  the 
reign  of  John,  a  frightful  brothel,  the  refuge 
of  prostitutes.  Neither  Roman  nor  strange 
females  dare  any  longer  to  visit  the  churches, 
for  this  monster  causes  wives,  widows,  and 
virgins  to  be  carried  off  from  the  very  steps 
of  the  altar !  Rich  dresses,  or  tattered  rags, 
beauty  or  homeliness,  all  alike  are  used  to 
gratify  his  execrable  debaucheries  !  The  tem- 
ples of  the  apostles  are  falling  into  ruins,  the 
rain  of  Heaven  inundates  the  sacred  table, 
and  the  roofs  even  threaten  to  bury  the  faith- 
ful benSath  them.  Such  are  the  reasons  why 
Adalbert  is  more  agreeable  to  the  pope  than 
the  emperor." 

Notwithstanding  these  terrible  accusations 
of  the  Romans,  Otho  dared  not  yet  punish  the 
revolt  of  the  pontiff;  he  contented  himself 
with  besieging  Montefeltro,  into  which  Beren- 
ger  had  thrown  himself. 

John  immediately  sent  to  him  as  deputies, 
an  officer  of  his  court,  named  Leo,  and  Deme- 
trius, one  of  the  principal  citizens  of  Rome ; 
he  promised  to  correct  his  faults,  vi-hich  arose, 
he  said,  from  his  extreme  youth:  he  com- 
plained, at  the  same  time,  that  the  emperor 
had  not  kept  his  promise,  by  compelling  the 
people  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  his  own 
person,  and  not  to  the  Holy  See;  he  also 
blamed  him  for  retaining  at  his  court  Bishop 
Leo,  and  John,  a  cardinal  deacon,  two  priests 
of  his  church. 

Otho  replied  to  the  holy  father  :  "  It  is  true, 
that  I  promised  to  surrender  to  the  apostolic 
chair,   all   the   territory   of  St.  Peter  which 


should  fall  into  my  power,  and  it  is  for  the 
purpose  of  religiously  performing  my  promises 
that  I  desire  to  drive  Berenger  from  his  for- 
tress. As  to  the  prelates  Leo  and  John,  whom 
you  accuse  me  as  retaining  prisoners,  I  assure 
you  they  were  arrested  when  on  their  way  to 
Constantinople,  to  confer  with  my  enemies. 
They  had  with  them  Zacheus,  an  ignorant  and 
deceitful  man,  whom  you  have  made  a  bishop, 
as  well  as  the  Bulgarian  Salec,  your  favourite 
and  minion,  who  were  both  going  among  the 
Hungarians  to  excite  them  against  us.  An 
unworthy  treason,  which  I  would  not  have 
believed,  had  I  not  seen  with  my  own  eyes 
the  letters  sealed  with  lead,  bearing  your 
name,  and  signed  with  your  own  hand."' 

Otho,  however,  determined  to  send  to  Rome 
Landohard  and  Luitprand,  the  bishops  of 
Munster  and  Cremona,  with  the  deputies  of 
the  pontiff.  They  wei'e  received  at  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  with  every  demonstration  of 
the  most  sincere  friendship ;  but  eight  days 
afterwards,  John  sent  them  back  with  the 
bishops  John  and  Benedict,  and  the  treason 
was  consummated. 

Adalbert  entered  the  holy  city  with  all  the 
splendour  of  a  triumph,  and  took  possession  of 
the  ancient  palace  of  the  patricians.  On 
learning  this  new  perfidy  of  the  pope,  Otho 
resolved  to  execute  a  signal  vengeance,  and 
marched  on  Rome  to  the  assistance  of  his  par- 
tizans,  who  had  seized  on  the  castle  of  St. 
Paul.  On  his  approach,  the  pope  and  Adal- 
bert fled,  carrying  with  them  the  treasures  of 
St.  Peter.  The  emperor  found  the  population 
of  Rome  divided  into  two  camps  ;  the  vaga- 
bonds, robbers  and  bandits  sustained  the  pon- 
tiff; the  honourable  citizens  and  the  people 
had  declared  for  him.  The  presence  of  his 
army  changed  the  aspect  of  things  ;  all  swore 
an  inviolable  fidelity  to  the  prince,  and  pledged 
themselves  never  to  choose  a  pontiff,  without 
his  consent  or  that  of  his  son. 

Three  days  after  the  arrival  of  Otho,  the 
Italian  and  German  prelates,  the  nobility,  and 
the  clergy,  and  people  of  Rome,  addressed  a 
request  to  him,  beseeching  him  to  convoke  a 
council,  to  remedy  the  infinite  disorders  and 
evils  which  the  church  endured.  Olho  yielded 
to  their  supplications,  and  held  a  convention, 
at  which  were  present  about  forty  bishops, 
thirteen  cardinal  priests,  three  deacons,  seve- 
ral monks,  and  a  large  number  of  citizens. 
When  silence  was  proclaimed,  the  emperor 
summoned  the  pontiff,  John  the  Twelfth,  in  a 
loud  voice  ;  and  as  no  one  replied  for  him,  he 
demanded  the  reasons  which  prevented  the 
holy  father  from  appearing  before  thai  august 
assembly. 

A  bishop  then  spoke — '-'We  are  surprised, 
my  lord,  that  you  ask  that  of  which  the  peo- 
ple of  even  the  remote  country  of  India  are 
not  ignorant;  the  crimes  .of  John  the  Twelfth 
have  been  committed  by  this  execrable  pon- 
tiff, who  glories  in  his  infamy,  in  the  face  of 
day."  The  emperor  then  asked  if  the  accu- 
sations had  been  framed  in  a  more  precise 
manner.  All  the  bishops  and  cardinals  im- 
mediately rose  sDontaneously,  and  one  after 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


29S 


another  spoke  against  the  pope,  accusing  him 
of  being  guilty  of  horrible  impiety,  of  blas- 
phemy, sacrilege,  profanation,  adultery,  rape, 
incest,  sodomy,  poisoning,  and  murder. 

Peter,  a  cardinal  priest,  declared  that  he 
had  seen  him  celebrate  mass,  when  drunk  ; 
John,  bishop  of  Narni,  said  he  had  ordained  a 
deacon  in  a  stable ;  Jerome,  a  cardinal  dea- 
con, affirmed,  that  at  the  conclusion  of  an 
orgy,  he  had  led  a  courtezan  into  the  temple 
and  committed  adultery  with  her  on  the  very 
steps  of  the  altar;  and  finally,  a  long  memo- 
rial was  read,  in  which  all  the  crimes  of  John 
the  Twelfth,  were  set  forth :  "  The  holy  father 
was  accused  of  having  sold  the  episcopate; 
of  having  ordained  children  of  a  tender  age 
priests  and  bishops;  of  having  been  publicly 
guilty  of  monstrous  incests  with  his  aunt  and 
his  mother  Marozia;  of  having  dissipated  the 
patrimony  of  the  poor  with  the  courtezans 
Rainier,  Stephenette,  Anne,  anil  her  niece ; 
of  having  transformed  the  sacred  palace  into 
a  place  of  prostitution  ;  of  having  put  out  the 
eyes  of  Benedict,  his  spiritual  father,  who 
died  under  the  hands  of  the  executioner;  of 
having  caused  the  subdeacon  John  to  be  put 
to  death  in  his  presence,  after  having  mutila- 
ted him  of  his  virility,  and,  would  to  God," 
added  the  prelates,  '-'that  he  had  performed 
on  himself  this  cruel  operation  !  Finally,  he 
was  accused  of  having  traversed  the  streets 
of  Rome  with  a  sword  by  his  side,  a  casque 
on  his  head,  and  clothed  with  a  cuirass,  and 
of  having  kept  a  pack  of  dogs  and  horses  for 
the  chase."  The  reading  of  this  memorial 
being  finished,  his  old  cronies,  clergy  and  lay- 
men, declared  that  the  pontifl' drank  toasts  to 
the  health  of  the  devil ;  that  when  playing  at 
dice  he  invoked  the  aid  of  Jupiter,  and  that 
in  his  orgies  he  called  himself  the  priest  of 
Venus;  theyafhrmed  also,  that  he  kept  neither 
matins  nor  canonical  hours,  and  that  he  never 
made  the  sign  of  the  cross. 

As  the  Romans  did  not  understand  the  Saxon 
which  Otho  spoke,  he  addressed  the  assembly 
throui^h  Lnilprand,  the  bishop  of  Cremona. 
"It  sometimes  happens,  as  we  Know  from  our 
own  experience,  that  men  who  are  elevated 
to  dignities,  are  calumniated  by  the  envi- 
ous: do  not  be  astonished,  if  I  am  distrustful 
on  hearing  the  horrible  accusation  which 
has  been  read  by  the  deacon  Benedict.  I 
therefore  conjure  you,  by  the  name  of  God, 
whom  we  cannot  deceive,  by  that  of  the  holy 
mother,  and  by  the  body  of  th(!  holy  Apostle 
Peter,  in  whose  presence  we  are  ass(nnbled, 
I  beseech  you  to  lay  nothinc  to  the  charge  of 
the  poiitilf  John  the  Twelfth,  of  which  he  is 
not  tiuly  guilty,  and  which  has  not  been  seen 
by  men  worthy  of  credit." 

The  clergy,  nobility,  and  people  of  Rome 
exclaimed,  ''If  Pope  John  has  not  committed 
the  abominations  which  the  deacon  Benedict 
has  read,  and  others  still  more  horrible,  may 
St.  Peter  not  deliver  us  from  our  sins  !  May 
we  remain  for  ever  laden  with  anathemas,  and 
may  the  Lord  place  us  on  his  left  hand  at  the 
day  of  the  last  judgment !"  There  came  into 
the  council,  soldiers  of  the  prince,  who  de- 


clared that  they  had  seen  the  holy  father,  his 
sword  in  his  hand,  and  his  casque  on  his  head, 
escorting  his  courtezans,  and  preceded  by  cars 
bearini^'away  candeiabraS;  crucifixes,  chalices, 
and  the  consecrated  cruets  and  censers.  The 
emperor  replied. — "  Every  soldier  of  my  army 
is  an  unexceptionable  witness;  I  believe  a!), 
and  besides,  do  I  not  myself  know  that  John 
has  become  guilty  of  perjury  towards  us,  by 
his  alliance  with  Adalbert  ?  We  will,  however, 
hear  his  defence  before  condemning  him^" 

The  prince  sent  him  this  letter  :  "  We  have 
come  to  Rome,  most  holy  father,  for  the 
service  of  God,  and  when  we  demanded 
from  the  priests  the  cause  of  your  absence, 
they  brought  against  you  horrible  accusations. 
Clergy  and  laity  have  alike  accused  you  of 
sacrilege,  extortions,  homicides,  and  abomina- 
ble incests.  They  have  declared  that  you 
drank  wine  to  the  love  of  the  devil,  and  that 
you  have  invoked  in  your  orgies  the  goils  who 
presided  over  the  debaucheries  of  the  Pagans. 
We  pray  you  to  come  at  once  to  justify  your- 
self before  us;  and  if  you  fear  the  violence  of 
the  people,  we  swear  that  we  will  cause  your 
person  to  be  respected,  and  that  nothing  shall 
be  done  against  you  contrary  to  the  canons." 
The  pontiff  having  read  this  letter,  contented 
himself  with  the  following  reply,  which  he 
addressed  to  the  council :  "  I  learn  that  you 
wish  to  choose  another  pope ;  if  you  persist 
in  this  design,  I  excommunicate  you  in  the 
name  of  the  all-powerful  God ;  so  that  you 
have  no  power  to  go  into  an  election,  nor  to 
celebrate  mass."  And  priests  have  been  in- 
sensate enough  to  be  willing  to  re-establish 
the  memory  of  John  the  Twelfth,  and  to  main- 
lain,  that  after  having  fulminated  his  bull  of 
excommunication,  this  execrable  head  of  the 
church  could  not  be  deposed  from  the  ponti- 
ficate !  !  ! 

The  convention,  whose  power  fanatics  pre- 
tend to  contest,  judged,  however,  that  it  could 
overthrow  from  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  the 
monster  who  profaned  it;  but  before  the  ren- 
dering of  the  sentence,  he  was  cited  to  appear 
before  the  council.  The  following  is  the  syn- 
odical  letter,  which  was  addressed  to  him: 
"Most  holy  father,  you  have  not  yet  replied 
to  the  emperor  Otho,  and  you  have  not  sent 
deputies  to  explain  your  defence.  Are  you 
willing  to  give  us  the  motives  for  so  doing. 
We  consent  to  recognize  your  authority,  if 
you  come  among  us  to  justify  yourself;  but 
if  you  refuse  to  give  us  lawful  excuses,  we 
will  despise  your  excommunication,  and  will 
hurl  it  back  on  yon  ;  for  Judas  had  received 
eijually  with  the  other  apostles,  the  authority 
to  bind  and  loose;  but  after  his  crime,  he 
could  oidy  bind  himself." 

Adrian,  a  cardinal  priest,  was  charired  to 
carry  this  second  citation,  which  remained 
like' the  first,  without  a  reply:  the  fathers 
then  assembled  the  third  time,  and  Otho 
opened  the  session  in  the  following  discnurse  : 
"  We  have  waited  for  John  to  put  our  charges 
against  him  in  form  :  as  we  now  know  that 
he  will  not  come,  we  beseech  you  to  examine 
into  his  conduct.     Whilst  he  was  oppressed 


296 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


by  Berenger  and  Adalbert;  our  rebellious  sub- 
jects, he  sent  deputies  into  Saxony,  beseech- 
ing us,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  come  and 
deliver  Italy  and  the  church  from  the  two 
tyrants  who  desolated  them.  You  know 
what  I  did.  Forgetful,  however,  of  the  fidelity 
which  he  had  sworn  in  this  very  place,  he 
brought  to  Rome  the  traitor  Adalbert ;  he  re- 
volted against  my  troops,  and  the  minister  of 
peace  became  the  captain  of  war,  clothed 
with  his  cuirass  and  his  casque.  Let  the 
council  pronounce  its  judgment !  I  have 
finished." 

A  bishop  replied  in  the  name  of  all :  "  We 
declare,  my  lord,  that  for  a  great  evil,  there 
must  be  an  extraordinary  remedy.  If  this 
execrable  pontiff  only  injured  himself,  we 
should  tolerate  him  !  But  as  his  frightful 
example  perverts  all  Christendom,  we  be- 
seech you,  0  magnanimous  emperor,  to  drive 
this  monster  from  the  holy  Roman  church, 
and  to  place  in  his  stead  a  man  who  sets  an 
example  of  wisdom  and  virtue." 

The  prince  replied:  "Be  it  so." 

Such  was  the  decree  which  deposed  John 
the  Twelfth,  from  the  potitifical  See,  in  the 
year  963. 

Several  ecclesiastical  authors  maintain,  that 
a  pope  could  not  lose  his  sovereign  authority, 
how  great  soever  may  be  his  crimes;  to  think 
the  contrary,  they  say,  is  the  most  culpable 
of  heresies.     But  admitting  to  the  letter  the 


vice-deity  of  the  pontiffs,  who  will  be  willing 
to  believe  for  a  moment,  that  God  confided 
the  care  of  his  church  to  a  man  like  John  the 
Twelfth,  who  was  worthy  of  being  the  rival 
of  Heliogobalus  ?  Do  not  the  most  robust 
faith,  and  the  blindest  fanaticism,  revolt  from 
the  idea  of  such  a  morality  1  What !  a  rob- 
ber, a  murderer,  an  incestuous  person,  wor- 
thily to  represent  Christ  upon  the  pontifical 
throne !  Can  he  excommunicate  the  vic- 
tims of  his  infamous  crimes,  since  religion 
wills,  commands  so  1  We  will  avow  that  this 
execrable  doctrine  shocks  our  mind ;  it  is  re- 
pugnant to  the  most  depraved  conscience  ! 

When  one  sees  such  monsters  as  John  the 
Twelfth,  seated  on  the  apostolical  chair,  it  is 
impossible  to  believe  that  the  divine  spirit  is 
incarnate  in  the  pontiffs ;  for  it  would  then  be, 
that  humanity  would  reject  Christianity  itself 
as  an  anti-social  religion,  as  its  fundamental 
dogma  would  repose  upon  the  most  profound 
immorality.  Vainly  do  the  cardinal  Baronius, 
Platinus,  Father  Maimbourg,  and  the  greater 
part  of  ecclesiastical  historians  avow  that  the 
church  was  then  governed  by  unworthy  popes. 
This  confession  is  not  sufficient  to  justify  the 
institution  of  the  papacy ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
condemns  it,  since  it  corroborates  this  truth, 
that  men  elected  and  consecrated  pontifFs, 
have  surpassed  in  their  dissoluteness  all  that 
was  most  hideous  in  the  material  doctrines  of 
paganism. 


LEO  THE  EIGHTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SIXTH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  963.] 

Election  of  Leo  the  Eifrhlh — Conspiracy  against  Otho — The  Romans  attack  the  German  guards 
— The  conspiracy  conquered — The  generosity  of  Otho. 


After  the  deposition  of  John,  the  bishops 
having  assembled  anew  in  council,  chose  as 
pontiff,  the  venerable  Leo,  a  man  of  approved 
merit  and  virtue.  The  emperor  assented  to 
this  election  which  was  made  in  the  midst  of 
the  acclamations  of  the  assembly. 

The  new  pope  was  a  Roman  by  birth  ;  he 
was  conducted  by  the  cardinals  to  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran  in  pomp,  according  to  custom, 
to  undergo  the  trial  of  the  pierced  chair  ;  he 
was  then  ordained  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
the  clergy,  nobles,  and  people,  taking  an  oath 
of  fidelity  to  him. 

His  election  being  completed,  order  was 
every  where  restored ;  and  Otho,  believing 
that  he  had  nothing  more  to  fear  from  the 
Romans,  who  had  received  him  with  such 
great  demonstrations  of  respect,  nor  from  John 
the  Twelfth,  who  had  lost  all  his  authority  in 
the  holy  city,  determined,  as  a  measure  of 
relief  to  the  citizens,  to  send  his  army  into 
winter  quarters  in  Ombria,  and  only  to  retain 
about  himself  a  few  troops  who  formed  his 


body  guard.  But  he  soon  discovered  how 
httle  he  could  rely  on  the  fidelity  of  the 
priests,;  for  those  very  pensons  who  had  im- 
plored his  aid  against  Berenger,  were  the  first 
to  conspire  against  his  person. 

John  the  Twelfth,  seconded  by  the  partizans 
whom  he  had  preserved  in  the  city,  excited 
discontent  among  the  people ;  spread  abroad 
writings,  accusing  the  council  which  had  de- 
posed him,  of  having  been  guilty  of  an  out- 
rageous heresy,  of  having  contemned  the 
ecclesiastical  law,  of  having  reversed  the  de- 
cisions of  the  fathers,  of  having  violated  the 
canons  contrary  to  all  justice,  and  finally,  of 
having  trampled  under  foot  all  laws,  human 
and  divine.  To  himself  alone,  he  said,  it 
appertained  to  convoke  lawfully  the  clergy, 
I  the  nobles,  and  the  people  of  Rome;  to  God 
alone  pertained  the  power  of  judging  a  pope, 
I  how  abominable  soever  he  might  be,  as  the 
'  synod  of  Sinuessa  held  during  the  reign  of 
Pope  Marcelinns,  and  that  of  the  Italian  and 
.  ultra-montain  prelates  held  in  the  church  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


297 


St.  Peter,  under  Charlemagne,  hast  decided. 
He  called  Leo  the  Eighth,  an  anti-pope ;  the 
emperor  a  perjured  tyrant,  and  he  devoted 
them  both  to  the  execration  of  men,  as  well 
as  the  bishops,  cardinals,  deacons,  priests  and 
lords  who  had  assisted  at  that  sacrilegious 
assembly.  He  gave  permission  to  the  faithful 
to  fall  upon  them  and  strike  them  with  the 
sword,  or  put  them  to  death  by  poison  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  authority  granted  by  St. 
Peter  to  him,  John  the  Twelfth,  the  true  pon- 
tiff, canonically  chosen,  ordained,  consecrated, 
and  enthroned  by  all  the  faithful.  He  warn- 
^  ed  the  Romans,  that  God  had  stricken  the 
execrable  Otho  with  blindness,  who  had 
placed' himself  in  their  hands  with  a  handful 
of  soldiers;  he  commanded  them  to  be- 
siege him  in  his  palace,  to  massacre  him 
without  pity. 

In  order  to  give  more  force  to  their  declama- 
tions, the  agents  of  the  pope  were  prodigal  of 
gold  to  the  ecclesiastics,  and  promised  that 
on  his  return,  John  would  divide  with  them 
the  gold  which  he  had  carried  off  in  his  re- 
treat. Secret  hatred,  disappointed  ambition, 
and  above  all,  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the 
clergy,  induced  a  large  number  of  priests  to 
unite  with  the  con.spiracy.  The  populace,  led 
on  by  fanaticism,  seconded  their  projects  of 
rebellion,  and  on  the  2d  of  January,  964,  on 
a  signal  given  by  the  bells  of  the  churches, 
the  clergy  assembled  in  arms,  and  marched 
.  in  order  of  battle  towards  the  bridge  of  the 
castle  to  surprise  the  emperor. 

Informed  of  the  revolt  by  the  noise  of  the 
seditious,  Otho  advanced  to  meet  them  at  the 
head  of  his  faithful  Germans,  and  seized  upon 
the  entrance  to  the  bridge,  where  he  arrested 
the  Romans.  After  a  slight  resistance,  the 
priests  became  alarmed,  and  fled  in  such  dis- 
order, that  a  panic  spread  among  the  rebels. 
In  their  endeavours  to  escape,  they  fell  one 
upon  another  and  remained  exposed  without 
defence  to  the  fury  of  the  soldiers. 


Fortunately  Leo  the  Eighth  left  the  palace 
at  the  very  moment  and  arrested  the  carnage; 
on  the  next  day,  the  generous  Otho  granted 
to  him  the  pardon  of  the  guilty,  on  condition 
that  the  Romans  would  give  him  an  hundred 
hostages,  chosen  from  among  the  most  influ- 
ential persons  of  the  city,  and  that  they  should 
take  a  new  oath  of  allegiance  to  him. 

At  the  same  time,  he  learned  the  news  that 
the  castle  Monte  Feltro,  the  last  fortress  of 
Berenger,  after  a  long  and  disastrous  siege, 
had  been  compelled  to  surrender  at  discre- 
tion. Berenger  was  sent  a  prisoner  into  Ger- 
many, where  he  died  eight  days  afterwards. 
His  fall  was  a  just  punishment  for  the  violence 
which  he  had  wished  to  exercise  towards  the 
princess  Adelaide,  widow  of  Lothaire,  count 
of  Paris  and  duke  of  France,  to  force  her  to 
marry  his  son.  Adelaide,  to  free  herself  from 
his  persecutions,  had  placed  herself  under 
the  protection  of  Otho  the  Great,  and  he, 
through  a  condemnable  ambition,  not  only 
consented  to  protect  her,  but  even  marrried 
her,  although  he  knew  perfectly  well  that  she 
had  been  defiled  by  the  embraces  of  Hugh, 
the  father  of  Lothaire,  before  her  marriage, 
and  even  since  her  widowhood.  After  all,  it 
is  but  of  little  consequence  to  a  king  whether 
he  espouses  a  courtezan  or  not,  provided  she 
has  provinces  for  her  dowry!  Otho  took  her 
for  his  wife,  because,  independently  of  the 
great  property  he  acquired  by  her,  his  mar- 
riage with  her  furnished  to  him  a  pretext  for 
laying  claim  to  several  French  and  Italian 
dutchies,  which  she  claimed  as  the  heritage 
of  her  first  husband. 

Otho,  regarding  Italy  as  entirely  pacified, 
prepared  to  set  out  to  join  his  army  in  Ombria, 
and  restored  the  hostages  to  the  Romans, 
hoping  by  this  act  of  clemency  to  attach  to 
himself  the  affections  of  the  clergy.  But  he 
had  scarcely  passed  the  walls  of  the  city, 
when  a  conspiracy  was  already  on  foot  against 
the  prince  and  pontiff. 


JOHN  THE  TWELFTH  REINSTATED  BY  A  REVOLT. 

[A.  D.  964.] 

The  Roman  jconien  organize  a  new  revolt  against  the  emperor — John  a  second  time  usurps  the 
Holy  See — Cabal  of  the  pontiff — His  cruelties — He  is  surprised  in  adultery,  and  slain  in  the 
amis  of  his  mistress — Reflections  on  his  debauchery. 


The  adulteresses  and  courtezans  of  Rome 
impatiently  desired  the  re-installation  of  John 
the  Twelfth  upon  the  Holy  See.  They  went 
about  among  the  taverns,  distributed  bounti- 
fully their  gold,  abandoned  themselves  to  dis- 
gusting orgies  with  vagabonds  and  bandits, 
in  order  to  augment  the  number  of  the  parti- 
zans  of  John  the  Twelfth.  They  were  soon 
enabled  to  form  an  army  out  of  the  vagabonds 
of  Italy,  and  this  infamous  pope  returned  in 
triumph  to  Rome  through  the  Dorean  gates, 
whilst  the  venerable  Leo  secretly  escaped  be- 

VoL.  I.  2  N 


yond  the  ramparts,  in  order  to  shun  the  ven- 
geance of  his  cruel  competitor. 

John  the  Twelfth  was  scarcely  installed  in 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  when  he  called  to- 
gether a  council,  and  the  same  prelates  who 
proscribed  him,  gave  utterance  to  new  accla- 
mations before  the  body  of  the  apostle  St. 
Peter. 

The  pope,  surrounded  by  bacchantes  with 

dishevelled    hair  and  his  hideous  satellites, 

'  rose  from  his  seat  and  pronounced  the  follow- 

1  ing  discourse  :  "  You  know  my  dear  brethreu, 


298 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


that  I  was  torn  from  the  Holy  See  by  the  vio- 
lence of  the  emperor ;  the  synod  also  which 
you  held  during  my  absence,  and  in  contempt 
of  ecclesiastical  customs  and  canons,  should 
be  at  once  anathematized  ;  you  cannot  re- 
cognize as  your  temporal  ruler,  him  who  pre- 
sided over  that  impious  assembly,  nor  as  your 
spiritual  guide,  him  whom  you  elected  pope." 

All  these  shameless  priests  replied,  "  We 
committed  a  prostitution  in  favour  of  the 
adulterer  and  usurper  Leo." 

'•  Do  you  wish  to  condemn  him?"  inquired 
the  pontiff.     "  We  do,"  replied  the  priests. 

John  added :  "  Can  prelates  ordained  by  us, 
ordain  in  our  pontifical  palace  ?  And  what 
do  you  think  of  the  bishop  Sicon,  whom  we 
consecrated  with  our  own  hands,  and  who  has 
ordained  Leo  one  of  the  officers  of  our  court, 
neophyte,  leader,  acolyte,  subdeacon,  dea- 
con, priest,  and  finally,  without  putting  him  to 
any  proof,  and  contrary  to  all  the  orders  of 
the  fathers,  has  dared  to  consecrate  him  to 
our  episcopal  See  ?  What  do  you  think 
of  the  conduct  of  Benedict,  bishop  of  Porto, 
and  of  Gregory,  of  Albano,  who  blessed  the 
usurper?"  . 

The  assembly  replied,  "  Let  them  be  sought 
out  and  brought  before  us ;  if  they  are  dis- 
covered before  the  expiration  of  our  third  | 
sitting,  they  shall  be  condemned  with  the 
anti-pope,  in  order  that  for  the  future,  none  of 
the  officers,  neophytes,  judges,  or  public  peni- 
tents shall  be  rash  enough  to  aspire  to  the 
highest  honour  in  the  church." 

The  pontiff  then  pronounced  the  sentence 
of  condemnation  against  Leo  the  Eighth.  He 
declared  him  deposed  from  all  sacerdotal 
honours,  and  from  every  clerical  function, 
with  a  threat  of  a  perpetual  anathema,  if  he 
should  endeavour  to  re-enter  the  sacred  city. 
He  then  caused  the  prelates,  who  had  been 
ordained  during  the  pontificate  of  Leo,  to  ap- 
pear before  him,  clothed  in  their  copes  and 
stoles  of  priests,  and  wrote  upon  a  parch- 
ment which  was  given  to  them,  "  My  father 
having  nothing  himself,  could  not  lawfully  give 
me  any  thing."  After  this  they  were  de- 
graded and  replaced  in  the  rank  which  they 
held  before  the  usurpation  of  Leo. 

On  the  next  day,  the  second  of  the  sitting, 
Benedict  of  Porto,  and  Gregory  of  Albano, 


who  had  been  seized  in  their  palaces,  were 
brought  before  the  fathers.  They  were  each 
of  them  compelled  to  read  these  words:  'T, 
whilst  my  father  was  living,  consecrated  in 
his  place,  Leo  an  officer  of  the  court,  a  neo- 
phyte and  a  perjured  man ;  I  did  it  in  opposi- 
tion to  all  the  ordinances  of  the  fathers  and 
the  customs  of  the  church." 

John  then  continued:  "As  for  those  who 
have  aided  the  neophyte  with  money  to  pur- 
chase the  grace  of  God,  we  condemn  them  to 
lose  their  rank  in  the  church,  if  they  are 
priests  or  deacons,  and  we  excommunicate 
them  if  they  are  monks  or  laymen.  We  or- 
dain, that  for  the  future,  the  inferior  shall 
never  take  away  the  rank  of  a  superior.  We 
prohibit  monks  from  leaving  the  places  in 
M'hich  they  have  renounced  the  world,  and 
we  pronounce  against  the  guilty  the  penalty 
'  of  excommunication." 

The  council  coincided  in  all  the  wishes  of 
the  pope.  On  the  next  day,  the  third  of  the 
session.  Sicon  was  condemned  for  contumacy, 
and  the  prelates  who  had  been  degraded  dur- 
ing the  preceding  sittings,  were  re-instated  in 
their  sees  in  consideration  of  their  submission. 
The  pontiff,  to  justify  the  irregularity  of  this 
action,  quoted  the  example  of  Stephen  the 
Third,  who  had  been  degraded  and  re-elected 
by  the  bishops  named  by  Constantine.  Thus 
terminated  this  saturnalia. 

The  holy  father  then  caused  them  to  cut 
off  the  right  hand  of  the  cardinal  deacon  John, 
and  the  tongue  and  nose  of  Azon,  and  two  fin- 
gers of  his  right  hand. 

John  the  Twelfth  did  not  long  survive  this 
new  triumph.  He  was  surprised  one  night  by 
a  Roman  lord,  in  the  arras  of  his  wife,  and  the 
husband,  in  his  rage,  struck  him  so  violently 
on  the  head,  that  he  fractured  his  skull.  The 
holy  father  was  then  carried  senseless  to  the 
patriarchal  palace,  and  died  eight  days  after- 
wards, on  the  20th  of  March,  964.  The  priests 
spread  a  rumor  that  John  had  been  fighting 
witli  the  devil. 

This  abominable  priest  soiled  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter  for  nine  entire  years,  and  deserved 
to  be  called  the  most  wicked  of  all  the  popes. 
Platinus,  however,  says,  that  there  have  been 
popes  even  more  wicked  than  John  the 
Twelfth. 


BENEDICT  THE  FIFTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY- 
SEVENTH  POPE. 


[A.  D.  964.] 

Election  of  Benedict  the  Fifth— Otho  returns  to  Rome—Sies;e  of  the  holy  city- 

— Exile  and  death  of  Benedict. 


-Famine  in  Rome 


Well  persuaded  that  having  drawn  the 
sword  against  a  prince,  we  must  cast  away 
the  soabbard,  the  Romans  persisted  m  their 


revolt,  and  in  contempt  of  the  oath  of  fidelity 
which  they  had  taken  to  the  emperor,  ele- 
vated to  the  Holy  See,  Benedict,  a  cardinal 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


299 


deacon  of  the  church.  An  immense  concourse 
of  people  assisted  at  this  election,  and  all 
swore  to  defend  the  pontiff  against  the  power 
of  Otho,  or  to  die  with  arms  in  their  hands. 

Benedict  the  Fifth,  a  Roman  by  birth,  and 
a  man  very  commendable  for  his  knowledge 
and  his  virtues,  was  enthroned  without  obsta- 
cle, the  emperor  being  occupied  for  the  mo- 
ment with  the  siege  of  Camerino. 

But,  as  soon  as  he  was  apprised  of  the  re- 
volt of  the  Romans,  Otho  quickly  raised  the 
blockade,  and  marched  with  banners  display- 
ed, and  without  stopping,  until  he  arrived  be- 
neath the  walls  of  the  holy  city,  or  rather  of 
that  frightful  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse.  His 
troops  invested  it  on  all  sides,  intercepted  the 
communications,  and  prevented  any  one  from 
leaving  the  place. 

Encouraged  by  Benedict,  the  people  coura- 


geously sustained  the  rigours  of  a  siege,  and 
combatted  valiantly  in  defence  of  their  fire- 
sides. It  is  related  that  the  pope  himself, 
clothed  in  his  pontifical  habit,  with  a  battle 
axe  in  his  hands,  mounted  the  ramparts,  and 
from  the  top  of  the  walls  lanched  anathemas 
upon  the  as.sailants,  and  beat  back  the  enemy 
who  mounted  to  the  as.sauit.  Otho,  on  his 
side,  pressed  the  siege  with  vigour,  and  famine 
soon  desolated  Rome.  The  people  then  dis- 
covered their  courage  diminishing  with  their 
strength.  The  city  surrendered  at  discretion 
and  opened  its  gates  to  Otho  and  Leo  the 
Eighth,  on  the  23d  of  June,  964. 

Benedict  was  exiled  to  Hamburg,  where  he 
died  of  chagrin,  and  thus  was  finished  all 
the  trouble  of  which  the  infamous  Jolm  the 
Twelfth  was  the  author. 


LEO  THE  EIGHTH  REINSTATED  BY  THE  EMPEROR  OTHO. 

[A.  D.  964.] 

The  council  of  Rome — Ceremonies  for  the  deposition  of  Benedict — Decree  in  favour  of  the  empe- 
ror — Reflections  on  the  servility  of  the  -pope  towards  the  emperor — Leo  permits  the  bishops  of 
Bavaria  to  marry — His  death. 


Become  master  of  Rome,  Otho  forced  the 
citizens  a  second  time  to  recognize  Leo  the 
Eighth  as  their  pope. 

The  pontiff  immediately  convoked  a  coun- 
cil, composed  of  the  Roman,  Italian,  and  Ger- 
man lords  and  bishops,  in  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran.  Benedict  the  Fifth,  clothed  in  his 
pontifical  habit,  was  brought  before  the  pre- 
lates who  had  consecrated  him  ;  and  the  arch- 
deacon, Cardinal  Benedict,  one  of  those  apos- 
tates who  had  three  times  broken  their  oaths, 
dared  to  insult  him  in  his  misfortune,  by  de- 
manding from  him  by  what  authority  and 
right  he  had  clothed  himself  in  the  pontifical 
habit  during  the  life  of  the  venerable  Leo. 
"Dost  thou  not  remember,  usurper,"  added 
the  unworthy  archdeacon,  '-'that  thou  united 
with  us  in  choosing  for  our  head,  the  venera- 
ble Leo,  after  having  rejected  the  abominable 
John  from  the  church?  Canst  thou  deny  the 
oath  taken  by  thee  to  the  emperor  here  pre- 
sent T  Reply :  hast  thou  sworn  that  never 
wouldst  thou  and  the  other  Romans  elect  and 
ordain  a  pontifi'  without  the  consent  of  the 
magnanimous  Otho,  or  of  the  king  his  son  ?" 

Benedict  grew  pale  whilst  listening  to  these 
questions,  put  in  a  threatening  tone ;  the  fear 
of  a  terrible  punishment  .seized  on  his  soul; 
he  fell  on  his  knees  in  the  midst  of  the  coun- 
cil, and  exclaimed  in  a  lamentable  tone : 
"Pardon  me,  my  brethren;  I  have  sinned; 
have  metcy  upon  me."  The  prince,  moved 
by  the  sight,  besought  the  assembly  to  make 
no  effort  against  his  life  ;  he  only  asked  that 
they  should  interrogate  him  upon  the  accusa- 
tions of  simony  and  rebellion. 

The   unfortunate  pope,  his  mind  troubled 


through  terror,  fell  upon  his  knees,  demanding 
pardon  from  the  emperor,  Leo  the  Eighth,  and 
the  bishops  ;  finally,  in  the  midst  of  his  sobs, 
he  acknowledged  himself  guilty;  he  laid 
down  his  pallium,  and  held  out  with  a  trem- 
bling hand,  the  rod  or  pastoral  baton  which 
they  had  placed  in  it.  Leo  took  it.  broke  it  in- 
to several  pieces,  and  showed  it  to  the  people  j 
he  then  made  the  accused  extend  himself  on 
the  earth,  and  took  off  his  cope  and  stole,  ex- 
claiming :  "  We  deprive  the  usurper  of  the 
Holy  See  of  the  pontificate  and  priesthood  : 
and  we  only  grant  him  his  life,  through  regard 
to  the  sovereign  who  has  replaced  us  on  our 
throne." 

After  this  judgment,  Benedict  was  driven 
from  the  council.  They  were  then  occupied 
in  making  a  decree,  by  which  the  holy  father, 
the  clergy,  and  the  people  confirmed  to  Otho 
and  his  descendants,  the  right  of  choosing  their 
succe.ssors  in  the  kingdom  of  Italy;  of  making 
pontiffs,  and  of  giving  an  investiture  to  pre- 
lates. They  finally  decided,  that  in  future 
no  election  of  pope,  bishop,  or  patrician  could 
be  made  without  the  consent  of  the  emperor. 

In  this  deed,  the  holy  father  excused  him- 
self by  the  example  of  Pope  Adrian,  Mho  had 
granted  to  Charlemagne,  with  the  dignity  of 
patrician,  the  ordination  of  the  Holy  See,  and 
the  right  of  nominating  to  vacant  prelateships. 
The  right  of  investiture  became,  in  after  ages, 
the  subject  of  long  contests  between  the  tem- 
poral sovereigns  and  the  spiritual  heads  of  the 
church,  who  reclaimed  the  freedom  of  elec- 
tions. It  is,  however,  certain,  that  even  be- 
fore the  time  of  Charlemagne,  the  consent  of 
the  Greek  emperors  was  necessary  for  the  or- 


300 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


dination  of  the  bishops  of  Rome,  as  all  histo-  , 
rians  attest.  After  the  reign  of  Otho  the  Great, 
the  elections  were  not  precisely  taken  away 
from  the  people  and  the  clergy,  but  were  sub- 
ject to  the  control  of  the  emperor.  When  a 
prelate  died,  his  cross  and  ring  were  carried 
to  the  prince,  who  bestowed  them  on  him 
who  should  take  possession  of  the  benefice ; 
the  new  titulary  could  not  be  consecrated  by 
his  metropolitan,  until  after  he  had  gone 
through  this  formality.  The  other  ecclesias- 
tical olhces  were  conferred  by  the  bishops  of 
the  diocese,  unless  the  prince  wished  to  pre- 
sent one  of  his  favourites ;  and  it  was  even 
sufficient  for  kings  to  recommend  one  of  their 
subjects,  that  by  virtue  of  this  recommenda- 
tion he  might  be  provided  for  on  the  first  va- 
cancy. Thus  did  the  emperors  of  the  West, 
and  particularly  the  three  Othos. 

Notwithstanding  numerous  incontestable  pre- 
cedents, the  cardinal  Baronius  has  undertaken 
to  prove  the  falsity  of  the  two  acts  of  Adrian 
the  First  and  Leo  the  Eighth;  he  declaimed 
with  much  bitterness  against  the  monk  Sige- 
bert,  whom  he  accused  of  fabricating  these 
pieces,   to  favour    the    emperor  Henry  the 


Fourth,  whose  party  he  sustained  against  Ser- 
gius  the  Seventh.  If  we  wished  to  refute  the 
writings  of  Baronius,  it  would  be  sufficient  to 
observe,  that  the  reasons  with  which  he  com- 
bats the  authenticity  of  the  act  of  Adrian,  are 
completely  erroneous.  He  maintains,  that  in 
one  of  his  capitularies,  Charlemagne  leaves  to 
the  clergy  and  the  people  the  free  election  of 
their  bishops ;  but  this  capitulary  attributed 
to  the  great  emperor,  is,  on  the  contrary,  that 
of  his  son  Louis  the  Good  Natured,  as  the 
learned  and  conscientious  Father  Simon  has 
proved  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Councils. 
The  act  of  Adrian,  cited  more  than  an  hundred 
and  forty  years  after  a  decree  made  by  Leo 
on  the  same  subject,  is  still  found  in  Gratian, 
although  the  writings  of  that  historian  were  cor- 
rected and  falsified  by  Gregory  the  Thirteenth. 
Leo  the  Eighth,  having  no  longer  a  com- 
petitor, governed  the  church  for  a  year  and 
four  months  longer ;  he  died  in  the  beginning 
of  April,  965.  During  his  reign,  the  court  of 
Rome  authorized  the  bishops  of  Bavaria  to 
marry ;  a  remarkable  fact,  which  has  since 
been  kept  in  the  back  ground  by  all  the  ado- 
rers of  the  Holy  See. 


JOHN  THE  THIRTEENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY- 
EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  965.] 

Enthronement  of  John  the  Thirteenth — Revolt  of  the  Romans— The  pontiff  is  driven  from  his 
See — He  assassinates  Count  Rofredus,  one  of  his  enemies — Otho  returns  into  Italy — Punishment 
of  the  rebels — A  miracle  in  Poland — History  of  the  conversion  of  the  Poles — Fanaticism  of 
King  Micczislas — Roman  priests  invade  Poland  and  subjugate  it  to  the  Holy  See — Conversion, 
of  the  Hungarians — Two  women  change  the  religion  of  Poland  and  Hungary — Council  of  Ra- 
venna— Metropolitan  church  of  Magdeburg — Bishopric  of  Prague — Pilgrimage  of  Mlada, 
the  virgin  of  Bohemia — The  pope  sends  legates  to  Constantinople — Contempt  of  the  Greeks 
for  John  the  Thirteenth — The  emperor  Nicephorus  creates  new  archbishops  in  Italy — Dunstan, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury — Christening  of  Bells — Death  of  John  the  Thirteenth. 


Otho  the  Great,  not  having  been  able  to 
gain  the  affections  of  the  Romans  by  mildness, 
caused  them  to  fear  his  always  victorious 
arms ;  thus,  after  the  death  of  Leo  the  Eighth, 
they  dated  not  proceed  to  a  new  election, 
without  the  permission  of  the  emperor.  They 
accordingly  deputed  to  him  Azon  and  Marin, 
bishop  of  Sutri,  to  intreat  him  to  name  a 
pontiff.  The  prince  received  the  envoys  with 
honour,  and  satisfied  with  the  deference  shown 
him,   permitted  the   Romans  to  raise  to  the 

Eontifical  See,  a  man  of  their  choice,  exacting, 
owever,  that  the  election  should  take  place  in 
the  presence  of  his  commissioners,  Oger  and 
Linzon,  bishops  of  Spires  and  Almona.  The 
bishop  of  Narni  was  elevated  with  one  ac- 
cord to  the  Holy  See,  and  was  consecrated 
under  the  name  of  John  the  Thirteenth ;  he 
was  a  Roman,  and  the  son  of  a  bishop,  also 
named  John. 

From  the  very  commencement  of  his  reign, 
the  nev?  pope  treated  the  very  first  citizens 


with  so  much  haughtiness,  that  he  drew  upon 
himself  their  enmity,  and  was  driven  from 
Rome. 

This  fact  is  related  in  different  ways  by 
authors;  some  affirm  that  Rofredus,  count  of 
Campania,  and  the  prefect  Peter,  seconded 
by  the  chiefs  of  the  corporations,  arrested  the 
pontiff,  confined  him  in  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
gelo,  and  from  thence  sent  him  to  Capua, 
where  he  passed  eleven  months  in  exile;  but 
Maimbourg,  after  having  eulogized 'the  irre- 
proachable conduct  and  purity  of  morals  of 
John  the  Thirteenth,  assures  us  that  the  go- 
vernor of  Rome,  the  principal  magistrates,  and 
the  tribunes  of  the  people,  or  the  captains  of 
quarters,  wished  to  draw  the  pope  into  a  re- 
volt against  the  sovereign  authoritj^,  and  that 
on  his  refusal  to  join  them,  he  was  driven 
from  the  city,  and  constrained  to  take  refuge 
with  count  "Pandulph,  his  friend,  who  dwelt 
at  Capua. 

Soon  after,  the  holy  father  employed  some 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


301 


bandits  of  Calabria,  who  assassinated  Count 
Rofredus,  his  avowed  enemy,  and  whom  the 
Romans  had  made  their  leader.  Tlie  death 
of  the  consul,  and  the  defeat  of  Adalbert, 
whose  troops  were  cut  in  pieces  on  the  bani<s 
of  the  Po,  by  Burchard,  a  lieutenant  of  Otho 
the  Great,  gave  the  tinishing  blow  to  the  re- 
bellion. 

The  Romans  having  lost  their  leaders,  and 
being  unable  any  longer  to  count  upon  Adal- 
bert or  the  Lombards,  were  seized  with 
terror  at  the  news  of  the  approach  of  the 
emperor,  who  passed  the  Alps  with  the  in- 
tention of  punishing  them  severely  for  their 
revolt ;  they  hastened  to  recall  John  the  Thir- 
teenth, and  to  re-instate  him  on  the  pontifical 
throne,  hoping  that  he  would  place  himself 
between  them  and  the  wrath  of  the  sovereign  ; 
but  they  were  deceived  in  their  calculation. 

Otho,  on  his  entrance  into  Italy,  seized  the 
bishop  of  Placenza,  and  the  Lombard  lords, 
who  had  declared  themselves  for  Adalbert, 
and  sent  them  prisoners  into  Germany ;  he 
then  advanced  towards  the  holy  city,  where 
they  were  celebrating  the  festival  of  Christ- 
nia.s.  All  the  citizens  were  in  consternation 
and  affright,  for  the  emperor,  justly  irritated 
at  their  perfidy,  had  declared  that  he  would 
refuse  them  a  new  pardon.  In  fact,  after  the 
festival  was  concluded,  he  hung  a  dozen  of 
the  principal  citizens,  and  abandoned  the  pre- 
fect Peter  to  the  pontiff. 

John,  instead  of  interceding  for  his  people, 
yielded  to  all  his  rage  against  the  unfortunate 
victim  who  had  been  given  up  to  him.  He 
cut  off  the  nose  and  lips  of  the  unfortunate 
prefect,  and  caused  him  to  be  fastened  by  his 
Kair  to  the  horse  of  the  equestrian  statue  of 
Constantine.  By  the  orders  of  the  pontiff, 
the  e.xecutioners  defiled  his  face  with  human 
excrements;  he  was  then  stripped  of  his  gar- 
ments and  placed  backwards  on  an  ass,  hav- 
ing small  bells  attached  to  its  head  and  siiles. 
In  this  state,  he  was  led  on  and  whipped  by 
the  public  executioners  through  all  the  streets 
of  the  city,  and  cast,  all  bloody  as  he  was, 
into  an  horrible  dungeon.  John  the  Thir- 
teenth, then  caused  the  dead  body  of  the 
count  Rofredus,  whom  he  had  caused  to  be 
assassinated,  to  be  disinterred,  as  well  as  that 
of  Stephen,  the  keeper  of  the  robes.  They 
were  trampled  under  foot  in  the  public  place, 
drawn  through  the  mire,  and  finally  cast  into 
the  common  sewer. 

The  cruelties  of  the  head  of  the  church 
alarmeil  Otho,  who  put  an  end  to  these  bloody 
e.xecutions.  The  prince  only  exacted  that  the 
Romans  should  submit  to  laws  capable  of  con- 
straining them  to  obetlience.  For  this  pur- 
pose, he  made  new  decrees  to  replace  the 
.  capitularies  of  Charloma'j;iie,  and  the  ordinan- 
ces of  the  emperor  of  the  Franks  gave  way  to 
a  severe  and  martial  legislation. 

Whilst  Italy  was  groaning  beneath  the  des- 
potism of  the  popes,  unfortunate  Poland  was 
opening  the  gates  of  its  cities  to  the  priests 
who  had  gained  the  confidence  of  Mieczislas, 
the  duke  of  those  countries.  It  is  said  that 
this  prince  was  born  blind,  but  that  when  he 


was  seven  years  old,  and  his  head  was  shaved, 
in  accordance  with  the  customs  of  that  people, 
he  suddenly  obtained  his  sight.  His  mother, 
transported  with  joy  at  so  extraordinary  an 
event,  immediately  conducted  the  child  into 
the  saloon  in  which  the  lords  of  the  province 
were  assembled.  These,  astonished  by  such 
a  prodigy,  sent  to  seek  out  the  most  renowned 
soothsayers,  who  declared  that  during  the 
reign  of  Micezislas,  Poland  would  be  illumi- 
nated by  a  great  light. 

The  reigning  duke  bestowed  great  care  on 
the  education  of  his  son,  who  succeeded  him 
in  the  year  964.  Notwithstanding  the  pre- 
dictions of  the  soothsayers,  the  commence- 
ment of  this  reign  did  not  answer  the  expecta- 
tions which  had  been  conceived  of  it.  The 
new  duke  was  defeated  in  all  his  wars  with 
his  neighbours  and,  moreover,  he  neglected 
the  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  passed 
all  his  days  in  feastings,  and  his  nights  in  the 
arms  of  his  concubines.  As  the  prince,  weak- 
ened by  excess,  was  threatened  with  impo- 
tency,  he  published  through  all  his  states,  that 
those  who  should  point  out  to  him  the  means 
of  having  an  heir,  should  be  generously  re- 
warded. Immediately  some  priests,  who  were 
already  scattered  through  Poland,  hastened  to 
his  court,  presented  themselves  to  him  as  ma- 
gicians, and  assured  him,  that  he  would  cer- 
tainly have  a  son,  if  he  would  abjure  pagan- 
ism, dismiss  the  courtezans  who  crowded  his 
palace,  and  espouse  a  Christian  wife.  The 
German  princes,  whose  states  adjoined  his, 
sustained  these  monks  with  all  their  credit, 
and  soon  after,  Mieczislas,  superstitious,  as 
are  all  ignorant  people,  sent  an  embassy  to 
Boleslas,  the  king  or  duke  of  Bohemia,  to 
ask  from  him  in  marriage,  his  daughter  Dam- 
bra  wca. 

This  monarch  replied  to  the  embassadors, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  accept  the 
proposals  of  their  master,  because  Christians 
could  not  ally  themselves  with  idolaters;  but 
that  if  he  would  consent  to  be  baptized,  and 
to  introduce  the  religion  of  Christ  into  hi.s 
kingdom,  the  princess  should  be  cheerfully 
given  to  him.  JNIieczislas  yielded  to  the 
wishes  of  Boleslas,  and  even  before  his  mar- 
riage, permitted  the  Roman  missionaries  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  his  people  ;  he  however 
deferred  his  conversion  until  after  his  union 
with  the  beautiful  Dambrawca,  who  had  the 
glory  of  converting  him  to  Christianity. 

The  duke  soon  became  an  ardent  propaga- 
tor of  the  new  faith ;  he  burned  all  the  shrines 
of  the  false  gods,  confiscated  the  property  of 
the  unfortunates  who  remained  attached  to 
their  ancient  belief,  and  even  burned  some  of 
them.  The  pope,  who  had  brought  about  by 
his  intrigues,  this  happy  conversion,  hastened 
to  send  legates  into  Poland,  to  subjugate  the 
new  people  to  his  See.  He  named  two  arch- 
bishops, one  at  Gnesna,  the  other  at  Cracow ; 
he  established  seven  bishoprics,  several  col- 
legiate churches  and  abbeys,  and  filled  the 
country  with  monks  and  priests.  AH  these 
begging  slaves  were  commissioned  to  levy 
upon  these  countries  an  extraordinary  tenth 


302 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


{)art  for  the  Holy  See.  The  fanatical  Mieczis- 
as  adhered  to  the  orders  of  the  pontiff,  and 
even  assigned  large  tracts  of  land  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  new  churches.  Dambrawca  gave 
the  necessary  vases  and  ornaments  for  divine 
service.  The  fanaticism  of  the  prince,  on  one 
side,  and  the  avarice  of  the  clergy  on  the  other, 
soon  despoiled  the  nobility  and  people  in 
favour  of  the  court  of  Rome. 

At  the  same  time,  Gaisa,  or  Geisa,  prince 
of  Hungary,  having  heard  of  the  beauty  of 
Adelaide,  the  sister  of  Mieczislas,  became 
enamoured  of  her,  from  the  portrait  he  had 
seen  of  her,  and  sent  to  ask  her  in  marriage. 
The  reque.st  of  the  monai'ch  was  agreed  to, 
and  soon  the  young  wife,  as  ardent  for  religion 
as  the  duke,  her  brother,  persecuted  her  hus- 
band, to  induce  him  to  abandon  paganism. 
At  first,  the  prince  resisted  her  requests,  but 
finally,  worn  out  by  her  entreaties,  or  rather 
yielding  to  her  threats,  he  consented  to  be 
baptized,  and  the  Gospel  enlightened  Hunga- 
ry. Thus  the  beauty  of  two  women,  effected 
in  a  few  days,  what  popes  and  emperors  for 
eight  centuries  had  been  unable  to  achieve. 

After  having  established  his  authority  in 
Rome  on  a  durable  foundation,  the  emperor 
Otho,  accompanied  by  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
set  out  to  visit  the  principal  cities  of  Tuscany 
and  Romagna,  as  far  as  Ravenna.  When  they 
arrived  in  this  last  city,  they  convoked  a 
council,  at  which  were  assembled  several 
bishops  of  Italy,  Germany,  and  Gaul.  The 
convention  met  in  the  church  of  St.  Severus. 

The  fathers  confirmed  the  judgment  ren- 
dered against  Herold,  the  archbishop  of  Salz- 
burg, who  had  been  deposed  by  the  preceding 
popes,  and  condemned  to  have  his  eyes  put 
out.  This  unworthy  priest  had  despoiled  the 
churches  to  enrich  his  mistresses.  He  had 
given  the  treasures  of  the  poor  to  pagans  to 
buy  their  protection ;  he  had  conspired  with 
idolaters  against  the  emperor,  and  had  revolted 
against  his  rule ;  and  finally,  he  had  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  brigands, 
who  laid  cities  under  contribution,  and  mas- 
sacred travellers. 

An  holy  bishop,  named  Frederick,  had  been 
ele,vated  in  his  place  by  the  lords  of  Bavaria, 
and  the  clergy  of  the  province  ;  but  as  He- 
rold, though  blind  and  deposed,  continued  to 
say  mass,  and  carry  the  pallium,  John  the 
Thirteenth  was  obliged,  in  order  to  give  va- 
lidity to  the  election  of  the  new  prelate,  to 
excommunicate  a  second  time  all  the  adher- 
ents of  the  condemned.  They  then  occupied 
themselves  with  erecting  Magdeburg  into  a 
metropolitan  See,  or  rather  with  confirming 
that  which  had  been  done  in  962.  They  also 
ruled  several  points  which  interested  the  Ro- 
man church,  and  finally,  Otho  confirmed  the 
donation  which  had  already  been  made  to 
the  Holy  See  of  the  city  and  exarchate  of 
Ravenna. 

The  emperor,  desirous  of  assuring  the  con- 
version of  the  Slavi,  which  was  his  own  work, 
and  at  the  same  time  perform  an  act  of 
clemency,  brought  out  of  the  monastery  of 
Weissemburg  a  dependancy  of  the  diocese  of 


Spires,  the  prince  Adalbert,  his  old  enemy, 
whom  he  had  confined  there,  and  nominated 
him  to  the  See  of  Magdeburg. 

Adalbert  then  came  to  Rome  to  seek  the 
pallium.  The  holy  father  not  only  granted  it 
to  him,  authorizing  him  to  have  the  govern- 
ment of  the  abbey  of  Weissemburg,  but  con- 
ferred on  him  several  important  privileges. 
He  made  him  primate  of  Germany,  and  ele- 
vated him  in  dignity  to  the  same  rank  as 
the  metropolitans  of  Cologne,  Mayence  and 
Treves.  He  conferred  on  him  the  right  of 
sitting  among  the  cardinal  bishops  of  Rome, 
and  the  power  of  ordaining  twelve  priests, 
seven  deacons,  and  twenty-four  cardinals,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  Latin  church. 
Finally,  he  made  him  metropolitan  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  Slavi,  beyond  the  rivers  Elbe 
and  Sale,  and  permitted  him  to  found  bishop- 
rics in  the  cities  of  Cisi,  Misni,  Mersburg, 
Brandenburg,  Havelburg,  and  Posnam,  de- 
claring all  those  bishops  to  be  suffragans  of 
Adalbert. 

John  the  Thirteenth  placed  all  these  de- 
crees, in  form,  in  a  synod.  He  then  sent  the 
new  prelate  to  take  possession  of  his  See. — 
Gu}-,  bishop  of  St.  Rufinus,  and  the  libra- 
rian of  the  Roman  church,  and  the  cardmal 
Benedict,  were  designated  to  enthrone  him 
in  his  See.  The  people,  clergy,  and  princi- 
pal citizens  of  Magdeburg,  received  their 
metropolitan  with  submission,  and  confirmed 
his  election. 

About  the  same  time,  Boleslas,  the  duke 
of  Bohemia,  died,  leaving  as  the  successor  to 
his  kingdom,  a  young  son,  whose  mildness 
and  virtue  caused  him  to  be  surnamed  the 
Good,  the  better  to  distinguish  him  from  the 
vices  and  ferocity  of  his  father,  who  had  been 
called  Boleslas  the  Cruel.  The  new  duke  of 
Bohemia  was  a  sincere  Christian.  He  pro- 
tected strangens,  and  solaced  the  unfortunate 
as  much  as  the  odious  priests  who  had  invad- 
ed his  kingdom  permitted  him. 

During  his  reign,  his  sister  Mlada,  surnamed 
the  Virgin  of  Bohemia,  made  a  pilgrimage  to 
Rome.  The  sovereign  pontiff,  rendering  hom- 
age to  the  purity  and  great  knowledge  of  this 
princess,  blessed  her,  consecrated  her  an  ab- 
bess, and  changed  her  name  to  that  of  Mary. 
He  gave  to  her  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  the 
pastoral  baton,  and  letters  for  the  duke  of  Bo- 
hemia. "Your  sister,"  he  wrote  to  Boleslas, 
"  has  asked  our  consent  for  the  erection  of  a 
bishopric  in  your  principality.  We  return 
thanks  to  God,  who  thus  permits  his  church 
to  extend  itself  among  all  nations.  We  con- 
sent that  the  church  of  the  Martyrs,  St.  Vitus 
and  Venesclas,  should  be  erected  into  an 
episcopal  See,  and  we  permit  the  church  of 
St.  George  to  become  a  convent  for  nuns, 
submissive  to  the  rules  of  St.  Benedict,  and 
intmsted  to  the  government  of  our  dear 
daughter  Mary. 

"  I  however,  blame  you  for  having  followed 
until  this  time',  the  ritual  of  the  Bulgarians,  or 
Russians,  and  for  having  employed  the  idiom 
of  the  Slavi  in  your  prayers.  In  future  I  de- 
sire you  to  take  for  a  bishop  one  who  is  ac- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


303 


quainted  with  Latin  literature,  and  who  is  ca- 
pable of  guiding  our  faithful  of  the  church  of 
Bohemia." 

In  order  to  conform  with  this  bull,  the  duke 
hastened  to  choose  as  bishop  of  Prague,  a 
Saxon  monk  named  Ditmar,  who  was  conse- 
crated by  the  metropolitan  of  Mayence,  and 
enthroned  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  ecclesiastics. 

In  the  year  968,  the  young  Otho,  who  had 
been  already  associated  in  the  empire,  was 
crowned  emperor  of  Italy  by  John  the  Thir- 
teenth ;  and  at  the  request  of  Otho  the  Great, 
the  pontiff  sent  nuncios  to  Constantinople,  to 
ask  for  him  in  marriage,  the  daughter  of  Nice- 
phorus  Phocas.  But,  as  the  pope  in  his  let- 
ters, gave  to  Otho  the  title  of  emperor  of  the 
Romans,  and  called  Nicephorus  but  emperor 
of  the  Greeks,  the  latter  rejected  the  request, 
and  replied  to  the  holy  father :  '•  How  great 
is  your  insolence,  barbarian  priest,  who  ilares 
thus  to  treat  the  sovereign  of  the  world  ]  How 
is  it  that  the  sea  has  not  swallowed  up  the 
vessel,  and  the  embassadors  who  carry  such 
a  blasphemy  1  Our  fear  now  is,  that  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  find  a  punishment  sufficiently 
terrible  to  punish  your  insolent  nuncios,  those 
boors,  those  miserable  slaves,  covered  with 
sacerdotal  rags ;  and  if  we  consent  not  to 
put  them  to  death,  it  is  because  we  shoukl 
regard  ourselves  as  defiled,  if  our  hands  shed 
such  abject  blood." 

The  envoys  of  the  Western  church  were 
cast  into  prison,  until  the  emperor  should 
make  known  his  decisions.  But  Luitprand, 
who  had  been  deputed  by  his  sovereign  on 
the  same  business,  finally  obtained  an  audi- 
ence of  the  patrician  Christopher,  and  asked 
for  mercy  to  the  legates. 

This  eunuch  said  to  him  :  '•'  You  should  not 
think  ill  of  it,  that  we  retain  those  bad  priests 
in  prison,  that  we  may  punish  the  insolence 
of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  (if  indeed  we  may 
thus  qualify  a  man  who  has  declared  himself 
the  protector  of  the  son  of  Alberic,  the  apos- 
tate, adulterer,  sacrilegious  and  incestuous,) 
him  whom  you  call  John  the  Thirteenth,  and 
who  has  dared  to  address  to  our  master,  let- 
ters in  which  he  calls  him  the  emperor  of  the 
Greeks !  The  insolence  of  your  pope  equals 
his  ignorance;  he  does  not  know  then  that 
when  the  magnanimous  Constantine  trans- 
ferred the  imperial  throne  to  Byzantium,  he 
carried  with  him  all  the  senate  and  nobility, 
and  left  at  Rome  only  slaves,  fishermen,  cooks, 
and  the  obscure  populace." 

Luitprand  replied:  "The  pontiff,  John  the 
Thirtef'Mth,  instead  of  wishing  to  offend  Nice- 
phorus Phocas,  thought  that  he  was  bestow- 
ing on  h'm  an  agreeable  title  ;  for  the  Greek 
emperors  having  renounced  the  manners, 
garb,  and  language  of  the  Latins,  he  sup- 
posed that  the  name  of  emperor  of  the  Ro- 
mans would  displease  him  ;  but  in  future,  he 
will  change  the  address  of  his  letters." 

This  skilful  reply  tempered  the  indignation 
of  the  Greeks.  Nicephorus  and  his  brother, 
themselves  replied  to  the  emperor  Otho.  The 
officer  having  the  superintendence  of  the  pa- 


lace, was  instructed  to  write  to  the  pope, 
threatening  him  with  severe  punishment,  if 
he  did  not  correct  himself.  They  were  un- 
willing even  that  the  poor  nuncios  of  the 
Holy  See  should  be  the  bearers  of  this  reply, 
and  it  was  intrusted  to  Luitprand,  who  in- 
forms us  of  all  these  particulars,  in  the  narra- 
tive which  he  has  left  of  his  embassy  to 
Constantinople. 

The  emperor  of  the  East  then  ordered  the 
patriarch  to  erect  Otranto  into  a  primacy,  and 
no  longer  to  permit  them  to  celebrate  divine 
service  in  the  Roman  language  in  Apulia  and 
Calabria,  because,  so  he  .said  in  his  decree,  all 
the  Latin  bishops  are  simoniacs,  adulterers, 
and  apostates.  Upon  the  express  request  of 
the  prince,  Polyeuctus  sent  to  the  bishop  of 
Otranto,  letters,  in  which  he  declared  him 
a  metropolitan,  with  power  to  consecrate 
bishops  to  the  Sees  of  Turcico,  Gravina,  Tri- 
cario  and  Acirentola.  On  his  part,  John  the 
Thirteenth  made  two  archbishoprics  in  the 
southern  part  of  Ital)',  which,  until  now,  had 
never  hail  any  other  metropolitan  See  than 
the  city  of  Rome. 

Capua  became  a  superior  See.  which  was 
confided  to  John,  the  brother  of  Prince  Pan- 
dulph,  and  Beneventum,  in  consideration  that 
the  body  of  St.  Bartholomew  reposed  there, 
or  rather  on  the  recommendation  of  Pandulph, 
who  was  also  the  lord  of  that  city,  became  an 
archiepiscopal  See,  which  was  submitted  to 
the  authority  of  Pandulph  himself.  John 
sent  the  pallium  to  him,  and  granted  to  him 
the  right  of  choosing  ten  sutfragans,  on 
the  express  condition  that  his  successors 
should  come  to  be  consecrated  by  the  pope. 
A  council  held  at  Rome  in  the  year  969, 
passed  these  decrees,  and  the  bull  which  pro- 
mulgated the  election  was  subscribed  by 
the  pontiff,  the  emperor,  and  twenty-three 
bishops. 

The  chroniclers  relate  a  singular  miracle 
performed  on  one  of  the  lords  in  the  train  of 
Prince  Otho,  who  was  possessed  of  a  devil. 
This  unfortunate  man,  in  his  paroxysms  of 
fury,  tore  his  face  and  bit  his  arms  and  hands 
with  his  teeth ;  the  emperor,  deeply  grieved 
by  the  state  of  his  favourite,  ordered  that  the 
demoniac  .should  be  presented  to  the  pontiff, 
in  order  that  he  might  place  around  his  neck 
the  famous  chain  of  St.  Peter.  The  pope 
placed  several  chains  in  succession  upon  the 
possessed,  which  were  made  like  that  of  St. 
Peter's,  which  produced  no  effect ;  but  as  soon 
as  the  true  one  touched  him,  a  thick  smoke 
issued  from  the  body  of  the  demoniac,  fright- 
ful cries  were  heard  in  the  air.  and  the  demon 
was  driven  from  his  residence.  Thierry, 
bishop  of  IMetz.  who  was  one  of  the  witnesses 
of  the  miracle,  was  so  enthusiastically  im- 
pressed with  the  power  of  the  apostolic  chain, 
that  he  cast  himself  upon  the  young  lord, 
seized  the  relic,  and  swore  he  would  never 
surrender  it  unless  they  cut  off  his  arm.  The 
holy  father,  who  had  directed  all  this  jugglery, 
consented  to  leave  with  the  prelate  the  rings 
of  it,  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  in  order  to 
put  himself  beyond  the  reach  of  unfavourable 


304 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


interpretations;  if  the  same  miracle  were 
not  produced  with  the  rings  as  with  the  entire 
chain. 

At  this  period;  the  venerable  Dunstan,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury;  had  censured  one  of  the 
most  powerful  lords  of  England,  and  had  ex- 
communicated him  on  account  of  his  marriage 
with  a  relative.  The  king  himself  could  not 
moderate  the  severity  of  the  prelate,  who  de- 
clared the  favourite  of  the  king  excluded 
from  the  communion  of  the  faithful;  until  he 
should  renounce  his  criminal  union.  They 
then  had  recourse  to  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
who  sold  the  apostolic  letters;  which  enjoined 
on  the  English  prelate  to  receive  the  ear]  into 
the  church,  and  to  admit  him  to  the  holy  table ; 
but  the  obstinate  Dunstan  replied;  "When  I 
see  the  sinner  repent  I  will  obey  the  pope ; 
until  then,  no  man,  no  matter  what  his  dig- 
nity, shall  prevent  me  from  keeping  the  law 
of  God."  It  would  appear  that  the  supreme 
power  of  binding  and  loosing,  or  the  pontifical 
infallibility,  was  not  admitted  by  the  metro- 
politan of  Canterbury,  and  the  earl  was 
obliged  to  separate  from  his  wife,  in  order  to 
obtain  re-admission  to  the  church. 

John  the  Thirteenth  introduced  the  singu- 


lar custom  of  blessing  or  baptizing  bells.  1*. 
is  pretended  that  this  usage  was  anterior  to 
his  reign,  but  we  find  no  trace  of  it  before 
him.  It  is  then  certain  that  the  church  owes 
to  him  this  abuse  of  the  most  august  of  its 
sacraments,  as  the  inscription  on  the  great 
bell  of  St.  John  in  the  Lateran,  to  which  he 
gave  his  name,  irrefutably  testifies. 

According  to  some  legends,  this  bell,  after 
having  been  baptized,  acquired  the  spiritual 
virtue  of  putting  demons  to  flight  when  they 
seized  upon  the  bodies  of  the  faithful.  A 
monk  of  Monte  Cassino  affirms,  that  he  was 
a  witness  of  one  of  these  singular  exorcisms. 
"  It  was  at  the  time  of  afternoon  prayers,"  he 
says,  in  his  legend,  "  a  young  girl  was  con- 
ducted by  her  mother  to  the  church,  and  as 
they  commenced  mounting  the  steps  of  the 
porch,  the  bell  sounded  to  call  the  Romans  to 
prayer.  I  saw  this  poor  girl  then  fall  into  hor- 
rid convulsions,  and  I  perceived  the  spirit  of 
darkness  escape  from  the  extremity  of  her 
garments,  under  the  form  of  a  newly  born 
infant,  which  suddenly  disappeared." 

John  the  Thirteenth,  died  on  the  6th  of 
September,  in  the  year  972,  after  having  oc- 
cupied the  pontifical  chair  almost  seven  years. 


BENEDICT  THE   SIXTH,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED   AND  THIRTY- 
NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  973.] 

Death  of  the  emperor  Otho — Troubles  at  Rome — Crescentius  endeavours  to  re-establish  the  former 
freedom — Benedict  opposes  the  designs  of  the  conspirators — -Tragical  death  of  the  pope. 


Historians  fix  the  date  of  the  death  of  the 
emperor  Otho,  on  the  7th  of  May,  973.  He 
had  assisted  at  matins  and  mass  on  the  same 
da)'^,  but  at  vespers,  after  the  Magnificat,  he 
fell,  struck  with  a  fit  of  apoplexy.  The  lords, 
who  surrounded  him,  immediately  hastened 
to  his  assistance ;  it  was,  however,  too  late ; 
the  erriperor  had  already  entered  eternity. 

Otho  reigned  twenty-six  years  as  king  of 
Germany,  and  eleven  years  as  emperor  of  Italy. 
Endowed  with  incredible  activity,  and  great 
military  talents,  he  joined  to  these  qualities  a 
consummate  prudence  and  wisdom,  which 
recalled  the  recollection  of  the  illustrious 
Charlemagne.  Like  him;  he  held  in  his  hands 
the  destinies  of  Italy,  and  Rome  had  been 
conquered  by  his  always  victorious  armies. 
Scarcely  had  he  descended  to  the  tomb,  when 
ambition  of  all  kinds  exhibited  itself  in  the 
holy  city  j  but  the  party  of  Centius  or  Cre- 
scentius, soon  ruled  all  the  others,  because  he 
rallied  round  his  flag  the  friends  to  the  liberty 
of  the  people. 

This  courageous  man  had  conceived  the 
generous  thought  of  re-establishing  the  old 
Roman  republic.  He  summoned  the  citizens 
to  arms  and  dehberated  with  them  over  the 
measures  necessary  to  be  taken  to  execute 


their  noble  project.  All  recognized  the  ne- 
cessity of  overthrowing  the  new  pontiff,  who 
was  the  creature  of  the  emperor,  and  that  the 
people  might  regard  themselves  as  freed  from 
the  oath  of  fidelity  which  they  had  taken, 
they  decided  to  put  him  to  death.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  Crescentius,  at  the  head  of  a 
troop  of  soldiers,  forced  the  pontifical  palace, 
seized  the  person  of  the  pope,  led  him  into 
the  court-yard  of  the  palace  and  strangled 
him. 

Benedict  the  Sixth  was  a  Roman  by  birth, 
and  the  son  of  Hildebrand.  His  morals  were 
infamous,  and  several  writers  assure  us,  that 
his  tragical  death,  which  followed  a  few  days 
after  his  pompons  elevation,  M-as  a  just  pun- 
ishment for  all  the  crimes  of  his  life. 

They  highly  applaud  the  republican  Cre- 
scentius for  having  delivered  Rome  from  a 
bad  pope.  Besides,  this  bloody  execution 
could  not  have  been  approved  of  as  lawful, 
unless  it  could  be  justified  by  the  necessity 
in  which  the  Roman  people  found  them- 
selves of  freeing  themselves  from  a  pontiff  who 
wished  to  exercise  an  odious  tyranny  over  the 
holy  city.  We  must  also  take  into  account 
the  barbarity  of  that  period,  in  which  violent 
means  were  considered  the  most  natural  if 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


305 


they  would  insure  the  success  of  an  enterprise.  I  patriotic  sentiments  which  actuated  him,  and 
Notwithstaadiuf?  this  act  of  severe  justice,  for  the  divine  plan  which  he  had  formed  of 
Crescenlius  is  none  the  less  entitled  to  the  freeing  Rome  from  the  oppression  of  kings 
admiration  and  gratitude  of  posterity  for  the  1  and  popes. 


BONIFACE  THE  SEVENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FORTIETH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  973.] 

One  of  the  assassins  of  Benedict  the  Sixth  named  pope — Ambitious  and  cruel  character  of  the 
neiv  pontiff— He  is  driven  from  Rome — He  sells  the  treasures  of  the  church — He  takes  refuge 
at  Constantinople — He  returns  to  Italy. 


On  the  very  spot  on  which  Benedict  was 
stranirled,  in  the  midst  of  the  cries  of  death 
and  the  noise  of  arms,  a  priest,  the  execrable 
Francon,  dared  to  proclaim  himself  sovereign 
pontiff  of  Rome.  The  new  pope  first  trampled 
under  foot  the  dead  body  of  his  predecessor, 
he  then  hastened  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran 
and  placed  the  tiara  on  his  criminal  forehead  ; 
he  was  enthroned  under  the  name  of  Boniface 
the  Seventh. 

Francon  was  of  the  basest  origin,  being  the 
son  of  a  courtezan  and  a  deacon  named  Fer- 
rutius.  Ambitious,  vindictive,  and  cruel,  his 
life  had  been  one  long  succession  of  infamies. 
It  was  he  who  advised  the  conspirators  to  as- 
sassinate Benedict  the  Sixth,  and  he  dared  to 
cause  himself  to  be  consecrated  in  his  place. 
He  did  not,  however,  long  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
his  crimes.  The  leaders  of  another  party, 
the  counts  of  Tuscanella,  who  were  also  am- 
bitious of  possessing  the  sovereign  power  in 
Rome,  as  the  marqui.'^ses  of  Tuscany,  their  re- 
latives, had  before  done,  declared  a  furious 
war  against  him,  and  pursued  him  with  so 
much  bitterness,  that  he  was  obliged  to  flee 


from  Rome  to  escape  the  poignards  of  assas- 
sins. Bat  before  quitting  the  holy  city,  Boni- 
face seized  the  treasures  of  the  church  of  St. 
Peter;  then  flying  like  a  robber,  he  soon 
reached  the  sea  .side,  and  embarked  for  Con- 
stantinople. 

In  the  East,  his  gold  and  his  promises 
gained  to  his  views  the  courtiers  of  Zimisces, 
who  by  their  counsels  determined  this  prince 
to  take  up  arms  against  Otho  the  Second. 
The  Greeks  made  a  descent  on  Apulia  and 
Calabria,  which  they  conquereil,  while  the 
emperor  was  engaged  in  an  unfortunate  war 
against  King  Lolhaire. 

Boniface,  in  order  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
his  table,  and  support  his  mistresses,  publicly 
sold  in  the  streets  of  Constantinople,  the 
sacred  ornaments,  the  holy  pyxes,  the  per- 
fume boxes,  the  chandeliers,  and  even  the 
crucifixes.  Finally,  after  several  months  of 
scandalous  and  impious  conduct,  he  dared  to 
return  into  Italy,  in  the  train  of  the  Greek 
troops,  and  we  shall  soon  see  him  employing 
simony,  and  murder,  in  order  to  remount  the 
pontifical  throne. 


DOMNUS  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  974.] 

Election  ofDomnus  the  Second — Ohscuritx)  about  his  pontificate — Maycul.  abbot  of  Cluny,  refuses 
the  papacy — Corruption  of  the  clcrsy — The  opinion  of  the  bishop  of  Verona  of  the  ecclesiastics 
of  that  period — Uncertainty  as  to  the  death  of  Domnus. 


After  the  flight  of  Boniface  the  Seventh, 
the  party  of  the  counts  of  Tu.scanella  placed 
on  the  Holy  See  the  priest  Domnus,  a  Roman 
by  birth.  This  pope,  it  is  true,  did  nothing 
remarkable  :  but  it  is  also  true,  that  we  can- 
not reproaeh  him  with  disgraceful  actions;  and 
for  this  period  of  corruption,  the  silence  of 
authors  must  pass  for  an  enli);ry  on  the  sove- 
reign poiitiflV.  Several  writers  place  Domnus 
before   Benedict ;  other-s,  between   Benedict 

Vol.  I.  2  0 


the  Sixth  and  Boniface  the  Seventh ;  and  some 
do  not  even  count  him  among  the  popes.  We 
suppose  that  he  only  governed  the  church  a 
short  time,  antl  tliat  he  performed  no  impor- 
tant act  during  his  pontificate. 

Before  the  election  of  Domnus,  St.  ]\Ia)'euI, 
abbot  of  Cluny,  refused  the  apostolical  throne, 
which  was  offered  him  by  the  emperor  Otho 
the  Second,  and  the  empress  Adelaide,  the 
mother  of  that  prince  :  an  example  of  humility 


306 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


truly  Christian,  and  ^vhich  one  admires  the 
more,  inasmuch  as  it  so  rarely  presents  itself 
in  the  history  of  the  church. 

It  is  related,  that  on  returning  from  a  pil- 
grimage to  Rome,  Mayeul  and  all  his  com- 
panions were  attacked  by  some  Saracens,  who 
took  them  all  prisoners,  and  loaded  them  with 
chains.  The  holy  abbot  was  treated  with 
great  severity,  and  confined  in  a  frightful 
grotto,  with  irons  to  his  feet ;  he  only  looked 
for  death,  and  addressed  ardent  prayers  to 
Heaven,  when  he  had  a  vision,  in  which  an 
angel  appeared  to  him,  who  predicted  to  him 
a  speedy  deliverance.  The  ne\t  day,  on  rising, 
his  chains  fell  off,  as  if  by  a  miracle,  and  he 
left  the  grotto.  The  barbarians,  astonished 
at  this  prodigy,  dared  no  longer  to  maltreat 
him,  and  contented  themselves  with  keeping 
him  among  them  until  he  had  paid  his  ransom, 
which  they  had  fLved  at  a  thousand  pounds  of 
silver. 

Mayeul  hastened  to  send  a  messenger  to 
his  convent  of  Cluny,  with  the  following  let- 
ter:  "To  my  lords  and  brethren  of  Cluny, 
Mayeul,  unfortunate  and  a  captive.  The  tor- 
ments of  Belial  have  surrounded  me.  the  pains 
of  death  have  enveloped  me.  Now,  then, 
send  if  you  please,  the  ransom  for  me  and 
those  who  are  with  me.-'  This  letter  having 
been  carried  to  Cluny,  produced  extreme 
affliction  among  the  monks.  They  sold  all 
the  ornaments  of  the  church,  collected  to- 
gether all  the  treasures  of  the  community, 
and  finally  got  together  the  enormous  sum  of 
a  thousand  pounds  of  silver.  The  holy  abbot 
was  then  freed,  as  well  as  all  those  who  were 
taken  with  him. 

But  the  Saracens  were  soon  punished  for 
the  sacrilege  they  had  committed  in  touching 
the  anointed  of  the  Lord.  Williain,  duke  of 
Aries,  excited  by  the  hopes  of  booty,  pursued 
the  infidels,  routed  them,  and  seized  on  the 
money  which  they  had  received.  The  duke 
preserved  the  treasure,  and  only  sent  back  to 
the  monastery  the  books  of  the  abbot. 

It  was  some  months  after  this  event,  that 
the  emperor  Otho  and  the  empress  Adelaide 
brought  St.  Mayeul  to  their  court,  and  be- 
souiiht  him  to  accept  the  pontifical  tiara. 

The  man  of  God  asked  for  one  day  for  re- 
flection ;  and  having  prayed,  a  divine  revela- 
tion fortified  him  in  the  resolution  to  refuse 
this  supreme  honour.  He  replied  to  those 
who  urged  him  to  accept  it :  "I  know  that  I 
am  wanting  in  the  qualities  necessary  for  so 
high  a  mission.  To  represent  God  upon  earth, 
to  be  infallible  like  him,  is  not  in  the  power 
of  so  weak  a  sinner  as  I  am.  I  should  live 
poor  and  humble;  besides,  how  can  I  rule 
those  Roman  prelates  from  whose  manners  I 
am  as  far  removed  as  from  their  country"? 
My  abbey  is  already  a  burthen  too  heavy  "for 
me." 

The  clergy  then  was  much  more  corrupt 
than  in  our  days.  The  following  is  the  opi- 
nion entertained  by  Rathier,  bishop  of  Verona, 
of  the  ecclesiastics :  "  When  I  was  transferred 
to  the  bishopric  of  Liege,  a  bishop  blamed  this 
translation  as  reprehensible  and  punishable 


by  the  canons,  whilst  he  himself  was  abandon- 
ed to  excess  in  drinking,  and  passed  his  nights 
in  orgies  with  women ;  during  the  day'j  he 
followed  the  chase,  and  never  appeared  in  his 
church. 

"  I  have  seen  two  metropolitans  dispute  at 
the  end  of  a  debauch  at  table;  the  one  re- 
proached the  other  for  Jris  quarrelsome  dispo- 
sition and  the  murders  which  he  had  commit- 
ted ;  the  other  retorted  on  the  former  in  his 
turn,  for  having  poisoned  the  husband.s,  and 
kept  three  women  at  once.  Of  these  two  pre- 
lates, the  one  had  committed  adultery  before 
his  ordination,  the  other,  after  his  consecra- 
tion, had  embraced  three  women. 

"  But  we  should  not  be  surprised  at  finding 
no  one  worthy  of  the  prelateship;  for  if  a 
man  who  is  a  perjurer,  a  drunkard,  and 
addicted  to  prostitutes,  is  placed  upon  the 
apostolical  throne,  how  can  we  carry  com- 
plaints before  his  tribunal?  The  popes  dare 
not  condemn  those  whose  sentiments  are  in 
conformity  with  their  own.  Behold  then 
where  comes  the  contempt  in  w  hich  the  laws 
of  the  church,  and  even  the  Gospel  itself  is 
held !  How  can  we  consider  it  useful  to  ob- 
serve ecclesiastical  rules,  when  we  see  the 
pontiffs  violating  the  holiest  precepts  of  the 
Saviour? 

"  The  bishops  and  archbishops  traverse  the 
joublic  places  with  their  hunting  dogs:  con- 
ducting their  concubines,  and  striking  their 
servants  with  blows  of  clubs,  and  when  their 
treasury  is  empty,  they  sell  absolutions  in 
public^  and  add  hj-pocrisy  to  the  ignoble 
scandal  of  their  debaitchery.  Should  we  then 
be  astonished  that  the  people  are  no  longer 
touched  by  the  teachings  of  Holy  Scripture, 
when  they  see  the  ministers  of  God  acting 
thus  contrary  to  the  morality  of  Christ? 

'•The  people  ridicule  excommunications,  be- 
cause we  do  not  fear  them  ourselves,  although 
we  do  not  cease  to  merit  them  for  our  shame- 
lessness.  our  incontinence,  and  our  disgrace- 
ful excesses.  Of  all  Christian  nations  ours 
possesses  the  most  immodest  prelates,  from 
the  use  which  they  make  of  spiced  ragouts 
and  prepared  wines.  In  Italy,  one  is  called  a 
priest  as  soon  as  he  has  shaved  his  beard  and 
the  crown  of  his  head,  and  then  they  murmur 
in  the  church  some  prayers,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  pleasing  the  women  rather  than  God." 

Rathier  made  useless  efforts  to  correct  the 
priests  of  his  diocese.  All  the  ecclesiastics 
kept  openly  in  their  houses,  women  of  plea- 
sure, or  young  Neapolitans,  the  disgrace  of 
humanity;  and  when  the  holy  prelate  wished 
to  invoke  the  laws  of  the  emperor  and  the 
canons  of  the  church  to  oblige  them  to  send 
away  these  prostitutes  and  abominable  men, 
they  represented  to  him,  that  poverty  was  the 
sole  cause  of  the  shameful  commerce  which 
they  maintained.  In  fact,  the  prelate  of 
Verona  having  taken  an  exact  cognizance  of 
the  state  of  the  revenues  of  the  cltergy  of  his 
See,  discovered  that  their  bad  division  pre- 
vented them  from  being  sufficient  for  the 
wants  of  the  priests.  Those  who  rendered 
the  least  services  received  considerable  sums, 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


307 


and  the  infirm  ecclesiastics  would  not  admit 
their  reclamations,  •■'  I  waited  for  the  death  of 
my  predecessor/'  replied  the  great  dignita- 
ries to  them,  '•  to  enjoy  that  which  I  now 
have;  do  you  also  wait  tor  mine." 

Rathier  wished  to  execute  the  canons,  but 
they  opposed  the  custom  to  him.  Then,  the 
pious  prelate,  in  his  holy  wrath  exclaimed, 
"  I  have  received  from  the  synods  the  power 
of  correcting  that  which  is  done  contrary  to 
the  rules  of  the  fathers,  and  yet  I  cannot  re- 
form any  abuse.  I  do  not  see  among  you. 
but  bigamists,  concubine  keepers,  seditious 
persons,  perjurers,  apostates,  usurers,  sodom- 
ites and  drunkards.  Your  children  are  all 
bastards,  and  your  depravity  is  the  cause  of 
the  ruin  of  my  people. 


"  How  can  I  punish  a  layman  for  the  crime 
of  adultery,  perjury,  or  robbery,  when  I  am 
compelled  to  tolerate  ignorance  and  depravity 
among  my  ecclesiastics'?  You  do  not  even 
know  the  creed  of  the  apostles ;  but  to  make 
up  for  it,  you  understand  perfectly  what  usury, 
prostitution  and  sodomy  can  produce." 

These  quotations  give  but  a  feeble  idea  of 
the  frightful  disorders,  and  inconceivable  de- 
gradation of  the  clergy  of  the  tenth  century. 

Nothing  certain  is  known  of  the  death  of 
Domnus.  Was  he  dethroned  by  his  successor 
and  sent  into  exile  ?  This  version  is  probable. 
Or  did  he  finish  his  days  in  the  honours  of  the 
pontificate?  We  know  not.  Be  it  as  it  may, 
he  disappeared  from  the  Holy  See,  and  from 
history,  towards  the  year  974. 


BENEDICT  THE  SEVENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  974.] 

Benedict  chosen  pontiff  by  the  counts  of  Tuscanella — Irregular  election  of  Gisler,  archbishop  of 
Magdeburg — Otho  the  Second  marches  on  Rome  at  the  head  of  his  army — Cruel  feast  of  the 
emperor — He  fights  the  Greeks — Is  wounded  by  a  poisoned  arrow — His  flight — The  death  of 
Fope  Benedict. 


Although  Boniface  had  returned  into  Italy, 
and  was  engaged  in  re-assembling  his  par- 
tizans  in  order  to  mount  upon  the  throne  of 
the  church,  he  was  unable  yet  to  overcome 
his  competitor,  Benedict,  bishop  of  Sutri,  who 
was  proclaimed  sovereign  pontiff,  by  the  party 
of  the  counts  of  Tuscanella.  All  the  leaders 
of  party  had  yielded,  or  been  banished  from 
Rome.  Violent  seditions,  however,  broke  out 
from  time  to  time  in  the  holy  city,  and  threat- 
ened the  precarious  power  of  Benedict  the 
Seventh. 

The  new  pope,  having  obtained  the  con- 
firmation of  his  election  from  the  emperor, 
took  energetic  measures  against  the  rebel- 
lious priests,  and  drove  the  seditious,  and  the 
agents  of  Boniface  entirely  from  Rome. 

During  his  reign,  Benedict  remained  shut 
up  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  with  his  rela- 
tives, the  counts  of  Tuscanella;  and  we  are 
induced  to  believe  that  his  morals  were  simi- 
lar to  those  of  the  clergy  of  that  period. — 
History,  however,  preserves  an  indulgent  si- 
lence in  reg-ard  to  debaucheries  which  did 
not  attract  the  attention  of  the  people. 

After  the  death  of  St.  Adalbert,  the  metro- 
politan of  INIagdeburg,  Gisler,  who  had  been 
before  deposed  from  the  chair  of  Mersburg, 
asked  the  vacant  See  from  the  emperor,  as  a 
recompense  for  his  services.  The  prince 
granted  it  to  him,  with  the  reservation,  how- 
ever, that  the  translation  of  the  new  arch- 
bishop should  be  canonically  authorized  by 
Btenedict  the  Seventh. 

The  pontiff,  knowing  that  Gisler  did  not 
occupy  the  bishopric  since  the  See  of  IVIers- 


burg  had  been  taken  from  him  b}'  Hildebrand, 
dared  not  confirm  this  new  election  without 
the  approval  of  the  clergy  of  Rome.  A  synod 
was  consequently  convoked  to  decide  the 
question  ;  but  the  judges,  gained  over  by  the 
gold  of  the  prelate,  pronounced,  contrary  to  all 
law  and  usage,  that  Gisler  could  take  posses- 
sion of  the  diocese  of  Magdeburg. 

In  the  following  year,  Otho,  on  the  news 
that  the  Greeks  had  made  a  descent  into 
Apulia  and  Calabria,  which  they  had  seized, 
resolved  to  pass  the  Alps  and  drive  from  Italy 
these  allies  of  the  unworthy  Boniface.  He 
concluded,  promptly,  an  advantageous  peace 
with  Lothaire,  and  invaded  Lombardy  at  the 
head  of  numerous  troops.  After  having  chas- 
tised the  seditious  lords,  and  re-established 
his  authority  over  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  the 
emperor  went  to  Rome,  under  the  pretext  of 
assisting  at  the  festival  of  Christmas,  but  in 
reality  to  succour  the  pope,  who  feared  the 
vicinity  of  the  Greeks  and  the  intrigues  of 
Boniface. 

Otho,  recollecting  that  the  emperor,  his 
father,  had  never  been  able  to  tame  the  Ro- 
mans, but  through  terror,  determined  to  fol- 
low the  same  example ;  and,  in  accordance 
with  the  advice  of  the  holy  father,  he  pre- 
pared at  the  Vatican  a  sumptuous  entertain- 
ment, to  which  he  invited  the  grandees  of 
Rome,  the  magistrates,  and  the  deputies  of  the 
neighbouring  cities.  Otho  at  first  laboured  to 
inspire  his  guests  with  joy.  Perfumed  wines 
were  poured  out  in  profusion  ;  exquisite  dishes 
succeeded  each  olher,  without  interruption, 
on  the  table,  and  the  brightest  gaiety  shone 


308 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


on  every  face.  Then,  upon  a  signal  from  the 
prince,  a  troop  of  soldiers  suddenly  entered 
the  festive  hall,  with  their  drawn  swords  in 
iheir  hands,  and  three  guards  placed  them- 
selves behind  each  guest.  A  spectacle  so 
stransre  filled  their  hearts  with  fright,  and  the 
dread  increased  when  an  officer  of  the  palace, 
displaying  a  long  list,  calleil  out  in  a  loud  voice 
the  unfortunate  men  who  were  destined  for 
the  executioner.  Sixty  victims  were  led  from 
the  banquet-hall,  and  pitilessly  massacred. 

During  this  butchery,  Otho  and  the  pope 
preserved  the  same  amenity  in  their  words 
and  gestures.  They  pledged  their  guests  in 
the  best  wines,  and  pointed  out  to  them  the 
most  delicious  dishes.  But  the  frightful  image 
of  death  was  before  all  eyes,  and  their  faces 
remained  icy  with  terror.  At  length  the  horri- 
ble banquet  was  concluded. 

This  Machiavelian  cruelty  produced  terri- 
ble consequences  to  the  emperor.  After  hav- 
ing levied  new  troops  in  Rome  and  Beneven- 
tum,  to  strengthen  his  army,  he  entered  Apu- 
lia, which  submitted  to  him  without  resist- 
ance. Elated  by  success,  he  penetrated 
without  opposition  into  Calabria ;  but  he  was 
there  stopped  by  the  Greeks  and  Arabs,  who 
had  concentrated  all  their  forces  in  the  inte- 
rior of  the  province,  and  who  advanced  to 
meet  him.  The  two  armies  met  at  Basen- 
lello,  a  village  situated  on  the  sea  shore,  and 
the  battle  commenced.  Scarcely,  however, 
was  the  signal  for  combat  given,  when  the 


Italians,  and  especially  the  people  of  Bene- 
ventum  and  Rome,  took  to  flight,  in  order  to 
avenge  themselves  for  the  massacre  of  their 
fellow  citizens  at  the  banquet  of  the  Vatican. 
The  disorder  spread  into  the  ranks  of  the 
Germans,  who  were  stationed  behind  the  van 
of  the  battle ;  the  Greeks  and  Arabs  sur- 
rounded them  without  difficulty,  and  all  the 
old  German  bands  were  cut  to  pieces. 

Otho  only  escaped  death  by  a  disgraceful 
flight ;  he  cast  himself  into  a  fisherman's  boat, 
which  he  found  by  chance ;  and,  as  he  en- 
deavoured to  gain  the  deep  sea,  he  was 
wounded  by  a  poisoned  arrow,  which,  it  is 
said,  Boniface  the  Seventh,  who  fought  with 
the  Saracens,  himself  shot  at  him.  He  died, 
in  consequence  of  his  wound,  a  year  after  this 
bloody  defeat. 

Benedict  the  Seventh  did  not  survive  the 
prince  a  long  time  ;  he  was  struck,  beyond 
doubt,  by  the  same  hand  that  had  stricken 
down  the  emperor,  and  the  pontifical  throne 
became  vacant  on  the  16th  of  July,  984. 

Some  ecclesiastical  writers  have  eulogized 
Benedict ;  but,  historians  whose  authority  is 
incontestable,  assure  us,  that  during  his  reign, 
simony  and  debauchery  were  held  in  honour 
in  the  holy  city,  and  that  they  even  sold  the 
right  to  seats  in  the  churches,  from  whence 
has  arisen  the  traffic  in  chairs  in  the  chuiches, 
which  has  been  perpetuated  to  our  own  time, 
and  still  brings  in  immense  revenues  to  the 
clergy. 


JOHN  THE  FOURTEENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  984.J 

Election  of  John  the  Fourteenth — Return  of  Boniface  to  Italy — He  subsidizes  partizans  in  Rome 
— John  the  Fourteenth  arrested  and  confined  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angela-  His  death — Opinions 
of  historians  about  John  the  Fourteenth 


Six  days  after  the  death  of  Benedict,  the 
bishop  of  Pavia,  whom  the  emperor  Otho  the 
Second  had  made  the  chancellor  of  Italy, 
was  chosen  pope,  and  enthroned  under  the 
name  of  John  the  Fourteenth.  But  Boniface, 
who  was  in  the  environs  of  Rome,  supposing 
that  it  would  be  easy  to  overthrow  the  new 
pontiff  before  he  was  firmly  seated  on  his 
See,  sent  his  emissaries  everywhere,  distribut- 
ing money  to  his  partizans,  and  finally  got  to- 
gether a  troop  of  bandits,  who  proclaimed  him 
absolute  master  of  the  city. 

John  the  Fourteenth  w'as  arrested  in  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  cast  into  the  dun- 
geon of  St.  Angelo.  Boniface  then  deposed 
him  ;  and.  after  four  months  of  confinement, 
he  condemned  the  unfortunate  man  to  perish 
of  hunger.  By  the  order  of  the  usurper,  the 
dead  body  of  John  was  even  exposed  on  the 
drawbridge  of  the  fortress,  that  no  one  might 
have  doubts  about  his  death,  and  to  intunidate 


the  partizans  he  might  still  have,  or  who  were 
attached  to  the  emperor. 

INIaimburg,  in  the  first  book  of  his  history 
of  the  fall  of  the  empire,  says,  that  truth 
should  lead  us  to  judge  favourably  of  a  man 
who  was  not  convicted  of  any  crime  ;  and  his 
opinion  is.  that  John  the  Fourteenth  had  great 
virtues  and  eminent  qualities  for  these  times 
of  ignorance. 

Platinus,  on  the  other  hand  thinks,  that  the 
incapacity  and  tyranny  of  the  pontiff  had 
alienated  from  him  the  greater  part  of  the 
citizens,  and  that  it  was  the  hope  of  being  en- 
abled easily  to  overthrow,  from  the  Holy  See, 
a  despot  who  had  caused  himself  to  be  exe- 
crated by  all  the  citizens,  during  a  reign  of 
eighteen  months,  which  determined  Boniface 
the  Seventh  to  return  to  Rome.  Besides,  if 
John  the  Fourteenth  had  been  really  virtuous 
and  disinterested,  it  is  probable  he  would 
have  refused  the  papacy,  for  he   could  not 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


309 


have  been  ignorant  how  difficult  it  was  to  re- 1  command  the  Christians  of  all  kingdoms,  to 
concile  the  duties  of  the  Christian  with  the  exi-    dispose,  at  their  caprice,  of  their   property 


gencies  of  this  fatal  dignity^  especially  at  a 
period  in  which  the  popes  were  sovereign 
masters,  absolute  despots,  and  pretended  to 


their  persons  and  their  belief;  to  regulate  the 
mind  and  the  will  of  all  men,  in  order  that  all 
should  labour  and  produce  for  them  alone. 


BONIFACE  THE  SEVENTH  RE-INSTALLED  BY  A  PARRICIDE. 

Re-iiistallment  of  Boniface — His  crimes  and  debaucheries — His  death — His  dead  body  is  cut  by 
sicords  and  daggers,  and  dragged  through  the  streets  of  Rome — John  the  Roman  chosen  pope 
— The  church  does  not  count  him  among  the  supreme  pontiffs. 


The  cruel  Boniface,  whom  ancient  authors 
call  through  derision  Maliface,  after  having 
put  to  death  Pope  John,  remounted  the  ponti- 
fical throne.  He  no  longer  preserved  any 
measures  in  his  conduct.  Murders,  judicial 
assassinations,  poisonings,  succeeded  each 
other  without  interruption  in  the  holy  city. 
Friends  and  enemies  had  alike  to  fear  his 
vengeance  ;  the  one  because  they  had  opposed 
his  pretensions,  the  other  because  their  ser- 
vices were  to  be  paid.  Even  the  neutral  were 
condemned  to  death  for  not  having  taken  sides. 

Whilst  blood  was  flowing  in  a  flood  through 
the  streets  of  Rome,  the  walls  of  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran  were  re-echoing  the  obscene  songs 
of  his  courtezans  or  minions,  until  finally,  after 
an  abominable  reign  of  eleven  months,  at  the 
conclusion  of  a  horrible  debauch,  Boniface  the 
Seventh  died  suddenly,  from  an  attack  of  apo- 
plexy, according  to  some  ;  or  from  the  effects 
of  a  very  violent  poison,  according  to  others. 


This  news  spread  through  Rome,  excited 
transportsof  joy  ;  all  the  inhabitants,  the  lords 
and  the  priests  crowded  to  St.  Peter's;  they 
tore  the  dead  body  of  the  pope  from  its  coffin, 
disfigured  it  with  blows  of  the  sword  and 
dagger,  and,  finally,  the  hideous  corpse  was 
despoiled  of  its  shroud  and  dragged  through 
the  mire  to  the  place  at  which  stood  the 
equestrian  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  where 
it  was  hung  up  by  the  feet.  During  the  night 
some  priests  detached  it,  and  buried  it  in 
haste  without  the  city,  to  prevent  its  being 
cast  into  the  common  sewers. 

The  calm  being  re-established,  John,  the 
son  of  Robert,  and  a  Roman  by  birth,  was 
chosen  pontiff.  He  occupied  the  Holy  See 
for  four  months,  and  died  towards  the  end  of 
the  year  985,  before  having  been  consecrated. 
It  is  on  this  account  that  the  church  does  not 
reckon  him  in  the  number  of  the  popes. 


JOHN  THE   FIFTEENTH,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  986.] 

Election  and  consecration  of  John  the  Fifteenth — His  character — Crcsccntiiis  wishes  to  re-establish 
the  Roman  republic — He  seizes  on  the  tower  of  Adrian — The  pope  flies  from  Rome — He 
demands  aid  from  Otho  the  Third — The  Romans  recall  John  the  Fifteenth — Affair  of  Arnold 
of  Rhcims — Complaints  of  King  Hugh  against  Arnold — Letter  from  the  suffragans  of  Rhcims 
asxainst  their  archbishop — Violent  conduct  of  the  pope — Writings  of  Gerbcrt  against  him — Let- 
ter from  King  Hugh  to  the  pope — John  the  Fifteenth  obslinalcty  maintains  Arnold  in  the 
See  of  Rhcims — Council  of  Mousnn — Speech  of  Gerbcrt — He  is  excommunicated  by  the  pope — 
Arnold  re-installcd  in  his  archbishopric — Reflections  on  this  scandalous  affair — Strange  par- 
ticulars of  Adalbert  of  Prague — Signal  miracle — Canonization  of  St.  Vdatiic — Death  of  John 
the  Fifteenth. 


John,  the  son  of  Robert,  being  dead,  another 
pontiff,  named  John,  was  chosen,  who  was  the 
fifteenth  of  that  name.  He  was  a  Roman  by 
birth,  the  sou  of  a  priest  named  Leo;  he  was 
consecrated  on  the  23d  of  April,  986.  In  the 
course  of  his  reigu  the  new  pope  showed 
great  courage,  or  rather  an  unmeasured  ambi- 
tion, which  enabled  him  to  surmount  all  ob- 
stacles and  all  dilficulties  in  maintaining  the 
rights  of  the  Holy  See. 


Scarcely  was  he  enthroned,  when  Crescen- 
tius,  one  of  the  principal  lords  of  Italy,  who 
then  filled  the  place  of  consul,  excited  a  re- 
volt in  the  holy  city,  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
placing the  absolute  and  tyrannical  govern- 
ment of  the  pontiffs  by  a  new  republic.  Having 
assembled  his  partizans  beyond  the  Tiber,  he 
distributed  arms,  harangued  the  people,  and 
attacked  the  strong  tower  of  Adrian,  which 
he  seized  without  strikinir  a  blow.  This  tower 


310 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


■was  for  a  long  time  called  ihe  castle  of  Cre- 
scentius,  in  memory  of  this  event,  and  in  the 
end  changed  its  name  for  that  of  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo. 

John  the  Fifteenth,  fearful  that  Crescentius 
shoLiltl  inflict  on  him  the  same  treatment 
which  he  had  done  to  his  predecessor,  es- 
caped from  Rome  and  retired  into  Tuscany, 
from  whence  he  wrote  to  Otho  the  Third,  be- 
seeching him  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
See.  The  proposals  of  the  pope  were  favour- 
ably received,  and  the  prince  immediately 
commenced  assembling  his  troops.  The  re- 
volted, who  apprehended  with  reason  the 
arrival  of  the  German  tioops,  whose  entrance 
into  Rome  had  already  been  signalized  by 
bloody  executions,  sought  to  appease  the  pon- 
tiff, and  proposed  to  recognize  his  sovereign 
authority,  if  he  would  consent  to  return  to  the 
holy  city,  unaccompanied  by  strange  troops. 

John  eagerly  accepted  the  offer;  he,  how- 
ever, exacted  hostages  for  his  personal  safety, 
and  took  all  the  means  he  could  to  guard 
against  a  new  rebellion.  The  inhabitans  gave 
him  a  pompous  reception,  and  Crescentius 
himself  was  obliged  to  quit  the  city  and 
abandon  his  generous  projects. 

At  this  period  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine, 
was  at  war  with  Hugh  Capet,  the  usurper  of 
the  crown  of  France,  and  the  first  king  of  the 
infamous  race  of  the  Capetians ;  the  archbishop 
of  Rheims,  Adalberon,  died,  and  Hugh  hoping 
to  gain  the  friendship  of  Charles,  and  to  bring 
about  skilfully  an  advantageous  peace,  gtive 
the  vacant  archiepiscopal  See  to  the  natural 
brother  of  his  enemy.  But  his  policy  was  at 
fault ;  for  as  soon  as  Arnold  was  seated  firmly 
in  his  See,  he  surrendered  the  city  of  Rheims 
to  his  brother,  and  took  up  arms  airainst  Hugh. 

To  arrest  the  baneful  consequences  which 
such  a  treason  might  have,  the  king  resolved 
to  take  a  terrible  vengeance  :  before,  however, 
undertaking  anything,  he  wrote  to  the  pope 
to  inform  him  that  a  council  of  French  bishops 
was  about  to  assemble  to  judge  the  metropo- 
litan Arnold.  But  Herbert  the  Third,  count 
of  Vermandois,  and  the  brother-in-law  of 
Duke  Charles,  had  already  been  beforehand 
at  the  court  of  Rome,  and  the  pontiff  was 
gained  to  the  side  of  Arnold,  when  the  em- 
bassadors arrived  in  the  holy  city. 

The  suffragans  of  Rheims  wrote  at  the 
same  time  to  the  Holy  See,  to  testify  the 
horror  with  which  the  treason  of  their  supe- 
rior inspired  them.  They  thus  expressed 
themselves :  "  Although  Arnold  is  a  son  of 
the  church  of  Laon,  it  is  none  the  less  true 
that  he  dro/e  away  the  former  prelate,  to  es- 
tablish himself  in  the  episcopal  See.  He 
then  seized  upon  the  temporal  power  in  the 
diocese  of  Rheims,  and  has  sold  us  to  his 
brother,  in  contempt  of  the  oaths  which  he 
took  upon  the  altar,  under  the  pretext  that 
oaths  can  only  bind  subjects,  not  sovereigns. 
Finally,  since  his  consecration,  the  faithful  of 
the  diocese  have  been  deprived  of  directors, 
and  die  without  receiving  confirmation  or  the 
episcopal  blessing. 

'•  We  beseech  you  then  most  holy  father  to 


condemn  him  whom  we  have  all  condemned, 
and  we  trust  you  will  aid,  with  your  supreme 
authority,  the  deposition  of  this  traitor  and 
apostate." 

This  letter  evidently  demonstrates  that  the 
suffragans  of  Rheims  did  not  suppose  that  the 
pope  had  the  right  to  judge  this  cause  at  Rome, 
to  which  the  parties  had  not  appealed,  and 
that  thus  it  appertained  to  them  alone  to  pro- 
nounce a  decision  on  the  very  spot  on  which 
the  guilty  man  had  committed  the  fault. 

The  deputies  of  the  king  and  clergy  of 
France  were  very  badly  received  at  the  court 
of  Rome.  John  the  Fifteenth,  who  had  sold 
his  protection  to  the  count  of  Vermandois, 
irritated  that  the  envoy  of  Hugh  Capet  had 
not  made  him  any  present — refused  even  to 
hear  them.  Vainly  did  the  commissioners  go 
three  times  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  and 
remain  three  days  without  the  gate  to  obtain 
a  reply  to  their  letters;  the  pontiff  remained 
inflexible,  and  they  were  obliged  to  return  to 
France,  v.'ithont  having  obtained  an  audience. 

No  matter  what  entreaties  or  menaces  were 
made  to  the  pope,  for  eighteen  months  he 
obstinately  preserved  an  absolute  silence  on 
the  affair  of  Arnold.  Finally,  King  Hugh  ob- 
tained possession  of  Laon,  to  which  Duke 
Charles  and  his  brother  had  retired.  He 
caused  the  latter  to  be  conducted  to  the  city 
of  Rheims,  in  order  that  he  might  reply  to 
the  French  prelates  as  to  the  crimes  of  which 
he  was  accused. 

Gerbert  has  left  us  a  very  detailed  account 
of  what  took  place  in  this  assembly.  At  the 
first  sitting,  the  authority  of  the  council,  and 
the  authority  which  the  king  of  France  had 
to  convoke  it,  were  canonically  established; 
at  the  second  sitting,  Arnold  was  convicted 
of  the  crime  of  lese-majesty.  This  unworthy 
prelate,  in  order  to  save  his  life,  then  plead 
guilty,  and  declared  that  he  renounced  the 
episcopal  power.  By  this  avowal  he  solemnly 
approved  of  the  decision  of  the  fathers,  and 
the  power  of  their  tribunal :  he  restored  to  ihe 
king  his  ring  and  pastoral  baton,  and  despoiled 
himself  of  other  marks  of  his  dignity,  that 
they  might  be  given  to  his  successor ;  he 
then  read  with  a  loud  voice,  in  the  presence 
of  the  bishops,  the  act  of  renunciation,  which 
had  been  formed  upon  the  model  of  that  of 
Ebbon.  This  declared  in  substance,  that  he 
acknowledged  himself  unworthy  of  the  epis- 
copate, that  he  renounced  all  ecclesiastical 
dignities,  and  asked  that  another  bishop  should 
be  elected  in  his  place ;  he  finally  finished  by 
swearing  upon  the  consecrated  host,  never  to 
call  in  question  the  authority  of  the  council 
which  judged  him. 

In  this  synod,  the  bishop  of  Orleans,  who 
was  also  named  Arnold,  expressed  his  opinion 
on  the  authority  of  the  popes,  in  very  ener- 
getic terms.  We  report  a  part  of  his  speech 
upon  pontifical  infallibility. 

"  We  believe,  my  brethren,  we  should  al- 
ways honour  the  Roman  church,  in  memory 
of  St.  Peter,  and  we  do  not  pretend  to  jilace 
ourselves  in  opposition  to  the  pope.  We, 
however,   owe    an   equal  obedience   to   the 


HISTORY    OF  THE    POPES. 


311 


council  of  Nice,  and  the  rules  laid  down  by 
the  fathers.  We  should  consequently  di.strust 
the  silence  of  the  pope  and  his  new  ordi- 
nances, in  order  that  his  ambition  or  cupidity 
may  not  prejudice  the  ancient  canons,  which 
should  always  remain  in  force. 

'•  Have  we  attainted  the  privileges  of  the 
court  of  Rome  by  assembling  regularly?  No. 
If  the  pope  is  commendable  for  his  intelli- 
gence and  his  virtues,  we  have  no  censure  to 
fear.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  holy  father  suf- 
fers himself  to  err  through  ignorance  or  pas- 
sion, we  should  not  listen  to  him.  We  have 
seen  upon  the  throne  of  the  apostle  a  Leo  and 
a  Gregory,  pontiffs  admirable  for  their  wisdom 
and  science,  and  yet  the  bishops  of  Africa 
opposed  the  vaunting  pretensions  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  because  they  foresaw  the  evils 
under  which  we  now  suffer. 

"  In  fact,  Rome  has  much  degenerated ! 
After  having  given  shining  liijhts  to  Chris- 
tianity, it  now  spreads  abroad  the  profound 
darkness  which  is  extending  over  future  gene- 
rations. Have  we  not  seen  John  the  Twelfth 
plunged  in  ignoble  pleasures,  conspire  against 
the  emperor,  cut  off  the  nose,  right  hand,  and 
tongue  of  the  deacon  John,  and  massacre  the 
first  citizens  of  Rome  ?  Boniface  the  Seventh, 
that  infamous  parricide,  that  dishonest  robber, 
that  trafficker  in  indulgences,  did  he  not  reign 
under  our  very  eyes?  Could  God  have  or- 
dained prelates  distinguished  for  their  know- 
ledge and  their  wisdom,  to  remain  in  submis- 
sion to  such  monsters  ?  No  !  we  should 
repel  the  pretensions  of  these  e.vecrable  pon- 
tiffs, covered  with  shame  and  soiled  with  all 
iniquity. 

"  We  must,  however,  avow  that  we  are  our- 
selves the  cause  of  this  scandal ;  for  if  the 
See  of  the  Latin  church,  before  resplendent, 
is  now  covered  with  shame  and  ignominy,  it 
is  because  we  have  sacriliced  the  interests  of 
religion  to  our  dignity  and  grandeur.  It  is 
because  we  have  placed  in  the  first  rank,  him 
vpho  deserves  to  be  in  the  last!  Do  you  not 
know  that  the  man  whom  you  place  upon  a 
throne  will  allow  himself  to  be  beguiled  by 
honours  and  flatteries,  and  will  become  a  de- 
mon in  the  temple  of  Christ?  You  have 
made  the  popes  too  powerful,  and  they  have 
become  corrupt. 

'•  Some  prelates  of  this  solemn  assembly 
can  bear  witness,  that  in  Belgium  and  Ger- 
many, where  the  clergy  are  poor,  priests  are 
yet  to  be  found  who  are  worthy  of  governing 
the  people.  It  is  there  that  we  must  seek  for 
bishops  capable  of  juiiging  wisely  erring  eccle- 
siastics :  and  not  at  Rome,  where  the  balance 
of  justice  does  not  incline  but  under  the 
weight  of  gold ;  where  study  is  proscribed 
and  ignorance  crowned. 

'•  The  proud  Gelasius  said,  that  the  Roman 
pontiff  shook!  govern  the  whole  world,  and 
that  mortals  had  no  right  to  demand  an  ac- 
count from  him  of  the  least  of  his  actions. 
Who.  then,  gives  us  a  pope  whose  ecpiity  is 
infallible?  Can  one  believe  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  suddenly  inspires  him  whom  we  ele- 
vate to  the  pontificate,  and  that  he  refuses  his 


light  to  the  other  bishops  who  have  been 
named  ?  Has  not  Gregory  written  to  the  con- 
trary, that  bishops  were  all  equal,  so  long  as 
they  fuhilled  the  duties  of  a  Christian? 

"  If  the  arms  of  the  barbarians  prevent  us 
from  going  to  the  holy  city,  or  if  the  pontiff 
should  be  subjected  to  the  oppression  of  a 
tyrant,  would  we  then  be  obliged  to  hold  no 
more  assemblies,  and  would  the  prelates  of 
all  the  kingdoms  be  constrained  to  condemn 
their  princes,  to  execute  the  orders  of  an 
enemy  who  held  the  supreme  See  ?  The 
council  of  Nice  commands  us  to  hold  ecclesi- 
astical assemblies  twice  a  year,  without  speak- 
ing at  all  of  the  pope ;  and  the  apostle  com- 
mands us  not  to  listen  even  to  an  angel  who 
would  wish  to  oppose  the  words  of  Scripture. 

"Let  us  follow,  then,  these  sacred  laws, 
and  ask  for  nothing  from  that  Rome  which  is 
abandoned  to  every  vice,  and  which  God  will 
soon  engulf  in  a  sea  of  sulphur  and  brimstone. 
Since  the  fall  of  the  empire,  it  has  lost  the 
churches  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  those  of 
Asia  and  Africa.  Soon  Europe  will  escape 
from  it ;  the  interior  of  Spain  no  longer  recog- 
nizes its  judgments;  Italy  and  Germany  de- 
spise the  popes.  Let  Gaul  cease  to  submit  to 
the  di.'igiaceful  yoke  of  Rome,  and  then  will 
be  accomplished  that  revolt  of  the  nations  of 
which  the  Scriptures  speak."  Some  historians 
attribute  this  speech  to  Gerbert  himself,  which 
would  give  still  more  force  to  these  memora- 
ble words,  since  that  prelate,  who  afterwards 
filled  the  Holy  See,  never  retracted  any  of  his 
numerous  works. 

Fleury,  in  his  ecclesiastical  history,  avows, 
that  this  writing  contained  terrible  and  de- 
served accusations,  and  that  it  contains  no- 
thing which  was  not  then,  or  is  not  now,  of 
public  notoriety.  ^ 

Arnold  of  Orleans  wi.shed  to  maintain  the 
liberty  of  the  clergy  against  the  unjust  tyraimy 
of  the  pontiffs;  and  we  should  approve  the 
sage  firmness  of  that  prelate,  who  was  re- 
spectable by  his  age,  his  morals,  and  his  learn- 
ing. He  said  with  reason,  that  a  corrupt  pope 
could  not  judge  correctly  of  the  faith.  And 
what  Christian  will  maintain  that  God  dictates 
the  decisions  of  a  wretch  crowned  with  a 
tiara?  The  worthy  bishop  elevates  the  de- 
cisions of  councils  above  the  decrees  of  the 
Holy  See.  He  declares  that  a  pontiff  who  is 
ignorant  and  without  charit}-,  is  an  anti-Christ. 
Is  not  that  the  doctrine  of  the  first  teachers 
of  the  church,  and  of  conscientious  men  who 
have  always  courageously  expressed  the  in- 
dignation with  which  the  frightful  disorders 
of  Rome,  or  of  the  monsters  who  occupied  the 
apostolic  throne,  inspired  them  ? 

Should  we  then  be  astonished  that  all  Eu- 
rope finally  rose  against  priests  who  commit- 
ted murders  to  obtain  the  papacy,  and  who 
soiled  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  by  adultery,  in- 
cest, robbery  and  assassination  ? 

After  the  deposition  of  Arnold,  the  deacon 
Gerbert  was  chosen  and  consecrated  metro- 
politan of  Rheims.  But  John  the  Fifteenth, 
under  pretext  that  the  bi-^^hojis  of  France  had 
surpassed  the  bounds  of  their  authority,  held 


312 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES, 


a  synod,  andannullod  the  ordination  made  by 
the  clergy.  He  inferdicted  all  the  prelates 
who  had  assisted  at  this  judgment,  and  Ger- 
bert  himself,  who  had  consented  to  his  own 
ordination. 

Exasperated  at  the  court  of  Rome,  the  new 
prelate  publicly  tore  the  bull  of  the  pontiff 
to  pieces,  and  prohibited  his  clergy  from  ob- 
serving the  interdict  lanched  against  his  dio- 
cese. Seguin,  archbishop  of  Sens,  wrote  as 
follows  on  this  subject:  "Our  adversaries 
maintain  that  we  should  wait  for  the  decision 
of  Rome  to  depose  Arnold.  But  how  can 
they  prove  that  the  judgment  of  this  prelate 
should  be  preferable  to  that  of  God '? 

"  I  say  now,  if  the  pope  sins  against  his 
brother,  he  should  be  regarded  as  a  pagan 
and  a  publican;  for  the  higher  the  rank,  the 
more  baneful  the  fall.  If  John  the  Fifteenth 
believes  us  unworthy  of  his  communion,  be- 
cause none  of  us  is  willing  to  judge  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Scriptures,  he  can  separate  him- 
self from  us ;  but  the  bulls  which  he  shall 
lanch.  cannot  separate  us  from  the  apostolical 
communion,  nor  deprive  us  of  eternal  life. 

"  Should  we  not  apply  to  prelates  canonically 
assembled  in  a  synod,  that  which  St.  Gregory 
said  :  '  The  flock  should  fear  the  sentence  of 
the  shepherd,  be  it  just  or  unjust.'  The 
bishops  are  not  the  flock — they  are  the  shep- 
herds themselves.  We  have  not  then  been 
legitimately  excommunicated  for  a  crime, 
which  we  have  not  confessed,  and  of  which 
Ave  could  not  be  convicted  ;  and  it  is  wrong  to 
treat  us  as  rebels,  since  we  have  never  shunned 
nor  infringed  the  authority  of  councils. 

"We  ought  not,  from  our  weakness,  to  fur- 
nish our  enemies  with  occasion  to  raise  unjust 
pretensions  against  our  privileges;  for  if  the 
popes  ^rmit  themselves  to  be  corrupted  by 
money,  favor  or  fear,  no  one  can  longer  exer- 
cise episcopal  functions,  without  sustaining 
himself  at  the  court  of  Rome  by  condemnable 
means.  The  common  law  of  ecclesiastics  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures,  the  canons,  and 
the  decrees  of  the  Holy  See,  which  are  equi- 
table. He  who  shall  wander  from  these  laws 
through  contempt,  shall  be  judged  by  the 
canons ;  but  those  who  observe  them,  should 
remain  in  peace.  Be  careful,  therefore,  how 
you  abstain  from  celebrating  the  holy  myste- 
ries, lest  you  render  yourself  guilty  towards 
God." 

Gerbert  wrote  to  several  bishops  of  France 
against  the  sovereign  pontiff.  He  said  to 
Vilderode :  "  The  pope  cannot  say  we  have 
denied  his  jurisdiction,  since  for  eighteen 
months  he  has  not  replied  to  our  letters,  nor 
our  deputies;  besides,  his  silence  on  the 
new  constitutions  cannot  prejudice  established 
laws.  You,  then,  who  desire  to  preserve 
towards  your  king  the  fidelity  which  you 
promised  him,  and  do  not  think  of  betraying 
neither  your  peojile  nor  j-our  clergy,  I  beseech 
you  to  show  yourselves  favourable  to  those 
who  obey  God  rather  than  man. 

"Do  not  believe  that  Arnold  is  not  amena- 
ble but  to  the  sovereign  pontiffs;  for,  after  his 
confession,  our  synod,  ibllowing  the  council 


of  Nice,  could  not  avoid  deposing  him,  even 
although  his  confession  had  been  false.  The 
pardon  which  he  obtained  from  Hugh,  is 
vainly  alleged  in  favour  of  the  guilty.  The 
power  of  kings  does  not  extend  over  souls  ;  it 
is  to  us  that  belongs  the  power  of  binding  and 
loosing,  that  is  to  say,  of  imposing  spiritual 
punishments,  such  as  deposition  and  excom- 
munication." 

Hugh  Capet,  on  his  part,  addressed  a  letter 
to  John  the  Fifteenth  on  the  same  subject. 
"We  have  written  to  you,  most  holy  father, 
my  bishops  and  I,  by  the  archdeacon  of 
Rheims,  to  explain  to  you  the  affair  of  Arnold. 
We  again  beseech  you  to  do  us  justice,  and 
to  believe  our  royal  word.  We  have  done 
nothing  against  your  holiness ;  and  if  you 
wish  that  that  should  be  clearly  established 
in  your  presence,  you  can  come  to  Grenoble, 
a  city  situated  on  the  frontiers  of  Italy  and 
Gaul,  where  the  popes,  your  predecessors, 
have  frequently  come  to  confer  with  the  kings 
of  France.  If  you  prefer  to  enter  our  king- 
dom, we  will  receive  you  with  honour,  and 
will  treat  you  with  all  the  attention  due  to 
your  character  during  your  sojourn,  and  at 
your  departure." 

As  respectful  as  was  the  letter  of  the  prince, 
the  holy  father  received  it  with  insulting  dis- 
dain. They  could  not  obtain  from  him  the 
approval  of  that  which  was  done  at  Rheims, 
nor  the  revocation  of  the  sentence  of  interdict 
which  he  had  pronounced.  He  was  unwilling 
to  go  to  France,  and  contented  himself  with 
sending  in  his  place,  as  legate,  Leo.  the  abbot 
of  St.  Boniface  at  Rome,  with  orders  to  as- 
semble a  convention  of  bishops  to  depose 
Gerbert  and  re-instal  the  traitor  Arnold  in  his 
diocese.  John  wished  in  this  way  to  punish 
the  prelates  of  Gaul,  who  had  refused  to  as- 
semble at  Aix-la-Chapelle  or  in  his  pontifical 
palace. 

On  his  arrival  in  France,  Leo  convoked  a 
council  for  the  2d  of  June,  996,  in  the  city  of 
Mouson,  in  accordance  with  the  instructions 
he  had  received  from  the  pontiff.  The  metro- 
politan of  Verdun  opened  the  sitting  in  the 
Gallic  language.  He  explained  at  length  the 
subjects  which  were  to  be  examined,  and  then 
laid  before  the  assembly  a  bull  sealed  with 
lead,  and  spoke  upon  it ;  after  which  Gerbert 
rose  and  said, 

"  My  brethren,  I  have  unceasingly  prayed 
for  the  moment  when  I  could  justify  myself 
before  an  assembly  of  bishops.  Now,  that 
God  has  granted  me  the  grace  to  stand  before 
those  to  whom  I  have  confided  the  care  of  my 
safety,  I  will  explain,  in  a  few  words,  the  aim 
of  my  actions. 

"  After  the  death  of  the  emperor  Otho  the 
Second,  I  resolved  not  to  quit  the  service  of  my 
spiritual  father,  Adalberon.  Since  then  that 
prelate,  in  the  presence  of  several  illustrious 
persons,  designated  me,  without  my  know- 
ledge, as  his  successor  to  the  See  of  Rheims. 
The  gold,  and  the  intrigues  of  Arnold,  how- 
ever, prevented  my  election,  and  he  was  pre- 
ferred to  me ;  I  submitted  to  this  bishop  and 
served  him  faithfully  up  to  the  time  of  his 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


313 


revolt  against  my  prince.  I  then  renounced, 
in  an  authentic  writing,  the  friendship  which 
he  offored  me,  and  I  abandoned  him  with  his 
accomplices,  without  any  other  desire  than 
that  oi  not  participating  in  his  crimes. 

"Arnold  was  pursued  by  the  prince,  and 
finally  condemned  for  contumacy,  according 
to  the  laws  of  the  church.  As  nothing  more 
was  necessary  to  deprive  him  of  his  See,  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  kingtlom,  the 
grandees  and  chiefs  of  the  clergy  earnestly 
urged  me  to  take  the  direction  of  the  diocese. 
I  did  it  with  regret,  well  knowing  the  evils 
which  threatened  me. 

"  Such,  before  Christ,  was  the  plainness  of 
my  conduct.  I  am  accused  of  having  betrayed 
my  superior ;  of  having  led  him  to  prison,  and 
of  having  usurped  liis  See  !  Was  he  my  mas- 
ter, to  whom  I  had  never  taken  an  oath  ?  And 
after  I  left  this  rebel,  was  not  every  thing  at 
an  end  between  us  ?  I  was  even  ignorant 
where  he  had  taken  refuge ;  how  then  could 
I  give  him  up]  Besides,  in  the  presence  of 
creditable  witnesses,  I  besought  King  Hugh 
not  to  retain  him  in  prison  on  my  account, 
and  if  you  judge  to-day  according  to  my  hu- 
mility, it  will  little  concern  me  whether  Ar- 
nold or  another  was  named  archbishop  of 
Rheims." 

This  discourse  being  finished,  Gerbert  gave 
a  copy  of  it  to  the  legate  who  presided  over 
the  synod.  The  prelates  then  left  the  assem- 
bly and  counselled  with  Duke  Godfrey;  it 
was  decided  that  Gerbert  should  send,  as  em- 
bassador to  King  Hugh,  the  monk  John,  one 
of  the  train  of  the  abbot  Leo,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain from  that  prince  authority  to  convoke  a 
new  council  at  Rheims,  and  prohibited  him.  in 
the  name  of  the  pontiff,  from  celebrating  divine 
service  until  after  the  decision  of  the  synod. 

Gerbert  represented  to  them,  in  vain,  that  no 
prelate,  patriarch,  nor  pope,  had  the  power  to 
excommunicate  an  ecclesiastic,  without  hav- 
ing convicted  him  of  fault,  by  his  own  con- 
fession, or  the  testimony  of  witnesses:  that 
they  could  not  reproach  him  with  any  thing; 
that  he  was  even  the  only  bi.shop  of  the  Gauls 
who  had  come  to  Mouson,  and  finally,  he  de- 
clared, that  as  he  was  not  sensible  of  guilt,  he 
should  not  cease  to  celebrate  the  holy  mys- 
teries because  he  could  not  resolve  to  con- 
demn himself. 

Notwithstanding  his  protest,  a  new  council 
assembled  at  Rheims,  but  Gerbert  seeing  that 
the  legate  Leo  had  a  powerful  party,  and 
learning  that  King  Hush,  at  the  beginning  of 
his  reign,  could  not  break  with  the  court  of 
Rome,  regarded  his  condemnation  as  certain, 
refused  to  appear  before  it,  in  which  he  was 
supported  by  Queen  Adelaide.  That  which 
he  had  foreseen  happened.  Notwithstanding 
.  the  active  opposition  of  those  who  had  de- 
posed Arnold,  that  prelate  was  re-installed  in 
the  dignity  of  metropolitan.  Gerbert  was  de- 
posed, and  the  synod  declared  that  it  would 
not  have  been  able  to  proceed  legitimately  in 
this  cause  without  the  consent  of  the  pope. 
Thus  the  well-calculated  obstinacy  gave  the 
last  blow  to  the  liberties  of  the  Galilean  church. 
Vol.  L  2  P 


and  from  that  period  subjected  its  priests  to 
the  censures  of  the  court  of  Rome. 

John  the  Fifteenth  skilfully  availed  himself 
of  the  weakness  of  the  new-born  monarchy  to 
confirm  the  absolute  authority  of  the  Holy 
See  over  the  French  clergy.  Notwithstand- 
ing, however,  the  sentence  which  was  passed 
by  the  council,  Arnold  remained  a  prisoner 
during  all  the  life  of  King  Hugh,  and  Gerbert 
ruled  the  diocese  of  Rheims.  We  shall  see 
the  consequences  of  this  struggle  mider  an- 
other pontificate. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  St.  Adalbert 
of  Prague  came  to  Rome  to  consult  with  the 
pope,  as  to  the  conduct  he  should  pursue 
towards  his  ungovernable  people.  The  jmous 
bishop  had  resolved  to  quit  his  diocese,  on 
account  of  the  scandal  caused  by  the  eccle- 
siastics, who  entertained  several  women  at 
once,  and  were  publicly  abandoned  to  the 
slave  trade.  John  approved  of  his  determina- 
tion, induced  him  to  hand  over  to  him  all  the 
treasures  which  he  had  brought  away,  and 
advised  him  to  make  the  journey  to  Jerusa- 
lem. But  St.  Adalbert  was  detained  by  a 
violent  sickness,  at  Monte  Cassino,  and  did 
not  make  his  long  pilgrimage.  After  his  re- 
covery he  returned  to  the  holy  city,  and  Leo, 
abbot  of  St.  Alexis,  received  him,  alter  several 
proofs,  into  his  monastery,  where  he  assumed 
the  dress,  on  the  Holy  Thursday  of  9J»4. 

As  the  disorders  increased  in  the  church 
of  Prague,  during  the  absence  of  Adalbert, 
Boleslas,  duke  of  Bohemia,  wrote  to  ViUegisuSj 
archbishop  of  Mayence,  to  reclaim  for  him 
from  the  pontiff,  the  pious  cenobite,  who  edi- 
fied the  people  by  his  example. 

The  pope  replied,  that  he  must  convoke  a 
council  to  decide,  whether  a  monk  could  break 
his  vows.  After  a  grave  discussion,  the  fathers 
consented  that  the  former  prelate  of  Prague 
should  be  restored  to  his  diocese,  provided 
the  faithful  would  pay  a  good  contribution  to 
the  holy  father. 

The  chroniclers  relate,  that  at  the  same 
period,  Foulk,  count  of  Anjou,  built  a  church 
which  was  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  the 
architecture,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  build- 
ing; but  when  the  monument  was  finished 
the  metropolitan  of  Tours  would  not  dedicate 
it.  This  refusal  compelled  the  count  to  make 
a  journey  to  Rome,  and  John  the  Fifteenth 
consented  to  send  a  prelate  with  him,  who 
.should  consecrate  it,  without  the  participation 
of  the  archbishop  of  Tours. 

The  cardinal  Peter,  who  was  designated  by 
the  pontiff,  travelled  with  Foulk.  On  his  ar- 
rival in  Anjou,  he  convoked  all  the  clergy  to 
the  dedication  of  the  new  temple.  The  pre- 
lates of  France  opposed  his  design,  and  pro- 
hibited all  ecclesiastics  from  assisting  at  the 
ceremony;  they  accused  the  pontiff  of  sacri- 
lege, avarice,  and  simony ;  they  declared 
those  excommunicated  and  deposed  from  the 
priesthood  who  should  dare  to  concur  in  this 
enterprise,  done  in  contempt  of  the  decisions 
of  the  councils  and  the  fathers,  by  assisting 
I  at  an  act  of  jurisdiction  within  the  diocese  of 
I  a  bishop  without  his  consent. 


314 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Notwithstanding  this  violent  opposition,  the 
Roman  embassador  went  on  and  commenced 
the  ceremony,  but  at  the  very  moment  of  the 
dedication,  the  church  suddenly  fell  in  upon 
the  cardinal !  A  signal  mark  of  the  justice  of 
God,  adds  the  legendary,  who  thus  punished 
the  pride  and  tyranny  of  the  sovereign  pontiff. 

Some  authors  attribute  to  John  the  Fifteenth, 
the  custom  of  canonizing  the  saints,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  pagan  apotheoses,  who  elevated 
great  men  to  the  rank  of  gods,  demi-gods  or 
heroes.  It  was,  in  truth,  during  his  reign,  on 
the  30th  of  January.  993,  that  the  first  council 
which  proceeded  to  the  canonization  of  a  saint 
was  convoked  in  the  palace  of  the  Late  ran. 
The  bishop  of  Augsburg,  who  was  intrusted 
with  making  the  funeral  prayer  of  the  new 
inhabitant  of  the  skies,  rose  in  the  midst  of 
the  assembly,  and  read  the  life  and  miracles 
of  the  great  Udalric,  the  former  occupant  of 
his  See  ;  this  legend  had  been  written  by  the 
priest  Gerard,  one  of  the  disciples  of  the  saint. 
When  the  reading  was  finished  it  was  decreed 
that  the  memory  of  Udalric  should,  for  the 
future,  be  honoured  by  a  solemn  festival,  in 
order  to  follow  this  precept  of  the  evangelist, 
"Whoso  receiveth  you,  receiveth  me."  The 
bull  which  was  published  on  this  occasion  is 
to  be  found  in  the  collection  of  Roman  Bulls. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  April, 
996,  the  pope  was  attacked  with  a  violent 
fever,  and  carried  to  the  tomb  the  hatred  of 
the  people,  and  the  contempt  of  the  clergy. 


In  order  to  paint  the  character  of  John  the 
Fifteenth,  it  is  only  necessary  to  repeat  with 
the  author  of  the  life  of  St.  Abbon,  that  this 
learned  abbot  of  Fleury  having  gone  to  Rome, 
with  a  retinue  suitable  to  his  dignity,  did  not 
find  the  holy  father  such  as  he  should  have 
been,  but  that  he  was  horrified  at  finding  him 
full  of  avarice  and  ready  to  sell  every  thing. 
He  accuses  him  of  having  pillaged  the  state 
and  church;  of  having  ravaged  the  temples 
and  religious  houses  to  enrich  his  mistresses 
and  minions.  He  also  attributes  to  his  reign 
the  origin  of  that  frightful  nepotism  which  has 
so  long  desolated  Italy. 

We  should  know,  before  we  put  confi- 
dence in  the  accusations  of  the  holy  abbot, 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  important  persons 
of  that  period,  and  had  acquired  a  great  repu- 
tation for  holiness.  Before  becoming  abbot 
of  his  monastery,  he  had  made  several  jour- 
neys to  England,  and  had  contracted  an  inti- 
macy with  St.  Oswald,  the  archbishop  of  York, 
and  the  venerable  St.  Dunstan.  On  his  return 
to  France,  Oibold,  abbot  of  Fleury,  when 
dying,  designated  Abbon  as  his  successor ; 
his  election  was,  however,  violently  opposed 
by  some  debauched  monks  who  wished  to 
elevate  to  the  abbot's  place,  a  wretch  soiled 
with  every  crime.  Fortunately  right  and 
justice  triumphed  over  intrigue,  and  Abbon 
\vas  solemnly  recognized  as  abbot  of  the 
monastery  of  Fleury,  which  he  governed  with 
great  wisdom  until  his  death. 


GREGORY  THE  FIFTH,  THE   ONE   HUNDRED   AND   FORTY- 
FIFTH   POPE. 

[A.  D.  996.] 

Bruno,  the  nepkeio  of  the  emperor,  chosen  pope,  and  ordained  under  the  name  of  Gregory  the 
Fifth — His  character — Otho  the  Third  quits  Rome  and  returns  to  his  kingdom — Crcsccntius 
becomes  master  of  the  holy  city — Gregory  the  Fifth  driven  from  his  See,  and  takes  refuge  in 
Tuscany. 


Otho  the  Third  was  at  the  head  of  his 
army  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ravenna,  when 
John  the  Fifteenth  died.  The  senate  and  prin- 
cipal dignitaries  of  Rome,  immediately  sent 
embassadors  to  him,  to  receive  his  orders  in 
relation  to  the  election  of  a  pontiff.  The  em- 
peror then  chose  from  among  the  ecclesiastics 
of  his  chapel,  the  young  Bruno,  the  son  of 
his  sister  Judith  and  of  Otho  of  Saxony,  mar- 
qui.s  of  Verona,  and  presented  him  to  "the  de- 
puties as  the  pope  whose  nomination  would 
be  most  acceptable  to  him. 

Bruno  was  happily  endowed  by  nature; 
he  possessed  some  knowledge  of  belles  lettres, 
and  spoke  the  German,  the  pure  Latin,  and 
the  vulgar  idiom,  that  is  to  say,  the  languages 
used  in  the  tenth  century  in  Gaul,  Germany, 
and  the  States  of  the  Church.  From  his  in- 
fancy he  had  been  consecrated  to  God,  and 
honoured  the  priesthood  by  his  virtues.    Not- 


withstanding his  distaste  for  greatness,  he 
yielded  to  the  requests  of  his  uncle,  who 
wished  to  raise  him  to  the  pontifical  throne. 
Villegisus,  the  metropolitan  of  Mayence,  and 
the  bishop  Adebaldus,  were  intrusted  to  con- 
duct him  to  the  holy  city,  where  he  was  en- 
throned under  the  name  of  Gregory  the  Fifth. 
But  the  exercise  of  power  soon  changed  the 
good  qualities  of  Bruno  into  vices. 

Otho  shortly  after  went  to  Rome,  to  be  so- 
lemnly consecrated  emperor  of  Italy  by  his 
nephew;  this  ceremony  finished,  the  prince 
assembled  the  senate  and  principal  citizens 
to  deliberate  upon  the  propriety  of  exiling  the 
turbulent  Crescentius,  who  had  oppressed  the 
Holy  See  during  the  preceding  reign  ;  but  the 
new  pontiff  being  desirous  of  augmenting  his 
popularity,  by  an  act  of  indulgence,  inter- 
ceded with  his  uncle  in  favour  of  the  accused, 
and  at  the  same  time,  obtained  an  assurance 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


316 


from  him,  that  he  would  not  disturb  his  tran- 
quillity. 

At  the  same  time,  Herlouin,  bishop  of  Cam- 
bray,  went  to  Rome  to  obtain  the  confirmation 
of  his  bishopric,  which  could  not  be  done  by 
his  metropolitan,  on  account  of  the  strife  be- 
tween Arnold  and  Gerbert,  vvhich  left  the 
church  of  Rheims  without  a  director.  The 
pope  consecrated  the  prelate,  and  even  gave 
nim  a  bull  of  excommunication,  to  prevent 
the  French  lords  from  pillaging  the  goods  of 
his  diocese. 


Otho  the  Third,  thinking  that  he  had  esta- 
blished his  sway  over  Italy  on  a  solid  basis, 
repassed  the  Alps  and  returned  to  his  kijig- 
dom  ;  but  Crescentius  had  not  abandoned  his 
project  of  recovering  the  liberty  of  Rome. 
After  the  departure  of  the  emperor,  he  raised 
the  standard  of  revolt,  drove  out  the  strangers 
from  the  city,  and  was  proclaimed  consul  of 
the  Roman  republic.  Gregory  was  deprived 
of  his  wealth  and  dignity,  and  was  constrained 
to  take  refuge  in  Tuscany,  from  whence  he 
afterwards  passed  into  Lombardy, 


JOHN  THE  SIXTEENTH,  ANTI-POPE- 

[A.  D.  997.] 

The  anti-pope  Philagalhus  seizes  on  the  Holy  See — Remarkable  -history  of  John  the  Sixteenth — 
Character  of  the  anti-pope — Gregory  the  Fifth  takes  refuge  in  Pavia,  and  excommunicates 
Crescentius  and  his  adherents — The  bishops  of  Italy,  Germany,  and  Gaul  excommunicate  John 
the  Sixteenth — The  emperor  comes  into  Italy — Cruelties  exercised  towards  the  anti-pope  and 
Crescentius — Gregory  the  Fifth  and  Otho  re-enter  Rome — Different  opinions  as  to  the  punish- 
ment  of  the  anti-pope — St.  Nil  makes  a  journey  to  Rome  to  obtain  the  liberty  of  John  the 
Sixteenth. 


Crescentius  having  become  the  consul  of 
the  Roman  republic,  raised  to  the  pontilical 
throne  one  of  his  partizans,  who  was  enthroned 
under  the  name  of  John  the  Si.xteenth.  This 
new  pope  was  bom  at  Rossano,  in  Calabria, 
and  was  called  Philagathus.  His  parents 
were  Greeks,  and  of  a  low  condition. 

In  his  youth  he  had  embraced  the  monastic 
life.  He  had  afterwards  obtained  a  place  at 
the  court  of  Otho  the  Second,  and  had  insinu- 
ated himself  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
prince,  by  the  aid  of  the  empress  Theophania, 
to  whose  debaucheries  he  had  become  the 
purveyor.  Philagathus  had  been  at  first  sup- 
ported from  pity.  He  had  from  this  the  ad- 
dress to  place  himself  among  the  most  skilful 
courtiers,  and  maintained  his  credit  until  the 
death  of  the  emperor.  Ambitious,  violent, 
and  depraved,  he  employed  all  the  resources 
of  his  vicious  mind  to  arrive  at  the  highest 
dignities.  During  the  minority  of  Otho  the 
Third,  he  obtained  the  See  of  Placenza,  with 
the  title  of  archbishop.  He  was  also  embas- 
sador to  Constantinople,  when  me  of  the 
daughters  of  the  emperor  of  the  East  was  de- 
manded in  marriage  for  that  young  prince. 
These  different  successes  e.valled  his  vani- 
ty, and  he  finally  aspired  to  the  sovereign 
power. 

On  his  return  to  Rome,  in  997,  he  joined 
the  party  of  the  people,  and  became,  through 
ambition,  one  of  the  most  ardent  (lefenders 
of  the  republic.  Crescentius  then  proclaimed 
him  pontiff. 

Gregory  the  Fifth,  who  had  taken  refuge  at 
Pavia,  held  a  great  council,  in  which  he  ex- 
communicated Crescentius  and  his  partizans. 
John  the  Sixteenth  was  also  condemned  by 
the  bishops  of  Germany,  Italy  and  Gaul. 

As  soon  as  Otho  was  apprised  of  the  revolt 


of  the  Romans,  he  assembled  new  troops, 
confided  the  government  of  Germany  to  his 
aunt,  Matilda,  abbess  of  Quedlemberg,  and 
returned  into  Italy. 

On  the  approach  of  the  German  troops,  the 
anti-pope  fled  like  a  coward  from  the  holy 
city,  whilst  Crescentius  threw  himself  into 
the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  to  resist  the  oppres- 
sor of  his  country. 

Authors  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  punishment 
or  death  of  John  the  Sixteenth.  Some  main- 
tain that  the  ))riests  arrested  him,  put  out  his 
eyes,  cut  off  his  nose  and  ears,  and  that  the 
unfoitunate  man  finally  died  in  consequence 
of  this  bloody  treatment  in  the  interior  of 
Germany,  whither  Oiho  had  exiled  him. — 
Others  assure  us,  that  it  was  the  prince  him- 
self who  mutilated  him,  and  condemned  him 
to  be  precipitated  from  the  top  of  the  great 
tower  of  Adrian. 

Some  chroniclers  relate,  that  St.  Nil,  the  fel- 
low countryman  of  the  anti-pope,  wrote  to  him 
exhorting  him  to  renounce  the  glories  of  this 
world,  with  which  he  should  be  satiated,  to  re- 
turn to  the  quiet  of  a  monastic  life.  They  add 
that  Philagathus,  touched  by  the  exhortations 
of  the  pious  cenobite,  was  preparing  to  abandon 
the  tiara,  when  these  fatal  events  happened. 
According  to  their  version,  he  was  publicly 
whipped,  mutilated  with  horrible  cruelty,  and 
cast  into  prison  by  the  orders  of  Gregory  the 
Fifth.  St.  Nil  having  heard  of  these  acts  of 
barbarity,  was  filled  with  grief,  and  resolved 
to  make  a  journey  to  Rome  notwithstanding 
his  extreme  old  age,  and  his  constant  sick- 
ness, to  obtain  a  mitigation  of  the  cruel  treat- 
ment exercised  towards  the  unfortunate  Phi- 
lagalhus. 

Gregory  and  the  emperor  met  the  holy  fa- 
ther three  miles  from  Rome,  each  taking  him 


316 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


by  the  hand,  conducted  him  in. this  manner  to 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  seated  him  be- 
tween them,  overwhelming  him  with  marks 
of  deference.  The  venerable  old  man  groan- 
ed in  secret  at  all  these  honours,  but  endured 
them  in  hopes  of  more  readily  pleasing  his 
illustrious  hosts.  "Most  holy  father,  and 
you,  most  powerful  emperor,"  he  exclaimed, 
"I  beseech  you  to  treat  me  as  the  greatest 
sinner  among  men.  Allow  me  to  prostrate 
myself  at  your  feet,  and  honour  your  supreme 
dignity,  that  you  may  listen  favourably  to  my 
entreaties  for  the  unfortunate  mutilated  whom 
you  have  cast  into  prison.  I  beseech  you  to 
restore  him  to  me,  as  the  consolation  of  my 
last  days.  I  will  take  him  with  me  to  our 
monastery,  and  we  will  weep  together  over 
our  faults  and  our  sins." 

This  touching  request  drew  tears  from  the 
eyes  of  all  the  assistants.  The  pope  and 
emperor  alone  remained  immovable.  Otho 
however  replied  :  '•'  We  will  do  as  you  wish, 
my  father,  if  you  consent  to  remain  with 
us." 

The  government  of  the  monastery  of  Atha- 
nasius,  which  was  remote  from  the  noise  of 
the  city,  and  had  for  a  long* time  been  appro- 
priated to  Greek  monks,  was  offered  to  him  ; 
he  accepted  it  in  order  to  serve  the  unfortunate 
John.  But  sacerdotal  hatred  was  not  yet  as- 
suaged, and  Gregory  the  Fifth,  in  order  to 
augment  the  sufferings  of  the  anti-pope  caus- 
ed him  to  be  conducted  through  the  streets 
of  Rome,  mounted  backwards  upon  an  ass, 
holding  the  tail  in  his  hand,  and  clothed  in 
the  shreds  of  his  pontifical  ornaments. 

The  venerable  St.  Nil  then  wrote  to  the  so- 
vereign pontiff  and  to  the  prince,  to  complain 
of  this  excessive  harshness,  '■  You  have  grant- 
ed to  me  the  liberty  of  this  blind  man,"  he 
said  to  them,  "  and  yet  you  now  are  aug- 
menting his  misfortunes.  It  is  not  him  whom 
yon  are  really  punishing,  it  is  I  myself,  or 
rather  it  is  Jesus  Christ.  Know  then,  if  you 
have  no  pity  on  this  unfortunate  who  is  in  your 
hands,  your  heavenly  Father  will  have  no  pity 
on  you."  The  holy  father  could  not  obtain 
the  pardon  of  John  the  Sixteenth,  and  was 
obliged  to  return  alone  to  his  old  monastery. 

The  retreat  of  St.  Nil  was  situated  near 
Gaeta,  in  a  retired  spot,  desert  and  remote  from 
all  habitations.  He  had  chcsen  this  rustic 
solitude,  that  his  monks  might  abandon  them- 
selves solely  to  poverty,  prayer,  meditation, 
and  the  reading  of  holy  books:  "for,"  said  he 
"convents,  which  are  too  rich,  soon  pervert 


the  morals  of  our  brethren,  and  contribute  to 
the  relaxation  of  religious  discipline." 

Otho  professed  so  great  respect  for  St.  Nil, 
that  a  few  months  after  these  events,  when 
returning  from  Mont  Gargan,  whither  he  had 
been  to  receive  the  submission  of  the  chief 
of  that  country,  he  wished  to  visit  this  venera- 
ble abbot.  He  humbly  confessed  to  him  all 
the  faults  of  his  life,  and  shed  a  flood  of  tears 
as  a  mark  of  contrition  for  the  cruelties  which 
he  had  permitted  the  pope  to  exercise. 

The  punishment  of  Crescentius  is  also  re- 
lated in  different  ways.  Some  say  that  this 
generous  republican  having  thrown  himself 
into  the  tower  of  Adrian,  resisted  the  forces 
of  the  emperor  for  several  months;  at  length 
seeing  his  soldiers  decimated  by  famine,  or 
the  sword  of  his  enemies,  he  devoted  himself 
for  the  safety  of  all,  and  came  in  the  garb  of 
a  suppliant,  to  cast  himself  at  the  feet  of  Otho 
and  implore  his  clemency. 

This  cruel  prince  was  unwilling  even  to  re- 
ceive him,  and  replied  to  those  who  raised  a 
voice  in  his  defence,  "  Do  you  wish  that  the 
consul  of  the  Romans,  this  fierce  republican, 
who  degrades  emperors  and  dethrones  popes, 
to  be  content  with  our  Saxon  huts,  whither 
you  would  permit  him  to  go  1  No,  no,  I  will 
not  suffer  him  to  abase  himself  in  my  pre- 
sence. Let  him  be  re-conducted  to  his  castle, 
where  we  will  soon  render  him  the  honours 
which  are  his  due." 

Crescentius  then  returned  to  his  fortress, 
where  he  defended  himself  with  the  greatest 
courage ;  at  length  the  castle,  stripped  of  its 
defenders,  was  carried  by  assault.  All  who 
were  found  in  it  were  put  to  the  sword,  and 
the  brave  Crescentius  was  thrown  from  the 
summit  of  the  tower  which  afterwards  bore 
his  name. 

Other  historians  relate  a  part  of  the  facts 
which  we  have  given  as  to  the  death  of  the 
anti-pope  in  connection  with  that  of  his.  Mo- 
reri  maintains  that  Crescentius  was  simply 
beheaded,  and  that  his  dead  body  was  dragged 
through  the  mire  and  hung  to  a  very  high  tree. 
It  is  difficult  to  judge  among  those  different 
versions,  for  the  annals  of  that  portion  of  the 
middle  age  have  passed  through  so  many 
hands  interested  in  altering  them,  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  discover  the  truth  in 
texts  covered  whh  interpolations  and  errors ; 
and  there  is  no  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
church  during  the  century,  which  has  not 
been  embroidered  according  to  the  caprices 
of  the  imagination  of  cotemporary  authors. 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES, 


317 


RE-INSTALLATION  OF  GREGORY  THE  FIFTH, 

[A.  D.  997.] 

Re-installation  of  Gregory  the  Fifth — The  electors  of  the  empire  attributed  to  this  pope — Second 
journey  of  St.  Abbon  to  Rome — Reinstalment  of  Arnold  on  the  See  of  Rheims — Gerbert  named 
archbishop  of  Ravenna — Council  of  Rome — Re-installation  of  the  bishop  of  Mersburg — Depo- 
sition of  Stephen,  bishop  of  Puy  in  Vclay — Excommunication  of  King  Robert  and  his  wife 
Bertha — Superstition  of  the  age — Death  of  the  pope. 

immediately  sent  Abbon  of  Fleury  into  Italy 
to  allay  the  storm.  This  latter  went  to  Spo- 
letto,  where  the  pope  then  was,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  iiicat  honours  by  him  ;  but  in- 
stead of  pleading  the  cause  of  the  kiiig,  he 
occupied  himself  with  his  own  private  inter- 
ests. Abbon  received  from  the  young-  pope  a 
magnificent  cha.'^nble.  as  a  testimony  of  his 
high  esteem ;  and  Gregory  then  made  a  decree, 
by  which  he  conceded  to  the  monastery  of 
Fleury  the  privilege  of  being  independent  of 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  of  not  being 
placed  under  interdict,  even  when  all  the  rest 
of  Gaul  was. 

On  his  return  to  France,  Abbon  obtained 
from  the  king  the  re-inslallation  of  Arnold  on 
the  chair  of  Rheims,  and  gave  to  the  new  arch- 
bishop the  pallium  which  he  had  received 
from  the  hands  of  the  holy  father.  In  his  let- 
ters to  Gregory,  he  rendered  an  account  of 
the  fidelity  with  which  he  had  executed  the 
orders  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  he  besought 
the  pontiff  to  engage  Arnold  to  occupy  him- 
self more  with  his  duties,  in  order  to  re-assem- 
ble his  clergy,  which  was  dispersed,  and  to 
cause  the  property  which  had  been  lost  during 
the  vacancy  of  the  Holy  See  to  be  restored  to 
his  church. 

Gerbert,  abandoned  by  Robert  the  Second, 
and  despoiled  of  his  dignities  by  the  unjust 
sentence  of  the  pope,  went  to  the  emperor, 
who  made  him  metropolitan  of  Ravenna.  The 
sovereign  pontifi"  who  had  pursued  Gerbert  in 
order  to  abase  the  crown  of  France,  hastened 
to  confirm  the  election  of  the  learned  pre- 
late. He  even  sent  him  the  pallium,  and  a 
letter  in  which  he  renewed  all  the  ancient 
privileges  of  that  metropolitan  See,  and  also 
granted  him  authority  over  the  Sees  of  ]\Ion- 
Tefelto  and  Plaicenza. 

During  this  year  the  holy  father  convoked 
a  council  at  Rome,  which  was  opened  in  the 
presence  of  the  emperor  :  twenty-ein;ht  bishops 
assembled  under  the  presidency  of  the  pope. 
It  was  occupied  with  the  re-establishment  of 
the  bishopric  of  INIersburg.  which  had  been 
suppressed  bv  Otho  the  Second;  it  was  then 
engaged  with  the  condemnation  of  King  Robert 
and  his  cousin,  which  was  the  principal  cause 
of  its  assembling.  The  council  made  eight 
decrees  against  the  king.  The  first  was.  that 
the  prince  should  immediately  separate  him- 
self from  his  cousin,  whom  he  had  married  in 
opposition  to  the  laws  of  the  church,  and  con- 
demned him  for  seven  years  to  the  public 
penance  which  the  fathers  prescribed  for  thia 
crime.     A  like  excommunication  was  lanched 


Whatever  may  have  been  the  nature  of 
the  punishment  inflicted  on  the  anti-pope  Phi- 
lagalhus,  it  is  certain  that  he  was  driven  from 
the  throne  of  St.  Peter  in  the  year  977,  and 
that  Gregory  the  Filth  immediately  re-as- 
sumed the  exercise  of  the  pontifical  autho- 
rity. The  pope,  desirous  of  favouring  the 
ambition  of  his  uncle,  and  of  avenging  him- 
self on  the  Romans,  matle  a  decree,  which 
transferred  to  the  Germans  the  right  of  choos- 
ing the  emperor,  a  privilege  which  the  Italians 
had  always  possessed  until  that  period.  This 
power  was  conceded  to  the  archbishops  of 
Mayence  and  Treves,  and  Cologne,  and  to 
three  secular  princes,  the  Count-palatin,  the 
duke  of  Saxony,  and  the  Marquis  of  Branden- 
burg, who  formed  the  first  electoral  college. 
But  this  is  the  most  obscure  fact  in  the  history 
of  Germany,  and  that  on  which  Protestants 
and  Catholics  have  written  with  the  most  par- 
tiality and  violence. 

James  Lampadius,  a  German  jurisconsult, 
does  not  recognize  either  Gregory  the  Fifth, 
or  Otho  the  Third,  as  the  founders  of  this  in- 
stitution, which  he  attributes  to  Frederick  the 
Second.  Otho  of  Prising  assures  us,  that  be- 
fore the  time  of  Gregory  ilio  Seventh,  who 
occasioned  such  great  trouble  in  the  order  of 
succession  in  Germany,  the  emperors  were 
chosen  by  the  states,  that  is  the  diets.  Ac- 
cording to  Trithemus,  William,  count  of  Hol- 
land, was  the  first  who  received  the  iron 
crown  and  sceptre  from  the  seven  electors. 
John  Frederick  Bockleman  puts  forth  an 
analogous  opiiuon,  and,  according  to  him,  the 
origin  of  the  Septemvirate  electoral  college 
dates  from  the  election  of  Count  Adolphus  of 
Nassau.  Finally,  Maimbourg  alfirm.s,  with 
reason,  that  all  that  has  been  written  about 
Otho  and  Gregory,  in  relation  to  the  right  of 
choosing  electors,  can  be  charged  with  uncer- 
tainty and  errors. 

After  the  death  of  Hugh  Capet,  King  Rob- 
ert, his  son  and  successor,  espoused  his  cousin 
Bertha,  the  widow  of  Eudes,  count  of  Blois 
and  Chartrcs,  notwithstanding  the  canons  of 
the  church,  which  prohibited  alliances  be- 
tween relations.  The  prince,  in  order  to  ar- 
rest ecclesiastical  censures,  hastened  to  otTer 
large  sums  of  money  to  the  holy  father;  but 
as  the  policy  of  the  emperor  Otho  was  opposed 
to  the  conclusion  of  this  marriage,  the  sove- 
reign pontiff  remained  intractable,  and  threat- 
ened to  place  the  kingdom  of  France  under  an 
interdict,  if  the  king  did  not  at  once  leave  his 
cousin.  The  superstitious  Robert,  alarmed 
at  the  consequences  of  this  excommunication, 


318 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


against  Bertha;  against  Archambaud,  arch- 
bishop of  Tours,  who  had  pronounced  the  nup- 
tial benediction^  and  finally  all  the  priests  who 
had  assisted  at  this  ceremony,  were  sus- 
pended from  their  functions  until  they  should 
come  to  beg  pardon  of  the  Holy  See. 

The  councd  also  deposed  Stephen,  bishop 
of  Puy  in  Velay,  who  had  been  consecrated 
by  Guy,  his  uncle  and  predecessor,  without 
the  consent  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  and  wtio 
had  been  ordained  by  two  prelates,  strangers 
in  the  province.  King  Robert  was  expressly 
prohibited  from  granting  his  protection  to  the 
deposed  prelate,  and  he  was  enjoined  to  take 
measures  to  sustain  the  new  election  which 
the  people  and  ecclesiastics  of  that  diocese 
were  about  to  make. 

Robert,  notwithstanding  the  threats  and 
prohibitions  of  Rome,  having  desired  to  main- 
tain Stephen  on  the  See  of  Puy  in  Velay,  and 
to  continue  his  mtimate  relations  with  his 
wife  Queen  Bertha,  they  were  both  solemnly 
excommunicated.  Gregory  the  Fifth,  placed 
the  kingdom  of  France  under  an  interdict) 
divine  service  ceased  through  all  its  provinces; 
the  sacraments  were  unadministered,  and  the 
dead  remained  unburied.  •  The  superstition 
of  this  period  was  so  great,  that  no  one  dared 
to  approach  the  king.  Two  servants  handed 
to  him  from  the  end  of  a  pole,  the  dishes  des- 
tined for  his  table,  and  cast  into  the  fire  all 
the  vessels  witlr  which  he  was  served.  Father 
Damian  relates,  that  during  this  excommuni- 
cation. Robert  and  Bertha  produced  a  mon- 
ster, which  had  the  head  and  neck  of  a  goose. 
Finally,  after  three  years  of  suffering,  the  king 
was  compelled  to  obey  the  pope  and  repudiate 
his  cousin  ! 

Robert  was  a  feeble,  pusillanimous  prince  ; 
he  discovered,  in  the  end.  that  he  owed  all  his 
misfortunes  to  St.  Abbon,  who,  instead  of  soli- 
citing at  Rome  the  confirmation  of  the  mar- 


riage of  his  sovereign,  was  occupied  with  his 
private  interests,  without  disquieting  himself 
concerning  the  misfortunes  of  the  kingdom. 
Thus  Gregory  the  Fifth,  during  a  reign  of  two 
years  and  nine  months,  committed  an  irrepa- 
rable evil  to  Italy,  by  taking  away  from  it  the 
election  of  the  emperors,  threw  Spain  into 
commotion,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  great 
disasters  to  France  by  abasing  royalty,  and 
submitting  it  to  the  sacerdotal  power.  He 
finally  died  on  the  18th  of  February,  999. 

For  the  purpose  of  extending  his  sway  over 
Spain,  Gregory  had  censured  Bertrand  the 
Second,  the  sovereign  of  the  kingdom  of  Leon. 
This  prince,  who  had  reigned  since  982,  had 
drawn  upon  himself  the  hatred  of  the  clergy  by 
his  arrest  of  Gondestus,  bishop  of  Oveido,  and 
of  Athaulph,  bishop  of  Compostello,  both  ac- 
cused of  enormous  crimes.  His  love  for  justice 
became  fatal  to  him  ;  for  several  priests  whom 
he  had  driven  from  his  court  on  account  of 
their  connection  with  the  acts  charged  upon 
the  prelates,  took  refuge  with  Issem,  king 
of  Cordova.  In  consequence  of  their  advice, 
Mahommed  Almanzor,  the  prime  minister  of 
that  sovereign,  undertook  the  conquest  of  the 
kingdom  of  Bertrand,  and  these  renegadoes 
conducted  their  enemies  even  up  to  the  walls 
of  Leon,  which  was  taken  by  assault  and  re- 
duced to  ashes.  The  city  of  Astorga  under- 
went the  same  fate.  The  churches  were 
ravaged,  the  monasteries  burned,  the  nuns 
violated  and  murdered.  For  several  years  this 
unfortunate  country  was  reduced  to  such  a 
state  of  misery,  that  entire  provinces  became 
vast  deserts.  But  Garcia  the  Trembler,  king 
of  Navarre,  and  Garcia  Fernandez,  count  ot 
Castile,  having  come  to  the  assistance  of  the 
states  of  Leon,  gfined  a  signal  victory  over 
the  Arabs,  drove  them  back  even  to  Cordova, 
and  re-established  peace  and  prosperity  in  the 
kingdom  of  Leon. 


THE     ELEVENTH    CENTURY. 

SYLVESTER  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
SIXTH  POPE. 

Strantre  genealogy  of  the  new  pontiff — His  true  origin — His  education  among  the  Moors  of  Spain 
— The  introduction  of  algebra  into  France  attributed  to  him — He  takes  the  side  of  King  Hugh — ■ 
Makes  a  clock  for  Magdeburg — Is  accused  of  magic — History  of  the  brazen  head — The  Andro- 
■ide,  or  man  made  by  the  sorcerer  Albert  the  Great — Sylvester  confirms  the  re-installation  of  his 
enemy  Arnold — He  increases  the  riches  of  the  church — Revolt  of  the  Romans  against  Otho — • 
The  emperor  besieged  in  his  palace — His  death — Great  scandal  in  the  church  in  relation  to  thi 
jurisdiction  of  a  convent  of  girls — Council  of  Rome — Cruelties  of  Sylvester — Ridiculous  stories 
about  his  death — History  of  his  dead  body — Reflections  on  the  eleventh  century. 


Bsovius  assures  us,  that  the  pontiff  Sylves- 
ter the  Second  was  born  in  Guyenne,  and  that 
he  was  descended  from  a  king  of  Argos, 
named  Temenus,  who  was  himself  of  the  race 
of  Hercules,  and  the  chief  of  the  Heraclidae  in 
the  expedition  in  w^hich  they  reconquered  the 


Peloponnesus,  a  period  which  coincides  with 
that  at  which  the  Bible  fixes  the  birth  of  the 
prophet  Samuel.  If  this  genealogy  were  true, 
the  pope  would  have  had  Jupiter  for  his  an- 
cestor, and  this  vicar  of  the  God  of  the  Chris- 
tians would  have  descended  directly  from  an 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


319 


adultery  committed  by  the  father  of  the  pagan 
gods. 

Some  authors,  doubtless  more  correct,  main- 
tain that  he  was  born  in  Auvergne,  and  that 
his  parents  were  poor  mountaineers,  who 
placed  him  at  Aurillac,  in  the  monastery  of 
St.  Gerald,  where  he  was  educated  Irom 
charity.  His  name  was  Gerbert.  His  pro- 
gress was  very  rapid,  and  the  )'Oung  pupil 
soon  outstripped  even  his  professors.  The 
abbot  Gerald;  of  St.  Serein,  who  felt  a  friend- 
ship for  him,  sent  him  into  Spain,  to  Borel, 
count  of  Barcelona,  who  conlided  him  to  the 
care  of  bishop  Haiton,  to  teach  him  mathe- 
matics. 

Gerbert  frequented  assiduously  the  Arab 
academies,  where  he  learned  algebra,  astro- 
logy, and  alchymy.  In  a  journey  which  Count 
Borel  and  Bishop  Haiton  made  to  Rome,  they 
took  their  protege  with  them,  and  presented 
him  to  Otho  the  Second.  During  the  follow- 
ing year,  Gerbert  had  a  conference,  in  the 
presence  of  the  prince,  with  the  Saxon  Otric, 
who  was  then  renov/ned  for  his  immense 
learning.  All  the  remarkable  men  of  Ger- 
maii}',  Gaul,  and  Italy  were  present  at  this 
species  of  scientific  congress,  when  he  ob- 
tained the  place  of  preceptor  to  the  son  of  the 
emperor.  To  reward  his  care,  Otho  after- 
wards gave  him  the  celebrated  abbey  of 
Bobio,  founded  by  St.  Colombon.  This  gift 
was  approved  by  the  clergy  and  the  people, 
and  contirmed  by  the  sovereign  pontiff.  Un- 
fortunately the  great  wealth  of  this  monastery 
had  been  alienated  by  libelatical  concessions, 
by  the  usurpations  of  the  neighbouring  lords, 
and,  above  all,  by  the  dilapidations  of  the  bi- 
shop of  Pavia,  who  was  afterwards  elevatetl 
to  the  papacy  under  the  name  of  John  the 
Fourteenth.  Gerbert  was  obliged  to  bestow 
all  his  care  on  the  management  of  the  property 
of  the  convent,  in  order  to  repair  the  malver- 
sations of  his  predecessors. 

After  the  death  of  Otho  the  Second,  Italy 
remained  delivered  over  to  the  oppression  of 
several  tyrants,  to  whom  each  church  would 
have  been  compelled  to  submit,  if  the  bishops 
had  not  levied  troops  to  resist  them  by  force 
of  arms.  Gerbert,  in  order  to  avoid  witness- 
ing so  afflicting  a  spectacle,  quitted  his  abbey 
and  came  to  Rheims,  to  the  metropolitan 
Adalberon,  who  entertained  a  strong  affection 
for  him.  He,  however,  remained  always  at- 
tached to  Otho  the  Third,  and  maintained  the 
interests  of  the  young  emperor  against  the 
enterprises  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria  and  King 
Lothaire.  The  letters  which  he  wrote  to  the 
prelates  of  Liege,  Metz,  Treves,  and  May- 
ence,  show  that  the  court  of  Germany  had 
not,  at  that  period,  a  more  zealous  partizan 
than  he. 

Notwithstanding  the  active  part  he  took  in 
political  affairs,  Gerbert  continued  to  cultivate 
the  sciences,  and  undertook  the  direction  of 
the  school  of  Rheims.  King  Robert,  the  son 
of  Hugh  Capet,  pursued  his  studies  under  this 
illustrious  teacher.  There  is  still  extant  a 
letter  written  by  Adalberon  to  the  empress 
Theophania,  asking  for  a  diocese  for  Gerbert. 


This  proceeding  had  not  a  favourable  result. 
The  abbot  of  Bobio  afterwards  claimed  the 
See  of  Rheims,  under  the  pretext  that  the 
metropolitan  before  his  death  had  chosen  him 
10  govern  this  church.  Arnold  was  preferred 
to  hnn ;  Gerbert  remained,  nevertheless,  at- 
tached to  the  See  of  Rheims )  he  even,  from 
regard  for  the  new  archbishop,  took  the  part 
of  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine,  for  the  purpose 
of  sustaining  the  legitimate  heir  of  the  crown 
of  France  against  the  usui-per  Hugh. 

When,  however,  Capet  was  established  on 
the  throne,  Gerbert  secretly  solicited  from  him 
the  archbishopric  of  Kheims,  betrayed  Arnold, 
and  finally  obtained  the  order  to  replace  his 
metropolitan.  This  scandalous  affair  occupied 
the  entire  reign  of  John  the  Fifteenth,  and 
was  only  terminated  during  that  of  Gregory 
the  Fifth. 

On  the  arrival  to  the  throne  of  Robert  the 
Second,  the  son  of  Hugh,  Arnold  v.as  re-in- 
stalled in  his  See,  and  Gerbert  was  obliged  to 
retire  to  the  emperor  Otho  the  Third,  who  ele- 
vated him  to  the  archbishopric  of  Ravenna. 
A  year  afterwards,  he  was  chosen  pope  under 
the  name  of  Sylvester  the  Second.  The  sur- 
prising fortune  of  this  mountaineer  came  from 
his  extreme  finesse,  his  duplicity,  and  the  art 
which  he  had  of  insinuating  him.self  into  the 
good  graces  of  the  great.  His  know  ledge  of 
chemistry  caused  him  to  be  accused  of  magic, 
and  several  ecclesiastical  authors  maintain, 
that  he  only  arrived  at  the  See  of  St.  Peter 
through  the  assistance  of  the  devil,  from 
whom  he  had  bought  the  pontifical  tiara. 
They  thus  relate  the  fact:  "Gerbert,"  they 
say,  '-'had  made,  under  propitious  constella- 
tions, a  head  of  brass,  in  which  he  forced  the 
anti-christ  to  dwell.  Once  in  his  prison,  the 
devil  was  enchained  by  magical  formularies, 
which  the  Arabs  had  taught  him,  and  he  tor- 
mented the  spirit  of  evil  until  he  spoke  by  the 
mouth  of  this  brazen  monster.  Those  who 
were  stationed  near  the  oratory  of  the  pope 
had  frequently  heard  the  devil  say  to  him: 
'  I  cannot  bear  this  any  longer ;  I  grant  you 
all  that  you  ask  of  me.'" 

Yesses  states  that  Henry  of  Velleine,  Robert 
of  Lincoln,  and  Roger  Bacon,  had  similar 
heads;  and  if  we  can  believe  Naude  in  his 
apology  for  great  men,  that  Albert  the  Great 
had  made  an  entire  man  who  revealed  to  him 
the  present,  the  past,  and  the  future.  He 
had  employed,  they  said,  thirty  years  of  his 
life  in  framing  it.  under  divers  aspects  of  the 
constellations;  the  eyes,  for  example,  had 
been  made  wIkmi  the  sun  entered  the  sign  of 
the  zodiac  which  ruled  the  alloyage  of  metals. 
It  was  the  same  with  the  head,  the  neck,  the 
shoulders,  the  waist,  the  thighs,  the  legs,  and 
tor  all  the  other  parts  of  the  body,  which  he  had 
made  in  accordance  with  the  times  in  which 
the  planets  which  corresponded  with  them  ap- 
peared. This  figure  was  .since  called' the  An- 
droi(l(>s  of  Albert:  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
broke  it,  because,  as  he  assures  us,  it  stunned 
him  with  the  continual  noise  of  its  prophecies. 

Sylvester  was  also  verv  skilful  in  the  me- 
chanic arts;   the   iuventiou  of   clocks  with 


320 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


pendulums  is  attributed  to  him;  he  construct- 
ed several  of  them  with  his  own  hand,  and 
particularly  that  of  the  cathedral  of  Magde- 
burg, which  marked  the  seasons,  the  days, 
the  mouths,  the  hours,  and  the  lunar  phases ; 
he  made  algebra  a  common  study,  and  was  a 
great  lover  of  old  books,  which  he  sought  for 
in  Spain,  Italy,  Gaul,  Belgium,  and  Germany, 
and  even  in  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Eastern 
empire.  He  wrote  several  treatises  on  rheto- 
ric and  medicine,  and  was  constantly  occupied 
with  astrology,  or  rather  astronomy,  and  con- 
structed several  spheres,  which  he  proudly 
calletl  his  best  works. 

Soon  after  his  elevation  to  the  pontifical 
throne,  Gerbert  definitely  re-established  Ar- 
nold in  the  archbishopric  of  Rheims,  although 
that  prelate  had  earnestly  pursued  him,  and 
compelled  him  to  take  refuge  in  France.  This 
act  of  greatness  of  soul  was  inspired  rather 
by  skilful  policy  than  by  true  generosity.  In 
his  letter  to  Arnold,  he  said  to  him  that  it  was 
the  privilege  of  the  Supreme  See  to  pardon 
guilty  ecclesiastics;  and  that  the  metropolitan 
of  Rheims,  although  deposed  for  grave  sub- 
jects, yet  not  having  been  condemned  by  the 
court  of  Rome,  could  be  rejTiaced  in  his  former 
condition,  through  the  goodness  of  Sylvester. 

This  pontiff  augmented  prodigiously  the 
domains  of  the  church ;  he  received  from 
Otho  the  Third,  his  old  pupil,  the  city  of  Ver- 
ceil,  the  country  which  was  dependant  on  it, 
and  the  country  of  Saint-Agatha,  with  the 
right  of  government  and  justice  in  these  pro- 
vinces. On  his  entreaty,  the  emperor  con- 
firmed the  privileges  which  had  been  granted 
to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  by  Pepin,  Charle- 
magne, and  Louis  the  Good  Natured. 

It  was  at  the  commencement  of  his  reign, 
that  Sylvester  granted  to  St.  Stephen,  king  of 
Hungary,  the  royal  crown,  with  the  privilege 
of  transmitting  it  to  all  his  successors ;  he  even 
wished  the  cross  to  be  borne  before  the  prince, 
and  narneci  him  as  his  perpetual  legate  to  re- 
ward him  for  his  apostolic  conduct  in  convert- 
ing the  greatest  part  of  his  people  to  the  Chris- 
tian faith. 

Otho  was  then  in  Poland,  where  he  had 
conferred  the  title  of  king  on  Duke  Boleslas; 
but  he  was  soon  recalled  into  Italy  to  combat 
the  Romans,  who  had  revolted  against  his 
generals.  The  emperor  entered  the  country  : 
retook  Capua  from  the  Saracens,  distributed 
his  army  through  the  cities  of  Campania,  and 
entered  victorious  into  Rome,  followed  by  his 
choicest  troops.  But  the  day  after  his  instal- 
lation in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  the  people 
having  assembled,  flew  to  arms,  and  besieged 
him  in  his  palace  with  such  vigour,  that  he 
would  have  been  forced  to  surrender,  if  Hugh, 
marquis  of  Etruria,  and  Henry,  duke  of  Ba- 
varia, the  prefects  of  the  city,  had  not  afforded 
him  the  means  of  leaving  it,  by  parleying 
with  the  rebels.  Otho,  delivered  from'  the 
peril,  caused  all  his  troops  to  advance,  invaded 
Rome  a  second  time,  and  punished  the  authors 
of  the  sedition,  with  extreme  rigour.  The 
prince  died  some  time  after  these  events, 
having  been  poisoned  by  the  widow  of  Cresceu- 


tius,  whose  daughter  he  had  violated.  The 
pope  Sylvester  was  with  him  in  his  last  mo- 
ments. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  following  year, 
(1001,)  Bernard,  bishop  of  Hildesheim  came 
to  ask  for  justice  from  Gerbert,  against  the 
metropolitan  of  his  church.  He  complained 
to  the  pontiff  that  Villegisus  had  seized  upon 
a  convent  of  giils.  which  did  not  belong  to 
his  administration.  This  monaster}",  called 
Gandesem,  had  always  recognized  the  bishop 
of  Hildesheim  as  its  diocesan,  until  the  day 
on  which  Sophia,  the  daughter  of  the  em- 
peror Otho  the  Second,  at  the  very  moment  of 
taking  the  veil,  refused  from  pride  to  pro- 
nounce her  vows  between  the  hands  of  an 
ecclesiastic  who  did  not  wear  the  pallium. 
The  princess  exacted,  that  the  archbishop  of 
Mayence,  should  perform  the  ceremonies; 
Bernard  having  opposed  it,  the  empress  Theo- 
phania,  besought  him  at  least  to  permit  Ville- 
gisus to  be  associated  with  him,  and  then  was 
seen  for  the  first  time  two  prelates  clothed  in 
their  episcopal  ornaments,  seated  on  each 
side  of  the  same  altar.  The  bishop,  how- 
ever, demanded  from  the  prince,  who  was 
present,  if  he  engaged  to  ratify  the  engage- 
ment of  his  sister,  although  it  had  taken 
place  irregularly;  he  summoned  the  princess 
to  submit  her.self  to  him  and  his  successors, 
declaring  that  his  metropolitan  had  no  right.s 
in  that  church. 

Sophia,  who  regarded  herself  as  the  sister 
of  the  emperor,  rather  than  a  nun,  left  the 
monastery  without  the  permission  of  the 
abbess,  and  lived  at  the  court  of  Germany, 
where  she  abandoned  herself  to  amorous  in- 
trigues. Bernard  then  warned  her  to  return 
to  her  convent ;  but  she,  treating  his  remon- 
strances with  contempt,  placed  herself  under 
the  protection  of  Villegisus,  affirming  that  it 
was  from  him  she  had  received  the  veil,  and 
not  from  the  prelate  of  Hildesheim. 

The  scandal  of  her  amours  and  accouche- 
ments,  however,  compelled  the  emperor  to 
cause  her  to  return  to  the  abbey  of  Gande- 
sem. Furious  then  against  the  prelate  whom 
she  regarded  as  the  author  of  her  disgrace, 
she  spread  disorder  among  the  nuns,  and  ex- 
cited them  to  revolt;  and  at  length,  on  the 
day  of  a  solemn  dedication,  they  refused  him 
permission  to  enter  the  monastery,  and  called 
upon  the  archbishop  of  Mayence  to  perform 
the  ceremony.  Villegisus  was  stopped  on 
his  journey  by  his  sufl'ragans,  who  besought 
him  not  to  infringe  the  canons  of  the  church ; 
and  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria,  urged  Bernard  to 
protest  at  once  to  the  emperor  and  the  court 
of  Rome  against  the  pretensions  of  the  nuns. 

Sylvester  the  Second,  wishing  to  bring  back 
peace  to  the  church,  assembled  a  council,  at 
which  all  the  laity  and  clergy  who  were  ele- 
vated in  dignity  assisted.  After  the  bene- 
diction of  the  holy  father  and  the  reading  of 
the  Bible,  the  floor  was  granted  to  Bernard, 
who  accused  his  metropolitan  of  having  held 
a  .synod  in  the  monastery  of  Gandesem,  in 
contempt  of  the  rules  which  placed  the  nuns 
under  his  jurisdiction.  The  pontiff  demanded 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES 


321 


from  the  assembly,  if  they  could  consider  as 
recrular,  the  convocation  of  a  synod  by  the 
archbishop  of  Mayence  in  an  abbey  which 
%vas  a  dependancy  of  the  bishop  of  Hildes- 
heini.  The  fathers  all  replied  at  once,  that 
the  synod  was  irregular,  and  that  they  should 
reject,  in  accordance  with  the  canons,  the 
decisions  made  by  it.  The  pope  then  arose 
and  pronounced  the  judgnneiit,  '-By  the  au- 
thority of  the  apostles  and  fathers,  we  erase 
all  that  has  been  done  by  Villegisus  and  his 
accomplices,  in  the  diocese  of  our  brother 
Bernard  during  his  absence."  He  gave  the 
pastoral  baton  to  this  prelate,  and  said  to  him, 
"  I  restore  to  you  my  brother,  and  confirm 
you  in  the  possession  of  Gandesem  and  its 
dependancies,  and  prohibit  any  one,  be  he 
who  he  may,  from  causing  you  the  least  trou- 
ble or  harm." 

The  archbishop  of  Mayence  was  written  to, 
and  a  legate  was  named  to  preside  over  an 
assembly  to  be  held  in  Saxony,  before  which 
that  prelate  was  to  make  his  defence.  The 
council  was  convoked  for  the  year  1001,  and 
Frederick,  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  Roman 
church,  a  Saxon  by  birth,  was  chosen  to  re- 
present the  sovereign  pontiff.  The  cardinal 
went  to  Germany  with  a  pompous  embassy, 
and  followed  by  a  crowd  of  domestics  clothed 
in  liveries  shining  with  gold,  to  show  that  he 
represented  the  head  of  Christianity. 

The  convention  assembled  at  Polden,  on 
the  22d  of  July,  1001.  Villegisus,  sustained 
by  the  prelates  of  his  party,  at  first  excited  a 
great  uproar  in  the  council;  but  the  envoy  of 
Sylvester  the  Second,  a  man  of  remarkable 
firmness,  appeased  the  murmurs,  re-estab- 
lished silence,  and  made  the  accused  himself 
read  the  letter  which  the  holy  father  had  ad- 
dressed to  him.  The  reading  being  finished, 
Frederick  addressed  the  bishops  who  were 
present,  asking  their  advice  ;  the  metropo- 
litan of  Hamburg  declared  in  favour  of  Ber- 
nard, and  of  the  decree  made  by  the  sove- 
reign pontiff.  Scarcely  had  he  finished  speak- 
ing, when  the  doors  of  the  church  w^ere  opened 
and  the  synod  was  entered  by  laymen  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  crying  out  "death  to  the 
diocesan  of  Hildesheim,  and  to  the  envoy  of 
the  court  of  Rome."  Notwithstanding  the  im- 
minence of  the  danger,  neither  of  them  was 
alarmed.  They  harangued  the  disturbers, 
and  showed  them  numerous  troops  without 
the  church  who  were  ready  to  strike  those 
who  dared  to  draw  the  sword  in  the  temple 
of  God. 

This  firmness  arrested  the  factious.  The 
sitting,  however,  was  finished  for  that  day. 
On  the  next  day  the  convention  assembled 
anew,  but  Villegisus  did  not  appear,  notwith- 
standing the  formal  assurance  he  had  given 
the  evening  before;  and  they  learned  that  he 
had  left  Polden  during  the  night.  The  legate 
having  summoned  him  several  times  in  full 
council,  suspended  him  from  all  ecclesiastical 
functions  as  contumacious,  and  ordered  him 
to  appear  before  the  synod  which  was  to  be 
held  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  towards 
Christmas.     On  their  side,  the  emperor  and 

Vol.  I.  2Q    ' 


Gerbert,  indignant  at  the  scandal  which  had 
taken  place  in  Polden,  commanded  all  the 
bishops  of  Germany  who  had  taken  part  in 
this  affair,  to  appear  before  them,  not  only  to 
assist  at  the  assembly  convoked  by  the  cardi- 
nal Frederick,  but  even  to  bring  with  them  at 
their  own  expense  the  vassals  of  their  diocese, 
who  should  follow  their  sovereign  to  the  wars. 

Several  assemblies  were  still  occupied  with 
this  quarrel  between  Villegisus  and  Bernard; 
it  finished  by  wearing  itself  out,  rather  from 
the  effects  of  time,  than  from  the  authority 
of  the  pope  and  councils. 

During  the  following  year  Sjlvester  the 
Second  convoked  a  synod  in  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  to  judge  another  scene  of  scandal 
which  took  j)laco  in  Italy.  The  chancellor, 
according  to  custom,  opened  the  session,  by 
addressing  himself  to  the  holy  father,  "  My 
lord,  your  abbot  of  St.  Peter  near  Perouse, 
presents  complaints  to  this  synod  against 
Bishop  Conon,  who  has  rendered  himself 
guilty  of  violence  and  sacrilege  by  tearing 
him  from  the  altar  of  your  monastery,  and  by 
driving  him  from  the  abbey.  He  assures  you 
that  the  buildings  of  the  convents  have  been 
pillaged,  and  that  the  bishop  has  seized  upon 
all  the  riches  of  your  monks." 

Conon  replied,  "  His  holiness  has  intrusted 
to  me  the  See  of  Perouse,  and  made  me  swear 
that  I  would  not  abandon  its  rights.  This 
convent  belongs  to  my  diocese,  and  the  pope 
cannot  claim  a  particular  privilege  to  examine 
juridically  into  this  dispute."  The  fathers, 
however,  declared  that  this  church  apper- 
tained to  the  sovereign  pontiff.  The  prelate, 
to  shun  a  more  severe  chastisement,  consent- 
ed to  renounce  the  monastery  of  St.  Peter,  in 
favour  of  the  apostolical  throne,  and  gave  the 
kiss  of  peace  to  his  accuser. 

Gerbert  was  vain,  ambitious,  treacherous, 
and  cruel ;  authors  relate  as  an  evidence  of  his 
cruelty,  that  Guy.  viscount  of  Limoges,  hav- 
ing been  cited  to  the  court  of  Rome,  by  Grim- 
oard,  who  accused  him  of  having  retained 
him  a  prisoner,  to  compel  him  to  abantlon  to 
him  the  enjoyment  of  the  abbey  of  Brantome, 
was  condemned  by  Sylvester  to  be  torn  in 
pieces  by  two  wild  horses;  and  he  even  or- 
dered, that  before  the  punishment,  Guy  should 
be  surrendered  to  the  bishop  of  Angouleme, 
to  undergo  the  torture  by  fire.  But  the  latter, 
moved  by  the  entreaties  of  Guy.  consented  to 
forsret  the  violence  of  which  he  had  been  the 
victim,  and  both  fled  into  France  to  shun  the 
resentment  of  the  pope. 

After  a  pontificate  of  four  years  and  a  half, 
Gerbert  died,  at  a  very  advanced  age.  His 
obsequies  were  performed  with  all  the  pomp 
which  was  due  to  the  sovereign  pontiff  of  the 
church.  His  elegy  has  been  engraved  upon 
his  .'sepulchre  by  one  of  his  successors. 

After  his  death,  however,  the  accusations  of 
mngic  were  renewed  against  him ;  some  chro- 
niclers gravely  aflirm,  that  Sylvester  brought 
from  Seville  with  him  an  abominable  book, 
containing  cabalistic  formularies,  wilh  which 
he  forced  Lucifer  to  obej-  him.  and  the  spirit 
of  darkness  promised  the  pontiff  to  guarantee 


322 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES, 


him  against  death,  until  the  day  in  which 
he  should  celebrate  mass  in  the  church  of 
Jerusalem.  Sylvester,  they  add,  hoped  to 
live  for  ever,  because  he  had  formed  the  re- 
solution never  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
Holy  Land,  and  continued  to  abandon  himself 
to  the  most  condemnable  witchcraft  of  all 
kinds ;  but  he  soon  proved  that  the  promises 
of  the  devil  are  always  fallacious  and  per- 
fidious. One  day  when  the  holy  father  was 
celebrating  divine  service  in  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  called  also  the  church  of  Jerusa- 
lem, the  devil  suddenly  appeared  to  him  on 
the  altar,  and  seizing  the  golden  figure  of 
Christ,  which  decorated  the  chapel,  struck 
him  so  violent  a  blow  with  it,  that  he  died  in 
a  few  hours. 

Before  dying,  Sylvester  confessed  to  his  car- 
dinals that  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  devil ; 
he  recommended  to  them  to  place  his  body 
upon  a  car  drawn  by  white  horses,  and  to  inter 
it  in  the  place  at  which  the  coursers  should 
stop  of  themselves.  This  order  was  punc- 
tually executed,  and  the  car  having  stopped 
before  the  church  of  the  Lateran,  his  remains 
were  there  deposited  with  the  accustomed 
pomp.  For  a  long  time  after,  they  stated  at 
Rome,  that,  on  the  evening  of  the  death  of 
the  pontiffs,  they  heard  the  bones  of  Sylvester 
the  Second  clash  in  his  tomb,  and  the  stone  of 
his  sepulchre  was  covered  with  a  bloody  sweat. 

Six  centuries  and  a  half  had  flown  by  since 
the  death  of  this  pope,  when  the  church  of 
the  Lateran  was  re-constructed.  His  coffin, 
which  was  of  marble,  was  opened,  and  the 
body  was  found  clothed  in  the  pontifical 
robes ;  the  tiara  upon  the  head,  and  the  arms 
crossed.  Sylvester  appeared  to  be  still  living, 
and  spread  around  an  odorous  perfume ;  but  as 


soon  as  a  ray  of  light  struck  him,  an  infernal 
flame  escaped  from  his  body,  and  all  was  re- 
duced to  ashes.  There  remained  nothing  but 
a  cross  of  silver  and  the  pastoral  ring. 

From  that  time  the  tomb  ceased  to  present 
the  same  prodigies.  The  subterranean  and 
lugubrious  noises  which  had  frightened  the 
faithful,  were  no  longer  heard,  nor  were  traces 
of  blood  perceived  on  the  marble  of  ihe  Mau- 
soleum. The  priests  did  not  hesitate  to  ex- 
plain this  change  as  an  effect  of  sorcery,  or  as 
caused  by  the  disappearance  of  the  devil, 
who  for  six  hundred  years  watched  over  the 
body  of  the  holy  father.  An  ecclesiastical 
historian,  Muratori,  who  wrote  to  defend  the 
memory  of  Sylvester,  gravely  affirms  that  this 
miracle  should  not  surprise  us,  as  several 
tombs  of  saints,  which  formerly  exuded  oil 
or  manna,  no  longer  offered  in  his  time  the 
same  prodigies.  This  singular  remark  was 
made  by  Muratori  in  1740;  that  is,  scarcely 
an  hundred  years  since. 

The  character  of  the  eleventh  century  is 
remarkable  for  a  mixture  of  gross  superstition 
and  horrible  debauchery.  So  great  were  the 
ignorance  and  depravity,  that  it  was  imagined 
that  the  reign  of  antichrist  was  approaching, 
and  they  interpreted  the  strange  phenomena 
of  nature  as  presages  of  the  accomplishment 
of  the  words  of  the  Apocalypse  in  relation  to 
the  end  of  the  world.  The  auguries  and  sor- 
ceries practised  even  by  the  clergy,  had  re- 
placed the  sacraments  and  the  ecclesiastical 
ceremonies.  Finallj',  there  existed  neither 
virtue  nor  piety  in  the  world ;  and  Berenger 
says,  "  that  the  church  was  a  collection  of 
proud,  impious,  and  wicked  men,  and  that 
the  apostolic  chair  had  become  a  seat  for 
demons!" 


JOHN  THE  SEVENTEENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1004.] 

Bishop  Sicco  succeeds  Sylvester  the  Second— Uncertainty  as  to  his  origin  and  actions— Duration 
of  his  reign — His  death — The  heresy  of  Vilgard. 


The  bishop  Sicco  succeeded  Sylvester  the 
Second.  The  circumstances  of  his  election 
remain  completely  unknown.  We  only  know 
that  he  was  enthroned  by  the  name  of  John 
the  Seventeenth.  Platinus  assures  us  that 
the  family  of  this  pontiff  was  in  the  very 
lowest  orders  of  society.  Father  Pagi,  on  the 
other  hand,  affirms  that  it  was  of  the  most 
illustrious.  The  same  uncertainty  exists  as 
to  the  character  and  actions  of  Sicco.  Some 
authors  maintain  that  he  was  cruel,  vindictive, 
greedy  of  honours  and  riches;  others  pro- 
nounce a  pompous  eulogy  upon  him.  It  is 
difficult  to  form  a  correct  opinion  among  such 
contradictory  statements ;  and  the  best  found- 
ed that  we  can  give  is,  that  he  occupied  the 


Holy  See  about  five  months.     He  died  at  the 
commencement  of  the  year  1004. 

During  his  pontificate,  a  monk  named  Leu- 
tard,  endeavoured  to  pass  himself  off  as  a 
prophet,  to  seduce  the  simple,  and  extort 
money  from  them.  He  related,  that  one  day, 
being  asleep  in  the  country,  he  had  a  miracu- 
lous revelation,  in  which  he  saw  a  flock  of 
bees,  who  entered  his  body  from  the  rear,  and 
passed  out  by  his  mouth,  making  a  great 
noise ;  and  that  he  Avas  ordered  to  do  things 
impossible  to  men.  On  awakening,  he  went 
to  Chalons,  assembled  the  people,  and  an- 
nouncing himself  as  inspired  by  God,  created 
so  powerful  a  party,  that  they  wished  to  place 
him  on  the  See  of  that  city.     But  Gebouin, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


323 


who  -was  then  bishop  of  Chalons,  demanded 
to  be  confronted  with  this  impudent  monk, 
who  in  despair  precipitated  himself  into  a 
well. 

Another  fanatic,  named  Vilgard,  gave  birth 
to  a  singular  heresy,  which  consisted  in  re- 


garding the  three  poets,  Virgil,  Horace,  and 
Juvenal,  as  prophets,  whose  dogmas  we  should 
follow  to  obtain  eternal  life. 

The  holy  father  ordered  the  bishops  of  Italy 
to  exterminate  those  unfortunate  fools  by  fire 
and  sword,  wherever  they  found  them. 


JOHN  THE  EIGHTEENTH,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND  FORTY- 
EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1004.] 

Election  of  John  the  Eighteenth — Erection  of  the  church  of  Bamburg  into  a  bishopric — Council 
of  Rome — Death  of  John  the  Eighteenth — Vacancy  in  the  Holy  See. 


Fasan  was  chosen  by  the  clergy,  the  grand- 
ees, and  the  people,  as  the  most  worthy  to 
occupy  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  he  was  or- 
dained on  the  19th  of  March,  1004,  under  the 
name  of  John  the  Eighteenth.  This  pope 
was  of  Roman  origin;  his  whole  reign  was 
passed  in  disgraceful  effeminacy,  infamy,  and 
debauchery. 

The  only  remarkable  event  of  his  pontifi- 
cate, was  the  erection  of  Bamburg,  or  Baben- 
burg,  in  Franconia,  into  a  bishopric.  King 
Henry,  who  had  for  a  long  time  desired  to 
establish  a  See  in  this  small  city,  built  a  mag- 
nificent church,  which  he  enriched  with  all 
the  sacred  ornaments  and  vases  necessary  for 
divine  service.  As  it  was  situated  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Virsburg.  Henry  offered  to  the  bishop 
in  exchange  for  this  church  and  its  depen- 
dencies, a  large  sum  of  money.  The  latter 
readily  accepted  the  offers  of  the  prince,  and 
exacted  besides  that  he  should  be  made  a 
metropolitan,  and  have  for  his  suffragan  the 
ecclesiastic  who  should  be  elevated  to^he  See 
of  Bamburff. 


Henry  having  accepted  these  conditions,  his 
chaplains,  Alberic  and  Louis,  were  intrusted 
with  obtaining  from  the  holy  father  the  con- 
firmation of  his  title  of  metropolitan.  John 
the  Eighteenth  profited  by  this  ridiculous  fan- 
tasy of  the  king.  He  demanded  one  hundred 
pounds  of  gold,  and  two  hundred  pounds  of 
silver,  for  the  rights  of  the  Holy  See.  He 
then  convoked  a  council  at  Rome,  and  ordered 
that  the  new  church  erected  into  a  bishoprick, 
should  be  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  and  should 
remain  under  the  particular  protection  of  the 
pontifical  See,  although  submitted  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Mayence,  its  metropolitan. 

Fasan  died  on  the  18th  of  July,  1009,  after 
having  occupied  the  pontifical  throne  for  five 
years  and  four  months. 

At  this  period,  the  Greek  clergy  was  not 
yet  separated  from  the  Latin  clergy,  and  they 
continued  to  read  at  Constantinople  the  name 
of  John  the  Eighteenth,  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, as  well  as  that  of  the  patriarch. 

The  Holy  See  remained  vacant  for  twenty- 
four  days  after  the  death  of  the  pope. 


SERGIUS  THE   FOURTH,   THE   ONE   HUNDRED  AND   FORTY- 
NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1009.] 

The  bishop  of  Albano  enthroned  by  the  name  of  Scrsius  the  Fourth — His  origin  and  character 
— Duration  of  his  pontificate — His  death  and  epitaph. 


Petkr,  bishop  of  Albano,  was  chosen  pon- 
tiff, and  succeeded  John,  under  the  name  of 
Sergius  the  Fourth.  He  was  the  son  of  a  priest 
named  Martin,  and  a  Roman  by  birth.  Pla- 
tinus  and  Ciaconius  agree  in  representing  him 
as  a  man  of  great  piety  and  exemplary  morals ; 
charitable  to  the  poor,  clement  to  the  guilty, 
of  a  perfect  goodness  and  extreme  prudence. 
He  turned  all  his  thoughts  towards  heaven, 
and  governed  the  church  with  integrity  and 
wisdom  :  he  was  in  fact  the  only  priest  of  his 


time,  worthy  from  his  virtues,  of  occupying 
the  throne  of  St.  Peter.  He  undertook  great 
reforms  among  the  clergy  of  Rome,  and  had 
even  formed  a  plan  to  drive  the  Arabs  from 
Sicily,  from  whence  these  people  made  irrup- 
tions into  Italy;  but  the  short  duration  of 
his  pontificate  did  not  permit  him  to  accom- 
plish designs  useful  to  Christianity. 

During  his  reign.  Libentius,  archbishop  of 
Hamburg,  and  Bemaire.  bishop  of  Verden, 
excited  a  new  difficulty  about  a  parish  church 


324 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


which  this  latter  claimed  for  his  diocese,  and 
on  which  Libentius  had  seized  under  the  pre- 
text, that  it  had  served  as  a  place  of  reluge 
for  St.  Anscaire,  the  first  apostle  of  that 
country,  during  a  persecution.  St.  Anscaire 
had  in  truth  built  an  oratory  in  which  were 
deposited  the  relics  of  the  martyrs  and  the 
offerings  of  the  common  people  rendered  the 
possession  of  it  very  advantageous.  The  love 
of  money  was  then  the  true  motive  for  this 
scandalous  quarrel.  The  metropolitan  of  Ham- 
burg, to  put  an  end  to  the  affair,  sent  as  his 
deputy  to  Rome  the  deacon  Odon,  bearing  rich 


presents  for  Sergius.  The  pope  then  decided 
the  question  in  his  favour,  in  honour,  as  he 
said,  of  the  memory  of  St.  Anscaire. 

The  holy  father  finally  died  in  1012,  after 
having  occupied  the  Holy  See  for  two  years 
and  some  months,  if  we  can  beheve  Sigebert, 
Gemblours,  and  Marianus  Scotus.  According 
to  Ca3sar  Rapson,  he  was  interred  near  the 
oratory  of  St.  Thomas.  His  epitaph  informs 
us,  that  he  distributed  clothing  and  food  to 
the  poor,  and  that  he  was  regarded  as  one  of 
the  lights  of  the  church. 


BENEDICT  THE  EIGHTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTIETH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  1012.] 

The  bishop  of  Porto  chosen  pope  and  enthroned  by  the  name  of  Benedict  the  Eisjith — He  is 
execrated  by  the  Bomans — 2'he  anti-pope  Gregory — The  faction  of  Benedict,  at  first  victorious, 
is  then  driven  from  the  city^—He  takes  refuge  in  Germany  with  Herny  the  Second — His  return 
to  Rome — Coronation  of  the  emperor — He  confirms  the  election  of  his  brother  Arnold  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Ravenna — Benedict  the  Eighth  defeats  the  Saracens — Bull  against  the  Jews 
— Origin  of  the  Norman  sway  in  Italy — Journey  of  the  pontiff  to  Germany — Council  of  Pavia 
— Benedict  complains  of  the  licentious  lives  of  the  clergy — Pilgrimage  of  Robert,  king  of 
France,  to  Rome — Death  of  the  pope. 


After  the  death  of  Sergius,  the  bishop  of 
Porto,  the  son  of  Gregory,  count  of  Tusculum, 
was  chosen  sovereign  pontiff,  by  the  faction 
of  the  marquisses  of  Tuscanella  in  Etruria, 
his  relatives,  who  during  a  century  had  al- 
ready seated  so  many  wretches  on  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  He  took  the  name  of  Benedict 
the  Eighth.  The  Romans,  who  execrated  this 
pontiff,  on  account  of  his  vices,  conspired 
against  his  authority.  A  powerful  party  was 
soon  formed  among  the  clergy,  who  proclaim- 
ed another  pope  under  the  name  of  Gregory. 

Benedict,  however,  still  remained  master 
of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran ;  Gregory  then 
courageously  placed  himself  at  the  head  of 
the  people,  drove  the  pontiff  from  the  city, 
and  forced  him  to  seek  refuge  in  Germany 
with  Henry  the  Second.  That  prince  declared 
against  the  anti-pope,  threatened  with  his 
wrath  the  citizens  who  refused  to  recognize 
his  protege  as  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and  even 
gave  him  troops  who  conducted  him  back  into 
Lombardy.  The  Romans,  alarmed  at  the  pre- 
parations which  were  making  for  war  against 
them,  and  fearful  of  a  new  invasion,  deter- 
mined to  send  deputies  to  Benedict,  to  be- 
seech him  to  return  to  his  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran. Gregory  was  in  his  turn  driven  from  the 
city,  and  left  the  tiara  to  his  competitor,  who 
seated  himself  anew  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 

Some  days  after  they  heard  the  news  of  a 
victory  gained  by  Henry  over  the  army  of 
a  pretender  to  the  empire,  named  Ardouin 
and  the  prince  soon  came  to  Rome  in  person 
to  be  consecrated  by  the  pontiff.  This  cere- 
mony took  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1014.     Henry  entered  the  church,  accompa- 


nied by  twelve  senators,  of  whom  six  had 
their  beards  shaved  in  the  Roman  fashion, 
and  six  wore  long  moustachios  after  the  Ger- 
man. He  held  by  the  hand  the  beautiful 
Cunegonda,  his  wife.  The  pope  waited  for 
the  procession  on  the  threshold  of  the  temple ; 
he  asked  the  emperor  if  he  would  consent  to 
be  named  defender  of  the  church,  and  swear 
fidelity  to  him  and  his  successors.  Henry 
took  the  oath  in  a  loud  voice ;  Benedict  then 
permitted  him  to  enter  the  sanctuary,  solemnly 
crowned  him,  and  suspended  before  the  altar 
of  St.  Peter,  the  diadem  which  he  wore  during 
the  ceremony.  Cunegonda  was  also  crowned 
ernpress. 

The  holy  father  then  presented  to  the  em- 
peror a  golden  apple  surrounded  by  two  cir- 
cles of  precious  stones,  which  crossed  each 
other  and  was  surmounted  by  a  golden  cru- 
cifix. The  apple  represented  the  world,  the 
cross  was  the  symbol  of  religion,  the  precious 
stones  portrayed  the  virtues  of  the  monarch. 
Henry,  on  receiving  it  exclaimed,  "  I  under- 
stand, holy  father,  that  you  wish  to  teach  me 
how  to  govern  my  actions  and  my  people.  I 
accept  the  pledge  which  binds  me  to  God  and 
the  world,  and  I  will  intrust  the  sacred  de- 
posit to  those  who  have  trampled  under  foot 
the  pomps  of  the  world  in  order  to  follow  the 
standard  of  Christ."  He  sent  this  precious 
stone  to  the  convent  of  Cluny,  which,  at  this 
period,  was  esteemed  the  most  regular  of  all 
the  monasteries,  and  which  had  been  already 
honoured  by  his  munificence. 

After  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration,  a 
sumptuous  feast  was  prepared  in  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  and  the  pontiff  entertained  the 


?:u 


\ 


Ii'h    (■'■  hd^iur  ,t   If'  imijjm   '''■   tlu'-oiu'  'f- 


^opf    H^Mirbxct    \  111   . 


HISTORY  OF  THE    POPES. 


32T 


JOHN  THE  NINETEENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY- 
FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1024.] 

Scandalous  election  of  John — The  patriarch  of  Constantinople  offers  to  sell  him  the  title  of 
Pope  of  the  East — Invention  of  the  gamut  by  the  monk  Guy  of  Arezzo — Letter  from  the 
famous  musician — Coronation  of  the  emperor  Conrad  the  Second — Complaints  of  Canute, 
king  of  England,  of  the  council  of  Limoges  on  the  sale  of  absolutions — John  the  Nineteenth 
driven  from  Rome — Brought  back  by  Conrad — His  death. 


John  was  elevated  to  the  Holy  See  by  the 
faction  of  his  brother  Alberic,  count  of  Tus- 
canella  and  Segni.  He  succeeded  his  brother, 
Benedict  the  Eighth,  under  the  name  of  John 
the  Nineteenth.  Some  authors  maintain,  that 
before  being  named  pontilT,  he  aheady  occu- 
pied the  See  of  Porto ;  but  historians,  whose 
testimony  is  the  most  entitled  to  credit,  main- 
tain on  the  contrary  that  he  was  a  mere  lay- 
man. Thus,  the  freedom  of  election  which 
the  pious  Henry  had  restored,  served  but  to 
favour  the  intrigues  of  the  Roman  lords,  and 
to  consolidate  the  power  of  the  patricians. 

As  soon  as  this  new  exaltation  was  known 
at  Constantinople,  the  patriarch  sent  embas- 
sadors to  Rome  to  propose  to  the  holy  father 
to  sell  him  the  title  of  pope  of  the  Greek 
church.  The  deputies,  bearing  rich  presents. 
were  favourably  received  by  John,  and  the 
bargain  was  on  the  point  of  being  concluded, 
when  the  noise  of  it  spread  abroad,  and 
clamours  rose  from  all  parts  of  Christendom, 
which  forced  the  pontii!'  to  forbear  concluding 
such  a  scandal. 

Guy,  a  monk  of  Arezzo,  lived  at  this  period 
and  invented  the  gamut ;  it  is  related,  that 
struck  by  ^le  difficulties  which  the  methods 
of  teaching  the  music  for  religious  singing 
presented,  he  imagined  the  notation  of  sounds 
and  composed  a  new  system  of  music  in  con- 
nection with  Michael,  a  monk  of  Pomposia, 
who  laboured  with  him  in  this  discovery. 

We  give  a  letter  of  the  celebrated  monk, 
in  which  he  describes  an  interview  he  had 
with  the  pope :  "  I  hope,  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  that  those  who  shall  come  after  us, 
will  pray  for  the  remission  of  our  sins ;  for 
they  will  be  enabled  to  learn  from  us  in  a 
single  year,  that  which  they  could  not  have 
acquired  before  under  ten  years  of  hard  study. 
Pope  John,  who  now  governs  the  Roman 
church,  having  heard  of  our  school,  and  of  the 
manner  in  which  our  antiphonal  teaches  chil- 
dren in  a  few  hours,  chants  which  were  un- 
known to  them,  has  sent  me  messengers  in- 
structed to  bring  me  to  him.  I  went  to  Rome 
with  Gregory,  the  abbot  of  INlilan,  and  Peter, 
prevost  of  the  canons  of  Arezzo,  a  very  learned 
man  for  our  times.  His  holiness  received  me 
joyfully,  and  kept  me  a  lon^c  time  perusing 
our  method,  which  he  regarded  as  wonderful. 
The  pontifi  studied  the  rules,  and  was  un- 
willing to  terminate  the  audience,  without 
having  learned  from  the  antiphonal  a  verse. 


which  he  had  never  heard  sung.  Unfortu- 
nately my  health  did  not  permit  me  to  remain 
in  Rome,  because  in  those  maritime  or  marshy 
places,  the  heat  of  the  summer  would  have 
killed  me.  I  then  returned  to  my  convent 
from  which  I  shall  repair  at  the  beginning  of 
the  winter,  in  order  to  explain  our  work  more 
at  length  to  the  holy  father." 

After  the  death  of  Henry  the  Second,  his 
son  Conrad  succeeded  him,  and  came  lo  the 
pontifical  city,  in  the  year  1027.  John  the 
Nineteenth,  in  order  to  ingratiate  himself 
with  the  monarch,  went  to  meet  him  at  Lake 
Como,  and  proclaimed  him  emperor  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter;  the  queen  Gisella,  his 
wife,  was  crowned  empress  at  the  same  time. 
Rodolph,  the  king  of  Burgundy,  the  uncle  of 
Gisella,  assisted  at  this  ceremony,  as  did  also 
Canute,  king  of  England  and  Denmark,  who 
had  come  to  Rome  to  complain  of  the  enor- 
mous contributions  which  the  Holy  See  levied 
on  the  pilgrims  of  his  kingdom.  The  English 
prince  also  protested  against  the  tribute  which 
his  archbishops  were  compelled  to  pay,  when 
they  asked  for  the  pallium. 

Some  time  after  a  synod  of  French  bishops 
was  held  at  Limoges,  who  reformed  the  judg- 
ments of  the  pope,  and  prohibited  the  court 
of  Rome  from  selling  absolution  to  the  ex- 
communicated to  the  insult  of  their  bishops. 
j  Eujelric.  a  canon  of  Paris,  thus  spoke  in  the 
convention.  "You  know,  my  brethren,  that 
I  the  venerable  Stephen,  bishop  of  Clermont, 
had  anathematized  Ponce,  count  of  Auvergne, 
i  for  having  deserted  his  lawful  wife  and  mar- 
I  ried  the  wife  of  another.  In  his  just  intligna- 
,  tion  he  refused  to  pardon  this  lord,  until  he 
'  amended  his  wrongs ;  but  the  guilty  man 
dared  to  present  himself  at  Rome,  and  bought 
absolution  from  the  holy  father  himself.  When 
:  we  were  advised  of  this  act  of  simony,  we  ad- 
dressed strong  reproaches  to  the  pontiff.  He 
declared  to  us  that  he  had  been  taken  by  sur- 
'  prise,  and  that  he  would  have  rejected  Ponce 
I  from  the  church,  had  he  known  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  afl'air.  I  declare  then  to 
I  you,  my  brethren,  chiefs  of  dioceses,  that  the 
popes  have  no  right  to  oppose  our  decisions, 
and  that  they  cannot  but  approve  them  and 
lend  ihem  the  aid  of  their  authority."' 

The  synod  was  then  occupied  with  measures 
to  put  an  end  to  the  disorders  of  the  kingdom, 
lor  since  the  reign  of  Louis  the  good-natured, 
the   sovereign  authority  was  no  longer  re- 


328 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


specled  in  the  provinces  wliich  composed  the 
empire  of  Charlemagne.  In  Fiance,  Germany, 
and  Italy,  each  lord  administered  justice  with 
arms  in  his  hands,  and  the  dukes,  marquises, 
and  counts,  made  terrible  wars  among  them- 
selves. Cities  were  abandoned  to  pillage,  the 
inhabitants  were  mercilessly  put  to  death ;  and 
cultivators  of  the  soil,  citizens,  merchants,  and 
even  serfs,  were  treated  as  wild  beasts  by  the 
nobles  and  kings.  The  clergy  themselves 
were  no  longer  respected.  Their  riches  hav- 
ing excited  the  cupidity  of  the  lords,  the  mo- 
nasteries were  sacked,  the  nuns  violated,  and 
the  churches  burned. 

To  the  disasters  of  these  wars  of  extermina- 
tion were  added  the  horrors  of  famine ;  men 
devoured  each  other,  and  a  large  number  of 
unfortunates  were  condemned  to  be  burned 
for  having  eaten  human  flesh.  During  three 
years  that  the  scourge  lasted,  the  living  were 
not  sutliciently  numerous  to  bury  the  dead, 
and  they  piled  up  the  dead  bodies  in  charnel 
houses. 

Notwithstanding  these  public  calamities, 
the  nobles,  like  hideous  vultures,  tore  down 
the  cities,  and  disputed  for  the  dead  bodies  to 
despoil  them. 

Finally,  at  the  councd  of  Limoges,  the  fa- 
thers determined  to  strike  a  great  blow,  and 
to  use  even  the  authority  of  God  to  arrest  the 
disorders.  A  solemn  sitting  was  announced 
through  all  the  provinces,  and  the  faithful 
were  invited  to  the  council.  At  the  opening 
of  the  sitting,  after  the  usual  prayers,  a  bishop 
rose  and  addressed  the  crowd,  which  pressed 
into  an  immense  hall :  ''  I  am  about  to  an- 
nounce to  you,"  he  said,  "great  new.?,  my 
brethren;  Jesus  Christ  himself  has  sent  me 
letters  from  heaven,  to  order  me  to  re-establish 
peace  on  earth.  I  propose  to  submit  them 
to  a  commission  for  examination,  who  can  then 
inform  you  of  the  will  of  God."  Ten  bishops 
were  designated  for  this  important  verifica- 
tion ;  they,  after  having  studied  the  letter 
which  was  presented  to  them,  declared  upon 


the  holy  host,  that  it  was  really  from  Jesus 
Christ.  The  council,  in  consequence,  thereof, 
ordered  that  this  letter  should  be  sent  to  all 
the  churches  of  Christendom,  and  tlrat  men 
of  all  ranks  should  be  obliged  to  conform  to 
the  instructions  which  it  contained.  These  in- 
structions were  ridiculous  and  obscene.  They 
prohibited  the  faithful  from  having  connection 
with  their  wives,  except  on  certain  days ;  they 
recommended  to  them  to  fast  on  Fridays  on 
bread  and  water,  and  to  abstain  from  flesh  on 
Saturdays.  They  prohibited  them  from  taking 
up  arms  to  avenge  themselves  on  an  enemy, 
or  to  seize  upon  the  property  of  monasteries; 
they  permitted  men  to  play  with  the  nuns,  but 

not  to  violate  them In  every  diocese 

the  faithful  were  sworn  upon  the  Bible,  reli- 
giously to  ob.serve  these  precepts,  under  pen- 
alty of  excommunication,  confiscation  of  pro- 
perty, and  privation  of  sepulchral  rites.  Such 
was,  according  to  Baudry,  bishop  of  Noyon, 
the  origin  of  the  holy  truce. 

The  assembly  at  Limoges  was  also  occupied 
by  several  rules  to  arrest  the  political  ambition 
of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  to  free  the  goods  of 
the  French  clergy  from  the  cupidity  of  the 
pontiff,  by  maintaining  the  liberties  of  the 
Galilean  church. 

John  the  Nineteenth,  by  his  debauchery, 
exactions,  and  tyranny,  at  length  rendered 
himself  so  odious  to  the  Romans,  that  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  against  his  life ;  but  as  he 
never  went  out  unless  surrounded  by  his  satel- 
lites, the  conspirators  resolved  to  take  up 
arms;  they  assembled  in  the  public  places, 
excited  the  people  and  besieged  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran.  The  holy  father  escaped 
from  Rome,  and  took  refuge  in  Germany  with 
Conrad  the  Second,  who  in  the  end,  esta- 
blished him  by  force  of  arms,  and  punished 
the  seditious. 

This  pontiff,  say  the  old  chroniclftrs,  recon 
quered  his  throne  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 
He  died  on  the  8th  of  November,  1033,  after 
a  reign  of  nine  years  and  some  months. 


BENEDICT  THE  NINTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY-SECOND 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  1033.] 

Simoniacal  election  of  the  nephew  of  John  the  Nineteenth,  u-ho  is  ordained  at  the  age  of  twelve  years 
— Tlie  emperor  Conrad  holds  a  parliament  at  Pavia — Insolence  of  the  bishop  of  Milan — Dis- 
turbances in  Poland — Prince  Casimir  freed  from  his  vows,  and  crowned  king  of  Poland — 
Benedict  driven  from  Rome. 


After  the  death  of  John  the  Nineteenth, 
the  faction  of  the  marquisses  and  counts  of 
Tuscanella  endeavoured  to  place  one  of  the 
members  of  their  family  on  the  Holy  See. 
Intrigues,  money,  and  threats,  procured  the 
election  of  Theophylactus,  nephew  of  the  two 
preceding  popes,  and  the  son  of  Alberic,  count 
of  Tusculum.  He  was  enthroned  at  the  age  of 
twelve,  under  the  name  of  Benedict  the  Ninth. 


This  pontiff  soiled  the  chair  of  St.  Peter 
with  so  many  crimes  and  debaucheries,  that 
Cardinal  Benno  accuses  him  of  having  em- 
ployed witchcraft  and  enchantments,  and  of 
having  given  to  his  mistresses  love-philtcrs. 
which  rendered  them  desperately  enamoured 
of  his  person.  He  affirms,  that  he  sacrificed 
to  demons,  and  assisted  at  the  assembUes  of 
magicians,  in  the  woods  at  night. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


329 


Some  years  after  the  exaltation  of  Benedict, 
the  ennperor  Conrad  made  a  new  descent  into 
Lombardy,  to  subdue  the  lords,  who  had  taken 
up  arms  against  his  authority ;  he  went  to 
Pavia,  where  he  held  a  parliament,  for  the 
purpose  of  interrogating  in  person,  Heribert, 
archbishop  of  Milan,  concerning  the  extortions 
with  which  he  was  charged.  But  the  proud 
prelate  dared  to  make  this  insolent  reply  to 
the  prince:  '•  Whatsoever  I  have  found  in  the 
domains  of  St.  Ambrose,  or  whatsoever  I  have 
acquired,  be  it  in  what  way  it  is,  I  shall  take 
care  of  during  my  life,  and  will  not  surrender 
the  least  of  it." 

The  emperor,  in  his  indignation,  ordered 
him  to  be  arrested  and  confiiled  to  the  charge 
of  Poppin,  archbishop  of  Aquileia,  and  of  Con- 
rad, duke  of  Carinthia,  who  were  to  conduct 
him  to  Placenza.  When  he  arrived  in  this 
last  city,  the  archbishop  claimed  the  assist- 
ance of  a  monk  to  aid  him  in  his  devotions. 
His  request  was  granted  ;  but  one  night,  whilst 
the  monk  slept,  he  took  his  garments,  deceiv- 
ed the  guards  by  his  disguise,  and  escaped  to 
Milan,  where  he  resisted,  for  a  whole  year, 
the  troops  sent  against  him. 

Heribert,  not  content  with  lanching  excom- 
munications against  the  emperor,  stirred  up 
the  bishops  of  the  adjoining  dioceses,  and  by 
means  of  his  intrigues,  succeeded  in  forming 
a  vast  conspiracy,  whose  aim  was  to  displace 
Conrad  from  his  throne,  and  elevate  in  his 
place,  Otho,  the  count  of  Upper  Burgundy. 
The  plan  having  been  discovered,  the  bishops 
of  Verceil,  Cremona,  and  Placenza,  were  ar- 
rested and  conducted  beyond  the  Alps,  into 
tlie  prisons  of  the  empire.  Heribert,  still  shut 
up  in  Milan^  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
prince,  was  unwilling  to  listen  to  any  terms 
of  accommotlation  which  the  holy  father  made 
him.  Benedict  linally  deposed  him  from  his 
See  and  anathematized  him.  Conrad  gave 
his  bishopric  to  a  noble  named  Ambrose,  and 
a  baron  of  the  same  diocese  ;  but  he  could  not 
put  his  protege  in  possession  of  his  church ; 
the  excommunicated  archbishop  maintained 
himself  in  it  in  defiance  of  the  emperor,  and 
seized  on  the  domains  which  Ambrose  pos- 
sessed about  the  city. 

Conrad  was  soon  compelled  even  to  suspend 
the  operations  of  ihe  siege,  to  succour  the 
pontiff  who  had  been  driven  from  Rome,  on 
account  of  his  depredations.  This  prince, 
who  had,  from  motives  of  policy,  declared 
lumself  the  protector  of  the  counts  of  Tusca- 
nella,  led  back  the  young  pope,  who  had  then 
attained  his  eighteenth  year,  in  triumph  to 
the  holy  city. 

Events  were  transpiring  in  Poland  ;  King 
Mieczislas  died,  and  Richenza,  his  widow,  had 
incurred  universal  hatred  by  emleavouring  to 
weigh  down  the  people  beneath  the  yoke  of 
a  despotic  government.  The  virtuous  citi- 
zens of  the  kingdom  addressed  sage  remon- 
strances to  her,  advising  her  to  change  her 
conduct  and  mode  of  government.  Richenza 
having  despised  their  warnings,  they  refused 
all  obedience  to  her ;  the  people  took  up  arms, 
seized  upon  the  palace,  and  drove  away  this 
Vol.  I.  2R 


proud  queen  in  disgrace.  But  she  carried 
with  her  the  royal  treasures  and  the  crown 
jewels,  and  retired  with  her  son  Casirair,  into 
Germany,  from  whence  she  intrigued  to  re- 
turn. The  young  prince  traversed  Hungary, 
and  went  to  France  to  visit  the  celebrated 
abbey  of  Cluny  ;  the  holiness  of  its  inhabitants 
so  impressed  his  mind,  that  he  resolved  to 
dedicate  himself  to  God.  He  was  admitted 
into  the  abbey,  and  pronounced  his  vows  in 
the  name  of  Charles. 

Poland  was  entirely  abandoned  to  the  dis- 
orders which  the  ambition  of  neighbouring 
princes  excited  in  the  provinces ;  the  Chris- 
tian religion  was  abandoned  ;  bands  of  peas- 
ants, led  by  nobles,  ravaged  the  country,  and 
devastated  the  churches,  and,  finally,  Bretis- 
laus,  duke  of  Bohemia,  under  pretext  of  pro- 
tecting the  priests,  entered  upon  the  Polish 
territories  and  seized  upon  the  most  important 
cities  of  the  country  )  amongst  others,  of  Gnes- 
na,  which  was  the  capital.  This  prince  lay- 
ing aside  all  shame,  proceeded,  with  the  bi- 
shop of  Prague,  who  accompanied  him  in  his 
expeditions,  to  pillage  the  churches.  They 
carried  off  from  the  cathedral  of  Gnesna, 
a  golden  crucifix  weighing  three  hundred 
pounds,  three  vahiable  tables  enriched  with 
precious  stones,  and  even  the  body  of  St. 
Adalbert ;  but  we  are  assured,  that  the  clergj-, 
deceiving  their  sacrilegious  greediness,  placed 
in  stead  of  the  reliques  of  the  martyr,  those 
of  St.  Gudence  his  brother. 

To  put  an  end  to  these  depredations,  Ste- 
phen, the  metropolitan  of  that  See,  sent  a  de- 
putation to  the  sovereign  pontiff,  who  cited 
the  guilty  to  appear  at  the  court  of  Rome. 
They  immediately  sent  embassadors,  who 
explained  to  the  pope  that  their  intention  was 
to  do  homage  to  the  memory  of  the  holy  mar- 
tyr Adalbert,  and  that  they  had  exercised  a 
legitimate  right  of  conquest  in  seizing  upon 
his  remains.  They  strengthened  their  rea- 
sonings, by  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  Theo- 
phylactus  declared  that  they  were  innocent 
of  the  crimes  with  which  they  were  charged. 
The  Poles,  worn  out  by  anarchy  and  the 
evils  it  carries  in  its  train,  assembled  in  a 
general  diet  to  remedy  the  disasters.  After 
having  deliberated  at  length,  the  assembly 
determineil  to  send  an  embassy  to  the  young 
Casimir,  to  offer  him  the  crown.  For  this 
purpose  they  chose  several  deputies,  who 
went  to  France  and  obtained  permission  from 
St.  Odillon,  the  superior  of  the  monastery,  to 
visit  the  prince.  They  thus  spoke  to  him  :  '•  \¥e 
come,  prince,  in  the  name  of  the  lords  and  of 
all  the  nobility  of  Poland,  to  beseech  you  to 
have  pity  upon  that  kingdom,  to  remount  its 
throne  and  free  it  from  its  enemies."  Casi- 
mir replied  to  them:  '-That  he  belonged  no 
longer  to  the  world,  and  could  not  even  listen 
to  them  without  the  permission  of  his  abbot. 
The  deputies  then  addressed  the  eame  request 
to  St.  Odillon;  who,  considering  that  he  had 
not  the  power  to  free  a  professed  monk  and 
ordained  deacon  from  his  vows,  sent  them  to 
the  holy  father. 

Benedict  at  first  refused  to  restore  Casimir 
28* 


330 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


to  his  people ;  gold  and  presents,  little  by  lit- 
tle, overcame  his  resistance,  and,  finally,  the 
promise  of  an  annual  tribute  obtained  for  the 
prince,  not  only  permission  to  leave  his  mo- 
nastery and  return  to  his  dignities,  but  even 
to  marry.  An  author  affirms,  that  this  tri- 
bute was  levied  with  great  rigour,  not  on  the 
nobles  or  clergy,  but  on  the  unfortunate  peo- 
ple, who  have  been  obliged,  ever  since  that 


period,  to  cut  their  hair  behind  their  ears  in 
the  fashion  of  the  monks.  Casimir  married 
a  Russian  princess,  and  his  reign  commenced 
in  1004. 

The  pope  Theophylactus  became  daily 
more  odious  to  the  Romans,  until  finally,  after 
twelve  years  of  rapine,  murders,  rapes,  and 
robberies,  the  people  drove  him  from  the 
holy  city. 


SYLVESTER  THE  THIRD,  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  1004.] 

John,  bishop  of  Sabine,  buys  the  pontifical  throne  and  reigns  three  months — Benedict  the  Ninth 
returns  with  an  army — The  people  rise  against  him  a  second  time — He  sells  the  tiara  to  a 
priest  named  John. 


After  the  expulsion  of  Benedict  the  Ninth, 
the  bishop  of  Sabine,  one  of  those  who  had 
disputed  for  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  with  Theo- 
phylactus, spent  his  money  among  the  people, 
promised  dignities  and  ofiTces  to  the  clergy, 
and  obtained  the  papacy  on  the  day  succeeding 
Christmas,  1044.  He  was  ordained  under  the 
name  of  Sylvester  the  Third,  and  his  reign 
lasted  three  months. 

Benedict  the  Ninth,  by  the  assistance  of 
the  counts  of  Tuscanella,  his  relatives,  levied 
armed  bands,  which  traversed  the  country  of 
Rome,  insulted  the  citizens,  and  devastated 
the  farms.  To  put  an  end  to  the  incendiarisms 
and  murders  of  these  brigands,  the  holy  city 
was  compelled  to  open  its  gates  to  the  un- 
worthy pontiff,  who  remounted  the  apostolic 
throne. 

But  his  debaucheries  and  exactions  soon 
excited  a  new  revolt,  and  to  avoid  the  effects 
of  the  indignation  of  the  people,  he  resolved 
to  abandon  the  government  of  the  church. 


He,  however,  judged  that  it  would  be  unwor- 
thy of  him  to  lay  down  the  pontificate  with- 
out drawing  important  advantages  from  it,  and 
he  sold  his  tiara  for  fifteen  thousand  pounds 
of  gold  to  a  priest  named  John ;  he  then  retired 
to  the  palace  of  the  count  of  Tusculum,  his 
father. 

In  the  midst  of  this  universal  depravity,  a 
holy  monk,  Peter  Damien,  raised  his  voice  to 
endeavour  to  lead  back  men  to  the  sentiments 
of  virtue.  This  religious  had  at  first  professed 
human  literature  with  great  success;  but, 
guided  by  an  heavenly  inspiration,  he  had 
quitted  the  vanities  of  the  world  to  give  him- 
self up  to  the  study  of  science,  in  the  silence 
of  the  cloister.  From  beneath  the  frock  of 
the  monk,  this  philosopher  gave  useful  advice 
to  popes  and  kings ;  sought  to  enlighten  the 
people,  and  prepared  the  germs  of  that  for- 
midable revolution  which  was  to  go  on  in- 
creasing until  It  should  one  day  overthrow 
the  powerful  of  the  earth. 


JOHN  THE  TWENTIETH,  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  1045.] 

John  consecrated  by  Benedict — Shameful  conduct  of  the  trio— Their  debaucheries  and  crimes— 
They  sell  the  pontificate  to  a  fourth  pope. 


Benedict  consecrated  the  priest  to  whom 
he  had  sold  the  tiara,  and  enthroned  him 
under  the  name  of  John  the  Twentieth.  But 
Sylvester  the  Third,  who  had  acquired  the  pa- 
pacy by  an  equally  criminal  simony,  wished  to 
reclaim  his  rights  to  the  throne  of  the  apostle. 
He  entered  Rome,  seized  upon  the  Vatican, 
and  defended  himself  courageously  against 
the  troops  of  the  anti-pope,  his  competitor. 

Benedict,  on  his  side,  having  dissipated  the 
price  of  his  infamous  bargain,  conceived  the 
project  of  retaking  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  to 
sell  it  a  second  time.     He  levied  new  bands 


of  soldiers,  re-entered  the  palace  oftheLate- 
ran  by  force,  and  drove  away  the  pontiff  whom 
he  had  himself  established.  Thus  were  seen 
in  Rome  three  popes;  one  holding  his  See  in 
St.  John  the  Lateran,  another  at  St.  Peter's, 
and  the  third,  at  St.  Maria  Majora :  Jesus 
Christ  had  three  vicars,  Benedict  the  Ninth, 
Sylvester  the  Third,  and  John  the  Twentieth ! ! 
and,  as  if  the  disgrace  had  not  yet  reached  its 
height,  these  priests  made  an  abominable 
compact  among  themselves,  to  divide  the 
spoils  of  the  people,  and  the  patrimony  of  the 
poor. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


331 


Cotemporary  authors  affirm,  that  those  three 
demons,  unchained  from  hell,  assembled  each 
night  in  monstrous  orgies  with  their  minions, 
aiid  filled  Rome  with  adultery,  robbery  and 


murder;  finally,  when  they  had  exhausted 
the  treasures  of  St.  Peter,  they  put  up  the 
apostolical  throne,  for  the  fourth  time,  at 
auction. 


GREGOKY   THE   SIXTH,  THE   ONE   HUN.DRED   AND   FIFTY- 
THIRD   POPE. 

[A.  D.  1045.] 

Simoniacal  election  of  John  Gratian — He  is  enthroned  under  the  name  of  Gregory  the  Sixth — 
Contradictory  opinions  in  relation  to  him — Council  of  Pavia — Gregory  convicted  of  simony 
and  deposed. 


A  RICH  Roman  priest,  named  John  Gratian, 
offered  the  highest  price  to  the  three  exe- 
crable anti-popes.  They  gave  him  the  pre- 
ference; the  bargain  was  concluded  on  the 
very  altar  of  Christ  itself,  and  they  consecrated 
John  by  the  name  of  Gregory  the  Sixth. 

Several  ecclesiastical  writers  have  glorified 
this  unworthy  priest,  for  having  overthrown 
this  monstroils  trinity,  but  though  the  monk 
Glaber  exalts  the  virtues  and  the  piety  of 
Gregor)',  we  must  own  that  the  moving  spring 
of  his  conduct  did  not  arise  from  the  spirit  of 
the  apostolic  doctrine,  but  from  the  immode- 
rate desire  of  possessing  the  tiara.  From  the 
beginning  of  his  reign,  Gratian  knew  that  he 
must  cause  the  scandal  of  his  election  to  be 
forgotten  by  his  hj-pocrisy ;  he  therefore  ap- 
plied himself  to  govern  the  church  with  the 
appearance  of  moderation,  and  reformed  some 
abuses.  But  soon  finding  himself  absolute  mas- 
ter in  Rome,  he  joined  cruelty  to  avarice ;  put 
to  death  by  torture,  the  most  opulent  citizens, 
for  the  purpose  of  confiscating  their  property. 
He  soon  repaired  by  his  exactions  the  sacri- 
fices he  had  been  obliged  to  make  in  order  to 
purchase  the  tiara. 

Unhappy  Italy,  ruined  by  its  pontiffs,  saw 
the  number  of  robbers  increase  with  the  pub- 


lic misery ;  the  roads  were  infested  by  them ; 
pilgrims  dared  no  longer  traverse  its  provin- 
ces, except  in  large  bands;  the  cities  even 
were  filled  with  assassins,  who  murdered 
citizens  upon  the  very  altars,  and  carried  off 
by  force,  the  offerings  which  were  deposited 
on  the  tomb  of  the  apostles. 

Gregory  wished  to  arrest  the  sacrileges 
which  diminished  his  mcome,  and  published 
a  decree  prohibiting  people  from  stealing  the 
property  of  the  church;  but  his  bull  having 
no  favourable  result,  he  tried  the  thunders  of 
excommunication.  This  violent  measure  did 
but  irritate  the  guilty;  a  meeting  was  held 
near  the  patriarchal  palace,  and  threats  of 
death  to  Gregory  were  heard.  The  holy  father 
then  sent  his  troops,  and  shut  up  the  rebels 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  where  a  frightful 
massacre  took  place. 

These  bloody  executions  Avere  disapproved 
of,  even  by  the  clergy,  who  refused  any  longer 
to  obey  the  pope.  The  cardinals  and  principal 
prelates  of  Italy  addressed  their  complaints  to 
Henry  the  Black,  who  went  immediately  into 
Lombardy  and  convoked  a  council  to  judge 
the  pontiff.  Gregory  was  convicted  of  having 
bought  the  apostolic  throne,  and  condemned, 
after  a  reign  of  seventy  months,  to  be  deposed. 


CLEMENT   THE    SECOND,  THE    ONE   HUNDRED   AND  FIFTY- 
FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1046.] 

Degradation  of  the  Roman  clergy — Election  of  Sudiger,  bishop  of  Bamhurg — He  is  ordained 
by  the  name  of  Clement  the  Second  —  His  birth  and  character  —  Council  of  Rome  —  The 
fathers  regidate  the  right  of  precedency  among  the  Italian  prelates — Letter  of  Father  Damian 
to  the  pope — Death  of  Clement  the  Second. 


After  the  deposition  of  Gregory  the  Sixth, 
the  Holy  See  was  declared  vacant.  Henry  the 
Black  went  to  Rome,  and  having  convoked 
the  clergy,  the  senate,  and  the  chiefs  of  the 
corporations,  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  he 
ordered  them  to  proceed  immediately  to  the 


election  of  a  sovereign  pontiff.  The  prince 
commanded  the  assembly  of  bishops  to  de- 
signate to  him  a  Roman  priest  worthy  to  oc- 
cupy the  apostolic  chair;  they  replied  that  in 
sorrow  of  heart,  they  must  avow  that  the 
clergy  of  the  Holy  See  were  so  degraded,  that 


332 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


they  did  not  know  a  single  priest  worthy  to 
be  elevated  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  The 
emperor  himself  then  designated  as  pope,  the 
venerable  Sudiger,  bishop  of  Bamburg,  who 
was  consecrated  by  the  name  of  Clement  the 
Second. 

Sudiger  was  a  Saxon,  and  the  chancellor  of 
the  emperor;  merit  alone  had  elevated  him 
to  the  dignity  of  a  bishop ;  and  his  humility 
was  such,  that  they  were  obliged  to  use 
violence  in  order  to  array  him  in  the  pon- 
tifical garments.  After  his  ordination,  he 
convoked  a  council,  at  which  the  prince  as- 
sisted, for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the 
right  of  precedence  among  the  Italian  bishops, 
and  to  prevent  the  ridiculous  disputes  of 
rivalry. 

On  the  opening  of  the  first  session,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Milan  had  not  arrived ;  the  patriarch 
of  Aquileia  placed  himself  on  the  right  of  the 
pope,  leaving  the  seat  of  the  emperor,  which 
was  placed  immediately  by  the  side  of  the 
holy  father,  vacant :  the  metropolitan  of  Ra- 
venna seated  himself  on  the  left  of  Clement 
the  Second.  Humphrey,  the  new  chancellor 
of  Henry  the  Black,  the  titulary  of  the  See  of 
Milan,  entered  in  his  turn,  and,  finding  the 
first  place  occupied,  he  seated  himself  on  the 
imperial  seat,  which  was  at  the  right  of  the 
pontiff".  The  bishops  of  Ravenna  and  Aqui- 
leia immediately  exclaimed  against  it,  claim- 
ing the  same  honour  for  themselves.  Hum- 
phrey produced  a  catalogue  of  bishops  who 
had  assisted  at  a  council  held  by  Symmachus, 
and  in  which  the  metropolitan  of  Milan  was 
inscribed  in  the  first  place.  His  adversaries 
also  cited  a  decree  of  the  successor  of  Sym- 
machus, importing  that  the  prelate  of  Ravenna 
had  yielded  the  precedence  for  that  time  only, 
and  that  it  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  prece- 
dent for  the  future  ;  whereas,  he  should  occu- 
py the  seat  on  the  right  of  the  pope  unless  the 
emperor  was  present  at  the  synod,  in  which 
case,  he  should  seat  himself  on  the  left  of  the 
holy  father.  On  his  side,  the  patriarch  of 
Aquileia  exhibited  a  privilege  of  Pope  John 
the  Nineteenth,  which  granted  to  him  the  pre- 
cedence on  the  right.  The  assembly  gravely 
deliberated  on  this  ridiculous  question,  and 
the  precedence  was  granted  to  the  church  of 
Ravenna. 

At  the  same  council,  it  was  decided  that 
priests  who  had  been  simoniacally  ordained, 


might,  nevertheless,  exercise  the  sacerdotal 
functions,  after  a  suspension  of  forty  days,  and 
the  payment  of  a  fine  to  the  Holy  See. 

Henry  left  Rome  and  went  to  Apulia,  ac- 
companied by  Clement  the  Second,  whom  he 
constrained  to  excommunicate  the  citizens  of 
Beneventum,  who  refused  to  open  the  gates  of 
their  city  to  him.  Arrived  at  Salerno,  they 
published  a  bull  on  the  21st  of  March,  1047, 
in  which  he  gave  to  Prince  Gaimar  authority 
to  transfer  John,  bishop  of  Pestane,  to  the 
archiepiscopal  See  of  Salerno,  with  authority 
to  ordain  seven  suffragans  in  the  adjoining 
cities. 

During  his  sojourn  in  Italy,  the  emperor  had 
invited  Peter  Damien  to  go  to  Rome  to  aid  the 
pope  with  his  counsels,  but  he  excused  him- 
self with  humility,  and  wrote  to  the  holy 
father  :  "  The  prince  has  ordered  me  several 
times  to  come  to  you,  to  give  an  account  of 
the  scandalous  conduct  of  our  clergy;  he  has 
even  confided  to  my  care  a  letter  which  he 
has  addressed  to  you,  and  of  which  I  beseech 
you  to  take  cognizance.  I  do  not  wish  to  lose 
my  time  in  traversing  the  provinces,  in  order 
to  be  a  witness  of  the  abominations  of  bishops, 
priests,  and  monks,  for  it  is  of  no  service  to  us 
to  proclaim,  that  the  Holy  See  "has  emerged 
from  darkness  into  light,  if  we  remain  always 
in  darkness. 

"  Of  what  advantage  is  it  to  have  provisions 
in  the  granaries,  if  the  poor  die  of  famine  1 
What  avails  a  good  sword,  if  one  knows  not 
how  to  draw  it  fiom  the  scabbard  ?  Have  we 
not  seen  that  prelate  who  is  called  the  robber 
of  Hano,  even  him  who  had  been  excommuni- 
cated by  false  popes,  as  well  as  him  of  Ossimo, 
and  others  besides,  who  were  laden  with  un- 
heard-of crimes,  return,  however,  from  the 
holy  city,  covered  with  honours  1  Our  hope 
is  now  changed  into  sadness;  we  had  thought 
that  you  would  be  the  redeemer  of  Israel,  and 
you  deceive  our  expectations,  by  selling  justice 
in  the  temple  of  Christ." 

Henry  the  Black,  knowing  the  hatred  of  the 
Romans  tov/ards  popes  who  were  chosen  by 
the  German  princes,  was  unwilling  to  leave 
his  protege  exposed  to  the  vengeance  of  his 
enemies.  He  took  him  back  with  him  into 
Saxony,  where  Clement  died  soon  after,  on 
the  19th  of  October,  1047,  having  held  the  pon- 
tifical See  nine  months  and  a  half.  He  was 
buried  at  Bamburg. 


BENEDICT  THE  NINTH,  REMOUNTS  THE  HOLY  SEE  FOR  THE 

FOURTH  TIME. 

[A.  D.  1047.] 

Gregory  the  Sixth  dies  in  exile — Commencement  of  Hildehrand — The  Romans  demand  a  pope — 
Benedict  the  Ninth  seizes  the  Holy  See  for  the  fourth  time — Is  again  forced  to  renounce  it. 

Before  his  departure  from  Rome,  the  em- 1  many,  to  prevent  him  from  undertaking  any- 
peror  had  exiled  Gregory  the  Sixth  into  Ger- 1  thing  agamst    Clement.      We   are   ignorant 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


333 


what  became  of  him  in  this  strange  land.  He 
most  probably  died  at  the  period  at  which  his 
di.sciple  Hildebrand  retired  to  the  monastery 
of  Cluny,  of  which  he  afterwartls  became  the 
abbot.  This  monk,  foiled  in  his  ambition, 
wished  to  avenge  himself  on  Henry,  by  pub- 
licly censuring  the  council  of  Sutri,  which  had 
granted  to  that  prince  the  power  to  expel  a 
pontiiT. 

After  the  death  of  Clement  the  Second,  the 
Romans,  however,  who  were  bound  by  a  so- 
lemn oath  not  to  choose  a  pope,  without  the 
consent  of  the  emperor,  rejected  the  counsels 
of  Hildebrand,  and  sent  into  Germany  an  em- 
bassy, instructed  to  obtain  the  confirmation  of 
the  celebrated  Halinard,  archbishop  of  Lyons, 
as  the  sovereign  pontiff. 

During  the  absence  of  the  embassadors, 
Benedict  the  Ninth,  the  perjurer,  the  adulterer, 
the  incestuous  and  the  bederast,  as  the  abbot 
of  Fons-Avellano,  calls  him,  left  the  city  of 
Pesaro,  where  he  had  taken  refuge,  returned 
to  Rome  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  brigand.^,  and 
seized  upon  the  throne  of  the  church  for  the 
fourth  time.  With  him  simony,  pillage,  mur- 
der, licentiousness,  reappeared  on  the  throne 
of  the  apostle.     After  a  reign  of  eight  months 


and  a  half,  however,  Theophylactus  was  again 
obliged  to  abandon  the  Holy  See,  to  shun  the 
anger  of  the  emperor. 

Before  leaving  Rome,  he  wished  to  prepare 
the  means  of  returning  to  it,  and  imagined 
this  singular  drama.  He  besought  Bartholo- 
mew, abbot  of  Grotte  Ferree,  to  come  to  him. 
On  the  approach  of  the  venerable  cenobite, 
he  appeared  touched  with  repentance,  con- 
fessed his  crimes,  and  announced  that  he  had 
taken  the  resolution  to  abandon  the  sacerdotal 
functions,  in  order  to  repent.  He  did.  in  fact, 
leave  the  apostolic  chair  on  the  17th  of  Jul)*, 
1048,  the  day  of  the  festival  of  Alexis.  The 
abbot  Bartholomew  was  the  most  renowned 
saint  at  that  period.  He  passed  all  his  life  in 
almost  absolute  solitude,  occupying  himself 
in  composing  hymns  in  honour  of  the  Virgin, 
or  in  transcribing  manuscripts  for  the  library 
of  his  abbey.  His  love  of  justice  and  his 
eloquence  had  acquired  a  great  reputation  for 
him  in  Italy,  and  princes  frequently  chose  him 
as  the  arbiter  of  their  differences.  But,  in 
the  affair  of  the  holy  father,  all  his  wisdom 
and  sagacity  were  at  fault,  and  his .  presence 
at  Rome  only  served  to  screen  the  ambitious 
projects  of  Benedict. 


DAMASUS  THE   SECOND,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED   AND  FIFTY- 
FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1048.] 

The  emperor  sends  a  pope  to  the  Romans  who  is  ordained  by  the  name  of  Damasus  the  Second 
— He  reigns  twenty-three  days — Benedict  accused  of  having  poisoned  him — He  seizes  on  the 
tiara  for  the  fifth  time,  and  is  again  driven  from  Rome. 


When  Benedict  the  Ninth  had  quitted  the 
Holy  See,  Poppon,  bishop  of  Brixen,  arrived 
at  the  court  of  Rome,  sent  by  the  emperor 
who  had  named  him  sovereign  pontiff.  He 
was  immediately  ordained  by  the  name  of 
Damasus  the  Second.  But  his  new  elevation 
was  fatal  to  him,  for  he  only  occupied  the 
pontifical  chair  for  twenty-three  days,  and 
died  at  Preneste  on  the  8th  of  August,  1048. 
He  was  interred  in  the  church  of  St.  Lawrence, 
without  the  walls  of  the  city. 

Theophylactus  is  accused  of  having  poison- 


ed the  new  pope ;  in  fact,  on  the  very  day  of 
the  death  of  Damasus,  sustained  by  the  sol- 
diers of  the  counts  of  Tuscanella,  he  remount- 
ed, for  the  fifth  time,  the  pontifical  throne. 
After  a  reign  of  six  months,  the  Romans, 
fatigued  with  the  rule  of  this  infamous  usur- 
per, sent  two  lords  as  deputies  to  Germany, 
to  beseech  Henry  the  Black,  to  send  a  vene- 
rable priest  who  could  re-establish  di.sicipline 
in  the  church  and  worthily  occupy  the  chair 
of  the  apostle. 


334 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


LEO  THE  NINTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY-SIXTH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  1048.] 

The  famous  diet  of  Worms — Bruno  bishop  of  Toul,  is  chosen  pope — Character  of  the  pontiff 
— Bold  stroke  of  the  monk  Hildebrand — The  holy  father  goes  to  Rome  in  a  pilgrim^  garment 
— Visions  of  the  pope — He  is  consecrated  under  the  name  of  Leo  the  Ninth — Disinterestedness 
of  the  pontiff — Councils  of  Rome  and  Pavia — Origin  of  the  commemoration  of  the  dead — 
The  pope  goes  to  France  and  dedicates  the  church  of  St.  Remij — Council  of  Rheims — Privi- 
leges granted  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Maurice — The  bishop  of  Spires  accused  of  adidtery  ir\ 
the  council  of  Mayence — History  of  the  doctrine  of  Berenger — Singidar  letter  from  Berenger 
to  Lanfranc — The  bishop  of  Langres  lorites  against  Berenger — Councils  of  Rome,  Verceil 
and  Paris  on  the  doctrines  of  Berenger  and  the  works  of  John  Scotus  concerning  the  eucha- 
rist — Complaints  of  Berenger  against  his  persecutors — The  metropolitan  of  Ravenna  is  poi- 
soned by  order  of  Leo  the  Ninth — Writings  of  Damian  on  the  debaucheries  of  the  clergy — 
Foundation  of  the  abbey  of  Chaise-Dieu — The  reliqucs  of  St.  Denis  the  Areopagitc — Firmness  of 
the  archbishop  of  Mayence — Complaints  of  the  pope  aminst  the  Normans — The  holy  father 
risks  his  life  in  the  council  of  Mantua — Leo  the  Ninth  declares  icar  on  the  Normans,  and 
places  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops — He  is  made  prisoner — He  is  forced  in  order  to  recover 
his  freedom,  to  absolve  the  Normaris  from  the  excommunication  lanchcd  against  them — Letter 
of  the  pope  to  the  patriarch  of  Antioch — Letter  of  Michael  Cerularius  on  the  unleavened  bread 
and  the  Sabbath — Reply  of  the  pontiff — Reply  of  Cerularius — death  of  Leo  the  Ninth. 


After  the  death  of  Damasus  the  Second, 
the  emperor  held  a  diet  at  Worms,  that  is,  a 
general  assembly  of  the  prelates  and  lords  of 
his  German  states.  They  designated  Bruno, 
the  bishop  of  Toul,  as  being  the  most  worthy 
to  occupy  the  Holy  See. 

The  prelate  was  of  the  illustrious  house  of 
Alsace  and  Lorraine,  and  the  cousin  of  Henry 
the  Black ;  he  obtained  the  papacy  at  the  age 
of  forty-six  years,  after  having  been  bishop  of 
Toul  for  twenty-two  years.  A  benevolent 
character,  an  exemplary  piety,  and  an  agree- 
able exterior,  caused  him  to  be  loved  by 
priests  and  people.  His  devotion  to  St.  Peter 
was  so  great,  that  he  made  a  yearly  pilgri- 
mage to  the  tomb  of  the  apostle,  and  went  ac- 
companied by  a  crowd  of  pilgrims  which  he 
recruited  on  the  way.  In  the  course  of  his 
apostolical  labours  he  had,  in  connection  with 
the  venerable  Guidric,  reformed  several  mon- 
asteries. He  had  negotiated  a  peace  some 
years  before,  between  Rodolph,  the  lord  of 
Burgundy  and  Robert  king  of  France,  and  was 
finally  much  engaged  with  the  sciences,  and 
especially  with  music.  Notwithstanding  all 
these  qualities,  whether  it  was  from  indifTer- 
ence.  modesty,  fear  or  perhaps  a  baneful  pre- 
sentiment, when  he  heard  of  his  election  to 
the  pontifical  throne,  he  refused  the  dignity 
and  demanded  three  days  for  a  decision.  This 
delay  was  granted  to  him.  He  passed  these 
three  days  in  church,  observing  the  most 
rigorous  fast,  and  remaining  constantly  in 
prayer.  He  then  confessed  his  sins,  and  re- 
quested them,  with  tears,  to  leave  him  in  his 
bishopric  of  Toul,  or  at  least  that  his  election 
should  be  submitted  to  the  consent  of  the 
Roman  clergy  and  people.  This  last  condi- 
tion having  been  acceded  to,  he  returned  to 
his  diocese  to  celebrate  Christmas.  The 
bishops  Hugh,  Eberhard,  Adalberon  and  Thi- 
erry accompanied  him  on  his  journey. 


But  Hildebrand,  the  disciple  of  Gregory, 
that  monk  who  was  eaten  up  by  ambition,  and 
whom  we  have  seen  condemn  the  predomi- 
nance of  temporal  power  over  spiritual  autho- 
rity, becoming  tired  of  a  cloistered  life  and 
his  title  of  prior,  conceived  the  design  of  rais- 
ing himself  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  Never- 
theless, before  seizing  on  the  throne  of  the 
church,  he  wished  to  render  the  papacy  as 
redoubtable  as  his  pride  demanded.  Avail- 
ing himself  of  the  journey  of  Bruno,  who  was 
then  traversing  Burgundy  and  who  had  stop- 
ped to  visit  the  celebrated  abbey  of  Cluny,  he 
received  him  with  all  the  honours  due  to  the 
supreme  head  of  the  church ;  he  understood 
so  well  the  art  of  gaining  the  confidence  of 
the  holy  father,  that  this  latter  determined, 
by  his  perfidious  advice,  to  refuse  the  pontifical 
dignity  which  had  been  offered  him  by  the  em- 
peror. He  pointed  out  to  him  that  it  would  not 
only  be  disgraceful  but  even  very  dangerous 
for  him  to  receive  the  tiara  from  a  prince.  He 
recalled  to  his  recollection,  that  the  popes  his 
predecessors,  who  had  been  elevated  to  the 
Holy  See  by  the  protection  of  the  emperors, 
had  almost  all  died  a  violent  death ;  he  per- 
suaded him  that  it  was  possible  to  render  to 
God  that  which  belonged  to  him,  without  des- 
pising the  sacred  rights  of  him  who  repre- 
sented him  on  earth,  and  that  he  could  recon- 
cile the  interests  of  Heaven  and  the  world,  by 
going  to  Rome  without  pomp,  as  a  simple 
Christian  who  goes  to  perform  his  devotions 
at  the  tomb  of  the  apostles.  "The  people 
and  the  clergy,"  said  Hildebrand  to  him, 
"  will  be  surprised  at  your  modesty ;  you  will 
be  no  longer  in  their  eyes  the  pontiff  who  has 
been  imposed  on  them  by  the  authority  of 
the  prince,  and  they  will  reward,  by  a  regular 
election,  the  priest  who  shall  have  entered 
the  holy  fold  as  the  true  shepherd." 

Leo,  seduced  by  this  specious  reasoning, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


335 


disrobed  himself  of  his  pontifical  garments, 
and  in  the  garb  of  a  pilgrim,  went  secretly 
towards  the  apostolic  city,  accompanied  by 
the  monk  of  Cluny.  During  his  journey,  the 
holy  father  stopped  in  all  the  churches,  and 
offered  up  his  prayers.  It  is  related  that  in 
the  city  of  Augsburg,  he  had  a  vision  and 
heard  a  voice  which  cried  out  to  him:  '-I 
think  of  thoughts  of  peace  ..."  and  the  con- 
clusion of  these  words  taken  from  Jeremiah. 
This  voice,  which  was  none  other  than  that  of 
the  monk  of  Cluny,  strengthened  his  resolu- 
tion, and  finally,  after  a  journey  of  two  months, 
he  entered  the  holy  city.  The  clergy,  the 
lords,  and  the  people,  who  had  been  fore- 
warned by  Hildebrand,  ran  before  the  pontiff 
singing  songs  of  gladness.  Leo  then  descended 
from  his  horse,  and  went  with  naked  feet  to 
the  church  of  St.  Peter. 

After  having  finished  his  prayers  at  the 
tomb  of  the  apostle,  Leo  turned  to  his  assist- 
ants and  said  to  them :  "  The  most  illustri- 
ous emperor,  Henry  the  Black,  has  named  me 
chief  of  the  universal  church;  but  this  election 
not  having  been  canonically  made,  since  your 
suffrages,  by  the  decisions  of  the  holy  fathers 
and  the  councils,  should  precede  all  others,  I 
declare  then  to  you  that  I  have  come  among 
you  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  my  prince, 
but  that  I  will  return  to  my  diocese,  unless 
you  unanimously  proclaim  me  sovereign  pon- 
tiffof  Kome."  Acclamations  of  joy  responded 
to  his  words,  and  Leo  was  enthroned  on  the 
same  day,  which  was  the  12th  February,  1049. 

On  the  20th  of  March  of  the  same  year,  the 
pope  convoked  the  bishops  of  Italy  and  Gaul 
in  a  coimcil,  for  the  purpose  of  declaring  all 
simoniacal  ordinations  null.  The  number  of 
these  sacrilegious  nominations  was.  however, 
so  great,  that  wise  men  feared  lest  divine  ser- 
vice should  be  interrupted  in  the  churches, 
and  they  contented  themselves  with  confirm- 
ing the  decree  of  Clement  the  Second,  which 
provided  that  those  who  had  been  consecrated 
through  simony,  should  exercise  their  func- 
tions after  forty  days  of  penance,  and  the 
payment  of  a  fitie. 

Leo  the  Ninth,  decreed  that  apostate  clerks 
who  abandoned  their  heresies  to  reunite 
themselves  to  the  Catholic  church,  should 
preserve  their  rank,  but  without  being  able  to 
be  promoted  to  higher  dignities.  He  also  ap- 
proved of  the  change  of  John,  bishop  of  Tos- 
canello.  who  had  been  promoted  to  the  bish- 
opric of  Porto;  he  confirmed  his  See  in  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  property  of  his  diocese, 
and  amongst  the  rest,  in  that  of  the  Island  of 
St.  Bartholomew  at  Rome,  which  had  been 
contestCLl  with  him  by  the  bishop  of  St.  Sa- 
bine, and  he  permitted  him  to  exercise  all 
episcopal  functions  beyond  the  Tiber,  which 
proves  that  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of 
the  holy  city  did  not  extend  beyond  the  walls. 
A  month  afterwards,  the  holy  father  convoked 
a  new  synod  at  Pavia ;  he  then  passed  the 
Alps  and  went  into  Germany  to  visit  the  em- 
peror. During  this  journey,  he  confirmed  the 
privileges  of  the  abbey  of  Cluny,  by  a  bull, 
dated  the  lllh  of  June,  1049,  and  which  was 


addressed  to  Hugh,  the  ruler  of  that  monas- 
tery, since  the  death  of  St.  Odilon. 

This  holy  abbot  had,  before  his  death,  es- 
tablished a  ceremony,  which  had  extended 
into  other  dioceses  of  Gaul,  called  the  com- 
memoration of  the  dead.  Authors  thus  relate 
the  origin  of  this  new  institution  :  '-'A  valiant 
knight  was  returning  from  a  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  when  having  lost  his  way  among 
the  sands  of  Palestine,  he  encountered  a  vene- 
rable hermit,  who  recognizing  him  to  be  a 
Frenchman,  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  heard 
of  the  monastery  of  Cluny,  and  the  abbot 
Odilon.  The  pilgrim  having  replied  in  the 
affirmative  by  a  nod  of  his  head,  the  hermit 
immediately  said  to  him  :  '■  God  has  revealed 
to  me  that  this  holy  man  has  the  power  to 
deliver  souls  from  the  penalties  which  they 
suffer  in  another  life;  I  beseech  you  then,  my 
brother,  when  you  shall  have  returned  to 
Gaul,  to  go  to  him  and  exhort  him,  and  also 
the  monks  of  his  community,  to  contmue  their 
prayers  and  alms  for  the  dead." 

The  knight  on  returning  to  France,  went 
into  Burgundy  and  came  to  Cluny,  where  he 
repeated  the  words  of  the  hermit  to  the  monks 
of  that  convent;  the  venerable  Odilon  then 
ordered,  that  on  the  1st  of  November  of  every 
year,  they  should  solemnly  celebrate,  in  the 
church  of  the  abbey,  the  commemoration  of 
all  the  faithful  who  had  died  since  the  world 
began.  "On  that  day,  after  the  chapter  was 
holden,  the  dean  and  cellarers,  gave  alms  of 
bread  and  wine  to  all  comers,  and  the  steward 
collected  the  remains  of  the  dinner  of  the 
brotherhood  to  distribute  to  the  poor.  After 
vespers,  they  rang  all  the  bells  together,  and 
chanted  the  prayers  for  the  dead  ;  the  next 
day  after  matins,  they  again  rang  the  bells 
of  the  convent.  On  the  third  day  an  holy 
mass  was  solemnly  celebrated ;  two  monks 
chanted  the  passage  and  each  distributed 
alms  to  twelve  poor  persons."  This  practice 
soon  extended  into  other  monasteries,  and 
became  common  to  the  whole  Catholic  church, 
after  having  undergone  slight  modifications. 

Before  his  election,  Leo  had  promised  to 
Herimar,  an  abbot  of  St.  Remy.  to  dedicate  the 
new  church,  which  that  abbot  had  built  in  his 
convent ;  when  it  was  finished,  the  holy  father 
went  to  Toul  at  the  time  of  the  exaltation  of 
the  holy  cross,  to  fulfil  his  promise;  at  the 
same  time  he  sent  commands  to  the  prelates 
of  Gaul  to  convoke  a  council  which  he  wished 
to  hold  at  Rhcims  on  the  1st  of  October,  after 
the  ceremony  was  over. 

But  the  lay  lords  who  were  guilty  of  inces- 
tuous marriages,  and  several  simoniacal  bish- 
ops, who  feared  ecclesiastical  censures,  repre- 
sented to  the  king  of  France,  that  the  crown 
would  be  disgraced,  if  he  permitted  a  pope  to 
command  in  the  kingdom,  and  convoke  coun- 
cils without  his  authority.  They  observed  to 
him,  that  none  of  his  ancestors  had  granted 
permission  to  the  pontiff's  to  enter  their  cities, 
without  their  indicating  the  motive,  which  led 
to  the  convocation  of  the  councils.  They  re- 
presented to  him,  that  these  assemblages  de- 
manded peaceful  times,  whilst  now  his  king- 


336 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


dom  was  in  great  confusion,  which  would 
only  increase  the  claims  of  the  holy  father. 
Finally,  they  said  to  the  prince,  that  instead 
of  yielding  deference  to  the  will  of  Leo,  he 
would  more  promptly  obtain  his  end  by 
placing-  impositions  on  the  property  of  the 
bishops  and  convents,  which  possessed  con- 
siderable domains,  and  especially  by  not  spa- 
ring the  rich  monastery  of  St.  Remy,  on  ac- 
count of  this  new  evidence  of  the  pride  of 
its  abbot,  who  had  wished  a  pontiff  to  dedi- 
cate his  church. 

These  representations  were  addressed  by 
Guebin,  bishop  of  Laon,  in  the  name  of  the 
clergy,  and  by  Hugh,  count  of  Braine,  in  that 
of  the  nobility.  Henry  then  wrote  to  his  holi- 
ness that  the  cares  of  his  kingdom  prevented 
him  from  being  at  Rheims  on  the  day  fixed 
for  holding  the  synod,  and  he  besought  him 
to  delay  his  journey  into  France,  until  the 
troubles  were  at  an  end,  that  he  might  be 
enabled  to  render  him  the  honours  due  to  his 
rank.  Leo,  urged  on  by  the  monk  Hilde- 
brand,  replied  sharply  to  the  monarch,  that 
he  should  hold  the  council  with  those  whom 
he  found  there,  and  without  any  other  notice 
he  entered  France.  He  arrived  in  the  city  of 
Rheims.  without  receiving  any  honours  by  the 
way,  and  oidy  accompanied  by  the  metropoli- 
tans of  Treves,  Lyons  and  Besan^on,  and  the 
bishops  of  Senlis,  Nevers,  and  Angers,  who 
had  come  to  meet  him  with  the  ecclesiastics, 
and  monks  of  St.  Remy. 

Leo  at  first  remained  in  the  abbey  which 
was  situated  without  the  walls  of  the  city ;  he 
then  went  with  the  same  train  towards  the 
cathedral,  where  he  took  possession  of  the 
seat  of  the  archbishop,  and  celebrated  divine 
service ;  after  which,  he  went  to  the  great 
archiepiscopal  palace.  On  the  last  day  of  Sep- 
tember, the  pope  left  Rheims  during  the  night, 
accompanied  by  two  chaplain,s,  and  returned 
to  St.  Remy,  where  he  bathed  and  shaved  in 
preparation  for  the  ceremony.  As  soon  as  the 
day  appeared,  he  shut  himself  up  in  an  edi- 
fice in  the  rear  of  the  church,  because  the  in- 
pouring. of  the  people  was  so  great,  that  it  was 
impossible  to  celebrate  divine  service  in  the 
church  of  the  convent.  The  credulous  and 
simple  had  assembled,  not  only  from  the 
neighbouring  cities  and  country,  but  even 
from  distant  provinces,  to  assist  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  new  church.  All  devotedly 
kissed  the  tomb  of  St.  Remy,  and  deposited  rich 
offerings  upon  the  altar.  The  enthusiasm  was 
so  great  that  those  who  could  not  approach 
the  blessed  saint,  cast  their  offerings  upon  his 
sepulchre.  The  monks  were  occupied  all 
day  in  receiving  the  offerings  of  the  faithful, 
and  in  carrying  them  into  the  treasury  of  the 
convent.  The  holy  father  showed  himself, 
from  time  to  time,  in  one  of  the  galleries  to 
bestow  his  benediction,  and  he  excited  the 
charity  of  the  stupid  people  by  exclaiming  : 
"Give,  give  to  St.  Remy."  Finally,  towards 
night,  the  monks  worn  out  with  mounting  into 
their  chambers  to  put  away  their  presents, 
drove  the  people  from  the  church.  The  crowd 
poured  out  in  silence,  and  remained  on  their 


knees,  without   the  gate  of  the  holy  place, 
during  the  whole  night. 

On  the  next  day,  at  daybreak,  the  monks 
entered  the  church,  bearing  the  body  of  St. 
Corneille,  which  the  clergy  of  Compeigne  had 
carried  to  the  cathedral,  to  save  from  profa- 
nation, and  deposited  it  upon  a  sacred  altar, 
in  order  to  give  fresh  food  for  the  charity  of 
the  faithful.  At  the  third  hour,  the  pontiff, 
clothed  in  sarcedotal  ornaments,  accompanied 
by  four  metropolitans  and  several  abbots,  ap- 
proached from  the  tomb  of  the  blessed  Remy ; 
the  shrine  of  the  saint  was  drawn  from  the 
sepulchre ;  the  pope  himself  carried  it  on  his 
shoulders,  and  having  given  it  to  the  care  of 
the  four  archbishops,  he  retired  into  a  sepa- 
rate chapel.  At  the  same  moment  the  gates 
of  the  church  were  opened  and  the  people 
rushed  in  so  precipitately,  that  a  great  num- 
ber of  men,  women  and  children  were  tram- 
pled to  death. 

The  relics  of  St.  Remy  were  carried  in  pro- 
cession through  the  streets  of  the  city  and  de- 
posited in  the  metropolitan  church  of  Notre 
Dame.  On  the  third  day  the  clergy  made  a 
new  procession  with  the  shrine  without  the 
walls  of  the  city,  whilst  the  holy  father,  sur- 
rounded by  the  principal  ecclesiastics,  dedi- 
cated the  church,of  the  monastery ;  after  the 
procession,  the  relics  of  the  holy  father  were 
placed  on  the  high  altar,  and  remained  ex- 
posed there  whilst  the  council  was  in  session. 

Leo  the  Ninth  made  a  bull,  by  which  he 
declared  that  no  one  could  celebrate  mass 
upon  that  altar,  e.xcept  the  archbishop  of 
Rheims,  the  abbot  of  Remy,  and  seven  priests, 
who  should  be  chosen  in  the  diocese — on  the 
condition,  however,  that  these  last  should  not 
officiate  but  tvvice  in  every  year.  The  holy 
father  finally  terminated  this  ceremony  by  giv- 
ing his  solemn  benediction  to  the  people. 

They  were  then  occupied  with  preparations 
for  the  council,  which  had  been  fixed  for  the 
Hd  of  October,  in  the  church  of  St.  Remy ; 
twenty  bishops,  fifty  abbots,  and  other  eccle- 
siastics, assembled  at  the  call  of  the  pope.  A 
ridiculous  dispute  for  precedence  was  then 
renewed  between  the  clergy  of  Rhiems  and 
that  of  Treves.  The  metropolitan  of  Rheims, 
regarding  himself  as  the  primate  of  the  Gauls, 
claimed  the  first  seat  on  the  right  of  the  holy 
father — he  of  Treves,  attributing  to  himself  the 
same  dignity  and  the  same  rank,  also  claimed 
the  seat  of  honour. 

To  make  these  two  parties  agree,  Leo  or- 
dered that  the  seats  should  be  all  placed  in 
a  circle,  his  own  occupying  the  centre,  and 
he  ordered  the  archbishop  of  Rheims  to  regu- 
late the  other  places.  When  the  silence, 
broken  by  this  incident  was  re-established, 
Peter,  deacon  and  chancellor  of  the  court  of 
Rome,  spoke  in  the  name  of  the  pontiff.  He 
warned  the  assembly  that  it  was  called  to- 
gether to  deliberate  upon  the  abuses  which 
existed  in  France  in  relation  to  the  exactions 
of  priests,  to  the  apostacies  of  monks,  to  the 
incestuous  marriages  and  adulteries  of  the 
laity  ;  he  exhorted  the  bishops  to  take  the  ne- 
cessary measures  to  prevent  the  unjust  incar- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


337 


ceration  of  the  poor  to  arrest  the  robberies 
and  murders  by  the  prelates,  of  which  the 
people  were  the  victims;  he  warned  them, 
under  penalty  of  anathema,  publicly  to  de- 
nounce such  among  them  as  had  been  guilty 
of  simony. 

The  archbishop  of  Treves  rose  first,  and 
affirmed  on  oath,  that  he  had  given  nothing 
to  obtain  the  episcopate,  and  that  he  had 
never  received  any  thing  when  he  ordained 
priests.  The  archbishops  of  Lyons  and  Bes- 
can9on  made  the  same  declaration.  As  the 
metropolitan  of  Rheims  had  not  yet  spoken, 
the  deacon  turned  to  him  and  summoned  him 
lo  make  his  declaration;  he  replied  that  he 
wished  to  speak  in  private  to  the  holy  father, 
and  to  obtain  a  delay  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
plying; they  granted  him  until  the  ne.xt  day. 

The  abbots  were  summoned  in  their  turn 
to  justify  themselves;  the  superior  of  St. 
Remy,  he  of  Cluny,  and  several  others,  de- 
clared that  they  were  free  from  reproaches ; 
but  there  was  a  great  number  that  did  not 
dare  to  reply.  The  bishop  of  Langres  then 
brought  complaints  against  the  abbot  of  Pon- 
thieres.  his  diocesan  ;  he  accused  him  of  adul- 
tery, incest,  and  sodomy.  This  unworthy 
priest  was  examined  at  once,  and  as  he  could 
not  justify  himself,  the  council  deposed  him 
from  the  priesthood.  Those  who  did  not  re- 
gard the  pope  as  the  chief  of  the  universal 
church,  were  then  enjoined  to  avow  it  loudly 
before  the  assembly.     All  kept  silence. 

The  next  day,  Leo,  after  having  given  a  pri- 
vate audience  to  the  metropolitan  of  Rheims, 
opened  the  sitting  with  prayer  and  the  read- 
ing of  the  Bible  ;  the  deacon  Peter  then  sum- 
moned the  archbishop  to  defend  himself 
against  the  crime  of  simony,  and  several  other 
crimes  of  which  he  had  been  accused  by  pub- 
lic clamour.  This  prelate  haviiiir  obtained  per- 
mission to  employ  counsel,  chose  the  bishops 
of  Besan9on,  Soissons,  Angers,  Nevers,  Senlis, 
and  Terouanne.  After  a  secret  deliberation, 
thebishopofSenlisannounced  that  the  accused 
was  not  guill>\  The  holy  father  caused  the 
decree  of  St.  Gregory,  in  relation  to  INlaximus 
of  Salona.  to  be  read,  and  ordered  that  the 
suspected  prelate  should  justify  himself  by 
oath  from  the  accusation  of  simony.  A  new 
delay  was  asked  by  the  archbishop,  who  pro- 
mised to  appear  in  the  following  year  before 
a  council  at  Rome,  to  defend  himself. 

The  clergy  of  Tours,  through  their  organ, 
the  bishop  of  Lyons,  also  complained  of  the 
bishop  of  Dol,  in  Brittany,  who  hud,  with 
seven  of  his  suffragans,  freed  himsidf  from 
the  authority  of  the  metropolitan  of  Tours, 
and  had  arroLialed  to  himself  the  title  of  arch- 
bishop. This  affair  was  also  referred  lo  the 
council  of  Rome. 

The  deacon  Peter,  chief  manager  of  the 
synod,  accused  the  bishop  of  Langres  of  hav- 
ing sold  the  sacred  orders,  of  having  borne 
arms,  of  havinir  committed  adultery  and  homi- 
cide, and  of  having  practised  the  shameful 
vice  of  sodomy.  Witnesses  deposed  before 
the  assembly  as  to  all  these  crimes.  A  clerk 
accused  the  prelate  of  having  carried  off  his 

Vol.  I.  2  S 


wife  by  force,  and  of  having  confined  her  in  a 
convent  in  order  the  more  easily  to  gratify  his 
brutality.  Another  priest  also  complained  of 
having  been  given  up  to  satellites,  who  tor- 
mented him  in  a  cruel  manner  in  order  to  ob- 
tain from  him  ten  pounds  of  gold  which  be- 
longed to  him.  The  bishop  of  Langres  asked 
for  the  aid  of  counsel ;  but  when  he  had  con- 
ferred with  them,  the  voice  of  one  of  them 
who  essayed  to  speak  in  his  defence,  sud- 
denly failed  him.  The  metropolitan  of  Lyons, 
one  of  his  advocates,  alarmed  by  the  miracle, 
then  avowed,  that  the  holy  orders  had  been 
sold;  that  the  sum  designated  by  one  of  the 
witnesses  had  been  extorted,  and  that  the 
ravishing  charged  upon  the  prelate  had  been 
done  by  his  orders.  The  pope,  to  prevent  the 
scandal  arising  from  an  avowal  so  outrageous 
to  religion,  put  an  end  to  this  affair,  under  the 
pretext  that  it  could  not  be  finished  at  the 
sitting.  He  then  caused  the  canons  relating 
to  simony,  and  especially  the  second  decree 
of  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  to  be  read,  and 
dismissed  the  assembly. 

On  the  following  day,  the  deacon  Peter 
commenced  the  session  with  the  cause  which 
had  terminated  the  preceding  debate;  but 
the  bishop  of  Langres  was  not  present  at  this 
meeting.  The  manager  of  the  synod  called 
him  three  times  by  the  order  of  the  holy 
father,  and  they  sent  the  prelates  of  Angers 
and  Senlis  to  his  residence,  to  bring  him  be- 
fore the  council.  While  waiting  for  their  re- 
turn. Peter  addressed  those  who  had  not  yet 
spoken.  The  bishop  of  No  vers  rose  from  his 
seat  and  said  :  "■  I  know  that  my  relatives 
g-ave  large  sums  to  purchase  the  diocese 
which  I  occupy;  and  I  know  that  since  my 
ordination  I  have  committed  grievous  faults 
against  the  rules  of  the  church.  I  humble 
myself  before  the  divine  justice,  and  I  declare 
that  I  would  rather  renounce  my  dignity 
than  keep  it  at  the  expense  of  the  safety  of 
my  soul."  After  having  thus  spoken,  he  de- 
posited his  cross  and  mitre  at  the  feet  of  the 
sovereign  pontiff;  but  the  latter  was  so 
touched  by  his  repentance,  that  he  imme- 
diately re-installed  him  in  his  episcopal  func- 
tions, only  condemning  him  to  pay  a  fine. 

Soon  afterwards,  they  came  to  announce 
that  the  bishop  of  Langres  had  fled  during 
the  night  in  order  to  avoid  the  condemnation 
he  had  incurred  for  his  crimes.  He  was  at 
once  excommunicated  by  the  council.  The 
metropolitan  of  Besanron  then  advanced  into 
the  midst  of  the  church,  and  declared  in  a 
loud  voice,  that  he  had  lost  the  use  of  speech 
by  the  will  of  Cod,  when  he  had  undertaken  to 
defend  the  guilty ;  he  then  fell  on  his  knees 
and  demanded  the  pardon  of  the  assembly. 
This  avowal  drew  tears  from  Leo,  who  ex- 
claimed, "It  is  true,  then,  that  St.  Remyet 
lives  among  us!"'  All  rose  spontaneously, 
and  went  to  the  sepulchre  of  the  saint,  where 
they  .sang  an  anthem  in  Ins  honour. 

The  session  then  re-commenced  :  the  bishop 
of  Constance  then  admitted  that  his  bishopric 
had  been  purchased  by  one  of  his  near  rela- 
tives; and  that  having  learned  of  this  pro- 
29 


338 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


ceeding,  he  had  wished  to  make  his  escape, 
in  order  not  to  be  ordained  contrary  to  the 
rules,  but  that  his  brother  had  forced  him  to 
be  consecrated  in  spite  of  himself.  He  was 
consequently  judged  not  to  be  guilty  of 
simony. 

The  bishop  of  Nantes  declared  that  he  was 
the  son  of  the  former  bishop;  that  his  father, 
while  living,  had  surrendered  his  See  to  him ; 
and  that,  in  order  to  have  his  nomination  con- 
firmed, he  had  sezii  large  sums  to  the  prince. 
The  council  pronounced  his  deposition,  took 
from  him  the  ring  and  the  cross,  but  at  the 
entreaty  of  some  prelates,  consented  to  leave 
him  the  priesthood.  The  pope  then  exhorted 
the  metropolitans  to  denounce  any  of  their 
suffragans  who  were  guilty  of  the  abominable 
crime  of  magic :  all  affirmed  that  they  knew 
of  none  who  were. 

The  assembly  was  then  occupied  with  judg- 
ing ecclesiastics  who  had  been  invited  to  the 
eynod,  and  who  had  not  come,  nor  sent  legiti- 
mate excuses  to  the  pontiff.  They  were  all 
excommunicated,  with  those  who  followed  the 
king  to  the  war.  and  in  especial  the  bishops 
of  Sens,  Beauvais,  and  Amiens.  A  sentence 
of  excommunication  was  •  also  pronounced 
against  the  abbot  of  St.  Medard,  who  had  left 
the  council  without  taking  leave,  and  against 
the  metropolitan  of  St.  James,  in  Galicia,  who 
had  usurped  the  title  of  apostolic,  which  was 
reserved  for  the  sovereign  pontiff. 

The  session  was  terminated  by  the  reading 
of  twelve  canons,  which  renewed  the  decrees 
which  had  gone  out  of  use,  and  which  con- 
demned, under  penalty  of  anathema,  several 
abuses  which  existed  in  the  Galilean  church. 
They  prohibited  priests  from  exacting  any  pay 
for  burying  the  dead  or  baptizing  infants ;  they 
declared  the  usury  of  money  impious ;  here- 
tics, who  began  to  multiply  in  France,  were 
declared  without  the  pale,  as  well  as  all  Chris- 
tians who  communed  with  them,  or  granted 
them  their  protection.  Counts  Engelrai  and 
Eustache  were  excommunicated  for  incest ; 
also  Hugh  of  Braine,  for  having  abandoned  his 
lawful  wife,  to  marry  his  concubine.  The 
nobles  of  Compiegne  were  threatened  with 
ecclesiastical  thunders,  if  they  dared  to  hin- 
der the  members  of  their  clergy  from  return- 
ing into  the  diocese  ;  and  finally,  counts  Thi- 
balt  and  GeofiVey  were  cited  before  the  coun- 
cil which  was  to  be  held  in  Mayence  :  the 
one  for  having  abandoned  his  wife  ;  the  other 
for  retaining  the  count  of  INIans  in  prison. 
The  synod  having  terminated,  Leo  dismissed 
the  clergy  and  laity  by  giving  them  his  bene- 
diction. 

On  the  sixth  of  October,  the  holy  father 
visited  the  chapter  of  the  monks  of  St.  Denis. 
■He  besought  them  to  unite  their  prayers  with 
his ;  and  after  having  all  prostrated  them- 
selves, he  gave  them  absolution  and  the  kiss 
of  peace.  Leo,  accompanied  by  the  prelates, 
then  entered  the  church,  celebrated  divine 
service,  and  having  taken  the  body  of  St. 
Rerny  from  the  altar,  bore  it  on  his  shoulders, 
and  deposited  it  in  the  sepulchre,  and  ordered 
that  the  festival  of  tjie  saint  should  be  cele- 


brated on  the  1st  of  October  of  each  year. 
Finally  the  pope  started  for  Germany.  He 
stopped  three  days  on  the  way,  at  the  con- 
vent of  St.  Maurice  in  the  high  Valais.  He 
granted  to  the  monks  considerable  exemp- 
tions, and  prohibited,  under  penalty  of  ana- 
thema, all  prelates  from  pillaging  the"  property 
of  the  abbey,  or  from  claiming  any  right  to 
interfere  in  the  affairs  of  this  church  without 
the  consent  of  the  canons. 

On  his  arrival  at  ftlayence,  Leo  held  a  new 
council,  at  which  the  emperor  Henry  the  Black, 
the  lords  of  his  kingdom  and  forty  bishops 
assisted.  The  metropolitans  of  Treves,  May- 
ence, Cologne,  Hamburg,  and  Magdeburg, 
were  at  the  head  of  the  cleigy.  It  is  related 
that  Sibicon,  bishop  of  Spires,  accused  of 
having  committed  several  adulteries,  wished 
to  justify  himself  by  celebrating  the  holy  sac- 
rifice of  the  mass,  but  that  God  performed  a 
miracle,  in  order  to  punish  this  sacrilege,  and 
permitted  that  a  sudden  paralysis  should  turn 
his  mouth  to  the  side  of  his  face.  Several 
impoitant  decisions,  touching  simony  and  the 
marriage  of  priests,  were  made  in  this  assem- 
bly. To  assure  the  execution  of  it,  the  arch- 
bishop Adalbert,  on  arriving  at  Hamburg,  ex- 
communicated in  mass,  all  the  concubines  of 
the  priests,  and  drove  them  from  his  capital. 

At  this  period,  a  new  doctrine,  in  relation 
to  the  eucharist  was  broached  in  France, 
which  for  a  long  time  troubled  the  church;  it 
was  taught  by  Bishop  Berenger.  This  pre- 
late, born  at  Tours  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century,  had  studied  in  the  school 
of  St.  Martin,  where  Walter,  his  uncle,  was 
the  chanter ;  he  afterwards  continued  his 
studies  under  the  direction  of  Fulbert,  bishop 
of  Charlres.  Returned  to  his  native  city,  Beren- 
ger was  received  into  the  chapter  of  St.  IVIar- 
tin,  where  he  obtained  a  professor's  chair ; 
in  1040  he  was  named  archdeacon  of  Angers, 
preserving  his  place  in  the  monastery  of  Tours ; 
he  had  for  a  disciple  Eusebius  or  Bruno,  who 
was  afterwards  bishop  of  Angers. 

At  the  same  period,  Lanfranc,  a  monk  of 
Bee,  in  Normandy,  commenced  his  lessons  on 
sacred  history,  and  he  obtained  such  prodi- 
gious success,  that  the  clergy  from  all  parts 
of  Gaul  came  together  to  hear  him.  But  when 
Berenger  appeared,  the  school  of  Lanfranc 
was  deserted.  The  latter,  wounded  in  his 
vanity,  attacked  his  antagonist  as  an  heretic, 
and  preached  against  the  primitive  simplicity 
and  purity  of  the  doctrine  of  the  eucharist, 
condemning  the  opinions  of  Berenger.  The 
illustrious  professor  of  Tours,  in  his  turn,  pub- 
licly censured  the  doctrine  of  the  monk,  and 
the  quarrel  commenced. 

Berenger  wrote  to  Lanfranc :  '•'  I  am  in- 
formed, my  brother,  by  Enguerrand  of  Char- 
tres,  that  you  disapprove  of  the  thoughts  of 
John  Scot,  in  regard  to  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar,  and  even  regard  them  as  heretical,  be- 
cause they  do  not  agree  with  those  of  Pas- 
chasus,  your  favourite  author.  If  it  is  so,  I 
fear,  that  yielding  to  a  precipitate  judgment, 
you  have  not  wisely  used  the  mind  which 
God  has  given  you.     When  you  shall  have 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


339 


studied  the  sacred  Scriptures,  you  will  also 
condemn  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Jerome,  or  St.  Au- 
gustin,  or  else  you  will  approve  of  the  rea- 
sonings of  John  Scot  in  relation  to  the  eucha- 
rist ;  for  you  will  learn  by  taking  the  works 
of  the  fathers,  and  of  the  doctors  of  the  church, 
according  to  their  most  correct  sense,  that  Iran- 
substantiation  or  the  real  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  eucharist.  is  an  error  which  the  last 
century  has  bequeathed  to  ours." 

Hugh,  bishop  of  Langres,  also  condemned 
Berenger  in  a  letter,  in  which,  however,  he 
calls  him  most  reverend  father :  ''  You  main- 
tain," he  wrote  to  him,  "that  the  nature  of 
bread  and  wine  is  not  changed  in  the  sacrament 
of  the  altar,  and  that  the  essence  of  Christ 
in  these  substances  is  immaterial ;  that  is  to 
say,  you  make  the  palpable  body  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  was  crucitied,  pure  spirit;  and 
you  scandalize  all  the  church  by  declaring 
him  incorporeal.  If  the  consecration  does  not 
physically  transubstantiate  the  bread  and 
wine,  the  act  is  not  accomplished  but  in  our 
intelligence,  and  does  not  e.xist  beyond  us, 
and  the  holy  communion  is  but  an  idolatrous 
ceremony ;  but  as  you  avow  it,  your  senti- 
ments upon  this  mystery  are  dilTerent  from 
those  of  common  ecclesiastics." 

Leo  the  Ninth,  to  whom  the  opinions  of 
Berenger  had  been  denounced  as  heretical, 
held  a  council  at  Rome,  where  a  great  num- 
ber of  bishops,  abbots  and  clergy  met :  Lan- 
franc  assisted  at  it.  By  the  order  of  the  sove- 
reign pontiff,  a  letter  concerning  the  eucharist, 
addressed  to  the  monks  of  Bee,  by  the  illus- 
trious professor  of  Tours,  was  produced.  Be- 
renger was  excommunicated,  and  the  holy 
father  ordered  Lanfranc  to  explain  his  faith, 
fortifying  it  by  authorities  and  not  by  reason- 
ing. The  monk  then  explained  his  belief, 
which  was  found  to  be  orthodox. 

The  deputies  from  the  metropolitan  of 
Tours,  were  then  heard  in  relation  to  the  com- 
plaints which  had  been  made  during  the  pre- 
ceding year,  at  the  synod  of  Rheims,  against 
the  bishop  of  Dol  and  him  of  Brittany.  These 
two  prelates  not  having  appeared  at  the  coun- 
cil, the  holy  father  wrote  to  the  duke  of  Brit- 
tany to  reduce  these  rebellious  priests  to 
submission.  "You  know,  my  lord,  that  in 
accordance  with  ancient  charters,  all  the 
members  of  the  clergy  of  your  country,  should 
be  submissive  to  the  archbishops  of  Tours,  as 
was  declared  to  Solomon,  king  of  Brittany,  by 
Pope  Nicholas.  We  advise  you  then,  that  we 
exclude  from  our  communion,  the  ecclesias- 
tics who  shall  refuse  to  obey  their  superior; 
and  we  prohibit  them  from  celebrating  divine 
service,  or  even  blessing  the  people.  We 
beseech  you  not  to  appear  in  the  temples  in 
which  they  shall  be  present,  until  the  time  of 
holding  the  council  of  Verceil,  and  until  they 
shall  be  justified  from  the  accusation  brought 
against  them." 

Notwithstanding  the  anathema  pronounced 
against  his  doctrine,  Berengiu-  continued  to 
propagate  his  errors,  and  William  the  Bas- 
tard, duke  of  Normandy,  desiring  to  be  en- 
lightened on  so  important  a  question,  assem- 


bled several  bishops  at  Brienne,  a  small  city 
on  the  banks  of  the  Risle,  near  to  the  monas- 
tery of  Bee,  where  he  sent  for  Berenger.  But 
the  professor  refused  to  enter  into  a  discus- 
sion with  the  prelates,  and  retired  to  Charlies, 
from  whence  he  wrote  a  letter,  in  which  he 
declared,  that  he  would  not  reply  to  questions 
put  to  him  by  the  regular  and  secular  clergy, 
until  he  had  convictetl  of  heresy  the  pope  and 
Roman  bishops  in  the  council  of  Verceil.  This 
assembly  was  held  in  the  month  of  Septem- 
ber 1052.  Leo  the  Ninth  presided  over  it ; 
Lanfranc  was  there,  and  Berenger  did  not  ap- 
pear. The  book  of  John  Scot  on  the  eucha- 
rist was  read,  declared  heretical,  and  cast  into 
the  flames.  Berenger  was  a  second  time  ex- 
communicated, and  two  of  his  disciples  who 
presented  themselves  as  his  embassadors 
were  arrested  in  the  synod  and  burned  alive. 

In  the  same  council,  the  holy  father  sus- 
pended Humphrey,  metropolitan  of  Ravenna, 
from  his  functions ;  he  granted  the  pallium  to 
Dominick,  the  patriarch  of  Grada,  with  the 
title  of  primate,  and  the  right  of  bearing  the 
cross  before  him.  The  synod  finished,  Leo 
passed  the  Alps  and  went  to  Toul,  where  he 
granted  a  privilege  to  the  monastery  of  St. 
JMansuil,  on  the  occasion  of  the  translation  of 
the  relics  of  St.  Gerard  :  he  remained  in  Lor- 
raine and  Germany  until  the  month  of  Febru- 
ary of  the  succeeding  year. 

Notwithstanding  the  double  excommunica- 
tion fulminated  against  Berenger,  his  doctrine 
secretly  spread  through  Gaul,  and  King  Henry, 
by  the  advice  of  the  bishops,  convened  a  coun- 
cil at  Paris  to  judge  it  definitely.  Berenger, 
having  received  orders  to  appear  before  it, 
addressed  the  following  letter  to  the  monk 
Ascelin :  '*'  If  the  divine  power  had  given  me 
leisure,  I  would  have  addressed  to  you  a  let- 
ter reasoned  at  length;  but  since  God  has  not 
permitted  me,  I  write  to  you  my  thoughts 
without  sifting  them,  and  without  putting 
them  in  order.  Until  this  time,  I  have  not 
combatted  the  sacrilegious  proposition  of  Bro- 
ther William,  in  which  he  decides  that  every 
Christian  should  approach  the  holy  table  at 
Easter,  and  on  account  of  my  silence,  this 
monk  maintains,  that  I  am  unable  to  defend 
the  opinions  of  John  Scot,  and  that  I  avow 
that  he  was  a  heretic. 

"I  beseech  God,  my  brother,  that  he  would 
open  your  eyes,  that  you  may  be  enabled  to 
see  how  impious,  sacrilegious,  and  unworthy 
of  the  priesthooil  it  is  to  condemn  the  super- 
human truths  which  Seot  has  demonstrated. 
If  you  believe  with  Paschasus,  that  in  tlie 
sacrament  of  the  altar,  the  substance  of  the 
bread  is  annihilated,  you  give  the  lie  to  natu- 
ral reason  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  and 
the  apostle.  Thus,  as  I  wrote  to  Lanfranc, 
you  proscribe  the  luminaries  of  the  church, 
St.  Ambrose,  St.  Jerome,  and  St.  Augustin ;  and 
you  condemn  yourself,  since  the  words  pro- 
nounced by  the  priest  in  the  consecration 
prove  that  the  matter  of  the  broad  remains  in 
the  eucharist. 

"I  am  accused  in  your  convent  of  Bee,  of 
having  maintained  that  the  episcopal  rod  does 


340 


HISTORY"    OF    THE    POPES. 


not  confer  the  power  to  direct  the  souls  of  the 
faithful,  which  is  an  imposture,  for  I  would 
willingly  publish  this  truth  loudly.  But  I 
cannot  hazard  myself  by  appearing  before 
a  council ;  the  rage  of  my  enemies  is  well 
known  to  me,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  expose 
myself  to  undergo  the  frightful  punishment  to 
which  my  envoys  were  condemned.  I  conjure 
you  only,  in  the  name  of  the  fathers,  the 
evangelists,  the  doctors,  and  of  Christ,  not  to 
bear  a  guilty  testimony  against  me,  by  say- 
ing that  I  condemned  Scot ;  and  I  call  down 
the  malediction  of  God  upon  those,  who,  hold- 
ing the  key  of  science,  avoid  the  sacred  tem- 
ple, and  close  its  entrance  against  men. — 
Adieu." 

Theoduin  or  Deoduin,  bishop  of  Liege,  in- 
stigated by  the  suggestions  of  the  court  of 
Rome,  wrote  to  the  king  of  France  to  dissuade 
him  from  allowing  the  bishop  of  Angers  or  the 
professor  of  Tours  from  appearing  before  the 
council  of  Paris,  and  urged  upon  the  prince  to 
condemn  them  without  hearing  them.  Be- 
renger,  who  foresaw  his  condemnation,  re- 
fused to  appear,  and  remained  with  Bruno, 
his  superior  and  former  pupil,  who  approved 
of  his  doctrine.  The  book  of  John  Scot  was 
declared  heretical,  and  it  was  directed,  that 
troops,  having  clergy  at  their  head,  should  go 
to  seize  the  guilty  deacon  and  his  followers 
even  in  the  sanctuary,  and  that  they  should 
pursue  them  with  fire  and  sword  until  the)" 
should  submit  to  the  orthodo.x  faith. 

Berenger  wrote  at  once  to  the  abbot  Rich- 
ard, who  had  access  to  King  Henry,  to  trans- 
mit his  request  to  that  prince.  In  his  letter  he 
asked  the  monarch  to  suspend  the  unjust  de- 
crees made  against  him,  and  to  send  a  person 
of  his  court  to  him  with  whom  he  could  enter 
into  conference.  He  engaged  to  prove  that 
the  synod  of  Verceil  had  condemned  Scot,  and 
approved  of  Paschasus,  through  ignorance ; 
he  recalled  to  the  recollection  of  the  king, 
that  John  Scot  had  not  written,  but  at  the  re- 
quest of  Charles  the  Bald,  his  predecessor, 
and  finished  by  saying,  in  the  bitterness  of 
his  heart,  that  he  could  not  admit  that  the 
gross  meii  of  that  period  were  more  infallible 
than  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

The  complaints  of  the  professor  of  Tours 
were  just ;  for  in  depriving  him  of  his  pro- 
perty and  threatening  him  with  fire  and  sword, 
the  monarch  and  his  bishops  were  guilty  of 
gjreat  intolerance.  No  power  can  impose  be- 
lief on  man,  and  especially  too,  can  it  not 
make  men  profess  it,  by  employing  persecu- 
tion. Religions  which  have  resource  to  pun- 
ishment to  establish  their  dogmas,  cause  us  to 
suspect  their  divinity  by  the  violence  which 
they  eniploy,  and  we  must  admit  that  the  Cath- 
olic religion  '-is  that  which  has  made  most 
martyrs  in  the  conversion  of  men."  Frontig- 
nieres,  in  the  history  of  Berenger,  adds  this 
reflection:  '-'Catholicism  has  propagated  itself 
by  violence,  because  its  priests  are  cruel,  and 
because  they  take  pleasure  in  shedding  blood, 
in  order  to  cement  the  errors  which  increase 
their  riches. 

Before  the  time  of  Berenger,  the  dogma 


upon  the  eucharist  recognized  by  the  church, 
was  not  that  of  transubstantiation, — he  did 
nothing  then  but  renew  the  decisions  of  the 
doctors  and  fathers.  Progressive  ideas  were 
not  admitted  in  those  barbarous  ages,  and 
they  condemned,  as  heresy,  new  doctrines, 
not  on  account  of  the  errors  which  they  prop- 
agated, but  on  account  of  their  differing  from 
the  texts  adopted  by  the  church.  The  ac- 
cused were  thus  compelled  to  free  themselves 
by  quotations  and  not  by  reasoning. 

Whilst  they  were  persecuting  a  deacon  in 
France,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  Leo  the  Ninth  was  cele- 
brating the  festival  of  the  Purification  in 
Germany.  It  is  related  that  the  holy  father 
performed  a  singular  miracle  in  the  city  of 
Augsburg.  Humphrey,  the  metropolitan  of 
Ravenna,  had  come  to  meet  the  pope,  by  the 
orders  of  Henry  the  Black,  in  order  to  do 
homage  to  him  for  the  territory  which  he  had 
usurped  from  the  Holy  See,  and  to  ask  for 
absolution  from  the  anathema  which  had 
been  pronounced  against  him  at  the  council 
of  Verceil.  At  the  moment  at  which  he  pros- 
trated himself  at  the  feet  of  Leo,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  all  the  clergy,  his  holiness  saitl,  in 
an  angry  voice,  '-God  grant  you  pardon  for  your 
sins  according  to  your  deserts,  for  you  have 
need  of  it."  The  archbishop  rose  up  laughing, 
and  said  with  a  mocking  air,  '•  you  have,  holy 
father,  more  need  than  I."  The  pontiff  then 
dissolving  into  tears,  exclaimed,  '-Alas,  this 
unfortunate  man  no  longer  exists."  In  fact 
the  prelate  fell  dead  at  the  moment,  as  if 
struck  by  a  thunderbolt. 

The  pope  then  returned  to  Rome,  where  he 
held  a  synod  to  judge  Gregory,  bishop  of  Ver- 
ceil, on  an  accusation  of  adultery  committed 
with  a  widow  who  was  affianced  to  his  uncle. 
The  prelate  went  immediately  to  the  sover- 
eign of  the  church ;  he  offered  him  a  large 
sum  of  money,  and  obtained  from  him  autho- 
rity to  continue  in  his  episcopal  functions, 
whilst  living  in  sin.  The  decree  which  de- 
clared women  who  had  prostituted  them- 
selves to  ecclesiastics,  residing  within  the 
bounds  of  the  holy  city,  slaves  of  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  Is  attributed  to  this  conven- 
tion. This  right  extended  itself  in  the  end 
to  other  dioceses.  Leo  is  the  first  pope  who 
ordained  that  the  tenth  part  of  the  oblations 
offerei  upon  the  altar  of  St.  Peter,  should  be 
employed  in  the  repairs,  embellishment,  and 
lighting  of  that  church. 

By  a  letter  addressed  to  the  clergy  and 
people  of  Ossimo,  the  pontiff  severely  censures 
the  custom  which  existed  in  some  cities,  of 
entering  the  residence  of  deceased  bishops 
forcibly:  of  pillaging  the  furniture,  stealing 
the  vessels,  burning  the  country  houses,  and 
even  of  tearing  up  the  vines  from  the  lands. 

Peter  Damian  addressed  a  letter  to  Leo, 
asking  for  his  advice  in  relation  to  the  scan- 
dals of  the  clergy  of  his  province.  "  We  have 
prelates,"  wrote  he,  "  who  openly  abandon 
themselves  to  all  kinds  of  debauchery,  get 
drunk  at  their  feasts,  mount  on  horseback,  and 
keep  their  concubines  in  the  episcopal  palaces. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


341 


These  unworthy  ministers  push  the  faithful 
into  the  abyss,  and  the  mere  priests  have  fallen 
into  an  excess  of  corruption,  without  our  being 
able  to  exclude  them  from  sacred  orders.  The 
priesthood  is  so  despised,  that  we  are  obliged 
to  recruit  ministers  for  the  service  of  God 
from  among  simoniacs,  adulterers,  and  mur- 
derers. Formerly,  the  apostle  declared  worthy 
of  death,  not  only  those  who  committed  crimes, 
but  even  those  who  tolerated  them  !  What 
would  he  say,  if  he  could  return  to  earth  and 
see  the  clergy  of  our  days?  The  depravity 
is  so  great  now,  that  the  priests  sin  with  their 
own  children  !  These  wretches  make  a  pre- 
text of  the  rules  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and,  as 
they  have  a  tariff  for  crimes,  they  commit 
them  in  all  safety  of  conscience." 

Peter  cites  some  of  these  rules,  which  are 
remarkable:  '-'A  priest  who  is  not  a  monk, 
and  who  sins  accidentally  with  a  virgin,  shall 
perform  two  years  of  penance,  and  shall  fast 
on  bread  and  water  on  the  Mondays,  Wednes- 
days, Fridays,  and  Saturdays  of  three  Lents. 
If  the  young  girl  is  consecrated  to  God,  and  if 
the  sin  is  habitually  committed,  the  penance 
shall  be  for  five  years. 

'•A  mere  clerk,  for  the  same  fault,  shall  do 
penance  for  six  months,  and  a  canon  for  two 
years.  Priests  guilty  of  fornication,  shall  be 
condemned  to  ten  years  of  severe  penalties, 
laymen  to  three  years." 

'■Thus,"  adds  Damian,  '-'clerks,  according 
to  the  penitential  laws,  not  being  submitted 
but  to  six  months  of  light  penance,  find  them- 
selves treated  more  favourably  than  men  who 
do  not  belong  to  the  church.  But  I  declare, 
that  the  popes  who  framed  these  miserable 
laws  are  responsible  to  God  for  all  the  disor- 
ders of  the  church,  for  the  decrees  of  the 
synod  of  Ancyra  condemn  to  twenty-five 
years  of  penance  mere  laymen  who  are  guilty 
of  the  sin  of  the  flesh.  St.  Basil  and  Pope 
Siricus  declared  every  one  suspected  of  these 
crimes  unworthy  of  the  priesthood.  I  hope, 
then,  yoLir  holiness,  after  having  consulted  the 
legislation  of  the  church  and  the  doctors,  will 
make  a  decision  which  will  repress  the  disor- 
ders of  our  priests." 

Leo  replied  to  the  monk,  that  the  sins  which 
he  censured  deserved  to  be  punished  with  all 
the  rigour  of  the  penitential  laws,  and  by  the 
deprivation  of  orders ;  but,  that  the  number  of 
guilty  clerks  rendered  that  proceeding  imprac- 
ticable, and  obliged  him  to  preserve  even  the 
criminal  in  the  church. 

In  1052,  the  monastery  of  Chaisc-Dieu,  in 
Auvcrgne,  was  founded  by  Robert.  This 
abbey  was  authorized  by  a  bull,  and  by  letters 
patent  of  the  king  of  France,  .subscribed  by 
the  bishops  and  lords  of  that  kingdom. 

This  year  was  also  marked  by  a  fatal  event 
— the  death  of  Halinard,  archbishop  of  Lyons. 
That  metropolitan  had  come  to  Rome  with 
Hugh,  the  former  bishop  of  Langres,  to  obtain 
from  the  holy  father  the  re-installation  of  this 
guilty  person  in  his  See.  At  the  request  of 
the  venerable  prelate,  Leo  pardoned  the  traitor 
Hugh,  and  even  gave  him  a  bishop's  mitre  in 
token  of  reconciliation.     But  this  wretch,  who 


regarded  the  metropolitan  of  Lyons  as  the 
author  of  his  first  disgrace,  repaid  his  benefits 
by  the  blackest  ingratitude.  Halinard  was 
invited  to  a  repast  which  Hugh  and  his  parti- 
zans,  who  had  returned  into  France,  offered 
him ;  a  poisoned  turbot  was  served  up  at 
table,  and  he  died  the  next  day,  the  29th  of 
July,  from  the  con.sequences  of  this  feast. 
This  prelate  was  endowed  with  a  remarkable 
eloquence.  He  served  as  the  mediator  of  Leo 
in  making  his  peace  with  the  Normans.  The 
faithful  friend  of  the  pontiff,  he  had  followed 
him  to  Beneventum,  Capua,  Monte  Cassino, 
and  Monte  Gargan,  and  rarely  left  him  in  his 
travels. 

As  Andrew,  king  of  Hungary,  still  refused 
to  pay  the  annual  tribute  which  his  predeces- 
sor had  poured  into  the  treasury  of  the  empire, 
in  conformity  with  the  treaties  which  his  an- 
cestors had  made,  Leo,  with  the  pretext  of 
putting  an  end  to  the  war  which  was  on  the 
point  of  breaking  out  between  Henry  the 
Black  and  Andrew,  went  on  a  new  journey  into 
Germany.  The  pontiff,  in  reality,  had  no 
other  object  than  to  secure  succours  from  the 
emperor  against  the  Normans,  who  were  ra- 
vaging the  territories  of  the  church.  King  An- 
drew, who  had  penetrated  the  designs  of  the 
holy  father,  was  unwilling  to  accept  his  medi- 
ation, and  even  refused  him  permission  to 
enter  his  states. 

Henry  the  Black  and  the  pope  passed  a 
great  part  of  the  year  in  the  German  states,  in 
conferring  upon  the  measures  to  be  taken 
against  the  Normans.  During  the  sojourn  of 
Leo  at  Ratisbon,  the  monks  of  St.  Emmeran 
came  to  beseech  him  to  second  them  in  a 
piece  of  pure  knavery  in  regard  to  the  relics 
of  St.  Denis  the  Areopagite,  the  first  bishop 
of  Paris,  of  which  they  pretended  they  were 
the  sole  possessors.  The  holy  father  consent- 
ed to  e.xamine  the  bones  presented  to  him,  and 
he  declared  by  a  hull  bearing  date  on  7th  of 
October,  1052,  that,  by  the  inspiration  of  God, 
he  recognized  the  body  of  St.  Denis  in  the 
precious  relics  of  the  convent  of  St.  Emmeran, 
and  he  called  the  French  monks  who  pre- 
tended to  possess  the  remains  of  that  blessed 
martyr,  visionaries. 

During  the  same  year,  the  emperor  and  his 
holiness  celebrated  Christmas  at  Worms  ;  the 
pontitf  officiated  on  the  day  of  the  festival, 
and  on  the  next  day,  it  was  the  turn  of  Luit- 
pold,  archbishop  of  Mayence.  A  deacon  of 
the  church,  after  the  first  prayer  of  the  mass, 
thundered  forth  a  lesson,  in  conformity  with 
the  custom  of  the  province;  but,  as  this  cus- 
tom was  contrary  to  that  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
the  ullra-montanes  exclaimed,  and  a.<ked  the 
pope  to  impose  silence  on  the  deacon  ;  the 
latter  refused  to  obey.  Leo,  in  his  wrath,  then 
orilered  that  the  rash  youth  should  be  brought 
before  him,  and  he  degraded  him  at  once. 
Whilst  ihey  were  faking  off  the  garments  of 
his  deacon,  Luitpold  neither  spoke  nor  made  a 
gesture  ;  but  after  the  reading  of  the  Bible  and 
the  offertory,  he  placed  himself  in  his  seat, 
and  declared,  that  neither  he  himself  nor  even 
Leo.  should  finish  divine  service,  unless  his 
29* 


342 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


deacon  was  restored  to  him,  which  Leo  hast- 
ened to  do. 

During  his  sojourn  at  Worms,  the  pope  re- 
newed the  request  he  had  made  to  Henry,  to 
restore  the  abbey  of  Fulda,  and  several  other 
domains  or  monasteries  winch  had  been  taken 
from  the  Holy  See.  The  emperor  rejected  the 
demands  of  Leo,  in  regard  to  these  domains ; 
he  only  consented  to  exchange  Beneventum 
widi  him  for  the  city  of  Bamburg  :  and  also 
granted  him  some  troops  to  aid  him  in  his 
wars  against  the  Normans.  The  holy  father 
recruited,  besides,  some  German  volunteers 
and  wretches  drawn  from  every  country,  who 
enrolled  under  the  sacred  banners,  through 
the  hope  of  a  rich  booty ;  he  then  returned 
into  Ital)-.  On  the  approach  of  these  hordes 
of  brigands,  the  Normans  immediately  sent 
embassadors  to  the  holy  pontiff  to  sue  for 
peace,  offering  to  regard  themselves  as  his 
vassals,  aisd  to  hold  under  him  their  acquisi- 
tions on  the  territory  of  St.  Peter.  Leo  re- 
jected these  proposals  and  ordered  them  to 
retire  from  Italy,  and  to  restore  all  that  they 
had  usurped.  These  people  having  no  other 
hope  but  in  their  courage,  united  all  their 
forces  and  resolved  to  defend  their  conquests 
to  the  last. 

A  great  battle  took  place  on  the  18th  of 
June,  1053,  between  the  two  armies;  the 
Germans  charged  their  enemy  with  great  im- 
petuosity, and  threw  the  first  body  of  Nor- 
mans into  disorder,  but  their  reserve,  com- 
posed of  veteran  troops,  being  put  in  motion, 
the  troops  of  the  holy  father  found  them- 
selves surrounded  by  a  skilful  movement. 
The  Germans  in  their  turn  were  put  to  flight, 
and  those  who  resisted  were  all  put  to  death 
by  their  terrible  enemies.  Leo  who  com- 
manded his  army  in  person,  covered  with  a 
cuirass,  and  his  lance  in  his  hand,  could 
scarcely  escape  from  the  crowd.  Thus  says 
Herman.  God  wished  to  punish  the  pope  who 
had  abandoned  the  care  of  his  flock,  from  a 
desire  to  increase  his  wealth  in  this  world, 
and  he  permitted  his  bands  of  assassins  and 
robbers  to  be  exterminated  by  the  Normans. 

These  latter  pursued  Leo  into  the  fortress 
in  which  he  had  taken  refuge  after  the  battle, 
and  made  him  a  prisoner.  The  sovereign 
pontiff  was  conducted  to  Beneventum,  where 
he  remained  from  the  23d  of  June.  1053,  until 
the  12th  of  March,  in  the  following  year. 
During  his  captivity,  the  hypocritical  Leo  af- 
fected a  very  austere  kind  of  life ;  he  covered 
himself  with  hair  cloth,  slept  upon  a  mat  and 
used  a  stone  for  a  pillow.  Frequently,  even 
during  the  night,  he  thundered  forth  psalms 
aud  prayers,  or  recited  the  Psalter,  having  his 
forehead  propped  against  the  flag-stones  of 
his  prison.  During  the  day  he  performed 
several  masses,  again  recited  the  psalter,  and 
gave  alms  to  all  the  poor  who  presented  them- 
selves. He  received  at  this  period  a  letter 
from  Peter,  the  new  patriarch  of  Antioch,  who 
announced  to  him  his  promotion,  and  sent 
him  his  profession  of  faith  by  a  pilgrim  from 
Jerusalem. 

In  his  reply,  Leo  bestowed  great  eulogiums 


on  Peter,  for  recognizing  the  primacy  of  the 
Roman  church  :  he  exhorted  him  to  maintain 
the  dignity  of  the  See  of  Antioch,  which  is 
the  third  in  the  world,  adds  the  holy  lather, 
since  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  has  been 
degraded  from  the  rank  which  he  lield  in  the 
church.  He  approved  of  the  election  of  Peter, 
and  declared  his  profession  of  faith  to  be  Ca- 
tholic. His  holiness  then  sent  him  his  own,  in 
accordance  with  established  usage ;  but  that 
which  is  remarkable  is,  that  Leo  does  not  cite 
in  his  letter  but  seven  general  councils' instead 
of  eight,  which  had  been  recognized  in  all  the 
churches. 

Cardinal  Humbert,  who  was  on  a  mission 
to  Apulia,  had  information  communicated  to 
him  of  a  letter  which  was  addressed  to  John, 
bishop  of  Trani,  by  Michael  Cerularius,  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and  by  Leo,  the 
metropolitan  of  Bulgaria.  It  ran  as  follows: 
"  Charity  has  induced  us,  my  dear  brother,  to 
write  to  you,  that  you  may  transmit  our  words 
to  the  prelates  of  the  Franks,  to  the  monks, 
the  people,  and  even  to  the  pope  himself,  in 
relation  to  the  use  of  unleavened  bread,  and 
especially  on  the  sabbath,  which  you  do  from 
your  intercourse  with  the  Jews. 

After  having  celebrated  the  old  passover, 
like  the  children  of  Israel,  Jesus  Christ  insti- 
tuted the  new  passover  with  the  leavened 
bread,  the  only  kind  which  our  religion  per- 
mits to  the  faithful.  We  blame  the  Latin 
ecclesiastics  for  keeping  the  Sabbath  in  Lent, 
since  ihey  fast  on  the  eve  of  the  day  con- 
secrated to  the  Lord,  whilst  the  Greeks  do 
not  fast  on  Thursdays  nor  Sundays.  We 
blame  them  for  eating  strangled  food  in  con- 
tempt of  the  canons  which  prohibit  us  from 
drinking  the  blood  of  animals:  finally,  we  ac- 
cuse them  of  not  singing  the  hallelujah,  during 
the  holy  time  of  Lent.  We  exhort  you  to 
disabuse  them  on  these  points  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal discipline ;  and  if  you  accomplish  this 
work,  we  promise  you  to  send  you  letters, 
which  shall  enlighten  your  mind  upon  truths 
whose  importance  is  still  greater  for  the  Chris- 
tian world." 

Humbert  translated  this  letter  into  Latin, 
and  carried  it  to  the  pope,  who  made  a  long 
reply  to  it.  Leo  thus  wrote  to  the  patriarch 
of  Constantinople:  "They  assure  me,  un- 
worthy prelate,  that  you  push  your  audacity 
so  far  as  openly  to  condemn  the  Latin  church, 
because  it  celebrates  the  eucharist  with  un- 
leavened bread.  According  to  your  opinion, 
the  Roman  pontiff,  after  exercising  sovereign 
power  for  ten  entire  centuries,  should  learn 
from  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  the  proper 
mode  of  honouring  their  divine  master.  Are 
you  ignorant  then  that  the  popes  are  infalli- 
ble— that  no  man  has  the  right  to  judge  them, 
and  that  it  belongs  to  the  Holy  See  to  con- 
demn or  absolve  kings  and  people'?  Constan- 
tine  himself  decreed,  that  it  was  unworthy  of 
the  divine  majesty,  that  the  priest  to  whom 
God  had  given  the  empire  of  heaven,  should 
be  submissive  to  the  princes  of  the  earth. 
Not  only  did  he  give  to  Sylvester  and  his 
successors  temporal  authority,  but  he  even 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


343 


granted  to  them,  ornaments,  officers,  guards, 
and  all  the  honours  attached  to  the  imperial 
dignity.  In  order  that  you  may  not  accuse 
us  of  establishing  our  sway  through  ignorance 
and  falsehood,  we  send  you  a  copy  of  the 
privilepes  which  Constantine  had  granted  to 
the  Roman  church."  The  holy  fathei  re- 
peated, textuall}-,  this  celebrated  donation, 
which  all  the  learned  have  recognized  as 
apochryphal ;  he  reproached  the  Greek  bish- 
ops with  the  ordination  of  eunuchs  who  were 
even  tolerated  upon  episcopal  Sees,  and  he 
let  loose  his  indignation  against  the  priests  of 
Constantinople,  whose  manners  were  so  re- 
volting that  they  were  ignorant,  it  is  said,  if 
the  clergy  were  composed  of  men  or  women. 

Finall}',  Leo  accused  the  patriarch  Michael 
of  ingratitude  towards  the  Roman  church,  his 
mother,  which  had  permitted  him  to  be 
crowned  as  the  prelate  of  the  imperial  city. 
"We  are  assured,"  added  he,  '-'that  you  have 
closed  the  Latin  churches  in  your  country,  and 
that  you  have  driven  from  the  monasteries  the 
monks  and  abbots  of  the  West.  See  how- 
much  more  tolerant  than  yours  is  the  Holy 
See,  since  we  permit  several  convents  and 
several  temples  of  your  religion  to  exist  in  the 
interior  of  Rome." 

This  letter  exasperated  the  clergy  of  Con- 
stantinople, which  persisted  in  its  schism,  and 
refused  to  recognize  the  authority  of  Rome  ; 
but  the  emperor  Constantine  Monomacus?,  who 
wished  to  obtain,  through  the  assistance  of 
the  pope,  who  exercised  great  influence  over 
the  mind  of  Henry  the  Third,  the  aid  of  Ger- 
mans and  Italians,  against  the  Normans,  wrote 
to  Leo  to  testify  how  sincerely  he  desired  to 
re-establish  the  union  which  had  been  de- 
stroyed for  two  centuries,  between  the  East- 
ern and  Western  churches.  The  prince  even 
threatened  Michael  Cerularius  to  depose  him, 
if  he  did  not  submit  to  the  pontiff  in  the  ques- 
tion of  unleavened  bread. 

Leo  thus  replied  to  the  emperor:  "Prince, 
we  praise  you  for  having  bowed  before  our 
supreme  power,  and  for  having  been  the  first 
to  propose  to  re-establish  concord  between 
your  empire  and  our  church;  for,  in  these  de- 
plorable times,  all  Christians  should  unite  to 
exterminate  that  strange  nation  which  wishes 
to  raise  itself  up  in  opposition  to  us,  the  vicar 
of  God.  These  Noimans,  our  common  ene- 
mies, have  put  to  death  our-faithful  soldiers 
beneath  their  swords;  they  have  invaded  the 

Katrimony  of  St.  Peter,  without  regarding  the 
oliness  of  our  residence ;  they  have  forced 
convents,  massacred  monks,  violated  virgins, 
and  burned  churches.  These  savage  people, 
the  enemies  of  God  and  man,  have  resisted 
the  prayers,  threats,  and  anathemas  of  the 
Holy  See;  these  barbarians,  hardened  by  pil- 
lage and  murder,  no  more  fear  the  divine  ven- 
geance. We  have  been  obliged  to  call  in  aid 
from  all  sides  to  tame  these  northern  hordes; 
and  we,  ourselves,  at  the  head  of  an  army, 
have  wished  to  march  against  them,  and  to 
unite  with  your  faithful  servant,  the  duke  of 
Argyra,  in  order  to  confer  with  him  about 
driving  them  from  Italy;  but  these  incarnate 


demons  suddenly  attacked  us.  cut  all  our 
troops  to  pieces,  and  seized  upon  our  sacred 
person:  their  victor)',  however,  has  inspired 
them  with  great  fear,  and  they  doubt  lest 
Christians  princes  should  come  to  crush  them 
and  free  us  from  their  hands. 

"  We  will  not  falter  in  the  holy  mission 
which  God  has  confided  to  us :  we  will  not 
cease  to  excite  other  people  against  them,  in 
order  to  exterminate  this  evil  race.  We  will 
not  imitate  our  predecessors,  those  mercenary 
bishops,  who  were  more  engaged  with  their 
own  debaucheries  than  with  the  interests  of 
the  Roman  church.  For  our  part,  it  is  our  de- 
sire to  re-establish  the  Holy  See  in  its  former 
splendour,  and  we  will  spare  neither  gold  nor 
blood  to  render  our  throne  worthy  of  the  ma- 
jesty of  God.  Already  is  the  emperor  Henry, 
our  dear  son,  advancing  to  our  aid  with  a 
powerful  army;  and  we  hope  that  you  your- 
self will  soon  cover  the  Bosphorus  with  your 
sails,  for  the  purpose  of  disembarking  your 
soldiers  on  the  shores  of  Apulia.  What  ought 
I  now  to  hope,  with  such  powerful  aid.  for 
the  glory  of  the  Holy  See  V 

In  his  letter  to  Michael  Cerularius.  the  pope 
gave  him  the  title  of  archbishop  of  Constanti- 
nople. He  accuses  him  of  ambition,  heresy, 
and  usurpation  ;  adding,  "  It  is  said,  you  are  a 
neophyte  and  have  not  mounted  by  the  proper 
steps,  to  the  episcopate.  It  is  said  that  you 
have  dared  to  menace  the  patriarchs  of  Alex- 
andria and  Antioch,  with  depriving  them  of 
their  ancient  prerogatives,  in  order  to  subju- 
gate them  to  your  sway,  and  that  by  a  sacri- 
legious usurpation,  )'ou  take  the  title  of  uni- 
versal bishoj-).  which  only  belongs  to  the  bi- 
shop of  Rome.  Thus,  in  your  pride,  you  dare 
to  compare  yourself  with  us,  and  to  contest 
our  infallibility  in  contempt  of  the  decisions 
of  the  fathers  and  orthodox  councils,  and  even 
against  the  apostles.  Finally,  you  persecute 
the  faithful  who  receive  the  eucharist  with 
unleavened  bread,  under  the  pretext  that  Jesus 
Christ  used  leavened  bread  in  instituting  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar;  I  forewarn  you,  then, 
that  your  impious  doctrines  will  be  anathe- 
matized by  our  legates,  and  that  your  conduct 
will  be  publicly  condemned  if  you  persist  in 
refusing  to  take  the  oath  of  obedience  to  us." 

Among  the  envoys  of  the  pontiff"  to  Constan- 
tinople, were  Humbert,  bishop  of  St.  Rufinus, 
or  of  Blanche-Selve.  an  old  monk  of  the  abbey 
of  Moyen-Moustier,  in  the  diocese  of  Toul, 
who  had  been  drawn  from  his  monastery 
by  Bruno,  when  that  prelate  arrived  at  the 
papacy;  Peter,  the  metropolitan  of  Amalfi, 
was  al.so  one  of  the  embassadors  with  Fred- 
erick, the  brother  of  Godfrey,  duke  of  Lor- 
raine and  Tuscany,  a  relative  of  the  pope 
and  of  the  emperor  Henry.  This  last  was 
then  deacon  and  chancellor  of  the  Roman 
church;  he  was  afterwards  chosen  sovereign 
pontiff. 

Before  the  departure  of  the  embassadors  for 
the  court  of  Byzantium,  Leo  received  letters 
from  the  bishops  of  Africa,  who  continued  to 
mourn  over  the  Christians  who  were  submit- 
ted to  the  sway  of  the  Mus.sulmen  ;  they  com- 


344 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


plained  of  the  ambitious  enterprises  of  the 
bishop  of  Gommi,  and  asked  who  was  the 
metropohtan  whose  supremacy  they  must  re- 
cognize, since  Carthage  had  ceased  to  be  the 
capital  of  Africa.  The  pontiff,  in  the  reply 
which  he  addressed  to  the  Africans,  testified 
a  profound  affliction  in  seeing  their  church  re- 
duced to  five  bishoprics,  instead  of  the  three 
hundred,  which  it  had  before  it  was  subjugated 
by  the  Africans.  In  regard  to  metropolitan 
rights,  he  decided,  that  it  was  not  adherent  to 
the  worldly  importance  of  cities,  but  that  it 
resided  in  the  antiquity  of  the  See,  or  the  ho- 
liness of  the  foundation;  that  thus  Cat thage, 
notwithstanding  its  decay,  should  be  consider- 
ed as  the  metropolis  of  the  diocese,  and  its 
bishop  as  having  the  sole  right  to  depose  pre- 
lates and  priests  to  consecrate  them,  and  to 
convoke  provincial  councils.  "As  to  general 
synods,  know,"  adds  the  holy  father,  "  that 
they  cannot  be  assembled  without  our  autho- 
rity, and  that  none  among  you  can  pronounce 
a  definite  judgment  against  his  brethren  ;  be- 
cause the  canons  have  given  the  sovereign 
power  to  the  See  of  Rome ;"  which  is  a  fla- 
grant imposture;  for  the  popes  have  arrogated 
to  themselves  this  right  by  the  aid  of  false  de- 
cretals, and  not  in  accordance  with  the  canons, 
which  place  it,  on  the  contrary,  in  ecclesias- 
tical assemblies. 

During  the  captivity  of  Leo,  several  provin- 
cial councils  were  held  in  France.  The  most 
remarkable  was  that  of  Narbonne ;  the  arch- 
bishop Geoffry  presided  over  it ;  they  made 
twenty-two  canons  in  order  to  confirm  the  truce 
of  God.  All  were  prohibited  under  penalty  of 
the  most  terrible  censures,  and  of  perpetual 
exile,  from  fighting  any  battle,  or  single  combat, 
from  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent,until  eight  days 
after  the  Epiphany,  and  from  Quinquagesima 
Sunday,  until  eight  days  after  Easter ;  as  also 
during  the  other  feasts  and  fasts  commanded 
by  the  church.  They  were  also  prohibited 
from  building  any  fortress  or  embattled  wall, 
during  the  truce,  in  order  to  prevent  the  lords 
from  employing  this  time  of  repose,  in  for- 
tifying their  domains  with  walls  or  ditches,  or 
in  covering  them  with  impenetrable  towers. 
The  fathers  of  the  synod  of  Narbonne  de- 
clared the  olive  a  sacred  tree,  because  it  af- 
forded light  for  the  churches,  and  oil  for 
the  lioly  chrism ;  and  the  prohibition  of  cut- 


ting any  was  enforced  by  the  penalty  of 
anathema. 

Leo  was  still  retained  a  prisoner  at  Bene- 
ventum:  and  although  he  was  more  than  fifty 
years  old,  he  studied  the  Greek  language  with 
great  ardour,  on  account  of  the  relations  which 
he  wished  to  enter  into  with  the  emperor  of 
Constantinople.  A  malady  of  sadness  and 
languor  had,  however,  seized  upon  him,  and 
made  great  progress.  Finding  his  strength 
diminishing,  he  sent  for  Count  Humphrey,  one 
of  the  Norman  chiefs,  and  asked  him  to  make 
good  the  promise  he  had  made  to  him,  of 
conducting  him  to  Rome  before  his  death. 
The  count,  after  having  been  apprized  by  the 
physicians  of  the  situation  of  the  pope,  caused 
him  to  be  placed  on  a  litter,  and  himself  ac- 
companied him  to  the  holy  city,  with  a  nu- 
merous escort. 

Leo  remained  for  several  days  in  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  in  order  to  make  his  last  will ; 
thence  being  carried  into  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  he  received  the  extreme  unction  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  bishops, 
abbots,  and  ecclesiastics,  prayed  in  German, 
asking  God  to  deliver  him  speedily  from  his 
sufTerings  by  recovery  or  death,  and  finally 
died  on  the  19th  of  April,  1054,  after  a  reign 
of  five  years  and  some  months. 

The  church  has  placed  this  pontiff  in  the 
number  of  the  saints  whom  she  honours; 
Platinus  .says  his  doors  were  always  open  to 
the  poor,  and  that  one  day  an  old  man,  co- 
vered with  an  horrible  leprosy,  having  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  patriarchal  palace  to 
pass  the  night,  the  holy  father  caused  him 
to  be  placed  in  his  own  bed,  because  all  the 
other  apartments  were  already  occupied,  and 
he  himself  retired  into  the  oratory  of  the  Lat- 
eran. On  the  following  day,  when  he  returned 
to  his  chamber,  the  poor  man  had  disappeared 
and  the  bed  was  covered  with  a  luminous 
aurreole ;  it  was  Jesus  Christ  himself,  adds 
the  credulous  historian,  who  had  assumed  the 
appearance  of  a  mendicant  leper  to  test  the 
charity  of  the  pontiff.  The  chronicle  of  Her- 
man also  relates  several  miracles  which  oc- 
curred at  the  tomb  of  Leo. 

The  creation  of  archchancellors  of  the  Ro- 
man church  is  owing  to  this  pontiff,  a  dignity 
which  he  instituted  in  favour  of  Herimon,  the 
metropolitan  of  Cologne. 


VACANCY  IN  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

[A.  D.  1054.] 

Reply  of  Cardinal  Humbert  to  Michael  Ccrularins — Refutation  of  the  uritings  of  Nicetas  upon 
the  unleavened  bread — Retraction  of  Nicetas — Excommunication  of  the  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople— He  in  his  turn  anathematizes  the  Roman  church — Letter  of  the  patriarch  against  the 
clergy  of  the  West — remark  upon  the  Greek  schism — Origin  of  the  cardinals. 

After   the  death  of  Leo  the  Ninth,  the  i  the  Romans  not  daring  to  proceed  to  the  elec- 
Holy  See  remained  vacant  for  an  entire  year,  |  tion  of  a  pontiff  without  the  authority  of  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


345 


emperor  Henry  the  Third.  During  this  vacan- 
cy, events  of  great  importance  occurred  in  the 
East.  The  legates  seat  to  Constantinople  by 
Leo,  had  been  received  with  great  honours 
by  Constantine  Monomacus,  and  Humbert, 
availing  himself  of  the  favourable  di.spo.sitions 
of  the  emperor,  published  a  reply  to  the  mani- 
festo lanched  by  Michael  Cerularius  and 
Leo  of  Acrida,  against  the  Latin  ecclesiastics. 
This  refutation  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue. 
We  give  the  substance  of  it.  "You  say,  pa- 
triarchs of  Constantinople  and  Acrida,  that 
Christian  charity  and  human  compassion  have 
induced  you  to  reprimand  the  Franks,  and  even 
the  pope  himself,  because  they  practise  the 
error  of  the  Jews  in  preserving  the  ancient 
custom  of  celebrating  Easter  with  unleavened 
bread. 

"But  before  allowing  your  attention  to  be 
arrested  by  the  West,  why  do  you  neglect  the 
churches  with  whose  administration  you  are 
charged,  and  why  do  you  permit  the  Jacobites 
and  other  heretics  to  have  intercourse  and 
commune  with  the  faithful  of  your  dioceses? 
You  say  that  Jesus  Chiist,  in  celebrating  the 
supper,  used  bread,  called  artos  in  Greek; 
you  insist  upon  the  etymology  of  this  word, 
which,  according  to  you,  signifies  that  the 
bread  is  leavened  or  inflated  by  fermentation, 
and  you  conclude  from  thence,  that  unleav- 
ened bread  is  not  really  the  bread.  The 
meaning  which  you  give  to  the  word  artos, 
is  restrained,  and  we  can  point  out  to  you 
numerous  passages  of  Scripture,  in  the  version 
of  the  Septuagint,  in  which  this  term  is  made 
use  of  to  designate  the  unleavened  bread 
which  an  angel  bore  to  the  Prophet  Elias,  as 
well  as  the  shew-bread.  Thus  artos  in  the 
Greek  language,  like  lehem  in  the  Hebrew, 
signifies  all  kinds  of  bread.  Besides,  Je.?us 
Christ  instituted  Easter  with  unleavened 
bread,  because  he  celebrated  this  feast  law- 
fully, and  the  Jewish  law  prohibitetl  the  pre- 
paration of  leavened  bread  during  the  sacred 
days. 

'•In  order  to  celebrate  this  festival  worthily, 
we  place  upon  the  holy  table  the  bread  which 
the  deacons,  and  even  the  priests,  clothed  in 
their  sacertlotal  garments,  have  kneaded  and 

Erepared  in  a  silver  furnace,  singing  religious 
ymns.  You,  on  the  contrary,  follow  the 
errors  of  the  Latin  church  of  the  first  ages, 
and  buy  the  bread  of  the  altar  from  a  public 
baker — you  crumble  it  in  with  the  wine  of  the 
chalice,  and  you  administer  the  sacrament 
with  a  spoon.  You  forget  that  Jesus  Christ 
took  the  bread  whole,  and  having  broken  it, 
administered  it  by  pieces  to  his  disciples. 
The  church  of  Jerusalem,  more  ancient  than 
all,  has  preserved  this  holy  tradition ;  its 
priests  consecrate  the  entire  host  upon  the 
patines;  they  divide  it,  not  as  do  the  Greeks 
with  an  iron  blade,  but  with  the  linger.^,  as 
the  consecrated  bread  is  then  friable,  ancl  of 
whealen  flour.  After  the  communion,  if  there 
remain  any  pieces,  they  do  not  burn  them, 
nor  cast  them  into  the  sweepings  of  the 
church:  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  are  reli- 
giously placed  in  a  sacred  cofl'er,  and  are 
Vol.  L  2  T 


given  to  the  faithful  at  the  communion  on  the 
next  day.  In  your  Greek  churches  you  cast 
the  fragments  of  the  sacred  body  of  God  into 
the  filth  of  your  sacristies.  We,  who  conform 
to  the  custom  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem, 
place  the  host  upon  the  altar^  thin,  sound,  and 
entire;  after  the  consecration  we  break  it 
with  our  hands,  and  give  it  to  the  people ; 
then  we  place  the  blood  of  Christ  in  the 
chalice,  and  our  lips  draw  it  in  with  delight." 

Humbert  justified  the  Roman  ecclesiastics 
in  singing  the  halleluiah,  e.\cept  in  Lent ;  and 
finally,  addressed  severe  reproaches  to  the 
Greeks  for  re-baptizing  the  Latins,  and  per- 
mitting the  marriages  of  the  priests;  for  re- 
fusing the  communion  or  baptism  to  women 
in  peril  of  death  in  consequence  of  a  danger- 
ous childbirth ;  and  for  excluding  them  from 
the  sacraments  during  the  time  of  menstrua- 
tion ;  as  also,  for  the  ridiculous  prohibition  to 
monks  and  nuns,  of  wearing  drawers.  He 
then  combatted  the  writings  of  Nicetas,  sur- 
named  Stethatos  or  Pectorat,  a  monk  of  Studa, 
who  enjoyed  a  great  reputation  in  the  East. 
This  monk  had  accused  the  western  clergy  of 
breaking  their  abstinence,  by  celebrating  mass 
during  Lent  at  the  third  hour,  which  prevented 
them  from  fasting  until  afternoon  prayers ; 
whilst  the  Greeks  did  not  say  the  hallowed 
service,  without  consecrating  the  host  at  the 
hour  of  afternoon  prayers,  as  they  still  prac- 
tise. 

Humbert  also  maintained,  "'  that  the  holy 
sacrifice  should  not  be  celebrated  upon  silk  or 
coloured  stuff,  but  upon  linen  cloth  of  virginal 
purity,  in  order  that  it  might  represent  the 
shroud  of  Christ,  as  holy  Sylvester  had  order- 
ed. We  fast  rigidly  all  Lent,"  added  he,  "  and 
even  make  children  ten  years  old  to  fast ;  for 
it  is  false  that  the  communion  breaks  the  fast. 
He  who  receives  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  re- 
ceives eternal  life,  and  not  corruptible  flesh, 
subject  to  the  impure  laws  of  digestion.  Be- 
sides, though  we  may  celebrate  mass  at  the 
third,  eighth,  or  any  other  hour,  we  do  not  re- 
serve the  least  part  of  the  oblation,  because 
we  are  convinced  the  apostles  did  not  celebrate 
mass  in  a  way  differing  from  ours.  God  him- 
self, after  having  blessed  the  bread,  did  not 
reserve  it  until  the  next  day ;  he  broke  it  and 
distributed  it  immediately  to  his  disciples. 
We  are  not .  ignorant,  that  the  Greeks  have 
established  the  custom  of  performing  divine 
service  at  the  third  hour  on  Sunday,  and  the 
days  of  solemn  feasts,  in  commemoration  of 
the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  apos- 
tles; but  we  also  believe,  that  we  are  not 
guilty  of  sin  in  celebrating  mass  on  fast  days 
at  the  afternoon  prayers,  or  at  vespers,  since 
our  Lord  instituted  this  sacrament  in  the 
evening,  and  finished  his  sacrifice  at  the  ninth 
hour.  Thus,  although  the  morning  is  the  most 
convenient  for  the  celebrating  of  the  mass, 
we  do  not  break  our  fast  by  performing  it  at 
other  hours,  as  the  institution  of  the  midnight 
mass  testifies.  In  all  these  cases,  we  do  not 
pretend  to  learn  the  ritual  of  your  mass,  be- 
cause we  do  not  wish  to  practise  your  scan- 
dalous usages.     When  you  break  the  sacred 


346 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


bread  you  let  the  piece  fall,  which  you  tram- 
ple under  feet ;  and  you  are  equally  neglect- 
ful in  brushing  off  the  patineswith  the  leaves 
of  the  palm-tree  or  with  brushes  of  hogs' 
bristles.  We  also  know,  that  many  among 
you  bring  with  them  to  the  holy  Tables  vege- 
tables and  roasted  meat,  which  they  eat  with 
the  body  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Humbert  finally  terminated  this  long  reply 
by  excommunicating  Nicetas,  if  he  should 
persist  in  his  errors  in  relation  to  the  unleaven- 
ed bread.  Constantine  Monomacus,  who  was 
deeply  interested  in  preserving  terms  with 
the  court  of  Rome,  constrained  the  poor  monk 
to  retract,  under  penalty  of  losing  the  wealth 
which  he  had  received  from  him.  The  le- 
gates of  the  Holy  See  went  to  the  convent  of 
Studa ;  and,  in  the  presence  of  the  sovereign, 
the  great  dignitaries  of  the  state,  and  a  nume- 
rous clergy,  Nicetas  condemned  the  writings 
published  in  his  name  against  the  Latin  clergy, 
in  relation  to  unleavened  bread,  the  Sabbath, 
and  the  marriages  of  priests ;  he  anathema- 
tized all  those  who  denied  the  orthodo.xy  of 
the  Roman  ritual  or  the  infallibility  of  the 
Holy  See  ;  finally,  he  burned  his  book  in  the 
midst  of  the  assembly. 

Michael  Cerularius  steadily  resisted  the 
threats  of  Constantine,  and  refused  to  com- 
mune with  the  legates.  On  the  next  day,  at 
the  third  hour,  Humbert  and  his  colleagues 
went  to  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  penetrated 
even  to  the  sanctuary,  and  deposited  upon  the 
high  altar  an  act  of  excommunication  fulmi- 
nated against  him.  They  then  left  the  church 
and  shook  off  the  dust  of  their  shoes,  exclaim- 
ing "Anathema  upon  Michael  Cerularius." 

The  deed  of  excommunication  was  conceiv- 
ed in  these  terms  :  "  We,  Humbert,  Peter  and 
Frederick,  envoys  sent  by  the  Holy  See  to  this 
imperial  city  to  judge  it,  declare  that  we  have 
found  much  good  and  much  evil.  The  co- 
lumns of  the  empire,  the  men  elevated  to 
high  dignity,  and  the  principal  citizens,  are 
orthodox  J  but  the  monk  Michael,  who  calls 
himself  patriarch,  and  his  adherents,  are  filled 
with  heresies  and  crimes.  They  simoniacally 
sell  the  gifts  of  God)  they  make  eunuchs,  like 
the  Valesians,  and  elevate  those  unfortunate 
persons  not  only  to  the  clerkships,  but  even  to 
the  episcopacy;  they  affirm,  like  the  Dona- 
tists,that,  without  the  pale  of  the  Greek  church 
there  is  no  true  church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
world,  no  true  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  no  true 
baptism;  like  the  Nicolaites,  they  permit 
ministers  of  the  altar  to  marry  ;  like  the  Seve- 
rians,  they  speak  ill  of  the  law  of  Moses ;  like 
the  Macedonians,  they  cut  off  from  the  creed 
the  affirmation  that  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds 
from  the  Son ;  like  the  Manicheans,  they 
maintain  that  all  that  is  leaven  is  animated; 
and  finally,  like  the  Nazarenes,  they  practise 
Judaical  purifications,  and  refuse  communion 
to  the  faithful  who  cut  their  hair  and  beard. 

"Michael  has  been  warned  by  the  pontiff 
Leo  to  renounce  these  errors;  he  has,  how- 
ever, despised  the  sage  advice  of  his  father ; 
he  has  refused  to  commune  with  us,  and  to 
grant  us  churches  in  which  to  celebrate  di- 


vine service  :  he  wishes  to  abase  the  dignity 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  has  dared  to  take  the 
title  of  universal  bishop.  We,  therefore,  by 
the  authority  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  of  the  apos- 
tolic throne,  of  the  seven  oecumenical  councils, 
and  of  all  the  Catholic  church,  subscribe  the 
anathema  which  Leo  the  Ninth  pronounced 
against  Cerularius,  and  we  declare  him  an  in- 
famous clerk,  an  usurping  patriarch,  an  igno- 
rant neophyte,  who  has  clothed  himself  in  the 
monastic  garb  to  shun  the  chastisement  which 
his  crimes  deserve.  With  him  we  condemn 
Leo,  scandalously  called  bishop  of  Acrida. 
Constantine,  sacellary  of  St.  Sophia,  who  has 
trampled  with  profane  feet  upon  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  which  were  consecrated  by 
Latin  priests.  Finally,  we  excommunicate  all 
their  followers,  be  they  w-ho  they  may ;  we 
proscribe  them  from  the  temple  of  God,  and 
we  devote  them  to  Satan  and  his  angels,  if 
they  refuse  to  humble  themselves  before  the 
supreme  power  of  the  pope  !  Amen  !  amen  ! 
amen  !" 

This  blow  of  authority,  or  rather,  this  inso- 
lence of  the  Roman  legates,  instead  of  fright- 
ening the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  excited 
his  just  indignation ;  and  believing,  that  in 
order  to  cure  the  wound  which  had  been  in- 
flicted on  his  church,  he  must  employ  a  reme- 
dy more  violent  than  the  evil,  he  made  a 
vehement  decree  against  the  excommunica- 
tion pronounced  against  him,  and  in  his  turn 
excommunicated  the  whole  Latin  church.  He 
then  wrote  to  Peter  of  Antioch :  '-'Impious 
barbarians,  sallying  from  the  darkness  of  the 
West,  have  come  to  this  pious  city,  from 
whence  the  sources  of  an  orthodox  faith  have 
flown  through  the  whole  world.  They  have 
endeavoured  to  corrupt  the  holy  doctrine  by 
the  impurity  of  their  dogmas ;  they  wish  to 
constrain  us  to  Judaize  like  themselves  ;  they 
maintain  that  monks  should  eat  strangled 
food,  and  they  eat  lard  during  the  whole  year, 
and  even  during  the  first  weeks  of  Lent. 

"  They  have  dared  to  add  those  heretical 
words  to  the  Nicene  creed,  'I  beheve  in  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  Lord  and  giver  of  life,  who 
proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son ;'  they 
prohibit  the  marriage  of  priests,  and  condemn 
ecclesiastical  eunuchs.  These  infamous  per- 
sons permit,  that  at  the  moment  of  the  com- 
munion the  handsomest  young  clerks  should 
place  impure  kisses  upon  the  mouth  of  the 
officiating  priest.  Their  bishops  wear  rings 
to  recall  to  the  remembrance  of  the  faithful 
that  their  churches  are  their  spouses,  and  yet 
they  go  to  war,  soil  their  hands  with  the  blood 
of  their  brethren,  and  after  having  murdered 
Christians,  still  dare  to  perform  divine  service. 
They  administer  baptism  by  a  simple  immer- 
sion, and  by  placing  salt  in  the  mouth  of  the 
neophyte  ;  and,  finally,  instead  of  saying  with 
St.  Paul,  '  a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole 
lump,'  they  maintain  that  it  corrupts  it.  What 
heightens  their  iniquity  is,  that  they  have  not 
come  to  be  edified  by  the  purity  of  our  doc- 
trine and  our  ritual ;  but  on  the  contrary,  with 
the  impious  thought  of  instructing  us,  and  of 
causing  us  to  embrace  their  sacrilegious  prin- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


347 


ciples  under  penally  of  aniUhema.  We  have 
avoided  communing  witii  these  envoys  of 
Satan,  and  have  refused  to  treat  of  doctrinal 
questions  with  these  accursed  legates,  unless 
you  and  the  other  patriarchs  were  assembled 
with  us  in  council.  These  madmen  have  then, 
in  order  to  overcome  us,  penetrated  by  force  into 
our  cathedral  and  placed  on  the  high  altar  an 
excommunication  against  our  orthodox  church. 
We  might  have  burned  and  destroyed  this  in- 
famous writing,  but  we  preferred  to  judge  it 
publicly,  that  the  condemnation  of  the  authors 
of  such  a  sacrilege  might  be  a  signal  repara- 
tion, and  one  worthy  of  the  majesty  of  our 
ministry.  The  emperor  has  ranged  himself 
on  our  side,  he  has  constrained  the  legates  of 
Rome  to  go  into  the  great  saloon  of  the  coun- 
cil to  abjure  their  errors,  and  to  apologize  to 
us;  but  they  have  threatened  their  self-de- 
struction, if  we  wished  to  draw  a  retraction 
from  them.  We  send  you  these  details,  in 
order  that  you  may  be  rightly  informed  of 
what  has  passed  in  our  city,  and  that  you 
may  reply  with  the  circumspection  becoming 
a  defender  of  the  orthodox  faith,  if  one  writes 
from  Rome  against  our  See." 

Such  were  the  causes  which  determined  a 
new  schism  between  the  East  and  West,  or 
rather  which  rewoke  the  okl  dispute  formerly 
excited  under  the  celebrated  Photius;  and 
which  had,  we  may  say,  never  been  inter- 
rupted, notwithstanding  the  intervals  of  appa- 
rent peace  between  Rome  and  Constantinople. 

We  must  not,  however,  suppose  that  these 
scandalous  divisions,  which  have  caused  such 
great  troubles  in  Christendom,  had  as  a  mo- 
tive the  ridiculous  theological  quarrels  upon 
the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  unlea- 
vened bread,  the  Saturday  fast,  and  other 
questions  of  as  little  importance.  They  were 
but  the  specious  pretext  to  conceal  from  the 
eyes  of  the  people  the  true  cause  of  the  hatred 
which  animated  patriarchs  and  popes.  The 
cupidity  and  ambition  of  these  proud  priests 
gave  aliment  to  the  discord,  and  filled  Greece 
and  Italy  with  wars,  robberies,  and  assassina- 
tions; for  although  the  pretensions  of  the 
Greeks  to  religious  independence  were  even 
contrary  to  the  canons  of  the  church,  this 
fault  was  not  sufficiently  great  for  the  Holy 
See  to  condemn  to  eternal  (ires  two  thirds  of 
Christendom.  After  the  death  of  Constantino 
Monomacus,  the  patriarch  completed  the 
task  commei>ced  by  Photius,  and  separated 
for  ever  the  church  of  the  East  from  that  of 
the  West. 

Among  the  legates  sent  to  Constantinople, 
Humbert,  the  cardinal  bishop,  was  the  most 
influential  personage,  on  account  of  the  au- 
thority which  his  title  gave  him  above  his 
colleagues;  it  thus  becomes  necessary  to  in- 
form ourselves  of  the  origin  of  the  cardinalate, 
and  of  the  importance  which  this  dignity  had 
obtained  in  the  church  towards  the  conclusion 
of  the  eleventh  century. 

The  most  ancient  author,  who  has  spoken 
of  the  cardinals,  is  St.  Gregory,  in  596,  the 
first  pope  whose  policy  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Holy  See.  In  those 


first  ages  of  the  church,  the  cardinal  priest 
was  simply  the  curate  of  the  principal  parish 
in  which  he  was  not  born.  In  consequence  of 
political  changes  and  revolutions,  very  many 
ecclesiastics,  driven  away  by  the  baibarians, 
took  refuge  in  the  cities  which  were  under 
the  protection  of  the  empire,  and  in  which 
they  were  entertained  from  the  common 
purse  of  the  clergy,  as  the  ecclesiastics  of  the 
city.  When  an  ecclesiastic  died,  his  office 
was  sometimes  assigned  to  a  refugee  priest, 
who  took  the  title  of  incardinatus,  that  is,  of 
received  or  transferred,  to  distinguish  him 
from  the  clergyman  who  obtained  a  minis- 
terial charge  without  having  left  another,  and 
who  was  called  ordinatus,  or  priest  hierarchi- 
cally ordained. 

This  usage  was  established  in  Italy  at  the 
beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  when  a 
great  number  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons 
were  deprived  of  their  churches  by  the  Lom- 
bards. As  the  greater  part  of  those  fugitives 
came  to  the  cities  of  Ravenna  or  Rome,  which 
offered  to  them  more  chances  of  place,  it  hap- 
pened that  in  these  two  cities  almost  all  the 
charges  were  occupied  by  them;  those  titu- 
laries were  called  cardinals.  They  were 
distinguished  as  cardinal  deacons,  cardinal 
priests,  and  cardinal  bishops ;  but  soon  this 
title,  which  at  the  commencement  designa- 
ted a  precarious  and  subaltern  state,  changed 
its  signification,  and  served  to  distinguish  the 
difference  of  churches  and  employments;  for 
example,  a  canon  of  a  cathedral  was  called  a 
cardinal  to  distinguish  him  from  ecclesiastics, 
who  served  the  churches  of  the  second  order ; 
but  the  title  of  cardinal  was  inferior  to  that  of 
bishop,  and  prelates  did  not  habitually  pre- 
serve it  when  they  arrived  at  the  episcopate. 

During  the  pontificate  of  Pascal  the  First, 
in  817,  the  curates  of  Rome  took  the  title  of 
cardinals,  to  designate  that  they  were  the 
ministers  who  approached  nearest  the  person 
of  the  pope,  and  who  participated  in  his  elec- 
tion ;  afterwards,  when  the  clergy  had  taken 
from  the  Roman  people  the  right  of  election, 
the  authority  of  the  cardinals  so  increased, 
that  the  pontificate  fell  almost  always  to  one 
of  them.  Little  by  little  the  cardinalate  was 
transformed  into  a  particular  dignity,  and  the 
prelates  who  were  clothed  with  it,  insensibly 
constituted  themselves  into  an  electoral  col- 
lege. In  the  twelfth  century,  however,  they 
had  not  yet  any  distinctive  mark  of  their  title  ; 
the  red  hat  was  not  given  to  them  until  the 
following  century;  in  1464,  Paul  the  Second 
authorized  them  to  wear  the 'red  cap  and 
scarlet  stockings,  when  they  mounted  on 
horseback ;  and  finally,  Urban  the  Eighth  gave 
them  the  title  of  eminence,  by  a  solemn  bull. 
It  was  thus  that  by  degrees  this  dignity  be- 
came the  first  in  the  church  after  the  papacy, 
and  cardinals  are  now  to  the  pontill  what 
senators  or  secretaries  of  state  are  to  an  em- 
peror or  king.  In  the  Catholic  church  they 
are  regarded  as  the  pivot  on  which  the  whole 
church  turns,«and  the  common  people  honour 
them  as  lords,  for  whom  there  exists  no  title 
sufficiently  magnificent. 


348 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


VICTOR  THE   SECOND,   THE   ONE   HUNDRED  AND   FIFTY- 
SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1055.] 

Singular  election  of  the  pontiff — He  is  enthroned  by  the  name  of  Victor  the  Second — Council 
of  Tours — Comicil  of  Toulouse — Complaint  against  the  bishop  of  Narbonne — The  pope  vio- 
lates the  privileges  of  the  abbey  of  Monte  Cassino — Journey  of  the  holy  father — His  death. 

After  the  death  of  Leo  the  Ninth,  the  Ro- 
mans dared  not  elect  a  new  pontiff  for  the 
Holy  See  without  the  orders  of  the  emperor, 
and  they  deputed  to  him  the  subdeacon  Hil- 
debrand  to  beseech  him,  in  the  name  of  the 
clergy,  the  grandees,  and  the  people,  to  desig- 
nate himself,  him  whom  he  should  judge  the 
most  worthy  to  mount  the  throne  of  St.  Peter. 
Hilbebrand,  who  constantly  pursued  his  ambi- 
tious projects,  and  wished  to  render  the  pon- 
tifical elections  independent  of  the  will  of  the 
princBj  went  immediately  into  Germany,  and 
persuaded  the  bishops  of  that  country  that  it 
would  be  advantageous  to  them  to  elevate  to 
the  pontificate  the  venerable  Gebehard,  a  re- 
lative of  the  emperors,  whom  the  Romans 
had  already  designated.  The  prelates,  docile 
to  his  request,  presented  themselves  before 
the  sovereign,  and  besought  him  to  approve 
of  this  nomination. 

Heiuy  tenderly  loved  this  bishop,  who  was 
one  of  the  richest  and  most  powerful  lords  of 
his  empire  ;  he  was  profoundly  afflicted  at  the 
choice  which  had  been  made,  foreseeing  that 
the  pontilic^l  dignity  would  change  the  incli- 
nations of  his  relative,  and  raise  up  a  formida- 
ble enemy  to  the  empire.  He  refused  at  first 
to  confirm  this  election,  under  the  pretext  that 
the  presence  of  Gebehard  was  necessary  in 
Germany,  and  he  proposed  others  for  the 
papacy  ;  but  all  the  reasons  which  he  brought 
forward,  not  being  able  to  overcome  the  de- 
termination of  Hildebrand.  he  was  obliged  to 
yield  to  his  urgency.  Gebehard  parted  for 
Rome  with  the  embassador :  he  was  recog- 
nized as  pope  by  an  unanimous  vote,  and 
consecrated  as  such  on  Holy  Thursday,  the 
13th  of  April  1055,  by  the  name  of  Victor  the 
Second. 

A  legend  relates  that  shortly  after  his  en- 
thronement, a  deacon  of  St.  Peter,  who  lived 
in  concubinage  with  his  own  sister,  and  who 
had  been  censured  for  this  incest,  formed  a 
plan  to  revenge  himself  on  the  pope,  and 
mixed  jMison  with  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
in  the  chalice,  whilst  the  pontiff  was  celebra- 
ting divine  service;  but  that  when  as  Gebe- 
hard had  pronounced  the  sacramental  words, 
and  wished  to  raise  the  chalice  before  the 
people,  he  could  not  detach  it  from  the  altar 
by  any  effort  he  could  make.  Surprised  at 
this  prodigy,  the  holy  father  prostrated  him- 
self with  his  face  to  the  ground,  imploring 
God  in  a  loud  voice  to  inform  him  of  the  cause 
of  this  miracle ;  immediately  the^wisoner,  who 
was  on  his  knees  beside  him,  was  seized  by 
the  spirit  of  darkness  and  fell  across  the  steps 


of  the  altar,  pronouncing  horrible  blasphe- 
mies, and  accusing  himself  of  the  parricide 
which  he  wished  to  commit ;  the  pious  Gebe- 
hard, moved  at  the  horrible  sufferings  of  the 
possessed,  then  prayed  again  with  the  people 
until  the  obsession  of  the  deacon  had  passed 
off;  he  then  raised  the  chalice  without  diffi- 
culty, and  enclosed  it  in  the  tabernacle  of  the 
oratory  to  preserve  it  with  the  relics.  Maim- 
burg  very  gravely  tells  this  story  as  an  irre- 
fragable proof  of  the  holiness  of  Victor. 

During  the  same  year  the  emperor  went 
into  Italy  to  assist  at  the  feast  of  Pentecost, 
which  the  pontiff  had  ordered  to  be  celebrated 
at  Florence.  A  great  council  was  held  in 
that  cit}',  at  which  several  abuses  which  had 
been  introduced  among  the  clergy,  were  con- 
demned. The  prohibition  to  alienate  church 
property  was  renewed,  and  the  penalty  of  ex- 
communication was  pronounced  against  clergy 
or  laity  who  should  contravene  this  law.  After 
this  assembly  rose,  Gebehard  sent  the  sub- 
deacon  Hildebrand  into  France  as  his  embas- 
sador, to  put  a  bridle  upon  the  disorders  of 
the  clergy,  and  particularly  to  repress  simony, 
that  sacerdotal  leprosy  which  had  covered  all 
the  churches  of  Italy  and  Gaul.  In  execu- 
tion of  the  orders  of  the  holy  father,  Hilde- 
brand convoked  a  synod  at  Lyons.  At  the 
openmg  of  the  sitting,  a  bishop  was  accused 
of  having  bought  his  See  at  auction  ;  but  as  the 
discussion  was  prolonged  into  the  night,  the 
fathers  were  obliged  to  defer  until  the  next 
day,  the  judgment  in  this  case.  During  the 
night  the  accused  profited  by  the  delay  which 
had  been  granted  to  him,  and  corrupted  the 
accusers  and  witnesses  with  gold ;  and  the 
next  day,  when  the  council  had  assembled, 
he  boldly  presented  himself,  demanding  to 
be  confronted  with  his  enemies.  The  accu- 
sers were  called  with  a  loud  voice  and  no  one 
appeared. 

The  wary  Hildebrand  then  rose  with  dignity, 
and  said  to  him  :  '■  Do  you  firmly  believe  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  sees  everything,  and  that  it  is 
of  the  same  substance  with  the  Father  and  the 
Soul"  The  bishop  replied,  "  I  do."  "Then," 
added  the  deacon,  "  recite  with  a  loud  voice, 
and  in  the  presence  of  this  assembly,  the 
Gloria  Patri."  The  guilty  man  commenced 
the  doxology  with  a  firm  voice,  but  having 
reached  the  words  Spirilui  Sancto,  he  could 
not  articulate  them ;  he  immediately  fell  at 
the  feet  of  the  legate,  and  with  floods  of  tears 
confessed  his  crime,  and  demanded  to  be 
condemned  with  all  the  rigour  of  the  canons. 
Hildebrand   immediately  pronounced  a  sen- 


HISTORY    OF   THE   POPES. 


34§ 


tence  of  deposition  against  him,  and  he  could 
at  once  say  the  Gloria  Patri.  All  the  assist- 
ants, alarmed  and  fearful  of  the  same  chastise- 
ment, implored  the  clemency  of  the  legate. 
Peter  Damian,  who  recounts  this  miracle, 
adds,  that  he  heard  HiJdebrand  himself  relate 
it,  and  that  Hugh,  abbot  of  Cluny,  as  well  as 
Pope  Calixlus  the  Second,  were  eye  witnesses 
of  it. 

Fleury  says,  that  at  the  same  period,  the 
sub-deacon  legale  convoked  a  council  at 
Tours,  at  which  appeared  Berenger,  with 
Lanfranc,  his  implacable  adversary ;  that  he 
had  permission  given  to  him  to  defend  his 
opinion,  but  that  he  dared  not  do  it,  and  pub- 
licly confessed  the  common  belief  of  the 
church,  swearing  that  for  the  future  he  would 
conform  to  the  decisions  of  the  Holy  See. 
The  same  author  adds,  that  Berenger  sub- 
scribed this  retraction  with  his  own  hand,  and 
that  Hildebrand  then  admitted  him  to  his 
communion.  Father  Ignatius  Hyacinthus  af- 
lirms,  that  the  monk  of  Bee  had  a  learned 
discussion  with  Berenger,  that  he  convicted 
him  of  his  errors,  and  compelled  him  to  re- 
tract them  in  the  presence  of  Hildebrand. 

In  the  following  year  a  new  council  was 
held  in  the  city  of  Toulouse;  llairabault,  Ponce 
and  Geoffrey,  the  metropolitans  of  Arles^  Aix, 
and  Narbonne,  presided  over  this  assem- 
bly in  the  capacity  of  legates  of  the  pope. 
The  fathers  made  some  regulations  in  regard 
to  the  incontinence  and  simony  of  the  priests ; 
they  then  heard  the  complaints  of  Berenger, 
viscount  of  Narbonne,  against  the  archbishop, 
one  of  the  legates  of  the  Holy  See,  and  one 
of  the  presidents  of  the  assembly. 

Berenger  thus  spoke  :  "  During  the  time  of 
archbishop  Ermangaud,  my  uncle,  the  See  of 
Narbonne  was  the  most  important  from  Rome 
to  Spain  ;  it  was  rich  in  lands  and  castles  ;  the 
church  was  filled  with  books  and  plate;  it 
possessed  large  sums  in  its  treasury,  numer- 
ous canons  served  it,  and  more  than  a  thou- 
sand serfs  cultivated  its  domains.  On  the 
death  of  Ermangaud,  Geoffrey,  the  count  of 
Cerdaigne,  whose  sister  I  had  married,  came 
to  Narbonne,  and  proposed  to  me  to  obtain 
the  vacant  archbishopric  for  his  son  who  was 
then  but  ten  years  old,  with  the  promise  of 
dividing  an  hundred  thousand  pennies  of  gold 
between  my  father  and  the  count  of  Rhoiies, 
if  they  would  acquiesce  in  this  proposal. 
My  father  and  mother  refused  to  accept  it,  but 
I  was  weak  enough  to  follow  the  advice  of 
my  wife ;  I  resisted  the  authors  of  my  day, 
and  was  even  so  transported  with  anger 
against  them,  as  in  a  moment  of  wrath  to 
threaten  to  put  them  to  death,  if  they  did  not 
yield  to  the  demand  of  the  count  of  Cerdaigne. 
My  father,  whom  age  had  rendered  timid, 
obeyed;  GeolTrey  paid  down  the  huntlrecl 
thousand  pennies,  and  his  son  was  placed  in 
possession  of  the  archbishopric  of  Narbonne, 
after  having  sworn  that  neither  we,  ours,  nor 
tho  diocese  should  ever  suffer  any  harm  by 
his  will  or  negligence.  When  the  infant  pre- 
late, however,  became  a  man,  he  failed  in 
all  his  promises ;  he  sold  the  domains  of  the 


church  and  those  of  the  canons,  to  bestow 
them  on  his  concubines  and  minions;  he  con- 
structed strong  forts  in  which  to  lodge  his 
troops,  and  has  waged  a  terrible  war  in  v\  hich 
thousands  of  Christians  have  found  their  death. 
He  has  purchased  the  See  of  Urgel  for  his 
brother  William,  with  an  hundred  thousand 
pennies  of  gold,  and  has  paid  this  sum  with 
the  crosses,  chalices,  shrines  of  the  relics  and 
patines  of  gold  and  silver  which  he  has  sold 
to  the  Jews.  He  has  finally  placed  himself 
under  the  protection  of  the  countess  Urgel, 
his  relative,  with  whom  he  maintains  a  crimi- 
nal intercourse. 

In  order  to  put  a  finishing  stroke  to  his 
crimes,  this  wretch  has  lanched  an  excommu- 
nication against  me,  my  wife,  my  cliildren, 
and  my  territories;  he  has  prohibited  ecclesi- 
astics from  administering  baptism,  commu- 
nion, and  the  burial  of  the  dead  in  my  pro- 
vince. It  is  true  that  we  regard  of  but  little 
account  the  anathema  of  a  man  who  is  laden 
with  all  iniquities,  and  whom  Pope  Victor,  in 
the  council  of  Florence,  himself  excommu- 
nicated for  simony  ;  not  only  has  he  'sold  all 
the  ecclesiastical  orders,  but  he  had  been  paid 
for  the  consecration  of  the  bishops,  and  the 
dedication  of  the  churches  of  my  domains. 
It  is  on  these  accounts  that  I  complain  to  you 
and  to  Christ,  and  entreat  the  pope  to  give  me 
justice  against  my  bishop.  Otherwise  I  shall 
hold  of  no  account  the  excommunication 
lanched  against  me  by  Geoffrey,  and  shall  not 
keep  the  truce  of  God." 

In  order  to  understand  this  last  expression, 
it  is  necessary  to  recall  to  our  recollection, 
that  since  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Good  Na- 
tured,  the  royal  authority  was  no  longer  re- 
spected ;  the  lords  and  nobles  maintained  their 
right  to  administer  justice,  by  force  of  arms : 
hence  arose  the  wars  of  province  against  pro- 
vince, county  against  county,  castle  against 
castle;  pillage,  robbery,  incendiarism  and 
murder  became  customary,  and  were  no 
longer  regarded  as  crimes.  At  length,  during 
the  reign  of  King  Robert,  and  particularly  in 
the  kingdom  of  Aquitaine.  a  more  efficacious 
means  than  those  which  had  yet  been  tried, 
was  resorted  to,  to  arrest  these  ravages.  A 
council  held  in  the  diocese  of  Elne,  a  depen- 
dancy  of  Roussillon,  declared,  that  in  future, 
from  Wednesday  night  until  INIonday  morn- 
ing, no  one  should  seize  by  force  of  arms  upon 
the  domains  of  his  enemy,  nor  should  avenge 
any  injury,  under  the  penalty  of  paying  a 
fixed  fine,  or  of  being  excommunicated  and 
banished  from  his  province;  this  agreement 
was  called  the  truce  of  God. 

The  history  of  the  church  has  left  us  in 
ignorance  of  the  result  of  the  complaints  of 
the  viscount  of  Narbonne;  it  is  most  likely 
they  were  not  received  by  the  synod  of  Tou- 
louse, as  the  accused  was  himself  one  of  the 
legates  of  the  Holy  See. 

Whilst  the  French  clergy  and  nobility  were 
ruining  provinces  by  their  quarrels,  and  de- 
manding justice,  one  against  another  at  the 
court  of  Rome,  Richer,  abbot  of  Monte  Cas- 
sino  died,  and  the  monks  chose  as  his  suc- 
30 


350 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


cesser,  Peter,  the  senior  of  the  convent,  a 
venerable  old  man,  who  had  passed  his  long 
career  in  the  study  of  the  sacred  Scriptures, 
and  in  the  practice  of  Christian  virtues;  but 
the  pope,  enraged  that  this  election  had  been 
made  without  his  authority,  and  that  he  had 
not  derived  any  benefit  from  it,  sent  Cardinal 
Humbert  to  Monte  Cassino,  with  orders  to 
annul  the  nomination  of  the  new  abbot.  To 
bring  the  monks  to  reason,  the  cardinal  in- 
vested Monte  Cassino  with  his  soldiers,  seized 
the  venerable  Peter  by  force,  and  sent  him  to 
Rome.  The  holy  father  caused  him  to  be 
confined  in  the  dungeons  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  where  he  died  of  famine.  The  monk 
Frederick,  who  afterwards  reached  the  pa- 


pacy under  the  name  of  Stephen  the  Tenth, 
was  named  abbot. 

After  this  exploit,  Victor  came  to  Goslar  in 
Germany,  where  he  received  the  last  sighs  of 
the  emperor  Henry  the  Third,  who  died  in 
his  arms,  on  the  5th  of  October,  1056.  Some 
days  before,  the  bishops  and  principal  lords  of 
Germany  had  solemnly  recognized  his  son  as 
his  successor  to  the  empire,  although  the 
young  prince  was  but  five  years  old  ;  the  em- 
press Agnes,  his  mother,  was  named  regent, 
and  took  the  reins  of  government,  until  his 
majority. 

The  pope  then  prepared  for  his  return  to  Italy, 
but  on  arriving  in  Tuscany,  be  was  suddenly 
taken  ill,  and  died  on  the  28th  of  July,  1057. 


STEPHEN  THE  TENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY-EIGHTH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  1057.] 

History  of  Stephen  before  his  pontificate — His  election — He  tvishes  to  reform  the  church — Let- 
ter of  Peter  Damian  to  the  cardinals — State  of  the  Eastern  schism — 2'he  pope  wishes  to  over- 
throw the  poiver  of  the  emperors — His  death. 


Stephen  the  Tenth,  was  the  brother  of 
Godfrey,  duke  of  Lorraine,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  princes  of  that  peiiod,  who  had  for 
a  long  time  combatted  against  the  emperor  in 
the  provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Lorraine, 
which  he  had  finally  re-united  under  his 
sway.  His  wars  with  the  empire  only  termi- 
nated on  the  occasion  of  the  journey  of  Pope 
Leo  the  Ninth,  his  relative,  into  Germany, 
who  had  negotiated  a  treaty  of  alliance  be- 
tween Henry  and  Godfrey.  Three  years  after- 
wards, the  duke  of  Lorraine  came  into  Italy, 
accompanied  by  his  brother  Frederick,  who 
was  then  the  archdeacon  of  Liege ;  the  holy 
father  made  him  a  cardinal  deacon,  with  the 
offices  of  librarian  and  chancellor  of  the  Ro- 
man church ;  he  then  sent  him  as  his  legate 
to  Constantinople,  to  reduce  the  patriarch 
Michael  Cerularius  to  obedience.  This  em- 
bassy was  attended  with  disagreeable  results 
to  the  young  Frederick  ;  for  on  his  return  into 
Italy,  he  was  arrested,  as  well  as  his  col- 
leagues, Humbert  and  Peter,  by  Trasimond, 
duke  of  Spoletto,  who  seized  upon  the  rich 
presents  which  the  emperor  Constantine  Mo- 
nomacus  sent  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter, 
and  d  rove  them  from  his  states,  after  having 
despoiled  them  even  of  their  vestments. 

Leo  was  dead  when  Frederick  returned  to 
Rome ;  as  he  was  ambitious  of  the  thle  of 
pope,  he  lost  no  time,  and  went  into  Germany 
to  obtain  the  protection  of  Henry.  But  he 
found  the  dispositions  of  the  emperor  towards 
him  but  little  favorable,  on  account  of  the 
marriage  of  Godfiey  with  Beatri.x,  the  widow 
of  Boniface,  marquis  of  Tuscany,  which  open- 
ed to  his  brother  a  great  preponderance  in 
Italy,  and  gave  to  him  facilities  to  seize  the 


imperial  crown.  The  deacon  having  failed  in 
his  ambitious  projects,  shut  himself  up  in 
Monte  Cassino.  to  wait  the  progress  of  events, 
and  embraced  the  monastic  life.  He  after- 
wards bought  from  Pope  Victor,  the  dignity 
of  abbot  of  his  monastery  and  of  cardinal 
priest.  But  scarcely  had  he  taken  possession 
of  his  church,  when  Boniface,  bishop  of  Al- 
bano  came  to  Rome,  to  announce  the  news  of 
the  death  of  the  pontiff. 

New  intrigues  for  the  tiara  immediately 
commenced.  Frederic  scattered  his  gold  pro- 
fusely among  the  clergy,  and  bought  up  the 
soldiers ;  and,  finally,  when  the  corporations 
of  the  trades  came  together  to  consult  upon 
the  choice  which  they  should  make,  he  dared 
to  reply,  that  he  alone  was  worthy  to  occupy 
the  throne  of  the  apostle.  His  partizans  ex- 
claimed, "  Amen,"  and  bore  him  in  triumph 
to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  where  he  was  pro- 
claimed sovereign  pontifl',  under  the  name  of 
Stephen  the  Tenth.  He  was  then  conducted 
with  the  same  pomp  to  the  palace  of  the  La- 
teran. On  the  next  da}-,  all  the  cardinals, 
the  clergy,  and  the  people  followed  him  to 
the  church  of  St.  Peter,  where  three  bishops 
consecrated  him  with  the  usual  ceremonie.«, 
and  without  waiting  for  the  commissioners  of 
the  emperor. 

During  the  first  four  months  which  followed 
his  election,  Stephen  held  several  councils  to 
repress  the  disorders  of  the  church,  and  to 
arrest  the  incontinence  of  priests ;  he  then 
went  to  Monte  Cassino,  for  the  purpose  of  ap- 
propriating to  himself  a  part  of  the  riches  of 
the  good  fathers,  who  already  possessed  entire 
provinces,  and  were  still  occupied  with  fabri- 
cating false  deeds  for  the  purpose  of  augment- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


351 


ing  the  immense  domains  of  their  monastery. 
Stephen  sold  the  abbey  to  Didier,  who,  in  the 
end,  became  pope ;  he  wished  also  to  bring 
out  from  the  cloisters,  the  venerable  Peter 
Damian,  by  naming  him  bishop  of  OstJa,  and 
fust  of  his  cardinals,  in  order  to  attach  to  his 
See  a  man  whose  talents  could  be  of  great 
assistance  to  liim  ]  but  as  the  holy  monk  re- 
fused all  dignities,  preferring  the  calm  of  re- 
treat to  the  turbulence  of  greatness,  the  pope 
ordered  liim  to  assume  the  pastoral  baton  and 
to  follow  him  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
under  penalty  of  excommunication.  Peter 
obeyed  ;  he,  however,  always  complained  of 
the  violence  which  had  been  done  to  him  in 
drawing  him  from  his  monastery,  as  we  find 
from  one  of  his  letters,  addressed  to  the  seven 
cardinal  bishops  of  the  church  of  the  Lateran, 
whom  he  styles  his  brethren. 

The  cardinal  bishops  were  alone  entitled  to 
celebrate  mass  in  the  church  of  the  palace  j 
they  called  them  also  collaterals,  because 
they  were  ordinarily  by  the  side  of  the  pon- 
tiff ;  they  also  bore  the  title  of  weekly,  because 
they  officiated,  in  turn,  each  for  a  week.  We 
cite  a  letter  of  Peter,  as  a  precious  document, 
which  throws  light  upon  the  spirit  of  the 
church  at  that  period  : — '•'  Ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline is  everywhere  abandoned ;  the  canons 
of  the  church  are  trampled  under  foot ;  priests 
only  labour  to  satisfy  their  cupidity,  or  to 
abandon  themselves  to  incontinence.  The 
duties  of  the  episcopate  only  consist  in  wear- 
ing garments  covered  with  gold  and  precious 
stones,  in  enveloping  oneself  in  precious  furs, 
in  possessing  race  horses  in  the  stables,  ancl 
in  sallying  forth  with  a  numerous  escort  of 
armed  horsemen.  Prelates  should,  on  the 
contrary,  set  an  example  for  the  purity  of 
their  morals  and  all  Christian  virtues.  Mis- 
fortunes turn  on  those  who  lead  a  condemna- 
ble  life,  and  anathema  on  those  who  intrigue 
for  the  dignity  of  bishops  for  a  guilty  end  ! 
Shame  on  ecclesiastics  who  abandon  their 
country,  follow  the  armies  of  kings,  and  be- 
come the  courtiers  of  princes,  to  obtain,  in 
their  turn,  the  power  of  commanding:  men, 
and  of  subjugating  them  to  their  sway !  These 
corrupt  priests  are  more  sensitive  to  terres- 
trial dignities  than  to  the  celestial  recom- 
penses promised  by  the  Saviour;  and  to  obtain 
bishoprics,  they  sacrifice  their  souls  and  bo- 
dies. It  would,  however,  be  better  for  them 
openly  to  purchase  the  episcopal  Sees,  for  si- 
mony is  a  less  crime  than  hypocrisy.  Their 
impure  hands  pre  always  open  to  receive  pre- 
sents from  the  faithful ;  their  heads  are  always 
at  work  to  invent  new  means  of  squeezing  the 
people,  and  their  viper-tongues  are  prodigal, 
by  day  and  night,  of  flatteries  to  tyiants. — 
Thus  i  declare  the  bishops  who  have  become 
the  slaves  of  kings,  three  times  simoniacal, 
and  thrice  damned  !" 

The  pope,  desirous  of  pursuing  his  projects 
of  reform,  for  the  purpose  of  arresting  the  en- 
croachments of  the  monks,  and  of  placing  a 
rein  on  their  insatiable  avidity,  reserved  to 
himself,  in  the  bargain  he  made  with  Didier, 
the  free  disposal  of  the  immense  revenues  of 


his  convent,  which  was  richer  than  a  king- 
dom. But,  in  order  not  to  violate  the  canons 
too  openly,  he  sent  him  to  Constantinople,  in 
the  capacity  of  legate  of  the  Holy  See,  and 
declared  himself  the  treasurer  of  the  monas- 
tery during  the  absence  of  the  abbot.  Didier 
went,  accompanied  by  Stephen,  a  cardinal,  and 
JMainard,  bishop  of  St.  Rufinus;  these  prelates, 
on  arriving  in  the  East,  found  that  the  schism 
had  made  profound  ravages  in  the  Greek 
church,  and  that  Michael  Ceruiarius,  an  ex- 
perienced man,  had  profiled  by  the  favoura- 
ble circumstances  which  the  w  eakness  of  the 
regency  had  presented  to  Ids  ambition. 

Stephen  understood  perfectly  the  situation 
of  aflaii-s  in  the  East;  he  knew  that  Ceruia- 
rius had  obtained  great  privileges  for  his 
church,  had  augmented  the  wealth  of  his 
clergyji  and  placed  all  the  priests  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  oflicers  of  the  empire  ;  he 
understood  well  that  it  was  impossible  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  heresy,  and  to  re- 
establish the  authority  of  the  Holy  See  in  the 
imperial  city;  but  the  pretext  was  a  specious 
one,  and  served  to  remove  Didier,  which  ena- 
bled him  to  remain  sole  master  of  the  im- 
mense treasures  contained  in  the  cellars  of 
JMonte  Cassino.  His  intention  was  to  employ 
the  wealth  of  the  monks  in  subsidizing  troops, 
and  putting  in  execution  the  project  which 
he  had  for  a  long  time  formed  of  giving  the 
empire  of  the  West  to  his  brother  Godfrey, 
and  of  excluiling  the  lawful  heir,  Henry  the 
Fifth,  king  of  Germany.  Immediately  after 
the  departure  of  Didier,  he  ordered  the  priors 
and  dignitaries  of  the  monastery  to  send  him 
immediately,  the  gold,  silver,  and  precious 
ornaments  intrusted  to  their  care,  menacing 
them,  in  case  of  a  refusal,  with  suspending 
them  from  their  functions,  and  with  anathe- 
matizing them.  The  Jesuit  Maimburg  thinks 
that  this  action  should  leave  no  stain  on  the 
reputation  for  sanctity  which  the  pontiif  enjoy- 
ed at  Rome ;  but  the  chronicle  of  Monte  Cas- 
sino is  not  of  this  opinion,  and  severely  blames 
the  pope  for  having  formetl  so  sacrilegious  a 
project.  "However,"' adds  the  legend,  "when 
the  vehicles  arrived  at  Rome,  laden  with  the 
wealth  of  the  abbey  and  escorted  by  the 
monks,  'the  pope  was  suddenly  seized  with 
an  holy  terror,  and  after  having  heard  the  re- 
cital of  a  vision  winch  was  communicated  to 
him  in  confidence  by  the  monk  Andrew,  he 
sent  back  the  brethren  with  their  treasures, 
and  even  gave  tliem  his  benediction.'" 

It  is  probable  that  the  threats  of  the  monks 
were  the  only  cause  for  this  change  in  Ste- 
phen. After  this  check,  the  pope  went  to 
Tuscany  to  confer  with  his  brother  upon  the 
means  to  be  taken  to  commence  the  ■war 
against  the  empire ;  but  he  had  scarcely  ar- 
rived in  Florence,  when  he  was  suddenly  at- 
tacked by  a  grievous  malady,  which  carri'^d 
him  offon  the  29th  of  March,  1058.  St.  Hugh, 
the  abbot  of  Ckiny,  relates,  that  he  assisted 
Stej)heji  at  his  death,  and,  adds  the  pious  monk, 
■'I  had  all  imaginable  trouble  to  drive  away 
the  spirit  of  darkness,  which  wished  to  seize,  in 
despite  of  me.  upon  the  soul  of  the  holy  father. 


352 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


BENEDICT  THE  TENTH,  THE   ONE  HUNDHED  AND  FIFTY- 
NINTH  POPE. 

[4..  D.  1058.] 

Violent  and  simoniacal  election  of  Benedict  the  Tenth — An  archpriest  is  forced  to  consecrate 
him  to  escape  death — Election  of  Nicholas  the  Second — Benedict  lays  down  the  tiara,  and 
voluntarily  abandons  the  Holy  See. 


Stephen  the  Tenth,  before  his  departure 
for  Tuscany,  had  assembled  the  cardinals, 
and  most  iiitiuential  members  of  the  clergy, 
and  had  caused  them  to  swear  that,  in  case 
of  his  death,  they  v.'oald  not  nominate  a  suc- 
cessor until  the  return  of  the  sub-deacon  Hil- 
debrand,  who  had  been  into  Germany  on  an 
affair  of  state.  Thus  this  monk  was  to  exer- 
cise in  the  council  the  functions  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  inspire  the  Romans  in  the  choice 
of  a  sovereign  pontiff.  But  the  instructions 
of  Stephen  were  despised;  and  on  the  very 
night  in  which  his  death  was  known  at  Rome, 
Gregory,  the  son  of  Alberic.  count  of  Tuscu- 
ium,  and  Gerard  of  Galene,  giving  ear  to  their 
ambition  alone,  assembled  the  principal  citi- 
zens in  their  palace,  and  proclaimed  John 
Mincius,  bishop  of  Veletri,  their  relative,  as 
sovereign  pontiff. 

Peter  Damian,  being  desirous  of  conforming 
to  the  decree  of  Stephen  the  Tenth,  opposed 
the  ordination  of  the  new  pontiff,  and  pro- 
nounced an  anathema  on  the  seditious  persons 
who  had  chosen  Benedict  to  be  the  supreme 
head  of  the  church.  But  his  opposition  pro- 
duced no  result,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran  to  escape  from  the 
soldiers,  who  threatened  to  put  to  death  those 
who  should  resist  the  will  of  the  counts  of 
Tuscanelia.  An  archpriest  was  conducted 
by  force  to  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  con- 
strained, by  a  dagger  at  his  breast,  to  conse- 
crate Benedict  on  the  5th  of  April,  1058. 
The  new  pontiff  occupied  the  Holy  See  for 
about  ten  months.    ' 

Whilst  Rome  had  become  the  theatre  of 
bloody  wars,  Didier.  the  abbot  of  the  convent 
of  Monte  Cassino,  and  the  two  other  legates 
sent  to  Constantinople  by  Stephen,  returned 
from  their  mission,  and  disembarked  at  Bari, 
on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic.  As  soon  as 
they  learned  the  death  of  the  pope,  Didier 
quitted  his  escort,  and  went  with  great  speed 
to  Monte  Cassino,  in  order  to  take  at  once  the 
government  of  his  rich  monastery,  and  to 
prepare  for  new  intrigues.  He  was  put  in 
possession  of  his  abbey  on  Easter-day,  by 
Cardinal  Humbert,  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
this  pious  retreat  to  escape  the  vengeance  of 
the  counts  of  Tuscanelia. 

The  ambitious  Hildebrand,  in  his  pride,  im- 
mediately left  the  court  of  the  empress  Agnes, 
and  started  to  intrigue  for  the  sovereign  pon- 
tificate ;  but  on  his  arrival  at  Florence,  he 
learned  the  election  of  Benedict.  He  at  once 
wrote  violent  letters  to  the  ecclesiastics  and 


notables  of  Rome,  reproaching  them  for  the 
weakness  they  had  shown  in  bending  their 
heads  beneath  the  yoke  of  the  counts  of  Tus- 
canelia, and  of  allowing  them  to  impose  a 
pontiff  upon  them.  He  enjoined  on  them  to 
drive  Benedict  from  the  Holy  See,  and  to 
come  to  him  in  order  to  proceed  to  a  regular 
election.  A  small  number  of  prelates  who 
regarded  Benedict  as  a  charitable  pope,  of 
extreme  goodness  and  exemplary  piety,  par- 
doned his  ignorance  for  the  sake  of  his  good 
qualities,  and  remained  attached  to  his  party; 
but  some  others  were  drawn  off  in  hopes  of 
enriching  themselves  under  another  reign; 
they  sent  in  their  adhesion  to  the  sub-deacon 
Hildebrand,  and  approved,  without  restriction, 
of  all  that  he  should  decide  to  be  for  the  in- 
terest of  the  church.  He  immediately  assem- 
bled the  priests  of  his  party,  and  ordered  them 
to  elect  as  sovereign  pontiff  the  bishop  Gerard, 
whom  Henry  the  Fourth  had  himself  desig- 
nated, when  the  Romans  came  to  him  to  be- 
seech him  to  give  them  a  pope  of  his  choice. 
Gerard  was  consecrated  by  the  name  of  Nicho- 
las the  Second,  and  the  church  recognized  two 
pontiffs  I 

Peter  Damian,  being  consulted  by  an  arch- 
bishop as  to  who  was  the  true  pope  whom 
they  should  obey,  made  this  singular  reply : 
"He  who  is  now  upon  the  Holy  See  was  en- 
throned at  night  by  troops  of  armed  men,  who 
caused  him  to  be  elected  by  distributing 
money  among  the  clergy.  On  the  day  of  his 
nomination,  the  patines,  the  holy  pyxes,  and 
the  crucifixes  from  the  treasury  of  St.  Peter, 
were  sold  throughout  the  city.  His  election 
was  then  violent  and  simoniacal.  He  alleges 
in  his  justification,  that  he  was  forced  to  ac- 
cept the  pontificate;  and  I  would  not  affirm 
that  it  is  not  so :  for  our  pope  is  so  stupid, 
that  it  would  not  be  at  all  extraordinary  if  he 
were  ignorant  of  the  intrigues  which  the 
counts  of  Tuscanelia  have  carried  on  in  his 
name.  He  is  guilty,  however,  for  remaining 
in  the  abyss  into  which  he  has  been  cast,  and 
for  being  ordained  by  an  archpriest  whose 
ignorance  is  so  great,  that  he  cannot  read  a 
line  without  spelling  every  syllable.  Although 
the  election  of  Nicholas  the  Second  was  not 
entirely  regular,  I  would  submit  more  wil- 
lingly to  the  authority  of  this  pontiff,  because 
he  is  sufficiently  literary,  possesses  an  active 
mind,  pure  morals,  and  is  filled  with  charity. 
Still,  if  the  other  pope  could  compose  a  line, 
I  will  not  say  a  psalm,  but  even  an  homilj',  I 
would  not  oppose  him,  and  would  kiss  his  feet." 


HISTORY  OF   THE  POPES. 


353 


Henry  the  Fourth  gave  orders  to  duke  God- 
frey to  accompany  Nicholas  the  Second  to 
Rome,  and  to  drag  the  bishop  of  Veletri  from 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter  by  force,  if  he  were  un- 
wilbng  to  leave  it  voluntarily.  Before,  how- 
ever, proceeding  to  violence,  Gerard  and  Hil- 
debrand  convoked  a  council  at  Sutri,  to  declare 
the  anti-pope  dispossessed  and  excommuni- 


cated if  he  should  persist  in  maintaining 
himself  upon  the  Holy  See.  Benedict,  dis- 
covering that  the  counts  of  Tuscanella  were 
not  powerful  enough  to  protect  him  agJiinst 
the  arms  of  Duke  Godfrey,  resigned  like  a 
philosopher.  He  laid  down  the  tiara,  and  re- 
tired 10  his  house,  abandoning  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran  to  the  ambitious  Nicholas. 


NICHOLAS  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTIETH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  1058.J 

Enthronement  of  the  pope — He  takes  off  the  excommunication  pronounced  against  the  anti-pope — 
Scandalous  bargain  between  Nicholas  and  the  abbot  Didier — Deplorable  state  of  the  church 
— Council  of  Ronw — Decree  against  the  simoniacs — Synodical  letter  of  the  pope — Perfidy  of  the 
pope  towards  Berenger  of  Tours— Berenger  persists  in  his  doctrines  concerning  the  eucharist 
— Nicholas  the  Second  cedes  the  province  of  Apulia  to  the  Normans — Philip  the  First  crowned 
King  of  France — Council  of  the  Gauls — Death  of  the  pope. 


As  soon  as  John  Mincius  had  abdicated  the 
supreme  dignity  of  the  church,  Nicholas  the 
Second,  accompanied  by  Godfrey  and  the  car- 
dinals of  his  party,  made  his  entry  into  Rome. 
He  was  received  with  great  honours,  and  con- 
ducted to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  Some 
days  after  his  enthronement,  the  anti-pope 
Benedict  came  to  prostrate  himself  before  him, 
protesting  his  devotion,  and  accusing  himself 
of  being  sacrilegious,  an  usurper,  and  a  per- 
jurer. Nicholas  then  took  off  the  excommu- 
nication which  had  been  pronounced  against 
him,  under  the  express  condition  that  he 
should  not  leave  the  church  of  St.  Maria  INIa- 
jora.  Benedict  submitted  j  and  the  schism 
was  terminated  without  causing  any  blood  to 
flow  in  Rome. 

But  the  captains  of  quarters,  who  had  been 
appointed  during  the  preceding  reigns,  did  not 
evince  the  same  compliance  in  regard  to  the 
revenues  of  the  Holy  See,  on  which  they  had 
seized.  They  treated  with  contempt  the  de- 
crees of  the  new  pope,  and  continued  to  col- 
lect the  tenths  of  the  clergy,  under  the  pre- 
text that  they  could  without  crime  despoil 
the  church  of  money  which  it  collected  from 
the  superstition  and  ignorance  of  the  people. 
Nicholas,  too  weak  to  struggle  against  the 
leaders  of  the  military,  left  them  in  possession 
of  the  revenues  of  Rome,  and  addres.sed  him- 
self to  the  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  to  obtain 
from  him  the  sums  which  were  necessary  to 
satisfy  the  demands  of  the  Italian  clergy.  Di- 
dier acceded  to  the  demands  of  the  pontifFj 
but  in  turn  exacted  from  him  the  title  of  car- 
dinal priest  of  St.  Cecilia.  The  bargain  was 
concluded;  and  the  next  day  Nicholas  sur- 
rendered to  him  the  revenues  of  the  church 
of  St.  Cecilia.  He  further  augmented  the 
privileges  of  his  monastery,  and  named  him 
as  his  vicar  for  the  reformation  of  all  the  con- 
vents of  Campania,  Apulia,  and  Calabria. 

Rome  and  Italy  continued  to  be  the  scene 

Vol.  I.  2U 


of  frightful  disorders.  All  the  prelates,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  the  pontiff,  put  up  the  holy 
orders  at  auction,  and  publicly  adjudged  them 
to  the  highest  bidders,  in  order  to  regain  for 
themselves,  by  this  sacrilegious  traffic,  the 
money  which  they  had  given  to  obtain  the 
episcopate.  Besides,  a  luxury  so  scandalous 
was  introduced  into  the  church,  that  the 
revenues  of  the  dioceses  were  no  longer  suffi- 
cient for  the  maintenance  of  the  packs  of 
hounds,  equipages,  minions,  and  courtezans, 
which  filled  the  episcopal  palaces. 

Nicholas,  desirous  of  remedying  these  dis- 
orders, which  infalliby  presaged  the  ruin  of 
the  church,  convoked  a  council  in  the  holy 
city.  Three  hundred  bishops  assembled  at 
Rome  and  took  their  seats  in  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran.  The  pope  thus  opened  the 
session:  "You  know,  my  brethren,  how,  after 
the  death  of  Stephen,  our  predecessor,  the 
Holy  See  was  exposed  to  the  deplorable  in- 
trigues of  simoniacs.  In  order  to  prevent  such 
scandal  in  future,  we  order,  in  accordance 
with  the  authority  of  the  fathers,  that  after 
the  death  of  a  pope,  the  cardinal  bishops  shall 
first  deliberate  upon,  and  choose  a  pontiff; 
they  shall  then  call  into  the  place  of  assembly 
the  cardinal  clerks,  to  hear  their  representa- 
tions; and  finally,  the  rest  of  the  clergy  and 
the  people  shall  come  together  to  approve  the 
nomination  of  the  new  head  of  the  church. 
VVe  .should,  above  all,  have  unceasingly  be- 
fore us  the  remembrance  of  this  sentence  of 
the  blessed  Leo :  'We  should  not  call  bi.shop5 
the  ecclesiastics  who  are  neither  chosen  by 
the  clergy,  nor  demanded  by  the  people^  nor 
consecrated  by  the  prelates  of  the  province, 
with  the  consent  of  tlie  archbishop.'  But,  as 
there  is  no  metropolitan  to  the  Holy  See,  the 
cardinals  shall  fill  his  place;  they  shall  give 
the  preference,  in  the  selection  of  a  pontiff,  to 
the  Roman  church,  if  it  has  a  subject  worthy 
to  represent  Christ  upon  earth ;  if  not,  they 
30* 


354 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


shall  choose  a  stranger  prelate,  having  chiefly 
regard  for  the  wishes  of  our  son  Henry,  who 
is  now  king,  and  who,  if  it  pleases  God,  shall 
be  emperor,  as  we  have  promised  him.  The 
same  deference  shall  always  be  exhibited  for 
the  successors  of  this  prince,  who  shall  receive 
the  imperial  crown. 

"If  the  misfortunes  of  the  times  or  the  ty- 
ranny of  faction  shall  prevent  their  proceeding 
to  a  free  election  in  Rome,  the  cardinal  bi- 
shops assisted  by  the  principal  dignitaries  of 
the  church,  and  by  some  laymen,  shall  be 
authorized  to  assemble  in  the  city  which  they 
shall  judge  most  convenient,  and  proclaim  a 
new  pope.  If.  after  the  consecration  of  the 
jjontitr,  any  obstacle  shall  oppose  itself  to  his 
enthronement  on  the  Holy  See.  according  to 
the  habitual  usages  and  ceremonies,  he  shall 
be  none  the  less  regarded  as  the  chief  of  the 
clergy;  he  shall  govern  the  church,  and  dis- 
po.se  of  the  property  of  St.  Peter,  as  Gregory 
the  Great  himself  did  before  his  consecration. 
If  any  one  is  chosen,  ordained,  and  enthroned 
in  contempt  of  this  decree,  let  him  be  anathe- 
matized and  deposed,  with  all  his  accomplices, 
as  antichrist,  an  usurper  and  destroyer  of  the 
Christian  faith." 

Nicholas  then  made  canons  prohibiting  the 
faithful  from  receiving  mass  from  priests  who 
lived  openly  with  their  concubines.  With  re- 
gard to  simoniacs  he  added:  -'As  to  those 
who  have  been  ordained  for  mone)',  our  clem- 
ency permits  them  to  pre.serve  the  dignities 
to  which  they  have  been  promoted,  because 
the  multitude  of  these  ecclesiastics  is  so  great, 
that  by  observing  the  rigour  of  the  canons 
with  regard  to  them,  we  should  leave  almost 
all  the  churches  without  priests." 

After  the  council  was  terminated,  the  pope 
addressed  synodical  letters  to  the  bishops  and 
faithful  of  the  Gauls,  to  announce  to  them  the 
decisions  of  the  assembly.  He  renewed  the 
threats  of  excommunication  against  married 
or  concubiaary  priests,  and  against  apostate 
clerks  and  monks  who  abandoned  the  church 
or  their  convents  to  embrace  a  laical  life.  He 
finally  anathematized  the  soldiery,  who  de- 
stroyed the  pilgrims  and  put  unarmed  priests 
to  ransom.  Thislast  consideration  is  singular, 
and  proves  that  the  clergy  carried  on  war. 
The  pope  terminated,  by  condemning  to  eter- 
nal fire  the  lords  who  violated  the  freedom  of 
the  churches  within  sixty  paces  of  their  cir- 
cuit, or  within  thirty  paces  of  that  of  chapels. 
At  this  period,  simple  oratories  were  not  so 
sacred  as  churches,  and  the  more  considerable 
the  edifice,  the  greater  was  its  sanctity. 

Nicholas  at  last  caught  Berenger,  the  illus- 
trious professor  of  Tours  in  a  trap ;  he  invited 
him  to  Rome  under  the  pretext  of  explaining 
to  him  his  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  eucharist ; 
but  no  sooner  had  he  set  foot  in  Italy  than  he 
was  cast  into  prison,  submitted  to  rigorous 
treatment  and  threatened  with  death  by  tor- 
ture, unless  he  consented  to  present  to  the 
pope  an  abjuration,  signed  with  his  own  hand 
and  conceived  in  these  terms :  "  I,  Berenger, 
an  unworthy  archdeacon  of  the  church  of 
St.  Maurice  of  Angers,  understanding  the  true 


Catholic  faith,  anathematize  all  heresies,  and 
especially  that  which  I  have  professed  until 
now,  by  which  I  pretended  to  maintain  that 
the  bread  and  wine  placed  upon  the  altar 
during  the  holy  sacrifice,  were  not  after  their 
consecration,  but  the  sacrament,  and  not  the 
true  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  now 
agree  with  the  holy  Roman  church  and  the 
apostolical  See,  and  I  profess  the  same  faith,  in 
regard  to  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  as  Pope 
Nicholas.  I  believe  that  the  bread  and  wine 
are,  after  their  consecration,  the  true  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  they  are  touched 
and  divided  by  the  hands  of  the  priest  and 
the  teeth  of  the  faithful.  I  swear  it  by  the 
holy  Trinity,  declaring  those  anathematized 
who  combat  this  belief  by  their  teaching  or 
followers,  and  condemning  myself  with  all 
the  severity  of  the  canons,  if  I  shall  ever  re- 
voke the  sentiments  declared  in  this  profes- 
sion of  faith  which  I  have  read,  meditated 
upon  and  willingly  subscribed." 

Berenger  signed  this  formula  of  abjuration, 
and  burned,  himself,  in  the  presence  of  the 
pope  and  his  council,  the  works  which  he  had 
written  upon  the  eucharist.  Nicholas  imme- 
diately sent  the  proceedings  which  contain- 
ed the  solemn  retraction  of  Berenger,  to  all 
the  cities  of  Italy,  Gaul,  Germany,  Spain,  and 
England  ;  he  then  loaded  him  with  honours 
and  placed  him  at  liberty,  promising  him 
the  first  bishopric  vacant  in  Gaul.  But  the 
latter  had  no  sooner  entered  France,  than  he 
protested  against  the  oath  which  had  been 
wrested  from  him  by  violence,  and  opposed 
himself  more  than  ever  to  the  tyranny  of  the 
Holy  See.  In  fact  Berenger  was  not  an  here- 
tic )  he  did  not  say  that  the  bread  and  wine 
lost  their  nature  after  the  consecration  by  the 
priest ;  he  only  maintained  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  not  really  present  under  the  appearance 
of  bread  and  wine,  and  that  he  was  only  ficti- 
tiously in  the  eucharist,  because,  affirmed  he, 
God  could  not  be  transformed  into  bread  and 
wine,  nor  could  these  substances  become  God. 
A  century  later,  the  celebrated  Rupert  recon- 
ciled these  two  contradictory  ideas,  by  creating 
the  system  of  impanation,  which  consists  in 
saying,  that  the  substance  of  the  bread  is  not 
destroyed  in  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist, 
but  that  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  is  mixed 
with  the  consecrated  bread. 

The  holy  father  was  not  more  successful  in 
his  projects  against  the  Normans,  than  he  had 
been  in  his  cowardly  persecution  of  the  learn- 
ed Berenger.  He  was  obliged  to  abandon  the 
hope  of  expelling  those  terrible  neighbours 
from  Italy  •  he  then  changed  his  policy,  and 
resolved  to  transform  into  defenders  of  the 
Holy  See  those  who  had  been  its  most  ardent 
enemies.  For  this  purpose  he  went  into 
Apulia,  and  convoked  a  council  at  the  city  of 
Melfa,  to  which  the  Normans  sent  their  de- 
puties. Nicholas  granted  to  Robert  Guiscard, 
their  chief,  all  Apulia  and  all  Calabria,  with  the 
exception  of  Beneventum  ;  he  gave  the  prin- 
cipality of  Capua  to  Richard,  and  surrendered 
to  him  Sicily,  of  which  he  had  already  com- 
menced the  conquest  from  the  Saracens.   The 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES, 


355 


pope  then  took  off  the  excommunication  they 
had  incurred  under  Leo  the  Ninth,  anci  per- 
mitted them  to  send  their  children  to  the  col- 
leges of  Rome.  The  Normans  took  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  Holy  See,  swore  to  arm  in  its 
defence,  and  personally  engaged  to  pay  the 
pontiff  an  annual  revenue  of  twelve  denarii, 
money  of  Pavia,  for  each  pair  of  oxen  that 
worked  in  his  domains. 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  the  king- 
doms of  Naples  and  Sicily,  and  the  origin  of 
the  rights  which  the  pontiff's  claimed  over 
them.  The  Holy  See  obtained  considerable 
augmentation  in  its  temporal  affairs  from  the 
position  of  the  Normans,  who  declared  them- 
selves vassals  of  the  pope,  to  prevent  the  em- 
peror from  laying  claim  to  a  part  of  the  pro- 
vinces they  had  seized,  and  to  put  an  end  to 
the  invasions  of  the  neighbouring  lords,  who 
could  not  declare  war  against  them  without 
exposing  themselves  to  the  thunders  of  the 
church.  After  this  assembly  was  concluded, 
Nicholas  ordered  his  new  allies  to  as.semble 
their  troops  and  ravage  the  territories  of  Pre- 
n£Estum,  Tusculum  and  Nomento,  whose  in- 
habitants had  revolted  against  the  Holy  See; 
then,  still  at  the  instigation  of  the  pope,  the 
Normans  passed  the  Tiber,  and  carried  fire 
and  sword  into  the  city  of  Galeria  and  all  the 
castles  of  Count  Gerard,  to  punish  him  for 
levying  a  tribute  upon  the  pilgrims  and  bishops 
who  traversed  his  domains  on  their  way  to  the 
holy  city.  The  Normans  thus  became  the  in- 
struments which  the  popes  used  to  free  the 
church  from  the  petty  lords  who  had  for  a  long 
time  tyrannized  over  it. 

Nicholas  sent  two  legates  into  France,  who 
assisted  at  the  coronation  of  Phillip  the  First, 
the  eldest  son  of  King  Henry,  who  was  con- 
secrated by  Gervais,  the  metropolitan  of 
Rheims ;  it  is  the  first  consecration  of  the 
kings  of  the  third  race,  of  which  we  have  an 
authentic  account.  The  embassadors,  on  this 
occasion,  held  several  councils  in  France,  and 
caused  them  to  approve  of  the  canons  which 
had  been  brought  from  Rome  for  the  purpose 
of  arresting  the  simony  and  incontinence  of 
the  clergy. 

In  England,  Eldred,  archbishop  of  York, 
taking  advantage  of  the  weakness  of  King 
Edward,  had  persuaded  him,  that  in  accord- 
ance with  the  custom  of  the  Italian  clergy,  he 
was  permitted  to  accumulate  bishoprics  and 
abbeys,  and  consequently  revenues  and  large 
property  were  awarded  to  him;  but  his  ava- 


rice having  excited  the  general  indignation, 
he  was  obliged  to  go  to  Rome,  accompanied 
by  bishops  Gison  of  Ely  and  Walter  of  Hert- 
ford, and  by  Tostin,  earl  of  Northumberland, 
brother-in-law  of  the  king.  The  pope  de- 
prived Eldred  of  all  ecclesiastical  dignity,  not 
only  because  he  was  a  simoniac,  but  also  on 
account  of  his  extreme  ignorance,  and  grant- 
ed on  the  contrary  to  Gison  and  Walter,  con- 
fiiTTiation  in  the  episcopate.  He  loaded,  be- 
sides with  honours  and  presents.  Earl  Tostin, 
and  seated  him  at  his  right  hand  in  the  assem- 
blies and  festivals,  up  to  the  time  when  the 
pilgrims  wished  to  return  to  their  country. 

Unfortunately,  on  the  day  of  their  departure, 
when  they  were  but  a  few  miles  from  Rome, 
they  were  attacked  by  robbers,  who  took  from 
them  all  they  possessed,  and  left  them  nothing 
but  indispensable  clothitig.  They  immedi- 
ately retraced  their  steps,  and  traversed  the 
holy  city  in  a  piteous  plight,  pursued  by  the 
shouts  of  the  rabble,  even  to  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran.  Earl  Tostin,  furious  at  this  adventure, 
broke  out  into  outrageous  language  against 
the  pontiff.  He  accused  him  of  having  an 
understanding  with  the  robbers  to  despoil  pil- 
grims, and  asked  of  him  what  was  the  power 
of  his  excommunications,  if  at  the  very  gates 
of  Rome,  the  Italian  lords  would  despise  them 
with  impunity ;  he  threatened  him  with  all 
the  wrath  of  the  king  of  England,  and  the  sup- 
pression of  Peter's  pence,  which  the  people 
of  his  kingdom  had  the  stupidity  to  pay  him. 
Nicholas,  frightened  by  this  last  threat,  hasten- 
ed to  replace  what  had  been  stolen  from  the 
illustrious  pilgrims.  He  even  consented  to 
bestow  the  pallium  on  Archbishop  Eldred,  in 
order  to  make  a  partizan  of  him ;  and  he  sent 
a  numerous  escort  to  accompany  them,  and 
also  legates  instructed  to  apologize  to  King 
Edward  for  this  unfortunate  event. 

Some  months  afterwards  the  pope  made  a 
new  journey  to  Florence,  but  he  had  scarcely 
arrived  in  that  city,  when  a  violent  fever 
seized  him  and  carried  him  off  in  a  fev/ 
hours,  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  of  Jul}-, 
1061.  He  was  interred  in  the  church  of  St. 
Raparaturs. 

Bishop  Mainard  exalts  the  great  virtues  of 
Nicholas,  and  affirms  that  he  never  passed  a 
day  without  washing  the  feet  of  a  dozen  poor 
persons.  Baronius  adds,  that  it  were  better 
to  feed  these  unfortunates  than  to  parody 
the  humanity  of  Christ  by  a  ridiculous  cere- 
mony. 


356 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ALEXANDER  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY- 
FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1061.] 

Struggles  between  the  factions — Vacancy  in  the  Holy  See — The  cardinals  consecrate  a  pope — The 
new  pontiff  is  enthroned  by  the  name  of  Alexander  the  Second — The  faction  opposed  to  him 
send  a  deputation  to  the  emperor — General  diet  at  Basle — Election  of  an  anti-pope. 


After  the  death  of  Nicholas,  the  clergy 
and  the  people,  divided  into  two  powerful 
factions,  proceeded  in  the  midst  of  the  trou- 
bles and  seditions  to  the  election  of  a  new 
pope.  Hildebrand,  that  obstinate  monk,  whom 
we  have  seen,  during  the  preceding  reigns, 
seize  upon  the  direction  of  all  the  political 
affairs  of  the  Holy  See.  wished  to  profit  by 
the  decree  of  Nicholas  in  relation  to  the  elec- 
tion of  the  popes,  and  to  take  away  from  the 
empire  the  right  of  choosing  a  chief  of  the 
church. 

The  minority  of  King  Henry  appeared  to 
him  to  be  a  favourable  circumstance  for  break- 
ing the  yoke  of  the  emperors,  and  re-estab- 
lishing the  electoral  independence  of  the  court 
of  Rome.  These  sentiments  were  also  enter- 
tained by  the  cardinals,  and  the  large  ma- 
jority of  the  bishops,  whose  interests  were 
the  same,  and  they  all  resolved  to  consecrate 
the  new  chief  without  submitting  his  nomi- 
nation to  the  approval  of  Prince  Henry. 

But  the  counts  of  Tuscanella  and  Galeria, 
as  well  as  the  other  lords  of  the  opposite  fac- 
tion, having  different  interests,  undertook  to 
re-seize  upon  the  authority  which  they  had 
lost  during  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas.  For 
this  purpose  they  openly  declared  themselves 
the  defenders  of  the  rights  of  the  prince,  in- 
troduced soldiers  into  their  palaces  to  intimi- 
date the  clergy,  and  united  with  Cardinal 
Hugh,  the  commissioner  of  the  emperor,  pro- 
testing that  they  would  oppose  all  efforts  tend- 
ing to  overthrow  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown. 

Hildebrand,  surprised  by  this  formidable 
opposition,  dared  not  proceed  to  the  election 
of  a  pope;  he,  however,  sent  into  Germany 
several  embassadors  carrying  letters  to  the 
empress  Agnes,  to  obtain  authority  to  convoke 
a  synod,  and  nominate  a  pontiff,  in  accordance 
with  the  new  mode  of  election.  The  dele- 
gates returned  from  Germany,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  three  months,  without  having  been 
able  to  obtain  an  audience  of  the  court,  and 
having  the  seals  of  their  letters  unbroken. 
Hildebrand  then  resolved  to  go  further,  and 
took  an  energetic  step;  he  brought  into  Rome 
Norman  troops,  commanded  by  the  prince 
of  Apulia;  he  then  convoked  the  cardinals, 
and  lords  of  his  party,  and  proposed  to  the 
assembly  the  election  of  Anselmo,  bishop  of 
Lucca,  as  the  sovereign  pontiff.  Prince  Ro- 
bert Guiscard,  and  the  abbot  Didier,  supported 
this  motion;  the  council  proclaimed  Anselmo 
chief  of  the  church,  and  on  the  ne.\t  day  the 
new  pope  was  consecrated  by  the  name  of 
Alexander  the  Second. 


The  counts  of  Tuscanella  and  Segni  not 
being  able  to  oppose  his  enthronment.  imme- 
diately despatched  embassadors  to  tKe  king 
of  Germany,  and  the  empress,  who  were 
joined  by  those  of  Lombardy,  whom  Gilbert 
of  Parma  sent  to  Agnes. 

When  the  embassadors  arrived  in  Germany, 
King  Henry  and  his  council  decided,  that  on 
a  subject  of  so  much  importance  it  was  neces- 
sary to  convoke  a  general  diet.  Almost  all 
the  German  and  Lombard  prelates  met  at 
Basle,  where  the  king  was  crowned  anew  in 
the  presence  of  the  lords  and  the  bishops,  who 
conferred  on  him  the  title  of  patrician  of  the 
Romans.  The  bishops  of  Verceil  and  Pla- 
cenza  then  brought  charges  against  Alexander 
the  Second,  who  had  by  his  election  openly 
violated  the  sacred  rights  of  the  king  of  Ger- 
many. They  declared  him  deprived  of  the 
Holy  See,  and  proposed  as  his  successor,  Ca- 
dalus  or  Cadalous  Palavian,  bishop  of  Parma, 
who  was  at  once  proclaimed  sovereign  pontiff. 
Three  bishops  consecrated  him,  and  he  im- 
mediately clothed  himself  with  the  pontifical 
ornaments. 

At  this  period  there  lived  at  the  monastery 
of  Luceola,  in  Ombria,  a  cenobite  called  St. 
Dominic  the  Mailed,  who  wore,  instead  of 
hair  cloth,  a  breastplate  of  iron.  The  hermits 
of  Luceola  were  eighteen  in  number;  they 
drank  nothing  but  water,  and  used  no  grease 
to  season  their  food,  and  ate  no  flesh  except 
on  Sundays ;  they  fasted  on  bread  and  water 
the  other  six  days,  and  passed  all  the  night  in 
prayer.  They  kept  an  absolute  silence  during 
the  whole  week,  except  on  the  Lord's  day, 
between  vespers  and  compline,  when  their 
rules  authorized  them  to  exchange  some  re- 
ligious words.  St.  Dominic  not  finding  this 
discipline  sufficiently  rigorous,  redoubled  the 
rigidness  of  the  fast ;  he  infhcted  on  himself 
cruel  macerations ;  during  winter  he  slept  on 
the  frozen  earth  of  his  cell,  with  naked  feel 
and  legs,  having  no  covering  for  his  body 
but  an  iron  shirt  of  mail,  over  which  he 
put  his  cuirass ;  he  lacerated  his  face,  neck, 
and  legs,  with  rods  and  thorns;  and  it  is  re- 
lated that  on  one  evening  he  presented  his 
bleeding  body  before  the  abbot,  and  cast 
himself  at  his  feet,  exclaiming,  "my  father, 
I  accuse  myself  of  having  lived  as  a  carnal 
man ;  impose  upon  me  a  severe  penance." 
The  venerable  abbot  sought  to  calm  the  vio- 
lent grief  of  the  monk,  and  asked  him  if  he 
had  eaten  eggs  or  cheese  ]"  "  No,  my  father, 
replied  he  in  wrath,  nor  fish  nor  fruit ;  I  leave 
them  to  the  sick;  but  I  have  eaten  fennel 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


357 


seed  with  my  bread."    Strange  aberration  of 
the  human  mind. 

Dominic  recited,  daily,  twelve  psalms, 
twenty-four  times  in  succession,  with  his 
arms  extended  like  a  cross,  and  he  added  the 
canticles,  hymns,  creed  of  St.  Athanasius,  and 
the  litanies.  Some  years  before  his  death, 
having  discovered,  by  an  experiment,  that 
leathern  thongs  were  rougher  than  rods,  he 
habituated  himself  to  this  new  discipline.  His 
macerations,  and  the  use  of  his  coat  of  mail, 


had  rendered  his  skin  as  black  as  that  of  a 
negro.  He  even  wore  beneath  his  cuirass, 
eight  iron  rings,  which  he  drew  together  with 
buckles  until  they  penetrated  the  flesh.  This 
frightful  penance  did  not  prevent  his  attaining 
an  extreme  old  age  ;  he  died  in  the  year  10G2, 
and  was  interred  in  his  cell  with  his  cuirass 
and  coat  of  mail.  We  have  cited  this  re- 
markable example  in  order  to  show  the  ex- 
cess of  fanaticism. 


HONORIUS  THE  SECOND,  POPE  OR  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  1061.] 

Vices  of  the  neiv  pontiff — Pope  Alexander  flies  from  Rome — The  forcible  removal  of  the  empe- 
ror— The  empress  Agnes  is  deposed  by  Alexander  the  Second — Schism  of  Florence — Council 
of  Rome — The  embassy  of  Damian  to  Florence — Proof  by  fire — Peter  Aldobrandin  miracu- 
lously traverses  the  flames  of  a  burning  pyre — Consequences  of  the  schism  of  Florence — Coun- 
cil of  Mantua — Honorius  the  Second  enters  Rome — He  is  betrayed  by  Cencius,  who  retains 
him  prisoner  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angela — The  anti-pope  is  forced  to  quit  Rome  in  the  dress  of 
a  pilgrim — His  decUh. 


The  new  pontiff,  whom  several  chroniclers 
designate  by  the  name  of  anti-pope,  was  a 
concubinary,  and  had  already  been  condemn- 
ed for  the  crimes  of  extortion  and  adultery 
in  the  councils  of  Pavia,  Mantua,  and  Milan. 

When  Peter  Damian  was  apprized  of  the 
election  of  Honorious,  he  addressed  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  him  : — ''  Until  now,  my  bro- 
ther, the  witnesses  of  your  bad  conduct  were 
the  inhabitants  of  a  single  city  in  Italy.  Now 
your  crimes  will  be  published  throughout  all 
Italy,  France,  England,  Spain,  and  Germa- 
ny.... "  Cadalous,  without  disquieting  him- 
self about  the  discontent,  occupied  himself 
in  raising  an  army  for  the  purpose  of  entering 
the  holy  city  by  force  •  he  first  bought  up  the 
partizans  of  Alexander,  then  through  their 
medium  he  carried  on  communication  with 
the  city,  and  on  a  day  agreed  upon,  he  sud- 
denly presented  himself  at  the  gates  of  Rome 
at  the  head  of  his  troops. 

Alexander,  abandoned  by  his  party,  who 
had  almost  all  of  them  sold  themselves  to  his 
enemy,  immediately  quitted  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran  and  embarked  on  the  Tiber,  in  order 
to  go  by  sea  to  Germany,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  back  with  him  Duke  Godfrey  and 
the  vassals  of  his  domains.  The  ambitious 
duke  permitted  himself  to  be  seduced  by 
hopes  of  receiving  the  imperial  crown  from 
the  pope  ;  he  hastily  assembled  his  troops  and 
marched  on  Rome  to  combat  the  bands  of  Ho- 
norius, who  were  then  encamped  in  the  mea- 
dows of  Nero,  near  the  Vatican. 

On  his  side,  Didier  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino, 
had  distributed  immense  sums  of  money  in 
the  absence  of  the  holy  father,  and  had  rallied 
the  Romans  around  him  to  repulse  the  attacks 
of  Honorius;  but  having  made  a  sortie  upon 
the  camp  of  the  anti-pope,  which  he  hoped  to 
carry  by  surprise,  he  was  vigorously  repulsed 


and  his  troops  were  cut  to  pieces.  Honorius 
made  a  frightful  massacre  of  them  ;  he  pur- 
sued the  fliers  up  to  the  very  gates  of  Rome, 
when  Godfrey  arrived ;  this  latter  charged 
the  flank  of  the  army  of  Honorius  with  his 
veterans  and  routed  it.  The  anti-pope  him- 
self fell  into  the  power  of  his  enemies,  but  by 
promise  of  a  large  ransom,  he  induced  the 
officers  who  guarded  him,  to  set  him  at  liber- 
ty. He  then  retired  to  the  city  of  Parma. 
where,  notwithstanding  his  defeat,  he  pre- 
served the  title  of  pope,  in  hopes  of  remount- 
ing the  throne  of  the  church. 

Master  of  the  ground,  Alexander  followed 
up  actively  the  criminal  plots  into  which  he 
had  entered  in  Germany  with  Anon  archbi- 
shop of  Cologne,  for  the  purpose  of  placing  the 
imperial  crown  on  the  head  of  Godfrey.  By 
his  orders.  Anon  invaded  the  dwelling  of  the 
young  king  Henry,  at  the  head  of  an  armed 
band,  and  carried  him  off,  notwithstanding 
his  entreaties  and  his  tears,  and  conducted 
him  to  the  episcopal  palace.  He  then  con- 
vened a  general  diet,  in  which  he  made  them 
confer  the  government  of  the  empire  upon 
him  during  the  minority  of  Henry  ;  he  solemn- 
ly confirmed  the  election  of  Pope  Ale.xander, 
and  condemned  that  of  Cadalous  as  being 
opposed  to  the  laws  of  the  church.  Finally, 
the  empress  was  deposed  from  the  regency 
and  condemned  to  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Ra- 
venna, to  ask  pardon  for  her  crimes  from  the 
sovereign  pontiff.  Agnes  obeyed,  and  cast 
herself  at  the  feet  of  the  holy  father,  beseech- 
ing him,  with  tears,  to  prescribe  a  penance 
for  her.  to  conceal  from  Christ  the  numerous 
sins  which  she  had  committed. 

Alexander  showed  himself  very  indulgent 
to  the  faults  of  the  beautiful  penitent :  it  is 
even  related  that  he  became  desperately 
enamoured  of  her,  and  that  he  gave  to  her  the 


358 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


government  of  a  convent  situated  near  the 
church  of  ihe  apostle,  where  she  lived  for  fif- 
teen years.  She  was  canonized  after  her 
death,'  doubtless  because  the  priests  found 
her  sanctified  by  her  amours  with  a  pope. 

At  the  same  period,  Florence  became  the 
theatre  of  violent  seditions,  which  broke  out 
between  the  bishop  of  the  city  and  John  Gual- 
bert,  abbot  of  the  new  community  of  Valam- 
brosa.  This  monk  maintained  that  the  bishop, 
being  a  simoniac,  and  consequently  an  here- 
tic, could  not  administer  the  sacraments  nor 
ordain  priests.  In  his  furious  zeal,  he  tra- 
versed the  streets  of  Florence  with  his  monks, 
proclaiming  that  the  bishop  Peter  was  a  wretch 
soiled  with  every  crime,  and  that  the  people 
should  drive  out  this  unworthy  priest  from  the 
temple  of  the  Lord. 

Peter,  in  order  to  put  a  stop  to  the  declama- 
tions of  these  fanatics,  and  to  strike  them 
with  fear,  went  to  the  monastery  of  Valam- 
brosa  with  armed  men,  seized  the  most  exci- 
ted monks,  and  after  having  despoiled  them 
of  their  garments,  whipped  them  with  rods. 
The  monks  no  longer  dared  to  leave  their 
convent,  but  they  sent  secrstly,  embassadors 
to  Rome,  to  ask  for  the  convocation  of  a  coun- 
cil, in  order  that  they  might  denounce  Peter 
of  Pavia  as  a  simonfac,  a  concu binary,  and  a 
murderer,  offering  even  to  walk  in  an  heated 
brazier  to  show  the  truth  of  their  accusations. 
In  these  troublous  times,  the  pope  not  daring 
to  expose  himself  to  the  discontents  of  the 
bishops,  refused  to  listen  to  the  complaint  of 
the  monks,  and  made  the  following  decree  : 
"  In  accordance  v/ith  the  canons  of  the  synod 
of  Chalcedon,  we  order  monks,  how  virtuous 
soever  they  may  be,  never  to  exhibit  their 
sanctity  in  public  ;  and  in  conformity  with  the 
rule  of  St.  Benedict,  to  remain  always  con- 
fined in  their  cloisters ;  finally,  we  prohibit 
them,  under  penalty  of  anathema,  from  ever 
appearmg  in  castles  and  cities,  even  when 
they  shall  be  sent  for  by  the  lords  or  the 
people." 

After  the  termination  of  the  council,  he  sent 
the  cardinal,  Peter  Damian,  to  Florence,  for 
the  purpose  of  appeasing  the  m.urmurs  of  the 
people.  In  one  of  his  discourses  this  eccle- 
siastic represented  to  the  people,  that  they 
were  guilty  of  culpable  presumption  in  wish- 
ing to  depose  a  bishop,  who  was  not  con- 
demned, nor  even  juridically  accused,  but 
only  suspected  by  insubordinate  monks  whom 
he  wished  to  restrain  in  their  duties,  and  he 
persuaded  them  to  reject  the  councils  of  the 
fanatical  abbot  of  Valambrosa.  But  this  sage 
advice  only  increased  the  disorder.  St.  John 
Gualbert  sallied  forth  at  the  head  of  his  com- 
munity, and  came  even  to  the  residence  of 
Damian,  whom  he  charged  with  outrages, 
treating  him  as  an  ambitious  person,  a  simo- 
niac, and  a  murderer.  He  called  upon  the 
people  to  take  up  arms,  in  order  to  drive  out 
the  bishop  and  his  unworthy  supporter.  On 
his  side,  Peter  prepared  to  resist  by  force  the 
armed  bands  which  traversed  Florence,  threat- 
ening to  burn  the  city,  and  murder  the  parti- 
zans  of  the  bishop. 


At  length  Duke  Godfrey  took  vigorous 
measures  to  put  an  end  to  the  tumult ;  he 
threatened  to  hang  the  monks  to  the  trees  of 
their  abbey,  if  they  did  not  promptly  retire  to 
their  solitude.  This  threat  was  completely- 
successful  ;  tranquillity  was  not,  however,  en- 
tirely re-established  among  the  people ;  and 
on  the  next  day  a  great  crowd  went  to  the 
monastery  of  St.  Saviour,  to  beseech  the 
monks  to  restore  peace  to  the  city,  by  submit- 
ting to  the  judgment  of  God,  and  by  travers- 
ing an  inflamed  pyre  as  they  had  proposed  to 
the  sovereign  pontiff.  The  monks  joyfully 
consented  to  submit  to  this  terrible  proof,  and 
named  the  Wednesday  of  the  first  week  in 
Lent,  in  the  year  1063,  as  the  day  for  this  ex- 
traordinary ceremony. 

Peter  Aldobrandin,  a  monk  of  great  sanc- 
tity, was  designated  as  chosen  by  God  to  re- 
present the  community  in  this  solemn  affair. 
On  the  day  agreed  upon,  two  great  pyres,  each 
thirty  paces  long  by  ten  feet  high,  were  erect- 
ed, between  which  was  left  a  small  path  three 
feet  wide,  filled  with  small  wood,  extremely 
dry,  and  so  disposed  as  to  be  soon  reduced  to 
burningcoals.  The  brethren  went  in  procession 
to  a  church  near  to  the  place  where  the  pyre 
was  raised ;  Peter  Aldobrandin  celebrated  a 
solemn  mass,  after  which  the  monks  advanced 
in  two  ranks,  with  the  cross  at  their  head  and 
candles  in  their  hands.  They  walked  around 
the  pyres,  singing  canticles,  and  set  them  on 
fire.  The  wood,  mixed  up  with  branches  of 
the  vine  and  dried  fagots,  immediately  took 
fire,  and  the  heat  became  so  great  that  the 
monks  were  obliged  to  quit  the  places  which 
they  occupied. 

The  innumerable  multitude  which  assisted 
at  this  spectacle,  saw  Aldobrandin  approach 
alone  these  burning  pyres,  lay  down  the 
chasuble  with  which  he  had  celebrated  the 
divine  mysteries,  and  advance  towards  them, 
holding  in  one  hand  a  cross,  and  in  the  other 
a  pocket-handkerchief  to  wipe  off  the  svveat 
which  covered  his  forehead.  When  he  had 
arrived  at  the  path,  which  separated  the  two 
fire.'!,  and  which  was  full  of  burning  coals  aa 
high  as  his  knees,  he  stopped  and  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross.  The  people  were  in  solemn 
contemplation  !  !  One  of  the  monks  then  ad- 
dressing the  crowd,  summoned  the  citizens, 
the  clergy,  and  the  nobles  to  swear  to  aban- 
don the  cause  of  the  bishop,  if  their  brother 
should  come  forth  safe  and  sound  from  this 
horrid  proof;  all  swore  to  do  so.  Aldobrandin 
immediately  thundered  forth  a  religious  song, 
beseeching  God  to  preserve  him  in  the  midst 
of  the  flames,  as  he  had  before  preserved 
from  every  evil  the  three  young  men,  his 
prophets,  in  the  furnace  of  Babylon.  "  Then," 
adds  Baroniu.s,  "  were  seen  his  naked  feet 
between  the  two  embracing  pyres,  from  which 
immense  whirlwinds  of  flames  escaped,  in 
the  midst  of  which  he  walked  majestically,  as 
if  he  had  been  upon  roses  in  a  beautiful  alley, 
garnished  with  flowers,  and  refreshed  by  a 
breeze  whose  breath  was  tempered  by  the  heat 
of  the  sun.  The  waving  flames  appeared  to  be 
miraculously  driven  into  the  folds  of  his  alb^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


359 


which  they  distended  like  a  veil,  rendering  it 
of  a  more  shining  whiteness  than  that  of 
snow;  they  caused  the  fringe  of  his  maniple. 
the  extremities  of  his  stole,  his  hair  and  his 
beard  to  wave  without  leaving  any  trace.  It 
was  remarked,  says  the  historian,  that  when 
Aldobrandin  entered  the  pyre,  the  fire  lost  the 
devouring  energy  of  its  heat,  and  only  pre- 
served its  brilliant  light,  to  lighten  the  triumph 
of  the  holy  monk.  When  he  had  arrived  at 
the  other  end,  Aldobrandin  perceived  that  he 
had  dropped  his  handkerchief  in  the  midst  of 
the  path;  he  tranquilly  retraced  his  steps, 
picked  up  his  handkerchief,  and  came  forth 
radiant  from  the  pyres.  The  assistants  im- 
mediately thundered  forth  praises  to  God  ;  and 
having  raised  Akiobrandin  upon  their  shoul- 
ders, they  bore  him  in  triumph  to  his  monas- 
tery' 01  St.  Saviour.  The  moiik.s  then  sent 
to  the  pope  a  statement  of  this  marvellous 
event,  and' besought  him  to  name  a  new  pre- 
late in  the  place  of  the  unworthy  bishop  who 
had  been  condemned  by  the  judgment  of 
God." 

■  Maimburg  affirms  that  this  fabulous  ad- 
venture was  witnessed  in  so  authentic  a  way. 
that  we  cannot  doubt  it-  Alexander  the 
Second,  however,  who  probably  understood 
the  secret  of  traversing  the  flames,  still  re- 
jected their  demand,  and  replied,  like  a  skilful 
politician,  that  he  did  not  doubt  the  exactitude 
of  a  miracle  performed  in  the  presence  of  a 
whole  city,  and  which  was  confirmeil  by  the 
attestations  of  the  monk.s,  the  grandees,  the 
clergy,  and  the  magistracy  ;  and  that,  besides, 
he  could  not  contest  its  reality  without  bring- 
ing discredit  on  religion,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
faithful;  that  he  congratulated  the  venerable 
abbot  on  possessing  in  his  convent  a  monk 
whose  sanctity  had  merited  from  God  so 
shining  a  mark  of  his  protection.  He  added, 
that  after  this  decided  manifestation,  he  would 
already  have  deposed  the  bishop  of  Florence, 
if  this  latter  person  had  not  written  to  him 
that  he  was  equally  willing  to  undergo  the 
proof  by  fire,  engaging  to  perform  the  miracle 
in  the  same  place  and  in  the  same  maimer  as 
St.  Aldobrandin.  '"'But  I  was  unwilling  to 
grant  him  this  favour."  said  the  holy  father, 
"  from  fear  lest  God,  in  performing  a  second 
miracle,  should  take  away  from  you  the  glory 
which  your  monastery  has  acquired.  We 
have  been  even  rigorous  towards  Bishop  Peter, 
and  we  have  ordered  him  to  absent  himself 
from  Florence  for  some  months.  We  could 
not,  however,  suspend  him  from  his  episcopal 
functions  after  having  refused  to  submit  him, 
in  his  turn,  to  the  judgment  of  God.  We  ex- 
hort you,  then,  for  the  interest  of  your  com- 
munity, to  calm  your  people,  and  prepare 
yourselves  worthily  to  receive  your  bishop  on 
his  return."  The  monks,  fearing  lest  a  new 
trial  might  expose  their  knavery,  hastened  to 
publish  that  the  bishop  had  amendeil,  and 
that  Jesus  Christ  had  pardoned  him  at  the 
prayer  of  Aldobrandin. 

This  holy  monk,  who  was  afterwards  called 
Pelrus  Igneus,  or  Peter  of  the  Fire,  was  ex- 
tremely ignorant,  and  filled,  in  his  convent, 


the  duties  of  cowherd.  He  was  now  named 
abbot  of  another  monastery ;  and  when  Car- 
dinal Hildebrand  became  pope,  he  made  him 
cardinal  bishop  of  Albano,  m  order  to  avail 
himself  of  the  credit  which  he  had  acquaed 
in  Italy  since  his  famous  miracle. 

The  anti-pope  Cadalous  still  maintained 
himself  at  Parma,  and  by  means  of  his  in- 
trigues, he  even  brought  into  his  party  Duke 
Godfrey,  the  first  cause  of  his  expulsion  from 
Rome.  This  prince,  discontented  with  the  tar- 
diness of  Alexander,  who  had  not  fulfilled  the 
promise  which  he  had  made  him  of  placing 
on  his  head  the  imperial  crown,  resolved  to 
conduct  Honorius  to  the  holy  city,  and  to  en- 
throne him  sword  in  hand.  Peter  Damian, 
advised  of  the  projects  of  the  duke  of  Lor- 
raine, addressed  an  energetic  letter  to  him, 
exhorting  him  to  abandon  his  projects  of  re- 
volt against  Pope  Alexander.  At  the  same 
time,  "the  archdeacon  Hddebiand  wrote  to 
King  Henry,  or  rather  to  Archbishop  Anon, 
that  he  was  declared  regent  of  the  kingdom. 
He  warned  the  court  of  Germany  of  the  am- 
bitious designs  of  Godfrey,  of  his  alliance  with 
Cadalous,  and  added  :  -The  royal  and  sacer- 
dotal power  are  united  in  Jesus  Christ,  in 
heaven.  They  should  equally  form  an  indis- 
.soluble  alliance  upon  earth;  lor  each  has  need 
of  the  assistance  of  the  other  to  rule  the  peo- 
ple. The  priesthood  is  protected  by  the 
strength  of  royalty,  and  royalty  is  aided  by 
the  influence  of  the  priesthood.  The  king 
bears  the  sword  to  strike  the  enemies  of  the 
church  ;  the  pope  bears  the  thunders  of  ana- 
thema to  crush  the  enemies  of  the  sovereign. 
Let  the  throne  and  the  church  then  unite,  and 
the  whole  world  will  be  subjected  to  their 
law  !" 

Anon  fearing  to  lose  the  sovereign  power, 
if  the  duke  of  Lorraine  obtained  the  empire, 
determined  to  go  to  Rome  to  condemn  Hono- 
rius by  a  general  council,  in  order  that  he 
should  no  longer  have  the  right  to  consecrate 
an  emperor.  He  immediately  left  Germany, 
traversed  Lombaidy  and  Tuscany,  and  ar- 
rived in  the  holy  city  without  having  fore- 
warned the  holy  lather  of  his  visit. 

In  the  first  interview,  the  archbishop  sharp- 
ly apostrophized  the  pope,  and  asked  him 
why  he  had  accepted  the  pontificate  v>  ilhout 
the  order  and  consent  of  the  king,  vho  alone 
had  the  right  to  nominate  the  pontifl's.  But 
the  archdeacon  Hildebrand,  and  the  bishops 
who  were  present,  denied  this  pretension,  and 
replied  to  the  metropolitan,  that  by  the 
canons,  temporal  sovereigns  had  no  rights 
whatever  over  the  election  of  the  popes.  In 
support  of  their  assertion,  they  cited  nume- 
rous decretals,  and  several  passages  from  the 
fathers.  Anon,  according  to  Damian,  yielded 
to  this  view;  he  recognized  the  cardinals 
alone  as  having  power  to  choose  the  popes; 
and  he  engaged,  in  the  name  of  Henry  the 
Fourth,  to  recognize  Alexander  as  the  head 
of  the  church,  if  the  holy  father  would  con- 
sent to  justify  himself,  in  a  council,  from  the 
crime  of  simony,  of  which  he  had  been  ac- 
cused. 


360 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


All  the  prelates  of  Rome  and  Lombardy 
were  invited  to  go  to  Mantua,  where  this 
synod  was  to  be  held.  Alexander,  defended 
by  Peter  Dannian,  was  pronounced  innocent, 
and  Honorius  the  Second  was  condemned  as 
a  simoniac  and  concubinary  by  this  assem- 
bly. The  ecclesiastical  thunders  did  not,  how- 
ever, terrify  the  intrepid  Cadalous.  When  the 
archbishop  of  Cologne  quitted  Italy,  he  ap- 
proached the  walls  of  Rome,  gained  over  the 
captains  who  guarded  the  city,  distributed 
money  to  their  soldiers,  and  penetrated  as  far 
as  the  city  Leonine,  on  which  he  seized  dur- 
ing the  night. 

On  the  news  of  this  sudden  attack,  the  car- 
dinals caused  all  the  bells  to  be  rung,  called 
the  people  to  arms,  opened  the  store  rooms  of 
the  church,  and  led  the  populace,  furious  and 
gorged  with  wme,  before  the  church  of  St. 
Peter.  The  soldiery  of  Honorius  were  so 
frightened,  that  they  escaped  from  the  tem- 
ple, leaving  Honorius  almost  alone  to  the 
mercy  of  the  party  of  Ale.^ander.  But  at  the 
m.oment  when  the  doors  of  the  church  were 
about  to  yield  to  the  efforts  of  the  assailants, 
Cencius,  the  son  of  the  prefect  of  Rome,  came 
to  the  aid  of  Honorius  with'his  guards,  over- 
threw the  besiegers,  carried  him  off  from  the 
city  Leonine,  and  conducted  him  to  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo.  Scarcely  had  Cadalous  shut 
himself  up  in  the  fortress,  than  the  troops  of 
Alexander,  recovering  from  their  first  sur- 
prise, invested  the  castle  and  formed  its  siege, 
but  uselessly. 


.  The  deceitful  Cencius  kept  him  his  prisoner 
for  two  years.  Instead  of  being  the  protector 
of  Honorius,  as  he  had  promised  him,  he  be- 
came his  jailer,  threatening  him  daily  to  give 
him  up  to  the  pontiff  Alexander,  in  order  to 
extract  mdney  from  him,  whilst  on  the  other 
side,  he  exacted  large  sums  from  the  holy 
father  by  threatening  him  with  allowing  his 
competitor  to  escape. 

Finally,  Honorius  having  privately  procured 
the  garments  of  a  pilgrim,  escaped  during  the 
night  and  reached  the  village  of  Baretta,  from 
whence  he  came  to  Parma.  He  continued  to 
exercise  episcopal  functions  in  this  city ;  con- 
secrated bishops,  composed  bulls,  and  ex- 
communicated Alexander  the  Second,  but  he 
had  not  the  satisfaciton  of  overthrowing  his 
competitor.  A  severe  sickness,  brought  oa 
by  the  privations  and  bad  treatment  which 
Cencius  had  inflicted  on  him,  led  him  to  the 
tomb  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1066. 

Most  ecclesiastical  authors  designate  Cada- 
lous by  the  name  of  anti-pope,  not  on  account 
of  the  irregularity  of  his  election,  for  they 
avow,  that  that  of  Alexander  was  not  canoni- 
cal, and  that  both  were  intruders  on  the  Holy 
See,  but  on  account  of  the  corruption  of  his 
morals.  We  blame  this  extraordinary  seve- 
rity :  for  if  we  were  only  to  count  in  the  ranks 
of  lawful  popes,  those  who  have  been  virtu- 
ous, we  should  reduce  the  successors  of  St. 
Peter  to  so  small  a  number,  that  the  adorers 
of  the  Roman  purple  would  be  annihilated ! ! 


ALEXANDER  THE   SECOND,  BECOME  SOLE  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1066.] 

Sect  of  the  incestuous — Abuse  of  excommunications — Troubles  at  Milan — Alexander  introduces 
the  Latin  instead  of  the  Mozarabic  ritual  into  Spain — Discussio7is  between  the  emperor  Henry 
and  the  pontiff — The  latter  sells  absolutions — Revolutions  in  England — The  pontiff  makes  a 
constitution  for  Great  Britain — The  right  of  tenths  attributed  to  the  archbishop  of  Mayence 
— The  pope  cites  the  emperor  to  appear  at  Rome  to  be  judged — Death  of  Alexander. 

"This  contempt  of  ecclesiastical  thunders, 
came"  says  Damian,  "  of  the  abuse  which 
the  popes  made  of  this  terrible  punishment. 
In  all  the  decretals  they  pronounced  the  pe- 
nalty of  anathema  against  those  who  shall 
refuse  to  submit  to  the  orders  of  the  pontiffs  j 
which  sends  to  hell  an  infinite  number  of 
Christian  souls,  before  they  have  perceived 
the  fault  which  they  have  committed.  This 
is  to  spread  snares  for  those  who  believe  they 
are  walking  in  safety.  In  the  secular  tribu- 
nals the  punishment  is  proportionate  to  the 
crime,  by  imprisonment,  the  confiscation  of 
property,  or  simply  a  fine ;  but  in  the  church, 
for  the  least  disagreement,  one  is  separated 
from  God  even ;  which  is  to  suppose  with  the 
Stoics,  that  all  sins  are  equal.  St.  Gregory, 
and  the  first  pontiffs  did  not  so  act;  they  only 
pronounced  anathemas  in  matters  of  faith. 
Let  us  then  follow  their  example,  and  place 


Whilst  the  pontiff  Honorious  and  his  com- 
petitor were  disputing  for  the  throne  of  St. 
Peter,  great  troubles  were  agitating  Italy  on 
the  subject  of  marriages  prohibited  by  the 
church,  in  the  different  degrees  of  consan- 
guinity, and  which  the  secular  laws,  however, 
permitted.  Alexander  having  convoked  a 
council  to  decide  this  important  question,  the 
assembly  composed  of  bishops  and  lawyers, 
after  having  for  a  long  time  examined  the 
canon  and  civil  laws,  decided  that  the  de- 
grees of  relationship  should  be  counted  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  old  custom  of  the  church, 
and  prohibited,  under  penalty  of  anathema, 
that  marriages  should  be  entered  into  by  re- 
latives within  the  seventh  generation.  Not- 
withstanding this  ridiculous  decision,  made 
by  the  Holy  See,  the  Italians  continued  to  fol- 
low the  usages  of  the  provinces,  from  whence 
arose  a  sect  called  the  sect  of  the  incestuous. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    POPES, 


861 


in  our  decretals  a  pecuniary  fine,  or  some 
other  penalty  against  the  transgressors  of  the 
laws  of  the  Holy  See." 

The  wise  counsels  of  Damian  were  not 
listened  to.  and  popes  continued  to  inundate 
the  kingdoms  with  their  bulls  of  excommuni- 
cation. After  the  death  of  his  competitor, 
Alexander  pursued  with  bitterness  the  eccle- 
siastics who  had  embraced  the  party  of  Ca- 
dalous,  and  left  them  no  truce  nor  repose 
until  they  had  submitted  to  his  authority. 
Duke  Godfrey  him.self  was  obliged  to  seek 
again  the  alliance  of  the  pontiff,  and  in  order 
to  induce  him  to  forget  the  protection  which 
he  had  granted  to  Honorius,  he  consented  to 
declare  war  against  the  Normans,  who  in 
contempt  of  treaties  had  seized  upon  several 
places  in  the  states  of  the  church. 

This  war  was  soon  terminated;  Godfrey, 
after  some  skirmishes,  drove  this  people  be- 
fore him,  as  far  as  the  environs  of  Aquina ;  as 
they  found  themselves  shut  up  in  the  moun- 
tains, unable  to  continue  their  retreat,  and  not 
daring  to  give  battle  to  so  powerful  an  enemy, 
they  sued  for  peace,  offering  to  restore  to  the 
pope  all  the  domains  which  they  had  usurped, 
and  to  pay  a  lai*;e  sum  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  war.  These  conditions  were  accepted, 
and  Godfrey  returned  to  his  dutchy  with  the 
blessing  of  the  holy  father. 

Some  troubles  then  broke  out  in  Milan, 
occasioned  by  the  violent  declamations  of  the 
monk  St.  Arialdus,  who,  in  imitation  of  Aldo- 
brandin,  publicly  accused  Guy,  his  metropo- 
litan, of  adultery  and  sodomy,  in  order  to 
depose  him  from  his  See.  Arialdus.  insti- 
gated by  Pope  Alexander  and  the  cardinals, 
who  had  ordered  him  to  resist  with  violence 
the  enemies  of  Jesus  Christ  or  his  vicar, 
urged  on  the  people  to  revolt,  and  came 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  furious  troop  to 
besiege  the  episcopal  palace;  but  Guy  hav- 
ing penetrated  the  secret  intentions  of  the 
pontiff,  who  wished  to  substitute  his  own 
authority  for  his,  took  energetic  measures. 
He  sallied  forth  with  his  men-at-arms,  seized 
the  monk  and  bestowed  upon  him  the  crown 
of  martyrdom,  by  beheading  him. 

After  this  execution^  quiet  was  restored; 
but  the  archbishop  fearing  new  disorders,  de- 
termined to  send  a  letter  of  submission  to  the 
pope,  which  he  accompanied  with  rich  pre- 
sents. The  gold  was  all-powerful  over  the 
mind  of  Alexander ;  not  only  did  the  embas- 
sador obtain  for  Guy  the  approval  of  the  holy 
father  for  the  severity  which  he  had  di.s- 
played  during  these  troubles,  but  he  even 
sent  him  back  with  two  legates,  Mainard, 
cardinal  bishop  of  St.  Rufinus,  and  John,  a 
cardinal  priest,  who  bore  the  pallium  to  the 
archbishop  of  Milan. 

The  deputies  then  publi.shed  this  singular 
constitution  :  '•'  The  clergy  and  laity  who  took 
an  oath  to  us  to  repress  the  deplorable  disor- 
ders of  the  clergy  of  Milan,  and  who,  under 
this  laudable  pretext,  have  burned,  pillaged, 
violated  and  massacred  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city  and  country,  shall  be  glorified  in  heaven, 
but  we  prohibit  them  from  doing  so  in  future. 

Vol.  I.  2  V 


They  .should  live  in  accordance  with  Christian 
morality,  and  bring  their  guilty  before  their 
archbishop,  the  canons  of  their  churches,  or 
the  other  suffragans.  As  the  majority  are  more 
afflicted  by  temporal  than  eternal  punish- 
ments, we  condemn  those  who  shall  infringe 
this  decree,  if  they  are  of  the  clerical  order, 
to  pay  to  the  holy  father  an  hundred  livres  of 
pennies,  and  we  pronounce  them  under  inter- 
dict until  they  shall  have  paid  the  fine.  If 
they  are  nobles,  we  condemn  them  to  pay 
twenty  livres  ;  if  they  are  peasants,  they  shall 
pay  ten ;  traders,  five,  and  others  in  propor- 
tion,— the  whole  for  the  profit  of  the  Holy 
See." 

Alexander,  following  the  example  of  his 
predecessor,  wished  to  extend  his  dominion 
over  all  the  churches,  and  sent  into  Spain, 
with  the  title  of  legate,  the  cardinal  Huph  the 
White,  who  was  instructed  to  introduce  into 
the  kingdom  of  Arragon  the  Latin  in  place 
of  the  Mozarabic  ritual,  which  was  in  use 
throughout  the  whole  peninsula.  Hugh  then 
went  into  Aquitaine.  He  convoked  a  council 
at  Auch,  and  caused  this  assembly  to  confirm 
the  independence  of  the  convent  of  St.  Orens, 
a  privilege  which  the  monks  had  bought  with 
large  sums.  From  thence  he  went  to  Tou- 
louse, where  he  held  another  synod.  The 
fathers  who  composed  this  assembly  pro- 
nounced diverse  judgments  against  simoniacs, 
re-established  the  church  of  Leitoure,  which 
had  been  converted  into  a  monastery,  and 
swore  a  blind  obedience  to  the  pontiff. 

In  the  following  year  ( 1068)  a  division  broke 
out  between  the  altar  and  the  throne.  The 
emperor  Henry,  wearied  by  the  misconduct 
of  Bertha,  resolved  to  repudiate  her.  He  in- 
formed the  archbishop  of  Mayence  of  it,  who 
approved  of  his  determination,  and  wrote  to 
the  pope  for  a  confirmation  of  the  dissolution 
of  his  marriage;  or  asking  him  to  give  such 
power  to  legates,  who  should  go  to  Mayence 
in  order  to  pronounce  upon  the  matter.  Peter 
Damian  was  chosen  by  the  sovereign  pontiff 
to  represent  him  in  Germany  ;  but,  instead  of 
giving  the  consent  of  the  holy  father  to  the 
emperor,  he  prohibited  him  from  separating 
from  his  adulterous  spouse ;  and  even  deposed 
the  metropolitan  of  Mayence,  because,  of  his 
own  authority,  he  had  consented  to  a  separa- 
tion, of  which  the  pope  was  the  sole  dispenser. 

Henry,  informed  of  the  hostile  dispositions 
of  Damian,  quitted  Mayence,  and  prepared 
to  return  to  Saxony;  but  his  favourites  repre- 
sented to  him  that  he  would  act  with  want  of 
foresight  in  thus  rudely  dissolving  an  assem- 
bly composed  of  the  first  lords  of  his  king- 
dom, and  that  he  should  avoid  increasing  the 
number  of  malcontents  if  he  wished  to  obtain 
a  separation  from  the  empress.  The  prince 
approved  of  their  advice,  and  went  to  Frank- 
ford,  where  he  convened  a  new  synod. 

The  fathers  having  re-assembled.  Peter  Da- 
mian, in  the  name  of  Alexander,  spoke  thus: 
'■Your  conduct,  my  lord,  towards  your  chaste 
spouse,  Bertha,  is  unworthy  not  only  of  a  so- 
vereign, but  even  of  a  Christian.  Take  care, 
prince,  how  you  brave  the  divine  and  human 
31 


362 


HISTORY  OF   THE   POPES. 


laws  which  condemn  you.  Ronne  has  terrible 
arms  which  will  prevent  the  example  of  your 
conduct  from  perverting  her  subjects,  and 
which  will  shake  your  imperial  authority  to 
its  very  foundations.  I  command  you  to  con- 
form to  the  supreme  orders  of  the  pontiff; 
otherwise  you  will  force  us  to  employ  the  se- 
verity of  the  canons  against  you,  and  to  take 
from  you  that  imperial  crown  of  which  you 
have  shown  yourself  unworthy,  by  betraying 
the  cause  of  religion."  The  bishops  applaud- 
ed this  discourse,  and  declared  that  the  pope 
acted  wisely,  and  that  they  would  sustain  his 
decision. 

Henry  rose  in  great  agitation,  and  replied 
to  them  :  '■  Since  the  pope  orders  it,  I  will  do 
violence  to  my  own  feelings,  and  bear  the  load 
of  adultery  for  the  edification  of  my  people." 

The  pontiff,  who  showed  himself  so  irritable 
on  a  question  of  divorce,  did  not  manifest  the 
same  rigour  in  his  other  judgments.  Thus, 
Herman,  bishop  of  Bamburg,  who  had  been 
excommunicated  by  the  Holy  See,  for  the 
crimes  of  simony  and  incest,  authentically 
proved  upon  him,  continued  to  exercise  his 
episcopal  functions,  notwithstanding  the  ana- 
thema which  he  had  incurred.  Alexander, 
informed  of  this  circumstance,  wrote  to  the 
metropolitans  Annon  and  Sigefroy,  to  appear  at 
Rome  with  Herman,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  condemned  a  second  time  by  a  council. 
The  prelates  obeyed  ;  but  the  guilty  bishop 
took  care  to  bring  with  him  large  sums  of 
money,  which  soothed  the  anger  of  the  pope  ; 
and  not  only  did  Alexander  re-mstate  him  in 
his  dignity,  but  he  even  granted  to  him  the 
pallium  and  all  the  privileges  attached  to 
archiepiscopal  Sees. 

Lambert  of  Schaferburg  relates,  that  in  a 
great  festival  given  by  the  holy  father  to  the 
three  prelates,  when  the  fumes  of  generous 
wine  had  clouded  his  reason,  he  declared  that 
he, did  not  regard  simony  as  a  crime;  and 
that,  if  he  deposed  simoniacal  or  concubinary 
priests,  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  selling  absolu- 
lution  to  them ;  that  on  the  other  hand,  he  much 
approved  of  those  bishops  who  had  mistresses, 
and  knew  how  to  increase  their  treasures. 

Some  years  before  these  events,  a  great 
revolution  took  place  in  England.  William 
the  Bastard,  duke  of  Normandy,  had  con- 
quered that  island.  Alexander  hastened  to 
send  a  standard  which  he  had  blessed  to  the 
usurper,  with  a  bull  of  investiture,  which  dis- 
possessed Harold  the  legitimate  king.  Wil- 
liam, from  gratitude  to  the  Holy  See,  or  rather, 
in  consequence  of  a  compact  with  the  court 
of  Rome,  augmented  the  tax  of  St.  Peter,  and 
doubled  the  tithes  which  the  people  paid  to 
the  clergy.  He  also  sent  to  the  pope  a  large 
quantity  of  gold  and  silver  money,  sacred 
vases,  and  the  standard  of  King  Harold,  on 
which  was  embroidered  an  armed  man,  cover- 
ed with  armour  of  precious  stones. 

Legates  and  Italian  monks  soon  came  to 
avail  themselves  of  this  new  conquest,  and 
to  extend  the  pontifical  sway  over  all  the 
churches.  Rapin  affirms,  "  that  they  carved 
and  dipt  ecclesiastical  matters  as  they  pleas- 


ed." Lanfranc  was  named  metropolitan  of 
Canterbury,  Thomas  archbishop  of  York,  and 
both  went  to  Rome  during  the  following  year 
to  make  their  submission  to  the  pope.  Alex- 
ander, as  a  recompense  for  their  zeal,  gave 
them  the  pallium,  and  overwhelmed  them 
with  honours,  especially  Lanfranc,  before 
whom  he  rose  deferentially,  adding,  "  I  do 
not  render  you  this  honour,  my  brother,  be- 
cause you  are  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  but 
because  I  was  your  disciple  in  the  monastery 
of  Bee."  He  gave  the  prelates  a  letter  for 
William  the  Bastard,  in  which  he  was  prodi- 
gal of  the  most  extravagant  eulogies  on  that 
prince,  he  thus  concluded  it,  "  We  entreat  you 
to  follow  the  councils  of  Lanfranc  for  the  inter- 
ests of  the  church,  for  we  have  granted  to  him 
all  the  authority  of  the  Holy  See  over  the 
ecclesiastical  affairs  of  England.  We  autho- 
rize him  to  preserve  the  monks  in  the  cathe- 
drals, and  we  prohibit  the  clergy  from  em- 
ploying the  aid  of  the  secular  power,  to  drive 
away  the  monks  from  St.  Saviour  of  Canter- 
bury, and  the  other  metropolitan  churches." 

But  whilst  the  pontiff  was  disposing  at  will 
of  the  kingdom  and  church  oLEngland,  Henry 
the  Fourth,  irritated  against  the  Holy  See,  and 
the  bishops  who  had  constrained  him  to  live 
with  Bertha,  his  adulterous  wife,  took  his  ven- 
geance on  the  unfortunate  people  for  the  out- 
rages which  he  had  received.  The  prince 
surrounded  all  the  cities  of  Saxony  and  Thu- 
ringia  with  fortresses,  and  after  having  placed 
numerous  garrisons  in  these  ca.stles,  he  organ- 
ized the  pillage  of  the  provinces.  By  his 
orders  the  troops  ravaged  the  country,  violated 
girls  and  women,  burned  the  farm-houses  and 
ma.ssacred  the  cultivators. 

For  the  purpose  of  justifying  these  vio- 
lences, Sigefroy,  metropolitan  of  Mayence, 
advised  the  king  to  decree,  by  a  council,  that 
sovereigns  were  permitted  to  sell  or  murder 
their  subjects  when  they  could  no  longer  pay 
the  imposts.  This  frightful  assembly  was 
convened  at  Erford  for  the  10th  of  March 
1073,  and  the  priests  dared  to  declare  that 
God  authorized  kings  to  massacre  the  people, 
when  they  refused  to  pay  imposts  or  tithes. 
Notwithstanding  this  abominable  decision, 
some  Saxon  nobles  united  with  the  citizens  of 
Thuringia.  and  remonstrated  with  the  king, 
threatening  to  appeal  to  the  Holy  See.  Henry, 
exasperated  by  this  opposition,  burst  out  into 
an  excess  of  rage,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  im- 
precations, sv.?ore,  that  if  any  of  his  subjects 
had  the  boldness  to  write  to  Rome,  he  would 
put  him  to  death  by  the  most  horrid  punish- 
ments, and  would  cover  the  provinces  wiih  so 
great  disasters,  that  they  would  be  remem- 
bered for  many  years.  Two  courageous  men, 
however,  informed  the  Holy  See  of  the  exac- 
tions of  which  they  were  the  victims.  Alex- 
ander immediately  v/rote  to  the  prince  to  come 
to  Rome  to  be  judged  by  a  council ;  but  the 
holy  father  did  not  live  long  enough  to  finish 
this  matter;  he  died  suddenly,  on  the  20th 
of  April  1073,  after  having  held  the  Holy  See 
for  eleven  years  and  a  half. 

Alexander   contributed  much  to  augment 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES, 


36$ 


the  wealth  of  the  church,  by  instituting  the 
ofTeriii^'  of  the  first  fruits,  au  impost  imitated 
from  the  Mosaic  law,  which  commanded  the 
Jews  to  give  to  the  priests  the  first  fruits  of 
their  trees,  and  the  first  born  of  their  flocks. 

This  pontifT,  if  we  can  believe  William  of 
Poictiers,  was  eloquent,  well  informed  and 
worthy  to  rule  the  universal  church;  he  cites 
some  of  his  decisions,  which  are  remarkable 
for  their  wisdom.  For  example,  the  holy 
father  prohibited  a  married  man  from  entering 


upon  a  monastic  life  without  the  consent  of 
his  wife,  because  her  husband  had  no  right 
to  force  her  to  continence,  if  she  was  unwil- 
Hng  to  submit  to  it. 

Leo  and  Desiderius  represent  Alexander  as 
a  pope  of  great  sanctity,  and  endowed  with 
the  gift  of  miracles.  "  He  freed,"  they  add, 
'•  from  the  spirit  of  evil,  a  monk  of  JNIonte 
Cassino ;  and  one  day,  a  lame  woman  having 
drunk  some  drops  of  water  in  which  he  had 
washed  his  hands,  was  miraculously  cured." 


GREGORY  THE  SEVENTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY- 
SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1073.] 

History  of  Gregory  before  his  advent  to  the  throne  of  St.  Peter— He  is  surprised  in  adultery  with 
a  youns  serving  girl  of  his  monastery — The  election  of  Htldcbrand  the  poisoner  of  popes— Por- 
trait of  Gregory  the  Seventh— Letter  from  the  holy  faiher  to  Didier,  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino — 
Singular  actions  of  the  pope — His  trickeries  in  the  affairs  of  Germany — Henry  refuses  per- 
mission to  the  legates  of  the  Holy  See,  to  hold  a  council  in  his  kingdom — Project  of  the  first 
crusade— The  pope  embroils  himself  with  the  French  court— Letters  of  Gregory  to  the  French 
bishops— Revolt  of  the  concubinary  priests-King  Henry  treats  the  thunders  of  the  pope  with 
contempt— Conspiracy  against  the  pontiff— Gregory  is  deposed  from  the  Holy  See— Letter  of 
Henry  the  Fourth  against  the  pope — Gregory  deposes  the  king  of  Germany— The  pontiff  is 
excommunicated  by  a  council — Letter  of  the  holy  father  on  the  excommunication  of  kings- 
Henry  is  abandoned  by  his  subjects — Machiavelism  of  the  pope— He  causes  Beatrice,  his  mis- 
tress, to  be  strangled  in  a  debauch — Scandalous  amours  of  the  countess  Matilda  and  Gregory — 
Henry  is  reduced  to  the  last  extremities  by  the  excommunication  of  the  Holy  See^He  goes  into 
Italy— The  countess  Matilda  poisons  her  husband — the  pope  escapes  to  Canossa  with  his  mistress 
—Cowardice  of  the  king  of  Germany— Lidignation  of  the  Lombards— Henry  prepares  for 
war  against  the  pontiff"— Rudolph  of  Suabia  is  chosen  king  of  Germany  by  the  legates  of  Gre- 
gory—Complaints of  the  Germans  against  the  pope — Council  of  Rome— Retraction  of  Beren- 
ger — The  pope  excommunicates  and" deposes  the  king  of  Poland — He  ivishes  to  force  the  king 
of  England  to  do  homage  to  the  Holy  See — The  pontiff  is  deposed  from  the  Holy  See,  and  Gui- 
bert  of  Ravenna  nominated  in  his  stead — Accusation  of  magic  against  Gregory — Warlike 
resolves  of  the  holy  father.  King  Henry  gains  a  brilliant  victory  over  Rudolph  of  Suabia — 
False  prophecy  of  the  holy  father — The  countess  Matilda  devotes  herself  for  the  pope  her  lover 
— Henry  besieges  Rome  and  seizes  the  holy  city  through  treason — Attempt  on  the  life  of  the 
pope— Robert  Guiscard  saves  the  pontiff— Death  of  Gregory  the  Seventh— His  political  maxims 
— History  of  religion  during  his  pontificate. 

At  length  the  ambitious  Hildebrand,  that 
fanatical  monk,  that  poisoner  of  popes,  whom 
we  have  seen  struggling  obstinately  against 
all  temporal  powers,  mounted  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter,  after  having  buried  eight  pontiffs,  who 
were  the  instruments  of  his  policy  and  the 
victims  of  his  ambition.  He  was  an  Italian 
by  birth — his  father,  named  Banizon,  was  a 
carpenter  at  Rome  ;  his  mother  carried  on  an 
incestuous  intercourse  with  her  brother,  the 
abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Our  Laily  on  Mount 
Aventine;  and  some  authors  atfirm,  that  Hil- 
debrand was  the  fruit  of  their  amours.  He 
was  brought  up  by  his  uncle,  who  took  great 
pains  with  hi.s  education,  and  when  he  had 
attained  his  fifteenth  year,  he  was  sent  into 
France  to  continue  his  studies  in  the  celebra- 
ted abbey  of  Cluny. 

Some  years  afterwards,  his  education  being 
completed,  Hildebrand  resolved,  before  re- 
turning to  Rome,  to  visit  the  court  of  the  em- 


peror Henry  the  Black,  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching  there  the  word  of  God.  His  ser- 
mons were  so  successful,  that  the  most  learn- 
ed bishops  of  the  age  left  their  dioceses  to 
come  to  listen  to  him.  On  the  rumour  of  this 
renown,  Leo  the  Ninth  hastened  to  recall  him 
into  Italy,  and  attached  him  to  his  person  in 
the  capacity  of  a  counsellor.  He  also  gave 
him  the  monastery  of  St.  Paul,  which  was  in  a 
deplorable  state,  and  the  church  of  which  was 
used  as  a  stable.  The  monks  of  this  abbey 
instead  of  fulfilling  their  religious  duties,  were 
occupied  in  debauchery,  and  lived  publicly 
with  courtezans,  whom  they  had  introduced 
into  the  convent,  and  who  served  in  the  re- 
fectory. 

HiU'iebrand,  a  skilful  priest,  at  first  exhibited 
great  rigidity  of  morals;  he  reformed  abu!=es, 
restored  the  rigour  of  discipline,  and  wished 
to  drive  from  the  convent  the  women  whom, 
he  found  there,  but   having  been  surprised 


364 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


himself  in  adultery  with  one  of  the  handsom- 
est serving  girls,  he  was  obliged,  in  order  to 
avoid  a  scandal  which  would  have  unmasked 
his  hypocrisy,  to  review  his  first  decision  and 
authorize  the  monks  to  keep  women  in  the 
convent.  The  reason  which  he  gave  to  the 
holy  father  in  explanation  of  this  change  in 
his  ideas  was,  that  he  had  discovered  that 
they  understood  domestic  economy  and  order 
better  than  the  brethren. 

After  the  death  of  Leo,  his  successor,  Ni- 
cholas, elevated  Hildebrand  to  the  rank  of 
archdeacon  of  the  Roman  church,  and  granted 
him  great  authority  over  the  clergy.  Other 
pontiffs  also  employed  him  near  to  kings  and 
princes,  in  the  capacity  of  embassador  from 
the  Holy  See,  on  account  of  his  great  reputa- 
tion for  address  and  eloquence.  Finally,  on 
the  day  of  the  funeral  of  Alexander  the  Se- 
cond, the  cardinals  and  other  ecclesiastics  as- 
sembled in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  to  deliber- 
ate on  the  choice  of  a  new  pontiff.  Some 
proposed  Didier,  the  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino  ; 
others  wished  to  name  Jerome,  a  venerable 
priest  of  the  chapter  of  St.  Rufinus,  but  no 
one  dreamed  of  elevating  to  the  Holy  See  the 
son  of  the  incestuous  wife  of  Banizon  the  car- 
penter. 

Suddenly,  some  priests,  who  had  adroitly 
mingled  among  the  people,  exclaimed :  "  Hil- 
debrand is  pope,  St.  Peter  has  chosen  him." 
Their  words  excited  great  acclamations;  the 
crowd  ran  towards  the  church,  where  the  car- 
dinals were  assembled,  uttering  the  same 
cries.  The  affrighted  cardinals  dared  not  re- 
sist this  public  manifestation,  and  immediately 
signed  the  decree  which  elevated  Hildebrand 
to  the  Holy  See.  He  was  enthroned  by  the 
name  of  Gregory  the  Seventh. 

Cardinal  Benno  affirms,  that  Hildebrand 
entered  the  conclave  followed  by  armed  men, 
and  that  he  used  terror  to  force  their  suffrages, 
and  thus  usurp  the  supreme  dignity  of  the 
church.  "He  knew  by  experience,"  adds 
this  historian,  "  that  the  pontifical  chair  is  the 
first  throne  in  the  world ;  he  knew  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  papacy;  and  the  secrets  of  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran  were  no  mysteries  to 
him.  He  had  rendered  himself  so  powerful 
in  the  church,  that  Damian  calls  him  the  mas- 
ter of  the  popes,  and  that  one  day  he  said  to 
him  in  the  presence  of  several  bishops,  '  I 
honour  the  holy  father  as  every  ecclesiastic 
should ;  but  you  I  adore  on  both  knees,  be- 
cause you  make  our  pontiffs  supreme;  and 
because  they  have  made  you  a  god.'  " 

Another  historian,  Heydegger,  assures  us 
that  he  obtained  the  Holy  See  through  the  as- 
sistance of  Satan  ;  he  accuses  him  of  having 
been  a  sorcerer,  a  magician,  and  the  most 
abominable  of  men.  Ecclesiastical  authors, 
on  the  other  hand,  describe  him  as  an  incom- 
parable pontiff;  they  cannot  find  eulogies  suf- 
ficiently magnificent,  in  which  to  glorify  his 
science  and  his  virtues.  They  adduce  his 
descent  from  the  illustrious  family  of  the 
counts  of  Petiliani,  and  maintain  that  the 
other  versions  in  regard  to  his  birth,  are  fables 
invented  by  his  enemies. 


Gregory  the  Seventh  was  sixty  years  old 
when  he  was  elevated  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter ; 
he  was  fat  and  short,  and  nature  had  refused 
to  him  exterior  gifts ;  but  in  recompense  there- 
for his  soul  was  great,  his  mind  vigorous  and 
enlightened.  He  possessed  profound  erudi- 
tion in  divinity,  and  especially  in  regard  to 
religious  legislation,  and  the  customs  of  the 
church.  Ardent,  imperious,  enterprising  and 
bold,  Hildebrand  pursued  all  his  enterprises 
with  great  energy,  giving  proof  of  an  intrepid 
courage  that  no  obstacle  could  arrest,  and  of 
an  inflexibility  which  recoiled  neither  from 
treason  nor  crime ;  thus  historians  have  ac- 
cused him  of  having  poisoned  the  seven 
popes  who  preceded  him,  in  order  to  pave  his 
way  to  the  pontifical  throne. 

On  the  day  succeeding  his  election,  the 
hypocritical  Hildebrand,  desiring  to  prevent 
the  reclamations  of  Didier,  his  competitor  for 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  hastened  to  write  to 
him  the  following  letter,  which  he  sent  to 
Monte  Cassino,  by  one  of  his  chamberlains : 
"  The  pope  Alexander  is  no  more,  my  brother, 
and  his  death  has  fallen  upon  me  to  over- 
whelm me;  it  has  torn  my  entrails,  and  pre- 
cipitated me  into  an  abyss.  Whilst  they  were 
celebrating  the  service  for  the  dead  over  his 
mortal  remains,  a  great  tumult  broke  out 
among  the  people ;  priests,  as  if  crazy,  seized 
upon  me  and  bore  me  on  their  shoulders  to 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  where  they  sealed 
me  on  the  chair  of  the  apostle,  so  that  I  could 
but  exclaim  with  the  prophet:  "I  am  come 
into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  my  forehead  is 
ravaged  by  a  tempest."  I  shall  not  detain  you 
longer  w'ith  my  afflictions,  but  will  claim  from 
your  charity  the  prayers  of  your  brethren, 
that  God  will  sustain  me  in  the  peril  which  I 
wished  to  shun.  We  wait  for  you  in  our 
palace,  my  brother,  for  you  know  how  much 
the  Roman  church  needs  your  devotion  and 
your  prudence.  Salute  for  me  the  empress 
Agnes,  and  the  venerable  Rainard,  the  bishop 
of  Como,  and  beseech  them  to  continue  their 
affection  and  their  prayers  for  me." 

Hildebrand  had  laboured  for  a  long  time  to 
take  from  the  emperors  the  rights  which  they 
had  acquired  over  the  church  of  Rome.  Be- 
come pope  himself,  he  used  the  experience 
which  he  had  acquired  in  his  long  career,  and 
prepared  for  the  success  of  his  policy  by 
crooked  ways.  At  first  he  affected  great  de- 
ference for  King  Henry,  and  sent  Didier  as 
embassador  to  him  to  inform  him  of  his  elec- 
tion, and  to  beseech  him  not  to  confirm  it, 
because  he  preferred,  he  affirmed,  the  hum- 
ble retreat  of  a  monastery  to  the  splendour  of 
palaces.  But  no  one  was  the  dupe  of  his 
hypocrisy;  and  the  council  of  Brixen,  assem- 
bled by  the  prince,  to  receive  the  legates  of 
the  new  pope,  accused  Hildebrand  of  having 
usurped  the  tiara,  and  refused  to  confirm  his 
nomination. 

Gregory  seeing  the  turn  which  matters  were 
taking,  hastened  to  write  to  Didier,  reproach- 
ing him  for  his  lukewarmness  in  a  matter  so 
important,  and  even  accused  him  of  throwing 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  nomination,  through 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


36S 


a  spirit  of  envy.  The  venerable  abbot,  who 
had  indeed  seen  his  hopes  overthrown  by  the 
astute  Hildebrand,  replied  to  him:  "If  I  am 
too  slow,  you  are  too  fast ;  since  without  even 
waiting  for  the  burial  of  Alexander,  you 
usurped  the  Holy  See,  contrary  to  all  the 
canon  laws." 

Henry,  desirous  of  being  informed  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  accusations  brought  against  the 
holy  father,  sent  Count  Eberhard  to  Rome 
with  the  title  of  commissary  of  the  empire,  to 
take  information  from  the  clergy  and  people, 
and  to  learn  the  motives  which  had  induced 
them  to  elect  a  pontiff  without  the  consent  of 
the  sovereign. 

As  soon  as  Eberhard  entered  the  holy  city, 
Gregory  went  to  meet  him  at  the  head  of  the 
clergy.  He  cleared  himself  from  all  the 
charges  brought  against  him,  and  protested 
that  he  had  never  been  ambitious  of  the  su- 
preme dignity  of  the  church.  "God  is  my 
witness,"  added  he,  "  that  the  Romans  chose 
me  against  my  will,  and  committed  violence 
in  order  to  enthrone  me.  As  to  the  ordina- 
tion, I  refused  all  their  urgency,  and  shall 
continue  to  refuse  it  until  the  king  and  lords 
of  Germany  shall  inform  me  of  their  will. 

Henry,  deceived  by  the  apparent  submis- 
sion of  Hildebrand,  then  consented  to  .send  to 
Rome,  Gregory  of  Verceil,  to  confirm  the  elec- 
tion of  the  pontiff,  and  to  assist  at  his  conse- 
cration. The  ceremony  took  place  on  the  day 
on  which  the  embassador  of  the  prince  ar- 
rived. 

The  pontiff  had,  however,  before  his  ordina- 
tion, exercised  the  supreme  authority,  as  if 
he  were  assured  of  being  recognized  as  the 
lawful  chief  of  the  church.  Already  had 
Ebbes,  count  of  Champagne,  treated  with 
him,  purchasing  with  large  sums  and  advan- 
tageous, conditions  to  the  Holy  See,  the  inves- 
titure of  the  kingdom  of  Airagon,  which  he 
wished  to  conquer;  for  at  that  period,  the  right 
which  the  pontiffs  arrogated  to  themselves  of 
disposing  of  kingdoms  in  consequence  of  the 
decree  of  Gregory  the  Great,  was  regarded  as 
incontestable ;  and  it  was  suflicient,  in  the 
eyes  of  degraded  nations,  to  be  upheld  by  this 
singular  pretension. 

Hildebrand  authorized  the  count  and  all 
the  lords  who  were  united  with  him,  to  com- 
bat the  Saracens,  seize  the  provinces  of  the 
infidel,  and  found  an  independent  kingdom, 
saving  the  rights  of  St.  Peter.  If  any  among 
you,  said  the  pontiff,  in  his  letter  addressed  to 
the  French  lords,  wish  to  invade,  separately, 
the  same  country  with  their  own  troops,  they 
should  propose  to  make  it  an  holy  war,  by 
taking  an  engagement  not  to  do  to  St.  Peter 
the  wrong  which  the  infidels  do  him.  But  if 
you  have  no  intention  of  paying  equitably  the 
penny  of  the  Holy  See,  when  you  shall  be- 
come the  masters  of  these  provinces,  we  pro- 
hibit you  from  entering  them,  because  we 
will  not  suffer  the  church  to  be  treated  by  her 
children  as  by  her  enemies. 

Godfrey  the  Humpbacked,  duke  of  Lorraine, 
having  written  to  him  to  congratulate  him  on 
his  election,  urged  him  at  the  same  time  to  1 


make  every  exertion  to  merit  the  good  graces 
of  the  emperor  of  Germany.  Gregory  replied 
to  him  with  his  habitual  hypocrisy,  that  the 
pontificate  was  an  abyss  of  grief  to  him,  "all 
the  ecclesiastics,"  added  he,  "and  especially 
the  bishops,  labour  more  to  de.stroy  the  church 
than  to  defend  it,  and  dream  rather  of  satisfy- 
ing their  avarice  and  their  incontinence,  than 
of  opposing  the  enemies  of  religion.  As  to 
the  king  of  Germany,  be  assured  that  we  de- 
sire his  temporal  and  eternal  glory.  We  have 
even  resolved  to  address  paternal  warning  to 
him  by  our  legates,  that  he  should  undertake 
nothing  contrary  to  the  dignity  of  the  church, 
and  the  honour  of  his  crown.  If  he  submits 
to  our  decisions,  we  shall  rejoice  more  over 
his  safety  than  our  own ;  but  if  he  renders  to 
us  hatred  for  friendship,  in  our  quality  of  vicar 
of  Christ,  we  shall  be  forced  to  declare  against 
him,  for  the  ministers  of  God  should  not  pur- 
chase the  friendship  of  princes  through  for- 
getfulness  of  his  law  ]  and  because  we  do  not 
wish  to  draw  upon  ourselves  the  anathema 
of  Jeremiah,  '  Evil  to  him  who  does  not  bloody 
his  sword  in  combatting  for  God  against  prin- 
ces and  people.' " 

The  holy  father  received  from  France  let- 
ters addressed  to  Pope  Ale.xander  the  Second, 
containing  grave  accusations  against  King 
Phillip  the  First.  The  French  clergy  com- 
plained of  the  avarice  of  that  prince,  who 
sold  the  property  of  the  church,  despoiled  the 
monasteries,  and  carried  off  even  the  sacred 
vases  from  the  churches.  Hildebrand  at  once 
wrote  to  the  monarch,  to  threaten  him  with 
his  anathemas  if  he  persisted  in  his  conduct, 
and  did  not  hasten  to  give  satisfaction  for  the 
crimes  which  he  had  committed.  Phillip 
then  sent  his  chamberlain  Alberic,  as  embas- 
sador to  the  court  of  Rome,  who,  in  the  name 
of  his  master,  engaged,  under  oath,  not  to  dis- 
pose of  the  property  of  the  church  in  future, 
without  the  consent  of  the  holy  father. 

Notwithstanding  all  his  protests,  Phillip 
none  the  less  continued  his  depredations,  and 
on  the  election  of  a  new  bishop  at  INIacon, 
having  exacted  from  the  titulary  the  payment 
of  a  considerable  sum  as  the  price  of  his  in- 
vestiture, new  complaints  were  carried  to 
Rome.  The  holy  father  then  sent  to  him  the 
following  letter:  "Either  Phillip  shall  re- 
nounce simony,  or  the  French,  stricken  by  a 
general  anathema,  shall  refuse  to  obey  him  ; 
or,  finally,  they  shall  all  abjure  Christianity." 
This  arrogance  of  the  holy  father  shows, 
clearly,  that  his  submission  to  the  king  of 
Germany  was  but  a  calculation  of  hypocrisy, 
for  the  purpose  more  surely  of  attaining  his 
end  of  establishing  his  rule  over  Italy. 

In  fact,  after  his  consecration,  and  when  he 
had  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  Normans, 
by  abandoning  to  them  as  their  prey,  Cala- 
bria, Campania,  and  Apulia,  he  commencetl 
an  embittered  strife  with  Henry,  in  which 
will  be  found  so  much  treachery,  impudence 
and  cruelty,  that  we  should  be  inclined  to 
doubt  the  truth  of  the  facts,  if  their  authenti- 
city was  not  established  upon  testimony  which 
cannot  be  refuted,  and  if  the  history  of  the 
31* 


366 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


church  had  not  already  habituated  us  to  see 
priests  cause  rivers  of  blood  to  flow,  and  be- 
come guilty  of  all  crimes. 

Gregory  availed  himself  of  the  troubles 
•which  had  broken  out  in  Saxony,  to  try  his 
strength  with  the  sovereign,  and  for  this 
purpose  he  addressed  letters  to  Vezel,  the 
metropolitan  of  Magdeburg,  to  Burchard,  the 
prefect  of  Halberstadt,  to  the  marquis  Dedit, 
and  other  lords  of  that  province,  to  bring  about 
a  suspension  of  arms,  until  the  nuncioS  of 
the  Holy  See  went  into  Germany  to  do  them 
justice. 

Before  the  departure  of  the  legates  he  con- 
voked a  council,  which  regulated  in  advance 
the  reforms  to  be  exacted  from  the  princes, 
and  the  concessions  which  it  was  useful  to 
obtain  for  the  interest  of  the  Holy  See.  In 
this  assembly  the  pope  evinced  an  inflexible 
rigour.  He  decided  against  the  marriage  of 
priests ;  preferring,  he  said,  a  concubinary 
clergy,  sodomites,  and  even  incestuous  per- 
sons, to  those  who  contracted  lawful  unions. 
"  Marriage,"  added  Gregory,  "  attaches  the 
clergy  to  the  state  in  giving  them  families, 
and  estranges  them  from  the  church,  for 
which  they  should  sacrifice  every  thing." 
He  prohibited  all  the  faithful,  under  penahy 
of  anathema,  from  assisting  at  divine  service 
which  was  celebrated  by  married  priests ;  and 
he  addressed  this  decree  to  the  churches  of 
France,  Italy,  England,  and  Germany. 

The  French  clergy  opposed  this  scandalous 
decision,  and  the  bishops  addressed  this  vio- 
lent letter  to  him  :  "You  are  an  heretic,  most 
holy  father,  since  you  teach  an  insensate  mo- 
rality, contrary  to  the  words  of  Christ  and  the 
doctrine  of  the  apostle,  who  said,  '  let  him 
among  you  who  cannot  live  in  abstinence, 
marry  •  for  it  is  better  for  him  to  marry  than 
to  burn.'  As  for  you,  sacrilegious  pontiff', 
whose  debaucheries  with  young  monks,  and 
adulteries  with  the  countess  Matilda  and  her 
mother  are  a  public  scandal,  we  learn  that  you 
would  lead  priests  into  your  disorders,  by 
forcing  them  to  separate  from  their  wives ; 
but  we  declare  to  you  that  we  would  rather 
renounce  the  priesthood  than  our  lawful 
wives." 

In  the  same  assembly  Gregory  accused  the 
king  of  Germany,  through  bishops  devoted  to 
the  court  of  Rome,  and  upon  their  complaints 
Henry  was  solemnly  excommunicated.  After 
the  termination  of  the  council,  the  bishops  of 
Palestrina,  Ostia,  Coira  and  Como  went  to  Ger- 
many on  an  apparent  mission  to  pacify  the 
troubles  of  that  kingdom.  Henry  came  as  far 
as  Nuremberg  to  meet  them,  but  they  refused 
to  see  him,  and  insolently  infoiTned  him  that 
they  had  orders  to  treat  him  as  an  excommu- 
nicated person,  and  that  they  could  not  con- 
fer with  him  until  he  had  submitted  to  the 
penance  which  the  laws  of  the  church  im- 
posed on  him,  and  had  taken  an  oath  of  obe- 
dience to  the  pope. 

The  king,  fearful  lest  his  troops,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  excommunication  lanchod 
against  him,  should  abandon  him  at  the  mo- 
ment when  the  Saxons  were  in  full  revolt, 


and  were  threatening  to  drive  him  from  his 
kingdom,  confessed  himself  guilty,  consented 
to  perform  the  penance  indicated  to  him,  en- 
gaged to  remain  submissive  to  the  pontifT, 
and  finally  obtained  absolution.  In  the  con- 
fession which  the  nuncios  of  the  Holy  See 
caused  him  to  subscribe  with  his  own  hand, 
Henry  admitted  '•'  that  he  had  not  employed 
the  sovereign  power  as  a  true  servant  of  God, 
that  he  had  usurped  ecclesiastical  domains, 
and  sold  churches  to  augment  his  treasures, 
and  that  he  had  massacred  his  subjects  for  the 
purpose  of  depriving  them  of  their  wealth." 

But  the  German  bishops,  indignant  at  the 
cowardice  of  the  prince,  soon  forced  him  to 
assume  another  attitude.  A  council  having 
been  convoked  by  the  legates,  they  claimed 
the  presidency  of  it  as  the  representatives  of 
Gregory  the  Seventh.  The  German  prelates 
then  declared  that  they  opposed  this  proud 
pretension  as  contrary  to  the  canons,  and  that 
they  would  never  yield  the  right  of  presiding 
but  to  the  pope  in  person,  since  the  ecclesias- 
tical rules  formally  indicated  that  provincial 
synods  should  be  presided  over  by  the  metro- 
politan of  the  province  in  which  the  assembly 
was  held,  and  that  consequently  they  rejected 
the  new  usage  which  the  court  of  Rome  wish- 
ed to  introduce  into  Germany.  Liemar,  arch- 
bishop of  Bremen,  severely  reprimanded  the 
nuncios  for  their  pride,  saying  that  the  metro- 
politan of  Mayence  and  himself  being  the 
vicars  of  the  Holy  See.  in  accordance  with  the 
privileges  granted  to  their  predecessors,  they 
alone  had  the  right  of  representing  the  pon- 
tiff, which  the  bishops  of  Palestrina,  Coira, 
Ostia,  and  Como  could  not  do,  who  were  the 
mere  envoys  of  Rome,  instructed  to  carry  the 
orders  of  the  holy  father.  Henry  sustained 
this  opinion  with  all  his  authority,  and  wished 
to  take  from  them  the  confession  which  he 
had  subscribed  ;  .unfortunately  it  was  already 
in  the  hands  of  the  pontiff. 

As  soon  as  Gregory  was  informed  of  the 
opposition  of  the  prelates  of  Germany,  he 
wrote  to  the  metropolitan  of  Mayence  :  "  We 
hoped,  my  brother,  you  would  recollect  how 
much  you  loved  us  before  we  were  on  the 
throne  of  the  apostle,  and  we  thought  you 
would  have  preserved  the  recollection  of  the 
confidence  with  -which  we  advised  with  you  on 
our  most  secret  affairs.  We  had  even  con- 
ceived great  hopes  of  your  piety,  since  you 
manifested  a  desire  of  retiring  to  Cluny.  We 
now  learn  that  you  deceive  our  hopes,  and 
we  should  be  wanting  in  the  sacred  duty  of 
friendship,  if  we  failed  to  warn  you  of  it.  You 
will  come  to  Rome,  then,  during  the  first  week 
in  Lent,  and  will  bring  with  your  suffragans 
Otho  of  Constance,  Gamier  of  Strasburg,  Henry 
of  Spires,  Herman  of  Bamburg.  Imbrick  of 
Augsburg,  and  Adalbert  of  Wirtzburg." 

The  holy  father  wrote  at  the  same  time  to 
Liemar,  accusing  him  of  ingratitude  ]  he  sus- 
pended him  from  his  episcopal  functions,  and 
ordered  him  to  go  to  the  synod  to  hear  a  defi- 
nite judgment  pronounced  against  him.  He 
also  addressed  a  letter  to  King  Henry,  which 
he  besought  him  to  make  public ;  the  follow- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


367 


ing  was  its  tenor:  '-We  are  informed,  my 
son,  tiiat  the  Christians  beyond  the  sea,  per- 
secuted by  the  infidel,  and  pressed  down  by 
the  misery  which  overwhelms  them,  have 
sent  entreatieg  to  the  Holy  See,  imploring  our 
aid,  lest  during  our  reign,  the  torch  of  reli- 
gion should  be  extinguished  in  tne  East.  We 
are  penetrated  with  an  holy  grief,  and  we  ar- 
dently aspire  after  martyrdom.  We  prefer  to 
expose  our  life  to  protect  our  brethren,  rather 
than  remain  at  Rome  to  dictate  laws  to  the 
world,  when  we  know  that  the  children  of 
God  are  dying  in  slavery.  We  have  conse- 
quently undertaken  to  excite  the  zeal  of  all 
tne  faithful  of  the  West,  and  to  lead  them  in 
our  train  to  the  defence  of  Palestine.  Already 
have  the  Italians  and  Lombards,  inspired  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  heard  our  exhortations  with 
enthusiasm,  and  more  than  fifty  thousand 
warriors  are  preparing  for  this  far  distant  ex- 
pedition, determined  to  wrest  the  sepulchre 
of  Christ  from  the  hands  of  the  infidel.  I  have 
the  more  decided  to  conduct  this  enterprise  in 
person,  as  the  church  of  Constantinople  asks 
to  be  re-united  to  ours,  and  that  all  the  in- 
habitants may  wait  upon  us  to  put  an  end  to 
their  religious  quarrels.  Our  fathers  have 
frequently  visited  these  provinces,  in  order  to 
conlirm  the  faith  by  holy  words:  we  wish  in 
our  turn  to  follow  in  their  footsteps,  if  God 
permits  ;  but  as  so  great  an  enterprise  needs  a 
powerful  auxiliary,  we  demand  the  aid  of 
your  sword." 

Hildebrand  wrote  a  general  letter  on  the 
same  subject  to  all  the  nations  of  the  West, 
in  which  he  excited  the  princes  to  the  holy 
war  against  the  infidel,  beseeching  them  to 
send  embassadors  to  Rome,  with  whom  he 
could  arrange  the  execution  of  an  expedition 
beyond  the  sea.  Gregory,  however,  notwith- 
standing his  obstinate  perseverance  in  the 
project  of  conquering  the  Holy  Land,  could  not 
put  it  in  execution,  in  consequence  of  the  re- 
fusal of  the  king  of  Germany  to  become  an 
associate  in  this  dangerous  enterprise.  The 
pope  fearing  the  ambition  of  the  prince,  if  he 
abandoned  Italy  to  combat  the  infidels,  re- 
nounced his  designs,  and  applied  himself  only 
to  augment  the  temporal  grandeur  of  the 
Holy  See. 

Gregory,  greedy  of  universal  authority, 
which  was  the  aim  of  his  ambition,  sought  for 
every  occasion  of  constituting  himself  abso- 
lute judge  of  sovereigns  and  lords.  Thus,  in 
order  to  punish  Phillip  the  First  of  France,  for 
his  encroachments  on  the  privileges  of  the 
churches,  he  took  from  him  the  right  of  in- 
vestiture, and  prohibited  him,  under  penalty 
of  excommunication,  from  midertaking  any 
thing  in  future  against  the  bishoprics  and  ab- 
beys of  his  kingdom.  The  pontiff  addressed 
a  vehement  letter  on  this  subject  to  the  pre- 
lates of  the  Gauls,  and  in  particular  to  ^la- 
nasses  of  Rheims,  Richard  of  Sens  and  Richard 
of  Bourges.  '•  All  crimes,"  he  wrote  to  these 
bishops,  '-arecommitted  with  impunity  in  your 
provinces — perjury,  sacrilege,  incest,  murder, 
are  regarded  as  pious  actions — citizens  pillage 
and  massacre  one  another.     Pilgrims  going  to 


or  returning  from  Rome  are  despoiled,  cast 
into  frightful  dungeons,  or  subjected  to  tor- 
ture, in  order  to  exact  from  them  ransoms 
which  ruin  their  fortunes:  if  they  refuse  to 
pay,  they  are  murdered  without  pity. 

'•  Phillip  is  the  cause  of  these  evils,  that  ex- 
ecrable Phillip,  who  does  not  deserve  the 
name  of  king,  but  that  of  tyrant,  and  who 
passes  his  life  in  acts  of  infamy  with  his 
minions.  Not  content  with  having  excited 
the  divine  wrath  through  his  exactions,  adul- 
teries, rascalities,  and  murders,  this  avaricious 
wretch  dares  to  rob  foreign  merchants  who 
come  info  his  slates,  under  the  guarantee  of 
his  royal  word,  to  traffic. 

'•And  you,  unworthy  bishops,  why  do  you 
not  resist  the  abominable  prince  who  desolates 
your  people  ?  Are  you  willing  to  render  your- 
selves accomplices  of  his  outrages  in  the  eyes 
of  Christ  1  Do  not  believe  that  in  opposing 
his  depredations  you  are  wanting  in  the  fidelity 
and  respect  exacted  from  you  ;  you  would  on 
the  contrary  prove  your  great  devotion  by 
drawing  him  back  from  the  abyss  into  which 
he  is  plunged.  Besides,  we  who  are  elevated 
as  high  above  kings  as  heaven  is  above  the 
earth,  we  give  you  absolute  power  over  his 
person  ;  no  longer  fear  to  resist  him,  and  if 
you  will  unite  in  the  defence  of  justice  you 
will  have  a  force  capable  of  restraining  him 
without  any  peril ;  and  even  though  you  may 
expose  your  lives  in  condemning  him,  .should 
you  hesitate  to  do  your  duty  in  the  execution 
of  our  supreme  will  ? 

"  Wherefore,  by  virtue  of  our  apostolical  au- 
thority, we  order  you  to  represent  to  your  king 
how  criminal  his  actions  are.  Engage  him 
to  abandon  his  habits  of  sodom)- ;  to  establish 
justice,  and  raise  up  again  the  glory  of  his 
crown.  If  he  remains  hardened  in  sin,  with- 
out being  willing  to  listen  to  you  ;  if  he  shows 
no  repentance  nor  compassion  for  his  people, 
declare  to  him  in  our  name,  that  the  thunders 
of  St.  Peter  will  strike  him,  as  God  before 
struck  Satan.  Separate  youiselves  entirely 
from  the  communion  of  this  reprobate  ;  inter- 
dict, throughout  ail  Fiance,  the  celebration  of 
divine  service,  and  close  all  the  churches. 

"  If  this  censure  is  not  strong  enough  to 
bring  him  to  us,  asking  for  grace  and  pardon 
on  his  knees,  publish  immediately,  that  with 
the  aid  of  God  we  will  use  our  etTorts  to  as- 
semble troops,  and  come  to  deliver  France 
from  this  abominable  monster." 

The  threats  of  Gregory  were  inefficacious. 
The  bishops  of  the  kingdom,  who  partook 
with  the  king  in  the  spoils  of  the  unfortunate 
people,  took  his  part,  and  Phillip  continued 
nis  dilapidations,  his  debaucheries,  and  his 
massacres,  with  the  full  approval  of  his  clergy. 
In  his  opposition  to  kings,  Gregory  was  not 
moved  by  a  religions  sentiment  of  humanity, 
but  by  his  insiitiable  desire  for  sway,  which 
led  him  to  extend  his  political  vigilance  into 
every  country. 

The  council  which  the  pontiff  had  convoked 
at  Rome  for  the  first  week  in  Lent,  assembled 
on  the  24th  of  February.  Gregory  excommu- 
nicated five  officers  of  the   palace  of  King 


368 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Henry;  he  threatened  King  Phillip  with  the 
most  terrible  anathemas,  if  he  did  not  swear 
to  submit  to  the  nuncios  whom  he  was  about 
to  send  to  his  court.  Liemar,  metropolitan  of 
Bremen,  who  was  not  present  at  the  council, 
was  suspended  from  his  sacerdotal  functions, 
and  the  pontiff  prohibited  him  from  celebrat- 
ing the  holy  mass.  Gamier,  bishop  of  Stras- 
burg,  and  Henry,  of  Spires,  were  condemned 
to  the  same  penalties.  They  granted  time  to 
Herman  of  Hamburg,  until  Easter,  to  come 
and  present  his  justification  to  the  pope.  Wil- 
liam, bishop  of  Pavia,  and  Cunibert,  of  Turin, 
were  also  suspended  from  the  episcopate. 
Denis  of  Placenza,  was  deposed  from  his 
See  ;  and  finally,  the  e.xcommunication  pro- 
nounced against  Robert  Guiscard,  the  duke 
of  the  same  family,  was  confirmed. 

Some  time  after,  the  metropolitan  Sigefroy 
convened  a  new  council  at  Mayence.  The 
bishop  of  Coira,  the  legale  of  the  Holy  See, 
assisted  at  this  meeting,  and  communicated 
to  the  prelates  of  Germany  the  letters  of  Hil- 
debrand,  in  vhich  the  holy  father  threatened 
the  archbishop  with  deposition,  if  he  did  not 
constrain  all  the  priests  of  his  province  to 
renounce  their  legitimate  \^ives  or  their  con- 
cubines. Sigefroy  declared  that  he  was  dis- 
posed to  execute  the  decree  of  the  pope  ;  but 
immediately  all  the  ecclesiastics  who  assisted 
at  the  synod,  rose  lumultuously  and  precipi- 
tated themselves  on  him  with  such  impetu- 
osity, that  he  feared  he  would  not  escape  alive 
from  their  hands.  He  hastened  to  retract  his 
first  declaration,  and  engaged  not  to  authorize 
the  reform,  and  to  despise  the  orders  of  the 
pope. 

Bayle  observes  on  this  subject,  that  the 
popes  have  had  more  difficulty  in  reducing  to 
the  law  of  celibacy  the  priests  of  the  north, 
than  of  the  midland  countries.  The  clergy 
of  Italy  and  Spain  had,  in  fact,  for  a  long  time 
submitted  to  this  yoke,  without  the  clergy  of 
Germany  and  other  northern  countries  con- 
senting to  imitate  them  ;  and  they  disputed 
the  ground  of  marriage  foot  by  foot.  We 
must  not,  however,  conclude  that  the  priests 
of  the  midland  countries  are  more  continent 
than  those  of  the  north.  The  Italian  clergy 
have  always  been  distinguished  for  their  cor- 
rupt morals.  Courtezans  were  not  enough 
for  their  debaucheries,  and  they  abandoned 
themselves  to  the  shameful  excesses  of  sodo- 
my ;  whilst  the  Germans,  on  the  other  hand, 
Dassed  their  lives  with  the  chaste  spouse  to 
whom  they  had  attached  themselves. 

Gregory,  informed  that  the  king  of  Germany, 
after  having  put  down  the  revolt  of  the  Saxons, 
was  making  preparations  to  enter  Italy,  imme- 
diately despatched  legates  to  summon  him  to 
appear  before  a  council,  if  he  did  not  wish  to 
incur  the  anathema  of  the  church.  Henry 
treated  the  threats  of  Hildebrand  with  con- 
tempt, drove  away  his  legates  in  disgrace, 
and  ordered  the  bishops  of  his  kingdom  to 
assemble  at  Worms,  to  depose  the  proud  pope 
who  had  excited  general  hatred  against  him- 
self. 

Conspiracies  were  also  formed  at  Rome 


against  the  pontiff.  Cencius,  the  son  of  the 
prefect  Stephen,  the  same  who  had  sustained 
the  party  of  Cadalous  against  Alexander  the 
Second,  had  built  a  high  tower  upon  the  bridge 
of  St.  Peter,  from  whence  he  took  ransoms 
from  passers  by,  destroyed  the  travellers,  car- 
ried off  beasts,  pillaged  the  farms,  and  mal- 
treated the  cultivators.  Gregory  had  not 
dared  to  undertake  anything  against  this  high- 
way robber,  from  fear  of  making  an  enemy  of 
him.  At  length,  public  clamour  having  com- 
pelled him  to  excommunicate  him,Cencius  im- 
mediately retired  into  Apulia,  to  Robert  Guis- 
card and  the  other  lords  driven  like  him  from 
the  states  of  the  church;  and  all  formed  the 
plan  of  a  conspiracy  which  had  for  its  object 
to  overthrow  the  pope  from  his  pontifical 
throne,  and  to  choose  in  his  place  Guibert,  the 
metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  one  of  the  conspira- 
tors. They  first  wrote  to  the  king  of  Germany 
to  assure  themselves  of  his  protection,  and 
promised  to  send  him  the  holy  father,  bound 
hand  and  foot.  They  then  fixed  on  Easter  as 
the  period  in  which  they  should  put  their  plan 
in  execution.  Cencius,  on  the  appointed  day, 
having  been  apprized  by  his  spies  that  the 
pope,  as  usual,  would  celebrate  night  service 
in  the  church  of  St.  Maria  Majora,  went  into 
the  city  with  armed  men,  and  had  his  horses 
in  readiness  to  fly  from  Rome,  if  he  failed  in 
his  efforts  of  abduction. 

The  holy  father  went  into  the  chapel  of  the 
manger  to  say  mass.  He  had  already  com- 
muned with  his  clergy,  and  the  faithful  were 
advancing  to  receive  the  sacrament  of  the 
altar,  when  suddenly,  at  a  given  signal,  loud 
cries  were  heard  ;  the  conspirators  sprang  into 
the  temple  with  their  drawn  swords  in  their 
hands,  and  striking  all  in  their  way,  they 
broke  the  grate  of  the  chapel  of  the  manger, 
and  tore  Hildebrand  from  the  altar,  dragging 
him  along  by  the  hair,  and  striking  him  with 
the  flat  part  of  their  swords.  One  of  the 
soldiers  even  wished  to  cut  off  his  head,  but 
the  sword  turning  in  his  hand,  he  only  inflicted 
a  severe  wound  on  his  forehead  ;  he  was  then 
despoiled  of  his  pallium,  chasuble,  dalma- 
tique,  and  tunic,  and  dragged  along  bleeding 
over  the  pavement  of  the  church. 

The  rumour  of  this  attempt  spread  at  once 
through  the  city;  divine  service  ceased  every 
where;  the  alarm  bell  was  rung;  the  people 
assembled  in  the  capitol,  and  guards  were 
placed  at  all  the  gates  of  Rome  to  prevent 
them  from  carrying  the  holy  father  without 
the  city.  As  soon  as  day  appeared,  the 
crowd  went  to  the  tower  of  Cencius,  and  the 
combat  commenced ;  at  the  first  shock  the 
conspirators  abandoned  the  walls,  and  took 
refuge  in  the  tower,  which  the  people  be- 
sieged with  M-arlike  implements. 

During  this  struggle  the  holy  father  was 
shut  up  in  a  secret  chamber  with  a  Roman 
lady,  who  through  devotion  followed  him  into 
his  prison  and  dressed  his  wounds.  The 
gates  of  the  tower  soon  began  to  yield  before 
the  efforts  of  the  machines,  and  the  people, 
already  masters  of  the  outer  defences,  threa- 
tened to  set  fire  to  the  fortress.   Cencius  then 


HISTORY  OF   THE   POPES, 


369 


having  no  longer  hopes  of  being  able  to  pro- 
long his  resistance,  came  to  seek  Gregory  in 
his  prison,  and  by  dint  ot  threats  and  promises 
obtained  from  him  a  partlon  for  all  that  had 
passed,  on  con^litiou  tliat  he  would  undertake 
the  journey  to  Jerusalem. 

Gregory  immediately  approached  a  win- 
dow, and  made  signals  to  the  citizens  to  sus- 
pend the  attack,  and  to  cause  the  principal 
ones  among  them  to  come  into  the  fortress; 
but  they,  supposing  that  he  was  calling  them 
to  his  assistance,  scaled  the  tower  and  car- 
ried off  Hildebrand  even  into  the  street.  The 
young  ecclesiastics  raised  him  in  their  arms, 
ami  bore  him  in  triumph  to  the  church  of  St. 
Maria  iMajora,  where  the  holy  father  cele- 
brated divine  service,  and  gave  his  benedic- 
tion to  the  crowd.  After  the  ceremony  he 
returned  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  re- 
cruited his  strength  by  a  sumptuous  festival, 
which  had  been  wasted  by  the  terrible  events 
of  the  night. 

The  intrepid  Cencius  quitted  Rome  with 
his  wife,  his  children,  and  the  rest  of  the 
conspirators.  The  pontiff,  freed  from  this  re- 
doubtable enemy,  refused  to  ratify  his  pro- 
mises ;  he  banished  him  for  ever  from  the  holy 
city,  confiscated  his  property  for  the  use  of 
the  church,  demolished  his  tower,  and  razed 
his  palace  from  its  foundations.  Cencius,  on 
his  side,  by  way  of  reprisal,  ravaged  the  do- 
mains of  the  church,  devastated  the  monaste- 
ries, massacred  the  monks,  and  murdered  the 
pilgrims. 

The  archbishop  Guibert,  who  had  taken 
part  in  all  this  affair,  was  also  driven  from 
Rome,  and  sent  to  his  city  of  Ravenna,  where 
he  organized  a  new  conspiracy  against  Gre- 
gory, with  Thedaldus,  the  metropolitan  of  Mi- 
lan, and  the  other  prelates  of  Lombardy.  By 
the  order  of  the  archbishop  of  Ravenna,  the 
cardinal  Hugh  the  White  went  to  Robert 
Guiscard  and  King  Henry,  for  the  purpose  of 
arranging  with  them  upon  the  measures  to  be 
taken  to  overthrow  Hildebrand  from  the  Holy 
See.  The  embassador  assi.sted  in  Germany, 
at  the  opening  of  the  council  of  Worms,  at 
■which  he  gave  information  of  the  authentic 
history  of  Gregory  the  Seventh,  which  is  the 
same  as  has  come  down  to  us  under  the  name 
of  the  cardinal  Benno. 

This  remarkable  history  recalls  the  incestu- 
ous origin  of  Gregor}*,  and  gives  a  faithful  re- 
cital of  his  debaucheries  in  the  convent  of 
Cluny;  it  produces  aguinst  him,  accusations 
of  impiety,  sacrilege,  magic,  adultery,  and 
presents  irrefutable  proofs  which  establish 
that  he  had  poisoned  seven  popes,  and  at- 
tempted the  lives  of  several  sovereigns. 

Hugh  the  White,  carried  with  him  a  great 
number  of  letters,  written  by  the  cardinals, 
the  members  of  the  senate  of  Rome,  and  the 
bishops  of  different  provinces  of  Italy,  con- 
taining vehement  complaints,  and  atrocious 
accusations  against  Hildebrand,  whose  deposi- 
tion they  demanded.  The  prelates  who  as- 
sisted at  the  reading  of  these  acts,  testified 
such  horror  at  the  abominable  crimes  with 
which  the  pope  had  soiled  his  life,  that  they 

Vol.  I.  2  W 


all  e.xclaimed  with  one  voice,  that  the  elec- 
tion of  such  a  monster  was  a  nullity,  and  that 
God  had  not  been  able  to  give  to  Satan  the 
power  to  bind  ami  loose.  They  pronounced  a 
sentence  of  deposition  against  him,  which  we 
find  thus  sent  forth  in  the  work  of  Du  Plessis 
Mornay,  entitled,  "The  Mysteries  of  the  Ini- 
quities of  the  Court  of  Rome."  "  Hildebrand, 
who,  from  pride,  has  assumed  the  name  of 
Gregory,  is  the  greatest  criminal  who  has  in- 
vaded the  papacy  until  this  time.  He  is  an 
apostate  monk,  who  adulterates  the  Bible, 
suits  the  books  of  the  fathers  to  the  wants 
of  his  execrable  ambition,  and  pollutes  jus- 
tice, by  becoming  at  once  accu.ser,  witness, 
and  judge.  He  separates  husbands  from  their 
wives;  he  prefers  prostitutes  to  legitimate 
spouses;  he  encourages  the  adulterous  and 
incestuous ;  he  e.xcites  the  populace  against 
their  king,  and  endeavours  to  oblige  sovereigns 
and  bishops  to  pay  the  court  of  Rome  for 
their  diadems  and  mitres;  finally,  he  makes 
a  public  traffic  of  the  priesthood  and  the  epis- 
copate ;  he  buys  provinces,  sells  the  digni- 
ties of  the  church,  and  causes  all  the  gold  of 
Christendom  to  flow  into  his  treasury.  We 
consequently  declare,  in  the  name  of  the  em- 
peror of  Germany,  of  the  princes  and  prelates, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  senate,  and  the  Chris- 
tian people,  that  Gregory  the  Seventh  is  de- 
posed from  the  apostolical  throne,  which  he 
soils  by  his  abominations." 

The  whole  synod  subscribed  to  this  sen- 
tence, and.  Henry  addressed  letters  to  the 
lords  and  clergy  of  Lombardy,  and  of  the 
march  of  Ancona,  to  induce  them  to  subscribe 
to  the  condemnation  of  the  pope.  They  also 
assembled  in  council ;  they  swore  upon  the 
Gospels,  that  they  no  longer  recognized  the 
monk  Hildebrand  as  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
and  pronounced  a  second  anathema  against 
him. 

The  king  of  Germany  then  wrote  to  Gregory  : 
"Up  to  this  time  I  was  in  hope  you  had  lor 
me  the  tenderness  of  a  father,  and  I  blindly 
obeyed  your  orders.  Now  my  eyes  are 
opened,  and  I  discover  that  you  have  acted 
against  me  as  my  greatest  enemy.  I  have 
proof  that  you  e.xcite  my  subjects  to  revolt, 
and  that  you  have  made  every  effort  to  de- 
prive me  of  my  kingdom  of  Italy.  You  have 
excommunicated  and  deposed  the  bi.'ihops 
who  refuse  to  abandon  my  cause  ;  and  finally, 
you  have  pushed  your  boldne.^s  so  far  as  to 
write  to  me  that  you  would  deprive  me  of  my 
crown  and  life,  previous  to  your  death.  I 
have,  in  order  to  arrest  your  odious  projects, 
convened  in  an  assembly  the  grandees  of  my 
states,  to  judire  our  differences.  The  judg- 
ment is  against  you,  infamous  priest !  1  or- 
der you,  then,  in  my  quality  of  patrician  of 
Rome,  to  quit  that  accursed  chair,  which  is 
occupied  by  a  demon  !" 

A  clergyman  of  Parma,  named  Roland,  was 
charged  to  carry  these  letters  to  the  holy  city ; 
and  he  took  his  measures  so  as  to  arrive  at 
Rome  on  the  eve  of  the  day  fixed  upon  by  the 
pope  to  judge  King  Henry  in  a  general  as- 
sembly.    At  the  opening  of  the  council,  the 


370 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


intrepid  deacon  entered  the  pontifical  palace, 
put  aside  the  guards,  and  going  straight  up  to 
the  holy  father,  said  to  him  :  '•  The  emperor, 
my  master,  as  well  as  all  the  German  and 
Italian  bishops,  order  thee  to  descend  at  once 
from  the  apostolic  throne,  which  thou  hast 
dishonoured  by  thy  crimes."  Then  turning 
towards  the  Roman  clergy,  he  added  :  '•  My 
brethren,  I  command  you,  in  the  name  of  the 
king,  to  go  to  him  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  to 
choose  a  new  pope  in  the  place  of  him  who 
has  the  audacity  to  preside  here." 

He  had  scarcely  spoken,  when  the  bishop 
John,  and  the  prefect  of  Rome,  at  the  head  of 
his  soldiery,  precipitated  themselves  upon 
him  to  murder  him  ;  but  Hildebrand  was  too 
skilful  a  politician  to  allow  them  to  commit  a 
crim.e  which  would  have  rendered  him  odious 
to  all  the  world.  He  covered  with  his  own 
body  the  embassador  of  the  prince,  and  pro- 
hibited any  attempts  upon  his  life. 

He  then  calmly  resumed  his  place,  and  ad- 
dressed the  assembly.  "My  friends,"  said 
he,  '-let  us  not  trouble  the  peace  of  the 
church  by  becoming  guilty  of  an  useless  mur- 
der. These  are  the  dangerous  times  of  which 
the  Scriptures  speak.  We  shall  see  proud, 
greedy,  and  cruel  men.  who  would  rend  the 
bosom  of  their  mother.  Christendom  must 
be  filled  with  desolation ;  and  Christ  has  sent 
us  as  sheep  for  the  wolves.  We  should  then 
have  the  mildness  of  the  dove,  and  support 
with  resignation  the  outrages  of  senseless 
men,  who  desire  to  betray  the  laws  of  God. 
The  Lord  wishes  to  water  his  house  with  the 
blood  of  the  saints.  Let  us  then  prepare  for 
martyrdom,  and  let  our  death  assure  the  glory 
and  triumph  of  the  church,  as  God  himself 
has  revealed  to  us  by  sending  us  a  mysterious 
sign,  which  we  now  place  before  your  eyes." 
At  the  same  time  he  showed  them  a  hen's 
egg,  found  accidentally,  he  affirmed,  near  the 
church  of  St.  Peter. 

Upon  this  egg  was  engraved,  in  relief,  a 
serpent  armed  with  a  sword  and  shield,  which 
appeared  to  wish  to  elevate  itself  upon  the 
upper  part  of  the  egg,  although  by  a  secret 
power  it  was  constrained  to  writhe  even  to 
the  lower.  The  pope  gave  an  enigmatical 
explanation  of  this  singular  phenomenon,  and 
thus  concluded  his  disclosure :  '■  This  sign, 
my  children,  announces  to  us  that  we  must 
now  employ  the  swoi'd  of  the  word  to  strike 
the  serpent  in  the  head,  and  to  avenge  the 
church.  Let  us  act,  then,  since  God  orders  us, 
lor  we  have  already  had  too  much  patience." 
The  holy  father  then,  with  one  of  those 
contradictions  which  would  be  sutTicient  to 
demonstrate  all  the  hypocrisy  of  his  conduct, 
after  having  commenced  his  discourse  with  a 
feigned  moderation,  finished  it  with  menaces 
of  death  against  the  sovereign.  The  council 
approved  unanimously  of  the  sentiments  of 
Gregory;  and  all  the  bishops  declared  they 
were  ready  to  endure  the  most  terrible  pun- 
ishments in  so  holy  a  cause. 

Gregory  pronounced  the  following  anathema 
against  Henry  and  his  accomplices:  "St.  Pe- 
terj  prince  of  the  apostles,  hear  thy  servant, 


whom  thou  hast  nourished  from  his  childhood, 
and  whom  thou  hast  protected  against  the 
wicked  who  persecute  me.  You  are  my  wit- 
nesses, you,  holy  mother  of  God,  St.  Paul; 
and  all  the  saints  of  heaven,  that  the  Roman 
clergy  constrained  me  to  govern  them,  and 
that  I  would  rather  have  finished  ray  days  in 
exile,  than  have  usurped  your  place  by  un- 
worthy means.  But  since  I  have  reached 
this  throne  by  your  grace,  I  believe  that  it  is 
your  will  that  Christian  people  should  obey 
me,  by  virtue  of  the  power  which  you  have 
transmitted  to  me  of  binding  and  loosing  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  Thus,  for  the  safety 
of  the  church,  and  in  the  name  of  God  all 
powerful,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  I 
prohibit  Henry,  who  by  reason  of  an  unheard 
of  pride,  has  elevated  himself  against  us, 
from  governing  the  kingdoms  of  Germany  and 
Italy.  I  free  all  Christians  from  the  oaths 
which  they  have  taken  to  him,  and  I  prohibit 
all  from  serving  him  as  king;  for  he  who 
would  oppose  our  authority,  deserves  to  lose 
his  crown,  his  liberty,  and  his  life.  I  burthen 
Henry,  then,  with  anathema  and  malediction; 
I  devote  him  to  the  execration  of  men,  and  I 
deliver  up  his  soul  to  Satan,  in  order  that  the 
people  may  know  that  the  sovereign  pontiff"  is 
the  rock  upon  which  the  Son  of  the  living 
God  has  built  his  church,  and  that  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  never  prevail  against  it." 

Hildebrand  sent  to  all  the  faithful  in  Ger- 
many, Italy,  and  Gaul,  the  sentence  which 
he  had  pronounced  against  the  sovereign  of 
Germany.  He  addressed  a  circular  to  the 
German  and  Italian  bishops  and  lords,  in  which 
he  ordered  them,  in  case  Henry  should  per- 
sist in  his  revolt  against  the  Holy  See,  to 
choose  another  king  who  would  govern  the  em- 
pire in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  church. 

This  decree  of  excommunication  filled  Ger- 
many and  Italy  with  divisions,  and  was  the 
cause  of  long  and  cruel  wars.  The  prelates, 
however,  openly  treated  the  censures  of  Gre- 
gory with  contempt.  William  of  Utrecht,  in 
particular,  defended  with  much  zeal  the  inter- 
ests of  the  prince  against  the  criminal  enter- 
prises of  the  pope.  Every  time  that  he 
mounted  the  pulpit,  he  preached  against  the 
pontiff,  whom  he  called  a  simoniac,  adulterer, 
robber  and  poisoner ;  and  he  renewed  every 
Sunday  the  excommunication  pronounced 
against  Hildebrand  by  the  German  bishops. 
The  Lombard  prelates  did  the  same.  Gui- 
bert,  the  metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  convened 
a  new  synod  at  PavJa,  and  a  second  time  ex- 
communicated the  holy  father. 

Still,  some  ambitious  lords  detached  some 
bishops  from  the  party  of  the  prince,  who  de- 
fended the  Holy  See,  and  maintained  that  no 
one  had  a  right  to  anathematize  the  pope, 
since  he  was  infallible.  This  miserable  rea- 
soning drew  ofi' a  great  number  of  nobles,  who 
persecuted  those  who  wished  to  remain  faith- 
ful to  Henry. 

Gregory  also  employed  all  the  resources  of 
his  policy  to  detach  the  refractory  bishops 
from  the  party  of  the  prince.  He  wrote  the 
following   remarkable  letter  to  Herman,  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


371 


prelate  of  Metz  :  "As  for  those  who  maintain 
that  kings  cannot  be  loji^ilimalely  deposed  by 
popes.  I  refer  them  to  the  words  and  the  ex- 
ample of  the  fathers;  and  they  will  learn  that 
St.  Peter  said  :  '  Be  ye  always  ready  to  punish 
the  guilty,  whatever  their  rank.'  Let  them 
consider  the  motives  which  induced  Pope 
Zachary  to  depose  King  Childeric,  and  to  free 
all  the  Franks  from  their  oath  of  fidelity.  Let 
them  learn  that  St.  Gregory,  in  his  decretals, 
not  only  excommunicated  the  lords  and  kings 
who  opposed  the  e.xecution  of  hi?  orders,  but 
that  he  even  deprived  them  of  their  power. 
Let  them  not  forget  that  St.  Ambrose  himself 
drove  from  the  temple  the  emperor  Theodo- 
sius,  calling  him  a  profane  man,  sacrilegious, 
and  a  murderer. 

"  Perhaps  these  miserable  slaves  of  kings 
would  maintain  that  God,  when  he  said  to  St. 
Peter:  'Feed  my  lambs,'  excepted  princes; 
but  we  will  demonstrate  that  Christ,  in  giving 
to  the  apostle  power  to  bind  and  loose  men. 
excepted  no  one.  The  Holy  See  has  absolute 
power  over  all  spiritual  things :  why  should 
it  not  also  rule  temporal  affairs  ?  God  reigns 
in  the  heavens, — his  vicar  should  reign  over 
all  the  earth.  These  senseless  wretches,  how- 
ever, maintain  that  the  royal  is  above  the 
episcopal  dignity.  Are  they,  then,  ignorant 
that  the  name  of  king  was  invented  by  human 
pride,  and  that  the  title  of  bishop  was  insti- 
tuted by  Christ?  St.  Ambrose  affirms  that 
the  episcopate  is  superior  to  royalty,  as  gold 
is  superior  to  a  viler  metal." 

The  astute  policy  of  the  pope  drew  off  the 
greater  part  of  the  prelates  and  lords  of  Ger- 
many into  the  party  of  the  Holy  See  ;  and 
Henry  saw  all  his  friends  retiring  graduallj' 
from  his  cause.  Several  bishops  who  had 
before  subscribed  to  the  condemnation  of  the 
pope,  sent  deputies  to  Rome  to  make  their 
apologies.  Others  went  in  person,  with  naked 
feet,  to  the  tomb  of  the  apostles,  in  order  to 
obtain  their  pardon. 

Gregory  received  them  all  with  great  hon- 
OHirs,  loaded  them  with  presents,  and  took 
with  them  skilful  measures  which  would  lead 
to  the  entire  destruction  of  the  party  of  the 
king  of  Germany.  On  the  other  side,  the 
criminal  intercourse  which  the  pope  carried 
on  with  the  empress  Agnes,  his  mother,  the 
duchess  Beatrice,  his  aunt,  and  the  countess 
Matilda,  his  cousin-german,  assured  to  him 
still  more  perfectly  the  execution  of  his  am- 
bitious projects. 

Beatrice  possessed  immense  estates  in  Italy, 
and  Matilda  her  daughter,  the  wife  of  God- 
frey tfie  Hunchback,  was.  through  lier  hu.s- 
band;  still  more  powerful  than  she  ;  these  two 
women  after  the  rupture  which  had  taken 
place  between  the  altar  ami  the  throne,  aban- 
doned Jlenry,  renounced  the  ties  of  blood,  anil 
loudly  declared  for  Gregory. 

Matilda,  who  was  publicly  recognized  as 
the  mistress  of  the  pope,  wished  to  force  the 
duke  her  husband  to  embrace  the  cause  of  the 
Holy  See;  but  he  resisted  all  her  sediictions, 
and  on  the  contrary  raised  troops  which  he 
led  to  the  king.    Hildebrand,  fearful  lest  these 


re-inforcements  should  place  his  enemv  in  a 
situation  to  marcfi  on  Rome,  determined  the 
princess  to  employ  violence  to  deliver  him 
from  her  husband,  and  Godfrey  the  Hunch- 
back was  assassinated  in  the  city  of  Anvers 
on  the  night  of  the  20th  of  February  1076. 

Gregory,  in  his  turn,  out  of  gratitude  for  the 
service  which  had  been  rendered  him,  re- 
solved to  disembarrass  himself  of  the  dutchess 
Beatrice,  the  rival  and  mother  of  Matilda ; 
he  solicited  from  his  former  mistress  the  fa- 
vour of  a  meeting,  passed  the  night  with  her, 
and  caused  her  to  be  strangled  in  the  morn- 
ing. 

By  this  double  crime  the  countess  IMatiida 
became  the  absolute  sovereign  of  immense 
estates;  she  became  the  inseparable  com- 
panion of  Hildebrand,  established  herself  in 
the  palace  of  tlie  Lateraii,  where  she  assisted 
with  the  cardinals  at  the  private  councils  of 
the  sovereign  pontiff.  Platinus  affirnrs,  that 
she  followed  him  in  all  his  journeys,  served 
him  in  his  bed,  and  frequently  passed  the 
nights  in  his  chamber,  to  the  great  scandal  of 
the  chamberlains,  who  were  not  pemiitted  to 
enter  the  apartments  of  the  holy  father. 

Gregory  had  arrived  at  the  height  of  his 
power  ;  he  feared  no  enemy  ;  he  trampled  the 
people  beneath  his  pontifical  sandal ;  he  aban- 
doned himself  to  every  license,  pushed  on 
provinces  to  revolt,  named  emperors,  and  de- 
clared the  clergy  and  laity  who  remained  at- 
tached to  the  unfortunate  Henry,  excommuni- 
cated. By  his  intrigues  he  soon  formetl  a 
formidable  league  in  Germany  against  the 
prince.  Rudolph,  duke  of  Suabia.  Guelf,  duke 
of  Bavaria,  Berthold,  duke  of  Carinthia,  Adal- 
beron,  bishop  of  Wirtzburg,  Adalbert,  bishop 
of  Worms,  and  some  other  lords  assembled  at 
Ulm,  and  convened  a  general  diet  for  the  16th 
of  October,  in  the  city  of  Tribur,  near  May- 
ence.  They  sent  their  decree  to  the  lords  of 
Suabia,  Bavaria,  Saxony,  Lorraine,  and  Fran- 
conia.  beseeching  them,  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
to  abandon  their  private  affairs  and  come  to 
bring  the  aid  of  their  intelligence,  in  taking 
suitable  measures  to  re-establish  the  tranquil- 
lity of  the  kingdom. 

On  the  appointed  day  the  assembly  com- 
menced its  session:  the  policy  of  the  holy 
father  was  fully  successful ;  the  metropolitan 
of  Mayence  and  a  great  number  of  ecclesias- 
tics, who  had  been  devoted  to  the  prince,  were 
obliged  to  unite  with  the  Roman  legates,  under 
penalty  of  being  regarded  as  enemies  to  the 
state.  One  of  the  embassadors  of  the  pope 
spoke  and  recounted  the  whole  life  of  Henry  ; 
he  drairged  forth  the  crimes  which  had  soiled 
liis  early  youth;  he  accused  him  of  having 
removed  the  lords  from  all  participation  in  the 
government,  in  order  to  elevate  men  of  low 
birth  to  the  first  dignities  in  the  kingdom  ;  he 
affirmed  that  the  prince  had  singular  and  anti- 
christian  ideas;  that  he  wished  to  exterminate 
the  nobility,  destroy  the  churches  and  the 
monasteries,  in  order  to  employ  their  riches 
in  solacing  the  people ;  and  he  concluded  by 
presenting,  as  the  only  remedy  for  so  many 
evils,  the  election  of  a  king  of  Germany,  capa- 


372 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


ble  of  arresting  the  license  and  strengthening 
the  tottering  state. 

The  unfortunate  Henry  at  first  retired  to 
Oppenheim  with  some  faithful  friends  j  then 
seeing  that  his  cause  was  lost,  he  sent  depu- 
ties to  the  diet,  who  offered  in  his  name  to 
abandon  the  government  of  the  state  to  the 
lords,  reserving  only  to  himself  the  royal  in- 
signia and  the  name  of  sovereign.  But  the 
prelates  were  inexorable  ;  they  replied  that 
they  could  not  accept  any  of  his  offers,  be- 
cause they  were  not  permitted  to  communi- 
cate with  an  excommunicated  person,  and 
that  consequently  they  would  proceed  to  his 
deposition,  conformably  to  the  orders  of  the 
pope.  They  consented,  however,  to  refer  the 
matter  to  the  pontiff,  if  the  prince  would  en- 
gage to  come  to  the  council  of  Augsburg  to 
submit  to  the  judgment  of  Gregory,  in  the 
presence  of  all  the  lords  of  Germany.  They 
threatened  to  declare  him  for  ever  excluded 
from  the  throne,  if  he  did  not  obtain  absolu- 
tion within  a  year  and  a  day,  and  they  ordered 
him,  whilst  awaiting  the  judgment  of  the  pope, 
to  send  away  all  the  excommunicated  who 
were  about  his  person,  to  djsband  the  garrison 
of  Worms,  to  re-instal  the  bishop  of  that  city 
in  the  exercise  of  his  functions,  and  to  retire 
himself  to  Spires  with  some  domestics  who 
were  designated  by  the  assembly.  Finally, 
they  enjoined  on  him  to  lead  a  simple,  frugal 
life  ;  to  use  no  equipages,  nor  bear  the  tokens 
of  imperial  dignity,  nor  occupy  himself  with 
civil  or  religious  affairs. 

Henry  acceded  to  these  disgraceful  condi- 
tions ;  he  sent  away  from  his  camp  the  metro- 
politan of  Cologne,  the  bishops  of  Hamburg, 
Strasburg,  Basle,  Spires,  Lausanne,  Ceitz,  Os- 
nabruck,  and  the  other  excommunicated  ;  he 
disbanded  his  troops,  went  to  Worms,  and  re- 
tired to  the  city  which  had  been  assigned  to 
him,  where  he  lived  like  a  private  citizen. 

The  legates  immediately  informed  the  holy 
father  of  the  result  of  their  embassy,  and  en- 
gaged him  to  go  in  person  to  the  synod  of 
Augsburg.  Henry,  in  his  impatience  to  be  re- 
leased from  the  anathema  pronounced  against 
him,  was  unwilling  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of 
Gregory,  and  determined  to  present  himself 
as  a  suppliant  at  Rome,  in  order  to  obtain  ab- 
solution. He  departed  secretly  from  Spires, 
some  days  before  Easter,  with  the  empress 
his  wife,  and  his  son,  still  an  infant ;  he  travers- 
ed Burgundy  and  arrived  in  Savoy,  where  he 
was  traitorously  arrested  by  Count  Amedeus, 
the  brother  of  his  wife,  who  only  restored  him 
his  liberty  on  condition  of  his  surrendering  a 
province  bordering  on  the  states  of  Germany. 
The  winter  was,  this  year,  very  severe, 
and  rendered  the  passage  of  the  Alps  ex- 
tremely dangerous;  no  dangers,  however, 
could  suspend  the  execution  of  his  project '; 
he  traversed  snow  and  ice,  and  descended 
into  Lombardy.  The  noise  of  his  arrival  had 
scarcely  spread  abroad,  when  the  Lombard 
bishops  and  lords,  who  were  discontented 
with  the  pope,  came  to  meet  him,  and  regard- 
less of  the  excommunication,  they  rendered 
him  great  honour,  and  formed  an  imposing 


escort  for  him.  Some  lords  even  proposed  to 
him  to  declare  war  on  the  Holy  See,  offering 
him  succours  of  men  and  money;  but  the 
prince  broken  down  by  so  great  reverses,  dared 
not  accept  their  proposals,  and  continued  his 
route  to  Rome. 

Gregory  had  already  quitted  the  holy  city 
to  go  to  Augsburg,  accompanied  by  the  coun- 
tess Matilda,  who  followed  him  in  all  his  jour- 
neys; but  when  he  was  informed  of  the  arri- 
val of  Henry,  and  of  the  demonstrations  on 
his  behalf,  made  by  the  Lombards,  he  was 
alarmed,  retrod  his  steps,  and  shut  himself 
up  in  a  castle  called  Canudium  or  Canossa, 
which  belonged  to  his  mistress,  and  was  re- 
garded as  impregnable. 

It  was  during  this  retreat,  that  he  received 
the  German  bishops  and  several  lay  lords 
whom  he  had  excommunicated.  They  had 
travelled  to  Italy  Avith  naked  feet,  and  covered 
with  sackcloth,  to  implore  the  pity  of  the  holy 
father.  The  fear  of  a  general  rising  in  favour 
of  Henry,  rendered  the  pontiff  indulgent  to  the 
pilgrims;  he  consented  to  receive  them  into 
the  bosom  of  the  church,  always  on  condition 
that  they  would  sincerely  confess  their  crimes, 
and  submit  to  pa}"-  a  fine  to  the  Holy  See,  and 
undergo  a  public  penance.  They  declared 
their  readiness  to  suffer  every  thing  they 
were  ordered  to  do.  Gregory  then  commenced 
proving  them  by  prescribing  for  them  a  rigor- 
ous fast,  "a  penance  still  more  severe,"  adds 
Bayle,  '•  since  these  prelates  came  from  a  cold 
country,  where  fasting  is  one  of  the  severest 
mortifications  that  can  be  imposed,  especially 
on  priests,  who  are  accustomed  to  make  long 
meals,  at  which  they  gorge  themselves  with 
food  and  drink." 

After  proving  them  for  some  days,  Gregory 
made  them  appear  anew  in  his  presence,  ad- 
dressed to  them  a  severe  reprimand,  and  gave 
them  absolution ;  before,  however,  dismissing 
them,  he  ordered  them  not  to  communicate 
with  the  prince,  until  he  had  made  an  apology 
to  the  Holy  See,  except  to  exhort  him  to  re- 
pentance. 

Henry  having  arrived  at  Canossa,  solicited  a 
private  interview  with  his  cousin,  the  concu- 
bine of  the  pope  ;  Matilda  consented  to  receive 
him,  and  the  result  of  this  conference  was, 
that  she  presented  to  Gregory  on  the  following 
day,  the  countess  of  Savoy,  mother-in-law  of 
the  prince,  the  count  her  son,  the  marquis 
Azon,  and  Hugh,  the  abbot  of  Cluny,  in  order 
that  they  might  implore  in  his  name  the 
mercy  of  the  holy  father.  The  presentation 
took  place,  but  Gregory  replied  to  the  solici- 
tors, that  it  was  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the 
church  to  examine  an  accused,  but  in  the 
presence  of  his  accusers ;  that  if  Henry  were 
innocent,  he  had  nothing  to  fear  by  appearing 
before  the  synod  of  Augsburg,  where  he 
promised  him  he  should  receive  ample  jus- 
tice, without  permitting  himself  to  be  preju- 
diced by  his  enemies.  The  abbot  of  Cluny 
represented  to  the  holy  father  that  the  king 
did  not  fear  the  judgment,  but  that  he  be- 
sought him  to  absolve  him  from  the  anathema 
lanched  against  him,  because  the  year  of  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE    POPES. 


373 


excommunication  had  almost  expired,  and  the 
prelates  of  Germany  waited  for  that  fatal  term 
to  declare  him  dispossessed  for  ever  of  the 
royal  dignity. 

The  inflexible  pontifT  resisted  all  their  en- 
treaties; finally,  gold  was  proposed  to  him, 
and  he  yielded  to  this  powerful  argument. 
He,  however,  e.xacted  that  the  prince,  in  token 
of  his  repentance,  should  deposit  his  crown 
and  other  ensiras  of  royalty  at  his  feet,  de- 
claring himself  unworthy  to  reign.  Henry 
consented  to  undergo  this  humiliation ;  he 
presented  himself  alone  at  the  outer  gate  of 
the  fortress,  and  waited  with  patience  until 
the  pope  was  ready  to  have  them  opened. 
When  he  had  passed  the  outward  entrance, 
he  laid  aside  all  his  royal  ornaments,  unclothed 
himself  entirely,  and  put  on  sackcloth ;  a 
broom  and  scissors  were  then  placed  in  his 
hands  as  a  sign  that  he  consented  to  be  whip- 
ped and  shaven  ;  he  remained  in  this  posi- 
tion for  three  days  and  three  nights,  with 
naked  feet,  during  the  most  extreme  severity 
of  the  winter,  without  covering,  without  taking 
any  nourishment,  shedding  torrents  of  tears, 
and  imploring,  with  many  groans,  the  mercy 
of  the  pope  !  !  ! 

Gregory,  in  one  of  his  works,  boasts  of  this 
conduct  and  avows  that  his  justice  resembled 
rather  the  cruelty  of  a  tyrant,  than  the  seve- 
rity of  a  judge.  At  length  the  countess  Ma- 
tilda took  pity  on  the  prince  and  obtained 
from  the  pontiff  the  pardon  of  her  cousin. 
Henry  having  been  admitted  to  an  audience 
of  the  pope,  absolution  was  granted  to  him  on 
condition  that  he  should  present  himself  at  the 
diet  of  the  German  lords,  and  would  reply  to 
the  accusations  brought  against  him.  Gregory- 
wished  him  to  engage  to  submit  himself  to 
the  orders  of  the  Holy  See,  whether  he  should 
lose  his  crown  or  not :  and  that  in  any  case 
he  should  declare  his  lords  relieved  from  the 
oath  of  fidelity  they  had  taken  to  him,  and 
perfectly  free  before  God  and  men  to  choose 
another  sovereign ;  he  made  him  promise 
never  to  avenge  himself  for  the  judgment 
pronounced  against  him,  whatever  it  might  be, 
and  to  show  himself  entirely  submissive  to 
the  orders  of  the  pontifT  on  all  occasions.  Fi- 
nally, he  warned  him,  that  if  he  should  fail  in 
a  single  one  of  these  conditions,  he  would  de- 
clare his  absolution  null,  and  give  to  the 
German  lords  the  right  of  choosing  another 
king.  Henry  signed  these  promises,  and  con- 
firmed them  by  solemn  oaths  upon  the  gos- 
pels and  the  relics  of  St.  Peter :  the  pope 
then  declared  him  relieved  from  the  sentence 
of  excommunication. 

On  the  next  day  they  went  together  to  the 
church  of  the  city,  in  which  Gregory  celebra- 
ted mass  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
crowd;  when  he  had  pronounced  the  words 
of  consecration,  he  made  the  prince  approach 
the  altar,  and  holding  the  consecrated  host  in 
his  hand,  addressed  these  words  to  him : 
"  King  Henry,  I  received  letters  from  you  and 
your  bishops,  in  which  you  called  me  an 
usurper,  a  poisoner  of  popes,  incestuous  and  a 
sodomite:  now  in  order  to  overthrow  these 


accusations,  and  efface  for  ever  even  the  shade 
of  the  scandal,  I  take  the  body  of  our  Lord  to 
witness  my  innocence,  and  I  trust  it  will 
prove  a  poison  to  me  if  I  am  guilty."  At  the 
same  time  he  took  the  host,  broke  it  into  two 
pieces,  and  communed.  The  stupid  people 
uttered  loud  shouts  of  joy,  praising  God  and 
the  pontiff  for  so  admirable  an  action. 

Gregory  having  obtained  silence,  turned 
towards  the  prince:  '-Do  in  your  turn,  my 
son,  that  which  you  have  seen  me  do.  The 
German  lords  accuse  you  of  exactions,  adulte- 
ries, and  murders;  they  maintain  that  you 
should  be  driven,  for  your  crimes,  from  the 
communion  of  the  faithful;  and  they  ask  that 
you  should  be  judged  by  a  council.  Y^ou  are 
not  ignorant  how  uncertain  are  the  judgments 
of  men  ;  take  this  other  part  of  the  host  which 
I  present  to  you  ;  call  down  upon  your  head 
the  wrath  of  Christ  if  you  are  guilty,  and 
commune,  as  I  have  done,  in  the  presence  of 
all  the  assistants,  in  order  that  the  proof  of 
your  innocence  may  destroy  all  the  calumnies 
of  your  enemies." 

Henry,  surprised  and  confounded  by  so 
strange  a  proposal,  asked  for  some  moments 
to  deliberate  upon  it  with  the  lords  who  were 
with  him.  He  then  replied  to  the  pope,  that 
the  opinion  of  his  councillors  was,  that  he 
should  incur  the  chances  of  a  general  council. 
Hildebrand,  satisfied  with  his  victory  over  the 
superstitious  mind  of  the  prince,  administered 
to  him  the  communion,  without  exacting  that 
he  should  pronounce  the  horrid  imprecation 
of  which  he  had  himself  set  the  e.xample. 

After  the  service,  he  invited  him  to  dine  in 
the  fortress,  and  dismissed  him  with  defer- 
ence. Eppon,  bishop  of  Ceitz,  was  instructed 
to  accompany  him,  for  the  purpose  of  absolv- 
ing those  who  had  communed  with  the  king 
during  his  excommunication  ;  but  the  Lom- 
bard lords,  and  especially  the  bishops  who 
knew  the  secret  of  all  the  pontifical  tricks, 
refused  the  absolution,  and  chased  off  the 
legate,  heaping  upon  him  blows  and  insults. 
A  new  provincial  synod  assembled  in  Lom- 
bardy.  The  bishops  a  second  time  excommu- 
nicated the  monk  Hildebrand.  They  renewed 
their  terrible  accusations  against  him;  they 
accused  him  of  having  poisoned  the  seven 
popes,  his  predecessors ;  of  having  usurped 
the  Holy  See,  and  of  having  dishonoured  it  by 
adultery,  incest,  and  assassinations.  The  king 
was  declared  a  traitor  to  the  country  for  hav- 
ing cowardly  submitted  to  an  heretic  soiled 
with  every  crime,  and  for  having  abandoned 
their  cause,  when,  in  order  to  avenge  him, 
they  had  openly  declared  against  the  court  of 
Rome. 

Henry  soon  became  the  object  of  universal 
contempt.    The  priests,  the  grandees,  and  the 
people,  resolved  to  dethrone  him,  and  conduct 
!  his  son  to  Rome,  by  force  of  arms,  to  drive 
j  away  Gregory,  and  to  name  a  new  pontiff, 
I  who  should  consecrate  the  young  prince  em- 
peror of  Italy.     On  the  other  hand,  the  metro- 
!  politan   of  Mayence,   with  the  bishops  and 
j  lords  who  were  hostile  to  the  king,  assembled 
i  at  Forsheim,  in  Franconia,  and  addressed  let- 
32 


374 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ters  to  the  holy  father  and  asking  him  to 
conie  to  their  council  and  contirm  the  choice 
which  they  had  made  of  Rudolph  of  Suabia  as 
their  sovereign.  Finally,  in  order  to  crown 
his  misfortunes,  Matilda  made  a  solemn  do- 
nation of  all  her  estates  to  the  Holy  See,  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  house  of  Henry,  who 
were  her  legitimate  heirs.  The  king  then, 
incited  by  despair,  took  an  energetic  resolve, 
and  swore  to  draw  down  vengeance  on  Hilde- 
brand,  the  author  of  all  his  ills.  He  traversed 
Lombardy,  called  to  his  side  all  the  excom- 
municated, all  who  were  enemies  of  the 
pope,  and  openly  declared  war  on  the  Holy 
See. 

In  less  than  two  months,  the  prince  saw 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  arm)',  and 
made  his  dispositions  to  march  on  Rome.  At 
the  news  of  this  levy  of  armed  men,  Gregory 
lost  his  arrogance,  and  tried  negotiations,  not 
daring  either  to  declare  against  Henrj',  or 
abandon  the  cause  of  King  Rudolph ;  and  as 
it  became  impossible  for  him  to  go  into  Ger- 
many on  account  of  the  Lombard  troops  who 
guarded  all  the  routes,  he  addressed  letters  to 
the  Germans,  expressing  the  doubts  of  his 
mind  in  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  two  sove- 
reigns. 

The  lords  and  bishops,  surprised  at  this 
change,  replied  to  the  pope:  "You  know, 
holy  father,  and  your  letters,  which  we  have 
preserved,  are  witnesses  of  it,  that  it  was 
neither  by  our  advice,  nor  for  our  interests, 
that  King  Henry  was  deposed ;  in  that  we 
obeyed  the  will  of  the  Holy  See.  Since  you 
prohibited  us,  under  penalty  of  the  most  ter- 
rible evils,  from  recognizing  him  as  king,  we 
have  executed  your  orders  at  the  hazard  of 
our  fortunes  and  our  lives;  for  the  prince, 
after  your  sentence,  exercised  great  cruelties 
against  us.  Our  submission  to  your  decrees 
first  brought  on  us  the  ruin  of  our  provinces; 
then  the  humiliation  of  seeing  the  sovereign 
of  the  country  constrained  to  crouch  at  your 
feet  like  a  dog,  in  order  to  receive  absolution, 
and  to  obtain  from  your  holiness  permission 
to  ravage  our  fields  and  our  cities  a  second 
time,  and  to  avenge  himself  on  us  for  the  ills 
you  have  drawn  on  him. 

'•'  After  having  left  the  kingdom  for  an  en- 
tire year  without  a  head,  in  conformity  with 
your  wishes,  we  have  chosen  a  king  whom 
you  had  yourself  chosen  ;  and  now,  whilst  he 
is  engaged  for  the  good  of  his  people,  instead 
of  contirming  his  nomination,  you  recognize 
two  kings  in  the  same  country,  and  you  send 
your  legates  to  both.  This  indecision  which 
exists  in  your  mind,  increases  our  divisions; 
for  in  your  letters  you  call  King  Henry  a  pre- 
varicator, and  you  ask  from  him  a  safe  con- 
duct to  come  to  our  meeting,  as  if  he  yet 
preserved  some  power.  We  are  also  inform- 
ed that  you  listen  favourably  to  those  whom 
you  have  excommunicated  with  him,  and  yet 
you  exhort  us  to  remain  faithful  to  Rudolph. 

"  This  tortuous  policy  has  surprised  us. 
We  desire  to  suppose  that  your  intentions  are 
as  laudable  as  your  views  are  profound  ;  but 
we  are  too  simple  to  penetrate  them  3    we 


only  see  the  deplorable  results  of  your  con- 
duct. In  managing  the  two  parties,  you  light 
up  a  civil  war.  You  incite  pillages,  incen- 
diarism, massacres,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
royal  domain ;  so  that  the  kings,  for  the  future, 
will  only  live  by  rapine  and  robbery.  These 
evils  would  not  have  existed,  if  you  had  not 
lighted  in  our  provinces  the  fire  of  discord. 
It  is  the  excess  of  our  grief  which  induces  us 
to  speak  in  language  so  severe,  because  we 
are  exposed  to  the  rage  of  the  wolves,  for 
having  obeyed  the  shepherd.  And  now,  if 
the  shepherd  becomes  our  enemy,  we  shall  no 
longer  have  faith  neither  in  the  pontifis,  nor 
the  apostles,  nor  Christ ;  we  shall  regard 
popes  and  kings  as  the  implacable  enemies 
of  humanity,  and  we  shall  devote  them  to  the 
execration  of  the  people." 

Gregory  did  not  reply  to  this  letter,  and  re- 
ceived with  equal  honours  the  embassadors  of 
the  two  kings  of  Germany.  He  was  then  occu- 
pied in  holding  several  councils  at  Rome,  to 
renew  the  anathemas  pronounced  against  the 
partizans  of  Henry,  and  to  compel  Berenger 
of  Tours  to  make  a  solemn  retraction  of  his 
doctrine  concerning  the  eucharist.  He  ex- 
communicated, during  the  same  year,  Boles-' 
las,  the  king  of  Poland,  and  wished  to  force 
the  king  of  England  to  submit  to  the  Holy 
See.  Finally,  having  learned  that  Henry  was 
about  to  enter  Germany  to  combat  his  rival, 
he  determined  to  excommunicate  him  anew, 
and  publicly  to  recognize  Rudolph,  duke  of 
Suabia,  as  the  sovereign  of  Germany. 

In  this  remarkable  decree,  the  pope  ad- 
dressed St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  in  these  terms  : 
"Blessed  apostles,  you  are  witnesses  that  the 
German  lords  and  bishops,  without  our  ad- 
vice, chose  duke  Rudolph  as  theii  king;  and 
that  this  prince  immediately  sent  embassa- 
ilors  to  our  legate,  declaring  that  he  had  un- 
dertaken, despite  of  himself,  the  government 
of  the  kingdom,  and  that  he  was  ready  to 
obey  us  in  all  things;  offering,  as  a  proof  of 
his  sincerity,  to  send  us  rich  presents,  and  to 
give  us  as  hostages,  his  son  and  that  of  duke 
Berthold.  You  know  that  Henry,  at  the  same 
time,  besought  us  to  declare  in  his  favour, 
against  Rudolph,  and  that  we  replied,  that  we 
would  act  of  our  own  will,  after  having  heard 
these  two  princes  in  a  council.  But  as  soon 
as  Henry  supposed  that  he  could  overthrow 
his  competitor  without  our  aid,  he  repulsed 
our  interference  with  contempt. 

"  It  is  therefore,  most  holy  apostles,  after 
having  invoked  your  testimony  as  a  guarantee 
of  our  sincerity,  we  employ  your  authority  in 
condemning  this  sovereign  and  his  accom- 
plices. We  declare  Henry  dispossessed  of 
the  crown  of  Germany  and  Italy ;  we  anathe- 
matize him.  and  we  invoke  on  his  head  the 
thunders  of  heaven  ;  we  beseech  you  to  take 
from  him  all  prudence  in  council,  and  to  ren- 
der him  cowardly  in  battle,  so  that  he  may 
never  gain  any  victory.  We  declare  Rudolph 
the  lawful  king  of  the  Teutonic  states,  and 
we  grant  to  all  who  shall  betray  Henry,  ab- 
solution from  all  their  sins,  and  the  blessing 
of  Christ  in  this  world  and  the  next. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


375 


"Now  blessed  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  let 
the  world  know,  by  giving  victory  to  Rudolph, 
that  you  can  bind  and  loose  in  hoaven  ;  that 
you  can  give  or  take  away  empires,  kingtloms, 
principalities,  dutchies,  marquisiites,  count- 
ships,  and  the  goods  of  all  men;  finally,  that 
you  take  from  the  unworthy  and  bestow  on 
the  good,  the  pontificate.  primacie.s,  archbi- 
shoprics and  bishoprics.  Let  the  people  learn 
that  you  judge  spiritual  things,  and  that  you 
have  an  absolute  power  over  temporal  affairs  ; 
that  you  can  curb  the  demons,  who  are  the 
councillors  of  princes,  and  annihilate  kings 
and  the  powerful  of  the  earth.  Display  then 
your  greatness  and  your  power,  and  let  the 
world  now  tremble  before  the  redoubtable 
orders  of  your  church.  Cause  especially  the 
sword  of  your  justice  promptly  to  strike  the 
head  of  the  criminal  Henry,  in  order  that  all 
Christians  may  learn  that  he  has  been  stricken 
by  your  will." 

This  sentence  was  decreed  at  Rome,  on  the 
7th  of  aUarch,  1080,  and  Hildebrand  sent  it  to 
King  Rudolph,  with  a  magnificent  crown  of 
gold  enriched  with  precious  stones. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  imprecations  of 
Gregory,  events  gave  a  striking  lie  to  him. 
Henry  entered  Germany  at  the  head  of  a  nu- 
merous army,  and  gained  a  signal  victory 
over  his  competitor,  in  the  famous  day  of 
Fladeheim  ;  after  which  the  prince  convoked 
a  synod  at  Brixen,  to  which  he  called  all  the 
bishops  and  lords  of  Lornbardy,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  ecclesiastics  and  nobles  of  Ger- 
many. 

In  this  assembly  they  accused  Gregory  of 
heresy,  impiety,  sacrilege,  simony,  extortions, 
adultery,  murder  and  magic;  they  produced 
witnesses  who  proved  that  the  pope  had  cast 
the  holy  host  into  the  fire,  whilst  conjuring 
up  demons ;  the  priests  of  the  interior  of  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran  declared  that  he  had 
poisoned  the  seven  popes,  his  predecessors, 
by  means  of  his  intimate  confidant,  Gerard 
Brazurus;  finally,  the  fathers  pronounced  an 
excommunication  against  Gregory,  deposed 
him  from  the  Holy  See,  and  proclaimed  Gui- 
bert,  the  metropolitan  of  Ravenna,  sovereign 
pontiff;  who  assumed  the  name  of  Clement 
the  Third. 

As  soon  as  the  pope  was  apprized  of  the 
election  of  Guibert,  he  hastened  to  send  le- 
gates to  Apulia  and  Calabria  to  draw  off  the 
population  to  his  side.  He  thus  expressed 
himself  about  these  schismatics,  "They  have 
been  forced  to  renew  their  old  conspiracy ; 
they  have  chosen  as  their  chief  an  heretic,  a 
sacrilcLrious  person,  a  perjurer,  an  assassin 
who  wished  to  wrest  from  us  our  tiara  and 
our  life — an  antichrist — a  Guibert !  !  In  a  cabal 
composed  of  demoniacal  and  concubinary  i)re- 
lates,  our  enemies  have  even  pushed  their 
fury  so  far  as  to  condemn  us.  because  we  re- 
fused to  their  entreaties  and  their  threats  par- 
don for  their  crimes.  But  (lod  sustains  us; 
he  will  make  us  triumph  over  the  wicked,  and 
we  despise  their  anathemas." 

Notwithstanding  his  apparent  security,  Gre- 
gory laboured  actively  to  obtain  the  protec- 


tion of  William,  king  of  England,  v,hom  he 
had  excommunicated  some  months  before  ;  he 
also  enti'red  into  treaties  with  Robert  Guiscard, 
with  Jourdain,  the  prince  of  Capua,  and  other 
Norman  lords,  whom  he  had  before  excom- 
municated. He  granted  to  them  absolution, 
confirmed  them  in  possession  of  the  estates 
they  had  usurped,  and  in  exchange,  concluded 
with  them  a  treaty,  by  which  they  engaged  to 
defend  the  Holy  See  against  its  enemies,  and 
to  unite  with  the  lords  of  Tuscany,  the  vassals 
of  the  countess  Matilda,  in  attacking  the  anti- 
pope  in  the  city  of  Ravenna.  At  the  same 
time,  he  addressed  letters  to  Germany,  ex- 
citing the  people  in  favour  of  Rudolph,  and 
aflirming  that  the  apostle  Peter  had  appeared 
to  him,  and  announcetl  that  a  false  king  would 
die  this  year  before  the  day  of  his  feast.  "If 
this  prediction  be  not  accomplished,"  adds  he, 
"I  swear  before  God  and  men,  that  I  am  un- 
worthy to  be  pope." 

Sigebert  relates  that  the  Saxons,  full  of  con- 
fidence in  this  prophecy,  induced  Rudolph  to 
try  the  chance  of  arms;  he  marched  to  meet 
Henry,  with  an  army  inferior  in  numbers  to 
that  of  that  prince.  The  affair  took  place  on 
the  borders  of  the  river  Ellestre,  near  to  Rlers- 
burg,  in  Saxony  Five  times  were  his  troops 
repulsed  with  loss,  and  live  times  he  led  them, 
back  to  the  charge.  Finally,  in  the  last  charge, 
Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  pushed  his  horse  right 
against  Ruilolph,  wounded  him  with  a  blow 
of  his  lance  in  the  lower  part  of  his  belly  and 
overthrew  him  on  the  field  of  battle ;  at  the 
same  moment,  a  kniiiht  struck  the  unibrtu- 
nate  king  with  his  sword  and  cut  oil' his  right 
hand;  Rudolph  died  almost  at  once.  The 
soldiers,  alarmed  at  the  loss  of  their  chief, 
abandoned  iheir  rank»  and  took  refuge  in 
Mersbnrg. 

Rivet  informs  us  that  Pope  Gregory,  in  a 
public  discourse,  had  announced  anew  in  pro- 
phetic terms,  the  victory  of  Rudolph,  and  the 
death  of  Henry  :  but  that,  thanks  to  an  active 
care,  the  assassins  sent  by  the  holy  father 
had  been  arrested,  and  that  Gregory  then,  in 
order  not  to  compromise  his  dignity  as  a  pro- 
phet, afiirnied  that  the  prediction  only  related 
to  the  soul  of  the  king. 

Bayle,  in  his  dictionary,  reasons  thus  sin- 
gularly:  "  Either  Hildebrand  believed  that  his 
prediction  would  be  accomplished,  or  he  did 
not  believe  it.  If  he  believed  it,  we  must  call 
him  a  false  prophet,  ami  if  he  did  not  believe 
it,  an  infamous  impostor,  because  he  sacrificed 
the  holiness  of  religion  to  his  temporal  inte- 
rests: tVom  whence  we  must  conclude."  adds 
he,  •'  that  the  popes  have  been  more  than  once 
wicked  hypocrites,  worthy  of  the  rope  and 
fire." 

After  the  decisive  victory  Avhich  he  had 
gained  in  (Jermany  over  his  competitor,  Henry 
re-entered  Italy  and  conquered  the  troops  of 
his  cousin  Matilda,  near  Mantua.  Thus,  the 
countess  found  herself  menaced  with  the  loss 
of  her  stales.  Notwithstanding  these  checks, 
the  intrepid  Hildebrand  assembled  new  troops 
to  oppose  the  prince  ;  but  the  latter  drove 
these  illy  disciplined  bands  before  him,  and 


376 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


chased  them  from  several  important  places 
which  belonged  to  the  countess.  On  his  route 
he  arrested  all  pilgrims,  and  did  not  restore 
them  to  their  liberty  until  he  had  exacted 
from  them  an  oath  not  to  lend  assistance  to 
the  monk  Hildebrand  and  his  concubine.  Fi- 
nall}',  the  king  encamped  in  the  meadows  of 
Nero,  half  a  league  from  Rome,  with  the  arch- 
bishop Guibert,  without  being  able,  however, 
to  penetrate  into  the  city,  which  was  then  de- 
fended by  Matilda.  Not  only  did  this  coura- 
geous woman  repulse  his  assaults,  but  she 
even  obliged  the  king  to  raise  his  camp  and 
retire  into  Lombard y. 

During  this  whole  war  the  countess  exhibit- 
ed surprising  activity  and  energy.  No  sacri- 
fice in  men  or  money  was  too  dear  to  her,  in 
order  to  increase  the  means  of  defence  to  her 
lover.  Her  palace  became  the  refuge  of  the 
Italian  and  German  bishops,  clergy,  monks, 
and  laymen,  whom  the  king  had  driven  away 
or  despoiled ;  and  she  daily  detached  new 
partizans  from  the  party  of  Henry.  To  some 
she  granted  fiefs ;  to  others,  money.  The 
richer  received  in  her  arms  the  price  of  their 
devotion  or  their  treason.  The  malcontents 
were  pursued  to  extremities.*  Their  domains 
were  devastated,  their  serfs  murdered,  and 
their  castles  burned. 

At  length,  as  this  struggle  between  the 
throne  and  the  altar  threatened  to  be  indefi- 
nitely prolonged,  Henry  determined  to  strike 
a  great  blow;  and,  notwithstanding  the  bad 
success  of  his  first  effort,  he  led  his  army  a 
second  time  beneath  the  walls  of  Rome.  The- 
summer  passed  by  without  his  being  able  to 
do  anything ;  and  he  was  even  obliged  to  re- 
tire during  the  extreme  heat,  leaving  in  the 
neighbouring  castles  garrisons  which  made  fre- 
quent sorties  and  kept  the  city  in  alarm.  When 
winter  returned,  he  recommenced  the  labours 
of  the  siege,  and  pushed  them  on  with  vigour. 
The  Romans,  on  their  side,  continued  to  de- 
fend tl;emselves  obstinately.  Henry  then  re- 
solved to  change  his  tactics,  and  to  contend 
with  the  holy  father  by  hypocrisy.  He  set  at 
liberty  several  prelates  whom  he  retained  as 
prisoners;  he  solemnly  declared  he  would 
protect  all  pilgrims  who  went  to  Rome  to  visit 
the  holy  places ;  that  the  war  was  finished, 
and  that  he  only  wished  to  enter  the  city  to 
receive  the  imperial  crown  from  the  hands  of 
Gregory.  The  Roman  lords  manifested  great 
joy  at  the  pacific  intentions  of  the  prince ; 
made  a  secret  treaty  with  him  and  instructed 
some  of  their  number  to  present  it  to  the  holy 
father,  beseeching  him  to  take  pity  on  their 
country,  and  not  to  sacrifice  it  to  his  personal 
enemies. 

The  pope  replied  to  the  deputation  :  "  We 
know  too  well  the  tricks  of  policy,  to  believe 
in  the  promises  of  a  king.  Still,  if  Henry  w^ill 
consent  to  ask  pardon  oif  God  and  the  church, 
in  the  form  which  we  shall  prescribe,  we 
will  absolve  him  from  all  his  sins,  and  grant  the 
crown  to  him.  Otherwise,  do  not  hope  to  de- 
ceive me.  If  he  refuse  my  proposals,  and 
you  still  shall  dare  to  implore  our  mercy  for 
him,  I  declare  to  you,  that  I  will  put  you  all 


to  death  in  punishment,  and  that  Rome  shall 
be  engulphed  beneath  its  rubbish  before  I 
yield  to  the  emperor." 

Fearful  of  a  vengeance  which  they  knew  to 
be  inexorable,  the  lords  cast  themselves  at  his 
feet,  and  avowed  to  him  that  they  were  bound 
by  an  oath  to  the  emperor  to  oblige  the  pope 
to  crown  him  or  abandon  the  tiara.  Gregory 
feigned  to  pardon  their  treason  ;  and  to  re- 
assure their  consciences,  he  besought  them  to 
repeat  to  him  the  formula  of  the  oath  which 
they  had  taken.  Having  listened  attentively, 
he  observed  that  they  had  only  engaged  to 
give  a  crown,  not  a  dignity.  He  consequently 
wrote  to  Henry  in  the  name  of  the  Romans, 
that  he  could  come  to  seek  the  imperial  crown 
which  had  been  promised  to  him,  and  that  it 
should  be  placed  on  his  forehead  with  all  the 
honours  of  consecration,  if  he  would  make 
amends  to  the  Holy  See ;  or  that  it  should  be 
cast  to  him  as  alms  from  the  top  of  the  dome 
of  the  castle  of  San  Angelo,  if  he  refused  to 
submit.  The  king  having  rejected  both  these 
proposals,  Hildebrand  declared  that  the  Ro- 
mans had  fulfilled  their  oath,  and  were  freed 
before  God. 

Betrayed  by  the  nobles,  Henry  then  turned 
to  the  people,  and  caused  it  to  be  published 
that  every  inhabitant  who  should  present  him- 
self at  his  camp,  should  receive  a  sum  of 
money  as  an  indemnity  for  the  losses  which 
he  had  sustained  during  the  war.  One  hun- 
dred and  forty-four  thousand  pence  of  gold 
were  distributed  in  this  way.  Thus,  this  lar- 
gesse having  considerably  increased  the  num- 
ber of  his  partizans,  the  gates  of  the  city  were 
opened  to  him,  and  he  was  enabled  to  make 
his  triumphal  entry  into  Rome. 

He  went  at  first  to  the  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran  with  the  anti-pope  Guibert,  whom  he 
caused  to  be  consecrated  sovereign  pontiff" 
by  the  bishops  of  Bologna,  Modena,  and  Cer- 
via,  and  who  was  enthroned  by  the  name  of 
Clement  the  Third.  The  new  pope  then  so- 
lemnly crowned  Henry  emperor  of  the  West. 

Gregory  shut  himself  up  in  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo  with  the  lords  who  remained  faithful 
to  liim,  and  continued  to  defend  himself 
against  the  troops  of  the  king.  But,  fearful 
of  being  compelled  soon  to  yield  to  his  enemy, 
he  endeavoured  to  rid  himself  of  him  by  a 
new  crime.  He  was  informed  that  Henry 
performed  his  devotions  nightly  in  a  church, 
in  which  he  had  chosen  a  solitary  chapel,  in 
order  to  pray  with  more  meditation.  He  gain- 
ed over  the  cardinal  priest  who  served  in  this 
church.  By  his  orders  they  pierced  the  beam 
which  sustained  the  ceiling  immediately  over 
the  place  of  the  king,  and  masked  this  open- 
ing by  an  enormous  stone,  which  could  de- 
tach itself  at  a  moment's  notice  and  crush  the 
prince. 

These  preparations  were  made  with  the 
greatest  mystery.  That  night  Henry  came, 
in  accordance  with  his  custom,  to  kneel  in  the 
chapel.  The  cardinal  immediately  drew  a  cord 
which  was  fastened  to  the  stone  ;  but  whether 
it  was  the  violence  w-ith  which  the  cord  was 
drawn  that  caused  the   stone  to  deviate,  or 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


377 


whether  the  prince  was  not  in  his  habitual 
place,  it  did  not  touch  him,  and  broiie  before 
him.  Some  splinters  alone  inflicted  on  him 
slight  wounds.  The  guilty  priest  was  seized 
at  once,  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  guards.  His 
dead  body,  after  having  been  dragged  through 
the  streets  of  Rome,  was  cast  into  the  sewers 
without  the  city.  This  attempt  at  assassina- 
tion served  to  sink  Gregory  into  ilisrepute,  and 
almost  all  his  partizans  abandoned  him  to  join 
the  king. 

But  Henry,  who  feared  a  new  effort  against 
his  person,  was  unwilling  to  prolong  his  stay 
in  Rome,  and  retired  into  Lombardy,  where 
the  countess  Matilda  was  carrying  on  a  war 
of  extermination.  Germany  also  demanded 
his  presence  to  resist  the  enterprises  of  the 
Saxons,  whom  the  legates  of  the  Holy  See  had 
excited  to  revolt.  During  his  absence,  Ro- 
bert Guiscard  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of 
the  pope,  abandoned  Greece  in  order  to  come 
to  his  aid,  disembarked  in  Italy,  and  present- 
ed himself  before  Rome.  The  gates  having 
been  closed,  treason  came  to  his  aid.  He 
penetrated  into  the  city  during  the  night, 
abandoned  it  to  be  pillaged  by  his  soldiers, 
set  it  on  fire  in  every  quarter,  and  re-instated 
Gregory  on  a  throne  soiled  with  murders  and 
carnage. 

The  proud  pontiff  found  himself  a  second 
time  the  absolute  master  of  Rome  ;  he  imme- 
diately held  a  new  council,  at  which  he  re- 
iterated the  excommunication  pronounced 
against  the  anti-pope  Guibert,  against  Henry 
and  their  partizans;  he  then  retired  to  Sa- 
lerno, an  impenetrable  fortress,  in  order  to 
place  himself  beyond  the  vengeance  of  the 
prince. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  spring,  Henry  re- 
turned to  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with 
transports  of  joy ;  Guibert  was  forcibly  re- 
installed in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  and 
seated  on  the  pontifical  throne.  On  receiving 
the  news  of  the  victory  of  his  competitor,  Hil- 
debrand  became  so  enraged  that  he  became 
sick ;  a  burning  fever  seized  him,  the  illness 
increased  daily ;  finally,  when  he  was  at  the 
point  of  death,  the  bishops  who  assisted  him, 
and  even  his  mistress,  wished  him  to  employ 
mdulgences  towards  his  enemies  ;  he  replied 
to  them,  '-'No,  my  hatred  is  implacable;  I 
curse  the  pretended  emperor  Henry,  the  anti- 
pope  Guibert,  and  the  reprobates  who  sustain 
them ;  I  absolve  and  bless  the  simple  who 
believe  that  a  pope  has  power  to  bind  and 

Vol.  I.  2X 


loose."  He  died  on  the  20lh  of  May,  1085, 
uttering  this  blasphemy.  He  had  reigned 
almost  eleven  years. 

Gregory  the  Seventh  is  the  priest  who 
laboured  with  the  most  boldness  to  elevate 
the  pontifical  power ;  he  displayed  on  the 
throne  of  St.  Peter  all  the  qualities  of  Charle- 
magne, and  showed  himself  worthy  to  found 
the  empire  of  the  church  on  the  ruins  of  tne 
empire  of  the  West. 

Bayle  affirms,  that  the  triumph  of  the  church 
militant  has  been  the  result  of  a  war  of  a 
thousand  years,  during  which  were  displayed 
more  courage  and  address  than  would  have 
been  necessary  to  conquer  the  whole  world. 
"  The  power  of  Christian  Rome  is  more  ex- 
traordinary," adds  he,  "than  that  of  pagan 
Rome,  and  it  appears  that  Providence  destined 
this  city  to  be  first,  the  mistress  of  nations  by 
its  arms  and  then  by  its  intelligence.  In  fact 
we  cannot  consider  without  astonishment,  that 
men,  by  the  assistance  of  the  Word  of  God,  a 
Gospel  which  preaches  disdain  of  grandeur, 
which  exalts  humility  and  poverty,  have  had 
the  hardihood  to  aspire  to  absolute  sway  over 
the  sovereigns  of  the  earth.  But  what  surprises 
us  still  more  is,  that  the  popes  have  been  ena- 
bled to  maintain  this  incredible  sway  during 
almost  a  thousand  years ;  this  conquest  is  more 
admirable  than  those  of  the  Ale.xanders  and 
Caesars ;  and  Gregory  the  Seventh,  who  is  the 
principal  author  of  it,  ought  really  to  have  his 
place  among  great  conquerors." 

These  paradoxical  reflections  have  a  certain 
amount  of  certainty ;  for  Gregory  was  made 
rather  for  a  ■captain  and  emperor,  than  priest 
and  pope.  He  was  a  great  statesman  ;  his 
life  as  well  as  his  maxims  prove  it  in  an  in- 
contestable manner:  "God  is  a  Spirit,"  says 
Gregory;  "he  rules  matter;  thus  the  spiritual 
is  above  the  temporal  power.  The  pope  is  the 
representative  of  God  on  earth ;  he  should  then 
govern  the  world.  To  him  alone  pertain  infal- 
libility and  universality; — all  men  are  sub- 
mitted to  his  laws,  and  he  can  only  be  judged 
by  God ; — he  ought  to  wear  imperial  orna- 
ments ;  people  and  kings  should  kiss  his  feet; 
Christians  are  irrevocably  submitted  to  his 
orders ;  they  should  murder  their  princes, 
fathers  and  children,  if  he  commands  it ; — no 
council  can  be  declared  universal  without  the 
orders  of  the  pope  ; — no  book  can  be  received 
as  canonical  without  his  authority; — finally, 
no  good  nor  evil  exists  but  in  what  ne  has  con» 
demned  or  approved." 

32* 


378 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


VICTOR  THE    THIRD,   THE   ONE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY- 
THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1085.] 

History  of  Victor  h&fore  his  'pontificate — Intrigues  for  his  election — Victor  refuses  the  papacy — 
He  is  clothed,  in  spite  of  himself,  ivith  the  pontifical  ornaments — He  abdicates  the  pontificate 
— Finally  accepts  the  papacy — The  countess  Matilda  protects  Victor — Letter  from  the  pope  to 
the  Germans — Diet  of  Spires — Death  of  the  pontiff. 


Some  days  before  his  death,  Gregory  the  Se- 
venth, having  assembled  the  cardinals  around 
his  bed,  pleciged  them  to  choose  as  his  suc- 
cessor, Didier,  the  abbot  of  Monte  Cassino, 
and  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  order  of  St.  Ceci- 
lia, who  partook  of  his  hatred  towards  the 
emperor,  and  wished  with  him  to  elevate  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  above  thrones. 

Didier  was  of  the  illustrious  family  of  the 
princes  of  Beneventum.  From  his  very  infancy 
he  assiduously  frequented  churches,  hstened 
with  delight  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  con- 
stantly associated  with  pious  persons,  in  order 
to  prepare  himself  for  a  religious  life  ;  but  his 
parents,  who  were  desirous  of  maintaining 
the  splendour  of  their  name,  exacted  a  pledge 
from  him  that  he  would  live  in  the  world,  and 
affianced  him  to  a  noble  girl.  Before  the  con- 
summation of  the  marriage,  the  father  of  Di- 
dier, having  been  slain  by  the  Normans,  he 
resolved  to  retire  secretly  into  a  monastery, 
and  he  escaped  from  the  residence  of  his 
parents,  aided  in  his  plans  by  a  monk  named 
Jacquint.  Didier  received  the  monastic  garb 
from  the  hands  of  the  holy  hermit  Santari; 
his  family  having  discovered  the  place  of  his 
retreat,  he  was  brought  back  by  force  to 
Beneventum,  where  he  remained  for  a  year, 
closely  watched,  in  the  castle  of  his  mother. 
He  escaped  a  second  time  and  went  to  Sa- 
lerno, to  his  cousin  Prince  Gaimar,  to  whom 
he  said,  "  Since  I  cannot  be  a  monk  in  my 
own  country,  permit  me  to  be  one  in  your's." 
The  prince  promised  him  his  protection,  since 
he  positively  wished  to  embrace  a  monastic 
life.  Didier  then  entered  the  monastery  of 
the  '-Trinity  of  the  Cave,"  near  to  Salerno, 
where  he  remained  until  his  mother  granted 
him  permission  to  become  a  monk,  and  to  live 
in  the  convent  of  St.  Sophia,  in  the  environs 
of  Beneventum.  During  the  pontificate  of 
Leo  the  Ninth,  he  entered  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino  ;  Stephen  the  Tenth  appointed 
him  abbot  of  that  monastery ;  and  finally, 
during  the  reign  of  Hildebrand,  he  showed 
himself  an  ardent  defender  of  the  privileges 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  obtained  new  honours. 

Thus,  after  the  death  of  Gregory,  the 
bishops,  cardinals  and  lords  who  had  remained 
faithful  to  that  pontiff,  besought  Didier  to  ac- 
cept the  tiara ;  which  he  formerly  refused  to 
do  in  order  to  avoul  inevitable  dangers.  He 
consented,  however,  to  labour  actively  for  the 
Roman  church:  he  even  engaged  Jourdain, 
prince  of  Capua,  Rainulph,  count  of  Averna, 
and  the  countess  Matilda,  to  form  a  league 


with  the  Normans,  for  the  purposes  of  opposing 
the  anti-pope,  and  of  nominating  a  pontiff 
worthy  to  govern  the  church.  Under  his  di- 
rections the  allied  bishops  and  lords  marched 
on  Rome,  and  having  become  masters  of  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  they  proceeded  to  nomi- 
nate a  pope.  Didier  was  proclaimed  as  alone 
worthy  of  the  tiara,  and  notwithstanding  his 
active  opposition  to  it,  he  was  borne  in  triumph 
to  the  church  of  St.  Luke,  where  he  was  con- 
secrated in  accordance  with  the  canonical  rule, 
by  the  name  of  Victor  the  Third.  He  was  then 
clothed  in  the  red  cape,  but  they  could  not  put 
the  aube  on  him  on  account  of  his  resistance. 

The  governor  of  Rome,  taking  advantage 
of  the  tumult  which  reigned  in  the  city  in 
consequence  of  the  ceremony  of  consecration, 
seized  upon  the  capitol,  spread  his  troops 
through  the  streets,  and  forced  the  new  pontiff 
to  leave  the  city  three  days  after  his  election. 

Didier  having  arrived  at  Terracina,  aban- 
doned the  cross,  the  cape,  and  the  other  signs 
of  the  papacy,  and  on  some  entreaties  made 
to  him,  he  refused  to  resume  them,  threaten- 
ing to  fly  to  the  ends  of  the  world,  if  they 
wished  to  do  violence  to  his  sentiments.  The 
prelates  and  principal  lords  of  Italy  then  de- 
termined to  convene  a  synod  at  Capua,  in 
which  he  consented  to  take  a  seat.  At  the 
close  of  the  council,  all  those  assisting  at  it  be- 
sought him  to  accept  the  pontificate.  Roger, 
duke  of  Calabria,  Jourdain,  prince  of  Capua, 
and  a  great  number  of  bishops,  cast  them- 
selves at  his  feet,  beseeching  him  with  tears 
to  resume  the  tiara,  and  save  the  church  from 
ruin.  Didier  finally  consented  to  become 
pope,  and  decided  to  return  to  Rome  with  the 
princes  of  Capua  and  Salerno. 

The  anti-pope  and  the  German  soldiers 
undertook  the  defence  of  the  church  of  the 
apostle,  which  was  the  most  exposed  point; 
but  notwithstanding  their  efforts,  it  fell  into 
the  power  of  the  enemy,  and  on  Sunday,  the 
ninth  day  of  May.  1087,  the  pontiff,  Victor 
the  Third,  was  solemnly  consecrated  in  this 
church,  by  the  bishops  of  Ostia,  Tusculum, 
Porto,  and  Albanum,  in  the  presence  of  se- 
veral cardinals,  a  great  number  of  prelates, 
and  a  prodigious  concourse  of  people.  Didier 
remained  some  days  in  the  city  Leonine, 
whence  he  repaired  to  Monte  Cassino. 

Hugh,  the  metropolitan  of  Lyons,  availed 
himself  of  this  circumstance  to  excite  the 
countess  Matilda  against  the  new  pontiff,  by 
misrepresenting  facts.  He  wrote  to  her  as  fol- 
lows ;  "  You  know  that  the  election  of  the  abbot 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


379 


Didier  was  accomplished  before  my  arrival 
in  Italy ;  and  if  my  brethren  and  myself  ap- 
proved of  it,  it  was  in  hopes  that  he  would 
raise  up  the  dignity  of  the  church,  and  repair 
the  ills  which  the  enemies  of  God  have  caused 
us  to  endure.  But  we  did  not  then  know 
himj  now  that  we  are  with  him  at  Monte 
Cassino,  we  have  penetrated  into  his  true 
character,  and  have  learned  the  fault  which 
we  committed  in  choosing  him  for  our  chief. 
Crafty  and  perfidious,  he  now  condemns  the 
conduct  of  Gregory  the  Seventh;  he  accuses 
that  great  pope  of  revolting  crimes ;  he  refuses 
to  walk  in  his  footsteps,  and  wishes  to  bestow 
on  Henry  the  imperial  crown." 

The  countess  did  not  believe  the  accusa- 
tions of  the  archbishop  Hugh ;  on  the  con- 
trary, she  went  into  Italy,  and  besought  Victor 
to  come  to  her  in  order  that  she  might  have 
the  consolation  of  seeing  the  best  friend  of 
him  whom  she  had  so  much  loved,  promising 
to  become  the  pledge  of  his  safety,  and  to 
restore  him  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 
Didier,  notwithstanding  his  bad  health,  ac- 
ceded to  her  desires,  and  came  up  the  Tiber 
as  far  as  Rome.  He  was  received  on  disem- 
barking by  the  countess,  and  the  enemies  of 
the  king  of  Germany,  who,  by  the  assistance 
of  their  troops,  had  seized  upon  all  that  part  of 
the  city  called  Trastevera,  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
gelo,  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  isle  of 
Tiber,  in  which  the  pope  took  up  his  residence. 

A  great  part  of  the  nobles  declared  for 
Didier.  The  people  took  the  side  of  the  anti- 
pope  Clement,  who  remained  master  of  Rome, 
that  is  to  say,  of  all  the  old  city.  He  dwelt 
in  the  church  of  the  Rotunda,  then  called  St. 
Mary  of  the  Towers,  because  it  had  two  bells. 
The  two  factions  came  to  blows  daily,  and 
combatted  even  in  the  churches. 


Didier  sent  letters  into  (Jermany,  to  apprize 
the  lords  of  that  kingdom  of  his  election,  and 
to  inform  them  that  he  confirmed  the  con- 
demnation which  Gregory  the  Seventh  had 
pronounced  against  Henry  and  his  adherents. 
These  letters  were  read  at  Spires  in  a  general 
diet,  convened  by  the  nobles  and  bishops  who 
recognized  Victor  the  Third  as  the  legitimate 
pontiff;  all  pledged  themselves  to  lend  their 
assistance  to  the  prince,  if  he  wished  to  be- 
come absolved  from  the  excommunication 
lanched  against  him,  but  declared  tliut  on  his 
refusal  the  revolt  would  become  general  and 
more  violent  than  before.  Ladislaus,  king  of 
Hungary,  informed  the  diet,  through  his  em- 
bassadors, that  he  remained  faithful  to  Pope 
Victor,  and  that  he  would  go  to  Rome  to  the 
aid  of  the  Catholics,  with  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  horse. 

Fortunately,  the  sickness  of  the  pope,  which 
daily  increased,  retarded  the  execution  of  this 
threat,  and  forced  him  to  return  to  Monte  Cas- 
sino, of  which  he  had  retained  the  govern- 
ment, notwithstanding  the  canons  v.hich  pro- 
hibited the  cumulation  of  benefices.  When 
he  perceived  his  end  approaching,  he  named 
the  deacon  Orderisus  abbot  of  his  monastery. 
Then  having  called  around  him  the  bishops 
and  the  cardinals,  he  induced  them  to  pledge 
themselves  to  choose,  as  head  of  the  Roman 
church,  Otho,  bishop  of  Ostia.  As  this  eccle- 
siastic was  present,  Victor  took  him  by  the 
hand,  and  presenting  him  to  those  who  sur- 
rounded him,  said  to  them,  "accept  him  as 
your  chief,  and  ordain  him  as  sovereign  pon- 
tiff of  Rome."' 

Didier  died  on  the  16th  of  September,  1087, 
after  a  pontificate  of  a  few  months;  he  was 
interred  in  the  chapel  of  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino. 


URBAN   THE   SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY- 
FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1087.] 

Intrigitcs  for  the  election  of  a  new  pope — Urban  obtains  the  papacy — History  of  Urban  before 
his  pontificate — He  continues  the  policy  of  Gregory  the  Seventh — Schism  of  Germany — Urban 
induces  Matilda  to  marry  the  young  son  of  the  duke  of  Bavaria — Councils  of  Mclfi  and 
Bencventum — Affairs  of  France — Perfidy  of  the  pope — Chastisement  of  Conrad — Urban  be- 
comes master  of  Rome — Excornmunication  of  King  Philip — Urban  is  recognized  as  the  lawful 
pontiff  in  England — The  pope  comes  to  France — Council  of  Clermont — Journey  of  Peter  the 
Hermit — Secret  causes  of  the  crusades — Harangue  of  the  pope  to  excite  the  people  to  take  the 
cross — Prodigious  effect  of  his  discourse — Religious  fanaticism  of  the  crusaders — Their  cruel- 
ties— Departure  of  the  crusa/lers — The  pope  returns  to  Itabi — Utility  of  the  crusades  for  the 
Hohj  See — History  of  the  spiritual  monarchy  of  Sicily — Council  of  the  anti-Urbanists — Death 
of  Urban. 

Aftf.h  the  death  of  Didier,  the  prelates,  .  on  account  of  the  diversity  of  sentiments  in 
notwithstanding  their  desire  to  conform  to  the  regard  to  the  measures  necessary  to  be  adopt- 
wishes  of  the  pontifT,  by  nominating  as  his  ed  in  order  to  re-establish  peace  in  the  church, 
successor.  Otho,  cardinal  bishop  of  Ostia,  were  j  But  fre"quent  deputations  having  been  sent  to 
forced  to  separate  before  having  chosen  him, ,  them  by  the  Romans,  the  Germans  and  the 


380 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


countess  Matilda,  beseeching  them  to  give  a 
chief  to  the  clergy  of  the  holy  city,  they  as- 
sembled a  second  time,  and  drew  up  letters 
of  convocation,  pledging  all  the  clergy  and 
laity  to  assemble  at  Terracina  during  the 
second  week  in  Lent,  to  proceed  to  the  elec- 
tion of  a  pope. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  the  cathedral  dedi- 
cated 10  St.  Peter  and  St.  Csesaire.  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  session,  the  bishop  of  Tusculum  read 
the  decisions  of  Gregory  and  Victor  for  the 
government  of  the  church.  Orderisus,  the 
abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  the  metropolitan  of 
Capua,  as  well  as  the  other  prelates  and  lords 
who  had  been  intimate  with  these  two  pon- 
tiffs, confirmed  the  exactness  of  these  asser- 
tions. It  was  then  decided  that  the  fathers 
should,  as  usual,  pass  three  days  in  prayer, 
fasting,  and  the  bestowal  of  abundant  alms, 
to  obtain  from  God  a  manifestation  of  his  will. 
On  the  following  Sunday,  they  re-assembled 
anew  in  the  same  church,  and  after  a  secret 
deliberation,  the  three  cardinals  who  govern- 
ed the  council,  mounted  the  tribunal  of  the 
church,  and  declared  that  they  had  chosen 
Otho  sovereign  pontiff. 

All  the  assistants  approved  of  this  choice 
by  loud  acclamations.  The  bishop  of  Albano 
then  proclaimed  him  pope  by  the  name  of 
Urban  the  Second.  They  clothed  him  with  a 
purple  cape,  and  carried  him  on  to  the  epis- 
copal seat  of  Terracina ;  after  which  the  holy 
father  solemnly  celebrated  mass  at  the  altar 
of  St.  Peter.  The  cardinals  afterwards  con- 
gratulated themselves  on  having  nominated  a 
pope  who  was  as  ambitious  as  his  predeces- 
sors, and  who  laboured  to  increase  their 
wealth  at  the  same  time  that  he  extended  the 
temporal  power  of  the  Holy  See. 

Urban  was  the  son  of  the  lord  of  Lageri, 
and  was  named  Eudes,  or  Otho.  He  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  church  of  Rheims, 
under  the  direction  of  St.  Bruno,  then  the 
chancellor  of  that  cathedral.  He  afterwards 
became  himself  the  canon  of  that  metropolis, 
and  was  ordained  archdeacon  of  Rheims  in 
1070.  Some  time  after  his  promotion,  having 
been  surprised  one  night  in  the  cell  of  a  nun, 
he  was  obliged  to  retire  to  the  abbey  of  Cluny, 
where  St.  Hugh  named  him  prior.  Finally, 
Gregory  the  Seventh,  having  become  pope, 
called  him  to  Rome  in  order  to  consecrate  him 
bishop  of  Ostia,  in  place  of  a  prelate  who  had 
obtained  from  Henry  the  investiture  of  that 
See.  Otho  then  became  the  principal  confi- 
dant of  the  policy  of  Hildebrand.  During 
four  years  he  remained  attached  to  the  person 
of  the  pontiff;  and  it  was  he  who  published 
in  Germany  the  last  bull  of  excommunication 
lanched  by  Gregory  against  the  anti-pope 
Clement  and  Henry.' 

On  the  day  succeeding  his  election.  Urban 
addressed  a  circular  to  all  the  ecclesiastics  of 
Italy  and  Germany,  declaring  to  them,  that 
he  would  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his  prede- 
cessors. He  then  went  to  the  monastery  of 
Monte  Cassino,  and  appointed  the  monk  Gae- 
tan,  deacon  of  the  Roman  church,  attaching 
him  to  him  in  the  capacity  of  a  councillor. 


This  monk  afterwards  occupied,  in  his  turn, 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter  by  the  name  of  Gelasus 
the  Second. 

Induced  by  the  councils  of  Gaetan,  the 
pontiff"  sent  letters  to  the  emperor  Alexis 
Comnenus,  to  endeavour  to  bring  about  a  re- 
union between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches. 
That  prince  listened  favourably  to  these  over- 
tures, and  replied  to  the  holy  father,  that  he 
could,  however,  decide  on  nothing  until  he 
had  himself  come  to  Constantinople  to  con- 
voke a  general  council.  But  the  .schism  sup- 
ported in  Rome  by  the  anti-pope  Guibert,  was 
of  more  importance  to  Urban,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  refuse  the  pacific  overtures  of 
Comnenus. 

In  Germany,  Gebehard  still  laboured  with 
the  same  zeal  for  the  party  of  the  Holy  See, 
and  drew  ofl~  to  it  a  large  number  of  schis- 
matics. As  this  prelate  was  desirous  of  pur- 
suing the  excommunicated  vigorously,  he 
wrote  to  the  holy  father,  to  obtain  from  him 
the  names  of  those  whom  he  should  signalize 
for  the  reprobation  of  the  faithful.  Urban 
replied  to  him  :  "  I  place  in  the  first  rank  of 
the  excommunicated  the  heretic  Guibert  of 
Ravenna,  the  usurper  of  the  apostolic  throne, 
and  the  king  Henry  ;  then  those  who  sustain 
them  ;  and  finally  all  the  clergy  or  laitv  Mho 
commune  with  these  two  criminals.  We  do 
not,  however,  pronounce  an  anathema  espe- 
pecially  against  all ;  but  we  do  not  admit 
them  to  our  communion  without  imposing  on 
them  a  penance,  which  we  regulate  according 
to  the  degree  of  sin,  whether  these  guilty 
ones  have  acted  from  ignorance,  fear,  or  ne- 
cessity. We  wish  to  treat  with  extreme  se- 
verity those  who  have  voluntarily  fallen  into 
the  abyss.  We  confirm  you,"  added  the 
pontiff",  ■'  in  the  power  of  governing  in  our 
stead  in  Saxony,  Germany,  and  the  other 
neighbouring  countries,  in  order  that  you 
may  regulate  all  ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  interests  of  the  church." 

Whilst  the  pope  was  pursuing  his  intrigues 
in  Germany,  Italy,  and  even  Greece,  for  the 
purpose  of  overthrowing  Henry  from  his  throne, 
the  countess  Matilda  and  Orderisus,  the  abbot 
of  Monte  Cassino,  corrupted  the  partizans  of 
the  anti-pope  Guibert,  and  drove  him  from 
Rome.  Urban  then  re-entered  the  holy  city ; 
but,  being  desirous  of  strengthening  his  power 
and  preventing  the  return  of  his  competitor, 
he  induced  Matilda,  who  was  then  forty-three 
years  old,  to  marry  the  young  son  of  Guelph, 
the  duke  of  Bavaria.  The  holy  father  then 
went  into  Apulia;  and,  on  the  10th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1089,  held  a  council  at  Melfi,  at  which 
eighty  Italian  prelates  and  a  great  many  lords, 
among  whom  was  Duke  Roger,  did  homage  to 
the  pope  for  all  their  states. 

The  assembly  decreed  sixteen  canons, 
which  confirmed  the  old  ordinances  in  rela- 
tion to  investitures.  They  were  prohibited 
from  ordaining  a  sub-deacon  under  fourteen 
years  of  age,  a  deacon  under  twenty-four,  and 
a  priest  under  thirty.  The  acephali  or  inde- 
pendent clergy,  and  the  vagabond  monks,  were 
condemned  ;  lords  were  permitted  to  seize  on 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


381 


the  concubines  of  priests  and  reduce  them  to 
a  state  of  slavery  ;  and,  finally,  prelates  were 
proliibited  from  admitting  into  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal ranks  men  of  a  servile  condition,  and  from 
bestowing  on  monasteries,  without  the  consent 
of  the  pope,  the  tithes  or  churches  which  be- 
longed to  laymen. 

Henry,  informed  of  the  progress  which  the 

Earty  of  the  pope  had  made  in  Italy  during 
is  absence,  hastened  from  the  interior  of 
Germany  to  destroy  the  powerful  league  which 
had  been  formed  against  him.  He  immedi- 
ately invaded  Normandy,  ravaged  the  states 
of  Duke  Guelph,  the  husband  of  the  countess 
Matilda,  and  compelled  him  to  sue  for  peace. 
But  the  dauntless  countess  broke  off  the  ne- 
gotiations, and  recommenced  the  war  more 
terribly  than  before. 

On  the  subject  of  this  war,  the  infamous  re- 
ply made  by  the  pope  to  Godfrey,  bishop  of 
Lucca,  is  cited,  who  consulted  him  to  know 
what  penance  he  was  to  inflict  on  priests  who 
massacred  the  excommunicated.  "Impose 
on  them  a  light  penance,"  wrote  the  holy  fa- 
ther, •''  and  one  proportioned  to  the  intent 
which  presided  over  the  murders,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  usage  of  the  Roman  church ; 
for  we  do  not  declare  those  homicides,  who, 
burning  with  an  holy  zeal  for  religion,  have 
murdered  some  e.xcommunicated."  This  sys- 
tem of  morals  was  worthy  of  the  confidant 
and  successor  of  Gregory  the  Seventh. 

Henry,  having  settled  his  affairs  in  Ravaria 
and  Sa.vony,  seized  on  Mantua  and  marched 
at  once  on  Rome.  The  Italians,  fearful  of  the 
wrath  of  the  prince,  hastened  to  send  an  em- 
bassy to  the  anti-pope  Clement  the  Third, 
who  remounted  the  Holy  See  after  an  inter- 
regnum of  two  years. 

Urban  did  not,  however,  permit  himself  to 
be  depressed  by  these  reverses,  He  became 
bolder  than  ever ;  and,  not  content  with  fill- 
ing Italy  with  anathemas,  he  lanched  forth  the 
thunders  of  the  Vatican  on  France,  on  account 
of  the  marriage  of  Phillip  the  First  with  Rer- 
trade,  the  third  wife  of  Foulk,  count  of  An- 
jou.  Ives  of  Chartres  wished  to  oppose  this 
alliance,  but  his  remonstrances  had  brought 
on  him  disgrace  from  the  king,  antl  a  violent 
persecution.  The  pope,  informed  of  this  mat- 
ter, wrote  to  the  metropolitan  of  Rheims  and 
his  suffragans,  to  reproach  them  with  their 
silence  on  so  scandalous  a  crime.  "  We  order 
you,"  added  the  pope,  "  to  seek  out  Phillip, 
and  to  warn  him  from  God  and  us,  that  he 
must  free  himself  from  so  horrible  a  crime  by 
a  severe  penance  ;  for,  if  he  despises  our  ad- 
monition, we  shall  be  compelled  to  employ 
the  spiritual  sword  against  him.  Use  the 
same  threats  to  him  to  compel  him  to  .^et  at 
liberty  our  brother  Bishop  Ives  ;  and  if  he  re- 
fuses compliance  to  our  wishes,  anathematize 
him,  close  the  churches,  put  his  castles  and 
his  lands  under  interdict,  prohibit  his  servants, 
his  wife,  even  his  children,  from  holding  iii- 
lercour.se  with  him.  We  must  impress  such 
terror  on  these  kings,  that  they  will  no  more 
dare  to  seize  the  persons  of  ecclesiastics  with- 
out our  permission." 


Whilst  the  legates  of  the  Holy  See  were  on 
their  way  to  Fiance,  Urban  formed  the  pro- 
ject of  pushing  on  the  young  Conrad  to  a  re- 
volt against  King  Henry  his  father.  In  fact, 
the  prince  raised  the  standard  of  revolt, 
and  came  to  Milan  to  be  crowned  king  of 
Italy  by  Anselm,  the  metropolitan  of  that  city. 
The  Italians  ranged  themselves  in  mass  be- 
neath the  standard  of  the  young  king.  Henry 
was  constrained  to  fly  before  the  arms  of  his 
son,  and  retired  into  Germany.  The  anti-pope 
was  driven  from  Rome,  and  Urban  established 
himself  in  the  city,  without  being,  however, 
master  of  all  its  quarters,  the  German  soldiers 
being  able  to  maintain  themselves  in  the  pon- 
tifical palace,  and  in  the  upper  parts  of  the 
city.  The  parlizans  of  Urban  could  not  even 
freely  traverse  the  streets ;  and  GeoflVy  the 
new  abbot  of  the  Trinity  of  Vendome,  having 
come  to  confer  with  the  holy  father,  was  obli- 
ged to  disguise  himself  as  a  pilgrim  in  order 
to  avoid  the  dangers  he  would  have  incurred 
without  this  precaution. 

Geoffry  remained  with  the  pope  during  all 
Lent  in  the  year  1094,  and  sent  to  him  a  large 
sum  of  money,  which  he  employed  in  corrupt- 
ing the  troops  of  Henry.  He  concerted  his 
plans  so  well,  that  a  few  days  before  Easter, 
the  captain,  Ferruchio.  who  commanded  the 
guard  at  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  promised  to 
give  up  to  him  the  tower  which  commanded 
the  castle,  if  he  would  give  him  a  thousand 
pounds  weight  of  gold.  Urban,  who  had 
scarcely  half  the  money,  immediately  called 
together  the  bishops  and  cardinals  of  his  party, 
to  obtain  the  money  from  them ;  but  none  of 
them  could  afford  him  the  least  aid,  being, 
like  himself,  deprived  of  the  revenues  of  their 
dioceses.  His  atlliction  was  so  great,  he  could 
not  restrain  his  tears.  The  abbot  Geoffry 
spoke,  consoled  the  pope,  and  promised  him 
that  the  traitor  Ferruchio  should  be  paid.  In 
fact,  the  abbot  sold  his  table  equipage,  his 
mules,  and  even  his  ecclesiastical  ornaments. 
The  sum  was  thus  made  up,  and  the  holy 
father  obtained  possession  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran.  Geoffry  was  recompensed  by  being 
allowed  to  kiss  his  feet  on  the  day  of  his  in- 
stallation, and  with  the  rank  of  cardinal,  with 
the  right  to  transmit  it  to  his  successors,  the 
abbots  of  Vendome,  who  preserved  it  for  more 
than  three  centuries. 

Letters  from  Hugh,  the  metropolitan  of  Ly- 
ons, were  then  received  in  Rome,  who  de- 
clared that  he  recognized  Urban  as  the  law- 
ful head  of  the  church,  asking  for  his  commu- 
nion, and  swearing  eternal  hatred  against  the 
schismatics.  The  pontiff  was  so  moved  by 
these  protestations,  that  he  not  only  admitted 
the  prelate  to  his  communion, but  even  made 
him  his  Ie2;ate  in  France.  From  that  moment 
Hugh  became  one  of  the  most  devoted  parti- 
zans  of  the  con  rt  of  Rome :  he  renewed  the  ana- 
thema pronounced  against  Henry  and  against 
the  anti-pope  Clement,  and  lanched  a  terrible 
e.vcommunication  against  Phillip  the  First,  to 
punish  him  for  having  married  Bertiade  during 
the  life  of  Bertha,  his  first  wife. 

The   king  of  France,  fearful  of  the  fatal 


382 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


consequences  of  the  censures  of  the  church, 
hastened  to  send  embassadors  to  the  holy 
father,  to  ask  him  to  take  off  the  excommu- 
nication pronounced  against  him  by  the  arch- 
bishop of  Lyons,  promising  to  put  an  end  to 
his  intercourse  with  Bertrade ;  but  Ives  of 
Chartres  having  already  forewarned  the  holy 
father,  that  his  deputation  was  but  a  trick  and 
artifice  on  the  part  of  Phillip,  the  craftiest  of 
kings.  Urban  was  unwilling  to  grant  him  a 
delay,  permitting  him,  however,  to  use  the 
crown  at  the  festival  of  the  saints. 

In  order  to  understand  the  meaning  of  this 
authority,  we  must  know  that  kings,  in  solemn 
ceremonials,  appeared  in  public,  clothed  in 
royal  ornaments,  in  order  to  impose  on  the 
stupid  crowd,  and  received  their  crowns  from 
the  hands  of  a  bishop,  before  placing  it  on 
their  heads.  Ives  of  Chartres,  relates  that 
the  crown  was  presented  to  Phillip  on  Easter 
day,  by  the  metropolitan  of  Tours,  and  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  by  a  bishop  of  Belgium. 
This  ceremony  had  no  connection  with  that  of 
consecration,  which  was  only  practised  once, 
namely,  at  the  commencement  of  each  reign. 

Urban  at  last  consolidated  his  authority  in 
Rome,  and  his  partizans  became  so  numerous 
that  he  could  traverse  Italy  without  fearing 
the  faction  of  the  emperor  Henrj-,  and  the 
anti-pope  Clement.  He  then  went  to  Pla- 
cenza  in  Lombardy,  at  which  place  he  con- 
vened a  council;  in  order  to  render  justice  to 
the  empress  Adelaide.  More  than  two  hun- 
dred bishops  of  Burgundy,  Germany,  Bavaria, 
and  Saxony,  assembled  in  this  city ;  they 
were  followed  by  four  thousand  clergymen, 
and  at  least  thirty  thousand  laymen.  As  there 
was  no  church  large  enough  to  hold  such  a 
multitude,  they  assembled  in  the  open  coun- 
try without  the  walls.  The  unfortunate  queen 
appeared  as  a  suppliant  before  the  council, 
and  related  the  violences  which  had  been  com- 
mitted against  her.  They  excited  the  indig- 
nation of  the  assembly,  and  determined  many 
Bchismatics.  who  had  until  this  time  supported 
Henry,  to  leave  his  party  and  range  them- 
selves on  the  side  of  the  pope. 

The  condemnation  of  the  errors  of  Berenger, 
in  regard  to  the  eucharist,  was  renewed  in 
this  council,  and  it  was  declared  in  formal 
terms,  that  the  bread  and  wine  after  the  con- 
secration were  changed,  not  only  in  spirit  but 
in  essence,  and  became  the  actual  body  and 
blood  of  Christ.  Strange  aberration  of  the 
human  mind  !  A  contradictory  opinion  will 
afterwards  prevail,  and  another  pope,  also 
presiding  over  a  council,  will  declare  that  the 
bread  and  wine  after  being  consecrated  by  a 
priest,  are  changed  in  spirit  and  not  in  essence, 
and  do  not  really  become  the  body  and  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ ! 

The  fathers  condemned  the  heresy  of  the 
Nicolaites,  that  is  of  priests  who  maintained, 
relying  on  the  authority  of  ihe  gospel  and  the 
canons,  that  they  were  not  obliged  to  preserve 
continence.  They  prohibited  all  clergymen 
stained  with  this  error,  from  exercising  eccle- 
siastical functions,  and  the  people  from  assist- 
ing at  divine  service,  when  performed  by  these 


heretics ;  they  then  confirmed  all  the  decrees 
previously  made  in  regard  to  simony,  in  order 
to  prevent  priests  from  exacting  any  pay  for 
administering  the  holy  unction,  baptism  and 
funeral  rites;  and  finally  they  declared  the 
ordinations  made  by  the  anti-pope  Clement 
the  Third,  and  by  the  other  intrusive  or  ex- 
communicated bishops,  null  and  void. 

After  the  termination  of  the  council,  the 
pontiff  went  to  Cremona  to  confer  with  Con- 
rad on  their  political  interests.  The  prince 
came  to  meet  the  holy  father  a  mile  from  the 
city,  and  led  his  horse  by  the  bridle  as  far  as 
the  palace  ;  he  then  took  an  oath  of  fidelity 
and  obedience  to  Urban,  promising  on  the 
Gospels  and  the  cross  to  preserve  the  life, 
members,  and  dignity  of  the  sovereign  pontiff. 
Urban  in  turn,  declared  him  the  son  of  the 
Roman  church,  and  promised  him  his  aid  and 
council  to  maintain  him  on  the  throne  of  Italy. 

The  affairs  of  Lombardy  were  scarcely 
settled,  when  the  holy  father  received  letters 
from  Anselm,  the  metropolitan  of  Canterbury, 
who  informed  him  that  England  and  King 
William  the  Red,  recognized  him  as  the  law- 
ful pope,  and  rejected  his  competitor  Clement. 
In  the  joy  which  this  news  caused  him,  Urban 
immediately  nominated  legates  for  Great  Bri- 
tain, in  order  to  send  the  pallium  to  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  and  to  compliment  the 
English  monarch.  He  then  took  his  way 
towards  France,  went  up  the  Rhine  as  high  as 
Valence,  and  from  that  city  went  to  Puy-en- 
Velay,  where  he  celebrated  the  festival  of  the 
Assumption  of  Our  Lady,  and  where  he  pub- 
lished the  Bull  which  convoked  the  celebra- 
ted council  of  Clermont. 

Whilst  waiting  for  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion, the  holy  father  visited  Cluny,  near  to 
Macon,  where  he  had  been  a  monk.  He  con- 
secrated the  grand  altar  of  the  new  church  of 
the  monastery  :  and  on  the  same  day  caused 
three  other  altars  to  be  dedicated  by  Hugh,  the 
metropolitan  of  Lyons,  Daibert  of  Pisa,  and 
Bruno,  bishop  of  Seigni.  After  the  ceremony, 
Urban  delivered  the  following  discourse  to  the 
monks  in  the  presence  of  the  bishops  and  car- 
dinals :  '■'  Our  predecessors,  my  brethren,  have 
particularly  loved  and  protected  this  abbey, 
and  they  have  done  so  justly,  since  the  ^jious 
duke  William,  its  founder,  was  unwilling  that 
it  should  have  any  protectors  after  God,  but 
St.  Peter  and  his  successors.  I  am  by  the 
will  of  Providence,  of  this  number;  but  none 
of  those  who  have  preceded  me  on  the  apos- 
tolic chairj  has  honoured  this  place  by  his 
presence.  Christ  has  doubtless  reserved  this 
grace  for  me,  because  my  youth  flowed  by  in 
this  solitude,  and  I  have  returned  to  the  cell 
in  which  I  prayed  when  a  child,  and  I  avow 
that  the  wish  to  again  see  it  is  the  first  and 
principal  cause  of  my  journey  to  France  .  .  .  ." 
The  pope  granted  a  territorial  privilege  to 
Cluny  :  and  he  himself  marked  out  the  bounds 
within  which  it  was  prohibited  to  exercise 
violence,  pillage,  capture,  or  mutilation.  He 
then  went  to  the  council  of  Clermont,  where 
he  found  already  assembled,  four  hundred 
prelates  who  bore  the  cross,  and  thirteen  me- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


383 


tropolitans,  as  well  as  a  great  number  of  lords 
and  muiiks. 

The  lirst  sitting  was  held  on  the  18th  of 
November,  1095.  They  first  confirmed  ail 
the  decrees  which  the  pope  had  made  in  the 
synods  of  iMelfi,  Beneventnm,  Troyes,  and 
Placenza.  After  which  they  renewed  the 
proliibition  of  the  usurpation  of  the  property 
of  ecclesiastics  at  their  death;  they  decided 
that  their  wealth  should  be  reserved  for  the 
successors  in  their  dignities,  or  be  distributed 
in  pious  works,  as  was  provided  for  in  their 
last  wills.  They  also  prohibited  a  clergyman, 
who  h[id  not  been  a  deacon,  from  being  chosen 
archdeacon,  nor  who  had  not  been  a  priest, 
an  archpriest.  and  from  elevating  to  the  epis- 
copate those  who  had  not  been  deacons. 

They  also  established  as  a  rule,  that  curates 
could  never  have  two  prebends  in  two  differ- 
ent churches,  nor  two  dignities  in  the  same 
church;  they  decreed  that  no  one  could  take 
the  communion  without  receiving  separately 
the  eucharist  under  the  two  kinds,  bread  and 
wine  ;  and,  finally,  the  truce  of  God  was  con- 
firmed to  be  maintained  from  tlie  beginning 
of  Advent  to  the  Octave  of  the  Epiphany, 
from  Septuagisima  to  the  Octave  of  Pentecost. 
and  for  the  rest  of  the  year  during  Thurstlay, 
Friday.  Saturday,  and  Sunday,  in  each  week; 
it  was  declared  to  e.xist  for  ever  for  priests  and 
monk.s,  and  for  three  consecutive  years  for  far- 
mers and  merchants,  on  account  of  the  dearth 
of  provisions.  Urban  then  declared  -'the 
king  of  France  excommunicated,  as  well  as 
all  those  who  shall  call  him  king,  or  who 
shall  obey  him  while  he  remains  in  his  shame- 
ful sin." 

But  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  council,  and  that  whose  conse- 
quences were  the  most  baneful  for  the  nation, 
was  undoubtedly  the  publication  of  the  first 
crusade.  Before  investigating  the  secret  po- 
licy of  the  popes,  which  excited  the  fanati- 
cism of  the  people,  and  urged  them  on  to 
these  extravagant  expeditions,  in  which  mil- 
lions of  men  perished,  we  must  go  back  to 
the  first  cause  of  the  crusades  in  ortler  to  re- 
mark their  absurdity. 

Among  the  pilgrims  who,  about  the  year 
1093,  undertook  the  journey  to  the  Holy  Land, 
was  a  monk,  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  born  in 
the  city  of  Amiens,  in  Picardy,  nameil  Peter 
the  Hermit.  This  monk,  during  his  sojourn  at 
Jerusalem,  paid  several  visits  to  the  patriarch 
of  that  city,  who  gave  him  an  exau:2:erated 
account  of  the  evils  under  which  the  Christians 
of  Judea  laboured  from  the  sway  of  the  Mus- 
sulmen.  Peter,  ambitious  like  all  other  monks, 
seized  with  avidity  on  the  opportunity  which 
offered  itself  to  him,  of  acquiring  a  certain 
kind  of  importance,  and  promised  the  patri- 
arch to  ask  aid  from  the  pope  against  the 
iafi  leis. 

On  his  return  to  Italy,  he  presented  himself 
at  the  court  of  Rome,  which  he  found  fully 
disposed  to  second  his  views,  not  from  zeal  for 
religion,  but  from  secret  motives  of  policy, 
as  Urban  alnvidy  well  knew  all  the  advan- 
tages he  could  derive  from   an  expedition. 


which  was  to  take  the  lords  from  their  do- 
mains, and  leave  the  population  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  priests. 

One  historian,  Jovian,  affirms  that  Peter 
was  not  a  hermit;  that  he  never  was  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  that  he  was  in  the  whole  matter 
but  an  agent  of  the  Holy  See,  charijed  with 
the  successful  issue  of  the  knaveries  of  the 
pope.  "He  received."  adds  he,  "a  large 
amount  of  gold,  for  playing  the  part  which  he 
did  in  the  end,  and  for  depictmg,  in  emphatic 
terms,  the  piteous  slate,  in  order  to  lead  away 
senseless  persons  to  the  conquest  of  this  land 
of  Canaan,  which,  for  three  hundred  years, 
was  constantly  watered  by  the  blood  of  fanati- 
cal crusaders." 

Christianity  was  then  extinguished  in  the 
East;  the  Mussnlmen  had  already  conquered 
the  greater  part  of  Asia  jNIinor;  they  attacked 
the  pilgrims,  took  from  them  presents  destined 
for  the  holy  sepulchre,  and  constrained  them 
to  pay  a  ransom  to  retleem  themselves-  from 
slavery.  On  the  other  hand,  Alexis  Comne- 
nus,  seeing  his  capital  threatened  by  the  infi- 
dels, hail  sent  embassadors  to  Europe,  implo- 
ring the  aid  of  the  French,  Germans,  and 
English;  but  his  entreaties  had  been  treated 
with  contempt,  and  the  people  of  the  West 
refused  to  combat  for  the  cowardly  Comnenus. 
The  wily  Greek  then  turned  to  the  Holy  See, 
and  bound  himself  by  an  oath  to  recognize 
Urban  as  universal  bishop,  anil  to  submit  all 
the  churches  of  his  empire  to  him,  if  he  should 
determine  the  princes  of  the  West  to  make 
an  irruption  into  the  East.  The  bargain  was 
concluded,  and  the  intervention  of  Peter  the 
Hermit,  or  rather  the  intrigues  of  the  politic 
Urban,  led  to  the  council  of  Clermont. 

We  cite  as  a  model  of  furious  eloquence 
and  sublime  hypocrisy,  the  harangue  of  the 
holy  father  on  this  memorable  circumstance. 

"  We  are,  beyond  doubt,  happy  to  see  our 
presence  excite  acclamations  in  this  great  and 
illustrious  assembly;  but  we  cannot  conceal 
beneath  the  appearances  of  deceitful  joy,  the 
marks  of  profound  sadness;  and  your  hearts 
will  see  in  bitterness,  and  your  eyes  will  shed 
torrents  of  tears,  when  you  regard  with  me, 
my  brethren,  the  misfortunes  of  Christianity, 
and  our  negligence  of  the  faithful  of  the  East. 

'•  Thanks  be  to  God,  we  have  almost  entirely 
extirpated  the  heresy  which  desolated  the 
Western  church ;  we  have  exterminated  ob- 
stinate schismatics  by  fire  or  sword;  we  have 
reformed  the  abuses  and  augmented  the  do- 
mains and  riches  of  the  Holy  See.  Notwith- 
standing this  success  our  soul  remains  plunged 
in  sailuess,  and  we  declare  to  you  that  we 
will  taste  of  no  repose  until  the  implacable 
enemies  of  the  Christian  name  shall  be  driven 
from  the  holy  land,  which  they  outrage  by 
their  impious  and  .sacrilegious  conduct. 

"  Yes,  dear  brethren,  Jeru.salem.  the  city 
of  God,  that  heritage  of  Christ,  which  has 
been  bequeathed  to  us  by  the  Saviour,  that 
venerated  land,  in  which  all  the  divine  myste- 
ries have  been  accomplished,  has  been  for 
several  centuries  in  the  sacrilegious  hands  of 
the  Siiraceas  and  Turks,  who  triumph  over 


384 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


God  himself.  Who  can  tell  the  horrible  pro- 
fanations which  they  commit  in  these  holy 
places  1  They  have  overthrown  the  altars, 
broken  the  crosses,  destroyed  the  churches ; 
and  if  in  their  rage  they  have  spared  the  church 
of  St.  Sepulchre,  it  was  only  from  a  sentiment 
of  avarice,  for  they  have  speculated  on  the 
devotion  of  the  faithful,  who  go  from  all  parts 
of  the  world  to  the  divine  tomb.  They  exact 
a  ransom  from  pilgrims  to  permit  them  to 
penetrate  into  the  holy  places ;  they  then 
despoil  them,  when  they  permit  to  go  away, 
and  even  attack  them  when  they  regain  their 
vessels ;  in  order  to  seize  on  their  persons  and 
reduce  them  to  the  harshest  slavery. 

"  And  we,  children  of  Christ,  contemplate 
the  massacre  of  our  brethren  coldly  and  with- 
out indignation  ;  we  appear  indifferent  to  out- 
rages which  the  barbarians  commit  on  God  ; 
we  abandon  quietly  to  them  an  heritage  which 
belongs  to  us  alone  ;  we  allow  them  peace- 
fully to  enjoy  a  conquest  which  is  the  shame 
of  all  Christendom,  and  we  remain  their  tribu- 
taries without  daring  to  claim  our  rights  by 
force  of  arms. 

'•  Christians,  however,  do  not  shun  battle, 
since  almost  all  Europe  is  tilmost  constantly 
at  war;  but  the  swords  which  should  extermi- 
nate the  enemies  of  Christ  are  drawn  against 
himself  and  strike  his  sacred  members.  How 
long  will  you  leave  the  Mussulmen  masters 
of  the  East  1  Arise  from  your  lethargy,  which 
has  destroyed  our  holy  religion  "?  A  single 
one  of  our  armies  could  easily  triumph  over 
the  infidel ;  but  our  quarrels  and  intestine 
wars  constantly  decimate  us  and  add  strength 
to  our  foes.  What  great  things  we  could  ac- 
complish if  the  princes  of  the  West  were  not 
obliged  to  keep  their  troops  about  them  in 
order  to  defend  them  from  the  attacks  of  their 
neighbours,  and  if  the  Spirit  of  God  would 
unite  our  efforts  in  so  beautiful  an  enterprise! 
We  hojie  that  he  will  lend  eloquence  to  our 
words,  and  will  descend  into  your  hearts  that 
you  may  comprehend  this  important  truth. 

*•  We  have  chosen  from  preference  this 
most  Christian  kingdom  to  give  an  e.xample  to 
other  people,  because  we  recollect  that  it  was 
your  ancestors,  the  Franks,  who  exhibited  so 
great  a  zeal  for  religion,  and  because  we  hoped 
you  would  reply  to  the  voice  of  God  and  draw 
all  Europe  in  your  steps.  The  people  of  the 
Gauls  have  already  been  formidable  adversa- 
ries to  the  Huns,  the  African  Moors  and  the 
Arabs;  already  under  the  leading  of  Charles 
Martel  and  of  Charlemagne,  have  they  exter- 
minated armies  of  infidels  more  numerous 
than  thi^  sands  of  the  sea ;  now  your  legions 
will  be  still  more  terrible,  your  victories  more 
brilliant,  because  you  will  combat  under  the 
standard  of  the  God  of  armies,  who  sends  you 
to  conquer  the  heritage  of  his  Son,  and  who 
orders  you  to  drive  the  infidels  from  the  holy 
sepulchre. 

"Follow,  intrepid  Franks,  the  chief  who 
calls  you  to  the  succour  of  religion,  to  the  suc- 
cour of  your  brethren  of  the  East,  to  the  suc- 
cour of  Christ  himself !  See  that  divine  Saviour 
who  sallied  forth  victorious  over  the  world,  | 


death,  and  hell ;  he  i^  now  a  slave  to  the  Sara- 
cens ;  he  presents  to  you  his  cross  ;  he  gives 
it  to  you  as  the  sacred  emblem  under  which 
you  are  to  conquer  his  enemies  and  acquire 
eternal  glory.  Do  not  forget  that  Cod,  by  my 
mouth,  promises  you  the  victory  and  abandons 
to  you  the  rich  spoils  of  the  infidels.  Those 
who  shall  shed  their  blood  in  this  sacred  war, 
shall  receive  the  ineffable  crown  of  martyr- 
dom ;  if,  however,  fear  of  death  .  .  .  ."  Ur- 
ban was  about  to  continue,  when  he  was  in- 
terrupted by  a  general  uproar;  the  assistants 
shed  tears,  struck  their  breasts,  raised  their 
eyes  and  hands  to  heaven,  all  exclaiming  to- 
gether, "  Let  us  march,  God  wills  it !  God 
wdlls  it !" 

The  pope  taking  advantage  of  this  emotion, 
rose  from  his  throne,  extended  his  hand  as  if 
to  demand  silence,  and  added,  "  What  more 
magnificent  expression  of  the  divine  will  can 
there  be  than  these  simple  words,  '  God  wills 
it,'  issuing  simultaneously  from  every  mouth. 
Dear  children,  you  have  followed  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  we  receive  this 
revelation  as  an  oracle  which  guarantees  the 
success  of  a  war  which  God  himself  comes  to 
declare.  Let  this  sublime  expression  be  the 
device  of  the  army ;  let  us  engrave  it  on  our 
standards  and  our  breasts,  that  it  may  become 
the  cry  of  soldiers  and  chiefs  in  combat.  Yes, 
God  wills  it  !  Let  us  march  to  the  holy  sepul- 
chre; let  us  go  to  deliver  Christ,  and  until  the 
blessed  day  on  which  we  restore  him  to  liberty, 
let  us  carry  like  him,  on  our  right  shoulders^ 
the  holy  cross,  on  which  he  expired  to  snatch 
us  from  the  slavery  of  sin." 

The  holy  father  then  declared,  that  the  truce 
of  God  decreed  by  the  council  should  last  for 
the  Crusaders  during  the  whole  expedition, 
and  that  before  their  return  from  the  Holy 
Land  they  should  not  be  attacked  either  in 
goods  or  person;  he  freed  them  from  all  the 
penalties  against  them,  and  granted  to  them 
unlimited  indulgences  for  all  the  robberies 
and  murders  they  had  committed.  He  ap- 
pointed as  apostolic  legate  of  the  crusade, 
Aymar  de  Monteil,  bishop  of  Puy,  a  prelate 
of  consummate  prudence,  of  heroic  courage, 
and  who  had  made  the  fervour  of  his  zeal 
conspicuous  by  being  the  first  of  all  in  the 
council  to  ask  for  the  cross,  and  permission  to 
devote  himself  to  the  service  of  Christianity. 
Finally,  the  pontiff,  on  dismissing  the  assem- 
bly, ordered  all  ecclesiastics  every  where  to 
preach  the  crusade  for  the  deliverance  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Urban  thus  concealing  his  ambitious  views 
beneath  the  veil  of  religion,  excited  the  fanati- 
cism of  the  people  of  the  West,  and  promptly 
brought  together  an  army  of  six  hundred  thou- 
sand foot  and  one  hundred  thousand  horse- 
men. "Then,"  says  Bsovius,  "men  went  in 
crowds,  without  distinction  of  age  or  condi- 
tion, after  the  princes  who  departed  on  the  cru- 
sade ;  women  even  exhibited  an  ardour  alto- 
gether martial,  and  an  Amazonian  intrepidity; 
miracles  were  not  wanting  to  the  priests  in 
order  to  deceive  the  simplicity  of  the  faithful, 
to  urge  them  into  the  Levant,  where  they  died 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


385 


by  thousands,  through  famine  or  the  pesti- 
lence." This  periodj  adds  the  historian,  has 
been  more  fertile  in  superstitions  than  any 
other;  but  independently  of  the  religious 
motives  which  led  so  many  men  of  honest 
faith,  ihe  greatest  part  of  the  Croises  only 
vent  into  Asia  from  love  of  pillage,  and  be- 
cause there  was  nothing  more  to  pillage  in 
their  own  country. 

Albert  also  affirms,  that  these  bands  of 
Croises  were  composed  of  perjurers,  adulter- 
ers, incestuous  persons,  thieves,  and  assas- 
sins; and  that  with  them  pillage  was  the  true 
end  of  this  holy  expedition.  William  of 
Tyre,  the  monk  Guibert  and  the  Jesuit  Maim- 
burg  avow  that  they  resembled  an  army  of 
brigands.  Finally,  Bayle  exclaims:  "Who 
will  dare  maintain  that  these  monsters,  who 
exhibited  so  much  ardour  for  the  Holy  Land, 
were  the  flower  of  Christendom  1  Could  those 
wretches  who  abandoned  their  country,  their 
wives  and  their  children,  to  go  and  fight 
against  the  infidels,  be  called  the  soldiers  of 
Christ?  No,  for  those  hypocrites  \\ho  pre- 
tendetPto  see  angels  and  saints  at  the  head  of 
their  armies,  were  but  pillagers  and  assassins ; 
they  violated  women,  deflowered  young  girls, 
and  murdered  those  who  granted  them  hos- 
pitality. The  cruelty  and  depravity  of  those 
barbarians  were  so  great,  that  the  Christians 
of  Asia  whom  the)'  went  to  succour,  evinced 
more  fear  at  their  approach  than  at  the  arri- 
val of  Turks  and  Saracens.  The  crusades 
are  assuredly  the  most  hideous  pages  of  the 
history  of  Christianity.  .  .  ." 

Whilst  the  emissaries  of  the  Holy  See  were 
traversing  all  Christian  kingdoms,  preaching 
the  crusade,  the  pope  was  traversing  France, 
assembling  councils,  selling  privileges,  dis- 
tributing indulgences,  and  promising  the 
honours  of  martyrdom  to  all  the  faithful. 
Finally,  he  fixed  the  period  of  departure  for 
Jerusalem,  on  the  day  of  the  Assumption  in 
the  same  year,  1096. 

Urban  then  came  to  Tours ;  he  catechized 
the  people  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  number  of  bishops  and 
lords,  among  whom  was  Foulk,  count  of 
Anjou.  He  also  held  a  council  of  the  bishops 
of  the  province,  and  di-^missed  them  on  the 
fourth  Sunday  in  Lent,  after  a  solemn  proces- 
sion, in  which  he  appeared  in  a  crown  of 
thorns,  according  to  the  custom  at  Eome.  In 
this  ceremony,  the  count  of  Anjou  received 
the  golden  rose  which  the  popes  were  accus- 
tomed to  bless  on  that  day.  No  trace  of  this 
practice  is  found  previous  to  that  century.  It 
consisted  in  consecrating  a  ro.se  which  was 
full  of  musk  and  balm,  and  ofTerinfr  it  after 
the  ceremony  to  a  prince  or  lord  whom  the 
Holy  See  wished  to  honour.  The  pontiff  also 
visited  Poictiers,  Saintes,  Bordeaux,  iVIairuel- 
lonne  and  Nismes,  where  he  also  convoked  a 
council. 

Finally,  the  day  of  departure  for  the  holy 
land  having  arrived,  the  armies  of  the  Croises 
began  to  move  on  all  points;  the  first  troop 
was  commanded  by  Walter  the  Penniless, 
whose  surname  sufficiently  informs  us  of  the 

Vol.  L  2Y 


true  motive  of  his  ardour  for  the  crusade.  He 
departed  on  the  8th  of  March,  1096,  with  a 
multitude  of  persons  clothed  in  rags,  and  on 
foot  like  himself.  They  took  the  route  through 
Germany  and  stopped  at  Mayence  and  Co- 
logne. '-'They  there  committed  so  many  hor- 
rors and  atrocities,"  says  the  monk  Guibert, 
''  that  the  citizens  barricaded  themselves  in 
their  houses  to  escape  from  the  barbarity  of 
these  monsters.  Mothers  become  furious, 
murdered  the  infants  whom  they  nourished; 
husbands  poinarded  their  wives,  and  young 
people  put  them.selves  to  death,  to  avoid  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  those  merciless  fanatics 
who  bore  the  cross  on  the  shoulder." 

These  first  bands  were  followed  by  forty 
thousand  vagabonds,  led  by  Peter  the  Hermit, 
and  recruited  in  France  or  on  the  borders  of 
Germany.  A  monk,  named  Gondescale,  went 
by  the  way  of  Hungary,  having  as  his  train 
an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  pillagers.  They 
committed  so  many  atrocities  by  the  way, 
that  the  exasperated  inhabitants  rose  in  mass 
and  massacred  them  to  the  last  man.  Rut 
this  gallant  nation  was  .soon  exterminated  by 
two  hundred  thousand  bandits,  who  fell  upon 
its  cities  and  plains. 

Urban  returned  to  Italy,  escorted  by  a  troop 
of  French  Croises,  who  had  at  their  head 
Robert,  duke  of  Normandy,  and  Stephen, 
count  of  Blois.  By  their  aid  the  pontiff  en- 
tered Rome  in  triumph,  and  drove  the  parti- 
zans  of  the  anti-pope  Guibert  from  the  fort- 
resses which  they  occupied,  excepting  the 
castle  of  San  Angelo,  which  remained  alone 
in  the  power  of  the  enemy.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  troops  of  the  countess  Matilda 
drove  the  army  of  Henry  out  of  Lombaidy, 
and  forced  it  to  fall  back  on  Germany. 

Whilst  the  pope  was  thus  labouring  to  con- 
solidate his  sway  in  Italy,  the  crusaders  em- 
barked for  Constantinople.  The  ambitious 
Bohemond,  the  son  of  Robert  Guiscard,  duke  of 
Apulia,  cherished  the  hope  of  conquering  for 
himself  the  Greek  empire,  and  of  availing 
himself  of  the  crusades  to  assure  his  entry 
into  Constantinople.  He  asked  permission 
from  the  emperor  Alexis  for  .seven  thousand 
Knights  to  cross  his  states.  U^rban  was  charged 
by  the  prince  with  the  negotiation  ;  but  the 
emperor  who  had  already  been  informed  of 
the  acts  of  brigandage  committed  by  the 
Croises  on  their  route,  and  of  the  plans  of  the 
ambitious  Bohemond,  a  crafty,  implacable, 
and  hypoi^ritical  man,  conducted  himself  so 
pruilently  in  his  intercourse  with  them,  that 
the  leaders  of  the  Western  Christians  found  it 
impossible  to  favour  the  designs  of  Bohemond. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  troops,  Alexis  was 
careful  to  send  officers  who  established  im- 
mense markets  and  furnished  an  abundance 
of  provisions  to  the  soldiery  to  prevent  their 
pillaging.  He  attached  to  every  corps,  inter- 
preters who  understood  the  Roman  tongue, 
which  was  then  beginning  to  become  the 
common  languageof  the  Gauls;  he  instructed 
them  to  put  an  end  to  any  differences  which 
might  break  out  between  the  Franks  and  the 
Greek  population,  with  the  express  recom- 
33 


386 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


mendation  not  to  spare  money,  to  place  all 
his  ships  at  the  dispo.sal  of  the  crusaders,  and 
to  heap  great  marks  of  honour  on  all  the  lea- 
ders. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  wise  precautions, 
the  crusaders  sacked  the  environs  of  Constan- 
tinople, burned  the  dwellings,  massacred  the 
cultivators,  forced  the  convents  of  the  nuns, 
and.  in  their  thirst  for  pillage,  tore  even  the 
leaden  roofs  from  the  churches  to  sell  them 
to  the  Jews. 

Anna  Comnena,  the  daughter  of  the  em- 
peror, relates,  that  Peter  the  Hermit  was  one 
of  the  most  cruel  and  rapacious  of  the  leaders 
of  the  crusade.  "His  soldiers,"  adds  the  his- 
torianess,  -''committed  such  frightful  atroci- 
ties in  the  environs  of  Nice,  that  the  other 
crusaders  were  indignant  at  them.  '  They 
cut  children  to  pieces  to  eat  them  in  stews ; 
they  placed  them  on  spits  and  roasted  them 
alive ;  they  forced  the  mothers  of  these  vic- 
tims to  drink  the  blood  which  flowed  from 
their  bodies;  they  assuaged  their  brutality  on 
these  unfortunate  females  and  then  murdered 
them.  Finally,  they  outraged  nature  -with 
young  people,  and  then  hung  them  up  by  the 
hair,  or  the  beard,  and  amused  themselves 
with  cutting  off  their  arms  or  their  legs  by  a 
single  blow  of  the  sword '  " 

Several  French  lords,  eaten  up  by  ambition, 
joined  the  army  of  the  crusaders,  in  hopes 
of  placing  a  royal  crown  on  their  brow,  and 
concealed  their  projects  under  an  hypocritical 
mask.  Anna  Comnena  thus  expresses  her- 
self concerning  them. 

''  Hugh  the  Great,  the  brother  of  the  king 
of  France,  was  very  proud  of  his  birth  ;  before 
his  departure,  he  wrote  to  the  emperor  Alexis, 
'  Prince,  you  are  invited  to  come  with  pomp 
and  magnilicence  to  meet  me ;  for  know,  that 
I  am  the  king  of  kings,  and  the  greatest  prince 
under  heaven.'  Our  skilful  emperor,  after 
having  read  this  letter,  sent  orders  to  John, 
the  son  of  Isaac,  the  governor  of  Durazzo,  and 
to  Nicholas  Maurocatocalan,  who  commanded 
the  fieet  to  watch,  in  order  to  apprize  him  of 
the  arrival  of  the  French  prince. 

As  soon  as  Hugh  reached  Lombardy,  he 
sent  to  Durazzo  twenty-four  embassadors, 
covered  with  cuirasses  and  cuisses  of  gold,  to 
prepare  lodgings  for  his  train.  They  said  to 
the  governor,  '•'  Know,  duke,  that  our  master, 
Hugh  the  Great,  is  about  to  arrive  in  this  city, 
having  taken  the  standard  of  St.  Peter  at 
Rome.  He  is  the  generalissimo  of  the  army 
of  the  Franks;  prepare,  then,  to  receive  him 
in  a  manner  suitable  to  his  dignity,  and  to 
vender  him  the  honours  he  deserves,  or  you 
will  have  to  dread  the  power  of  his  arms." 

Such  were  the  soldiers  and  leaders  whom 
the  policy  of  Rome  pushed  into  the  East.  This 
war  of  extermination  was  only  profitable  to 
the  Holy  See  and  the  clergy,  who  took  under 
their  protection  the  domains  of  the  crusaders, 
and  seized  on  their  revenues  in  their  capacity 
of  tutors  or  curators  of  the  widows,  pupils  and 
minors.  The  Jesuit  Maimburg,  always  so 
devoted  to  the  court  of  Rome,  admits,  how- 
ever, that  it  augmented  hs  wealth  prodigiously 


by  the  spoils  of  the  crusaders.  He  relates 
that  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  pledged  all  his  patri- 
mony in  order  to  obtain  the  sums  necessary  to 
equip  the  troops  whom  he  led  to  the  Holy 
Land.  "He  sold,"  adds  the  historian,  "his 
countships  of  Bouillon  and  Ardennes  to  Au- 
bert,  bishop  of  Liege,  whose  successors  re- 
mained possessors  of  them.  Richer,  bishop 
of  Verdun,  also  availed  himself  of  the  crusades 
to  purchase  the  city  and  castle  of  Stenay, 
with  their  dependencies  and  all  the  other  do- 
mains which  the  brother  of  Godfrey  surren- 
dered to  that  lord.  Thus,  whilst  secular 
princes  were  impoverishing  themselves  to 
serve  Christ,  churchmen  took  advantage  of 
the  religious  enthusiasm  to  enrich  themselves 
with  their  spoils " 

An  incredible  number  of  crusaders  perished 
miserably  in  Palestine,  or  were  massacred  by 
the  infidel ;  some  bodies  of  them,  better  dis- 
ciplined, or  better  led,  alone  arrived  at  Jeru- 
salem, on  which  they  seized,  after  having 
suffered  all  the  horrors  of  pestilence  and  fa- 
mine. 

Urban  continued  his  intrigues  in  Italy^push- 
ed  on  Roger,  duke  of  Apulia,  the  son  of  Robert 
Guiscard,  into  a  war  with  his  uncle  Roger, 
tluke  of  Calabria  and  count  of  Sicily  ;  he  even 
came  beneath  the  walls  of  Capua  to  confer 
with  him  on  the  means  of  assuring  their  sway 
forever  in  the  peninsula ;  but  on  the  news  that 
their  enemy  was  at  Salerno  with  imposing 
forces,  he  betra)-ed  his  new  ally,  and  made  a 
treaty  with  the  count  of  Sicily,  whom  he  ap- 
pointed legate  of  the  Holy  See,  although  he 
was  a  layman.  This  remarkable  act  conferred 
on  Roger  and  his  successors  a  kind  of  royal 
theocracy  over  Sicily;  the  following  is  its 
tenor : — "  Count,  in  gratitude  for  the  services 
you  have  rendered  the  church  by  your  valour 
in  extending  the  sway  of  the  popes  over  the 
land  taken  from  the  Saracens,  and  particular- 
ly to  recompense  the  devotion  which  you 
have  always  manifested  to  the  Holy  See,  we 
give  to  you  and  your  heirs,  the  power  of  go- 
verning, in  the  name  of  St.  Peter,  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  affairs  of  Sicily."  One  author 
alone,  Hamelot  de  la  Houssaye,  has  maintained 
that  this  decretal  is  apochryphal ;  but  all  other 
historians,  and  among  them,  monks  and 
priests,  have  recognized  its  authenticity,  and 
relate  that  it  was  subscribed  by  Urban  the 
Second,  on  the  5th  of  July,  1098,  in  the  city 
of  Salerno. 

Thus,  an  infallible  pope  declared  that  it  was 
not  necessary  to  be  an  ecclesiastic  in  order  to 
have  the  right  of  governing  the  churches  of  a 
kingdom,  and  of  representing  the  Holy  See ; 
that  is  to  say,  of  ordaining  bishops,  presiding 
over  councils,  anathematizing  priests,  and  re- 
ceiving the  offerings  and  tithes  which  super- 
stition wienches  from  ignorant  and  credulous 
people.  A  pontiff  has  thus  sanctioned  the  here- 
ditary transmission  of  this  unlimited  power, 
and  as  the  states  of  Sicily  do  not  recognize 
the  Salic  law,  he  has  given  to  females  the 
right  to  be  at  once  queens  and  popes;  and  the 
in'contestable  proof  that  this  right  was  conse- 
crated by  Urban  is,  that  the  ancient  manu- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


337 


scripts  of  the  sLxteenth  century  recognize  Jane 
the  Simple  by  the  title  of  most  blessed;  and 
most  sanctified  holy  father.  "  During  this 
century,"  says  Sismondi,  "there  were  four 
pontifTs  and  four  sacred  colleges  in  Christen- 
dom. One  pope  was  seated  at  Rome,  another 
ai  Constantinople,  a  popess  in  Sicily,  and  a 
popess  in  England." 

Whilst  the  holy  father  was  at  Salerno,  the 
faction  of  Guibert  rose  up  again  in  Rome, 
and  was  soon  sufficiently  powerful  openly  to 
hold  a  council,  at  which  eight  cardinals,  four 
bishops,  six  priests,  and  a  great  number  of 
deacons  and  monks  a.ssisted.  Urban  was  so- 
lemnly anathematized  by  the  fathers,  who 
made  this  tlecree  :  "  We  are  unwilling  to  leave 
the  faithful  hi  ignorance,  that  we  have  assem- 
bled in  council  to  destroy  the  heresies  intro- 
duced into  the  church  by  the  monk  Hilde- 
brand  and  the  imitators  of  his  policy.  We 
consequently  publish  the  condemnation  of 
Pope  Urban,  and  of  all  who  recognize  him. 
We,  however,  permit  the  guilty  to  plead  their 
cause  before  us,  promising  them,  even  though 
they  should  be  condemned,  entire  safety  for 
their  persons  until  the  festival  of  All  Saints, 
because  we  do  not  thirst  for  blood,  and  sin- 
cerely desire  peace,  truth,  and  unity  in  the 
church."  This  was  the  last  effort  of  the  party 
of  the  anti-pope.  Urban,  on  his  return,  dis- 
persed his  enemies. 

During  the  following  year,  the  pontiff  con- 
vened a  general  synod  in  the  church  of  the 
Lateran,  to  the  canonization  of  St.  Nicholas 
Peregrini.  One  might  be  surprised  to  find 
saints  in  this  age  of  corruption ;  but  if  we 
study  the  history  of  the  church,  we  will  dis- 
cover that  saints,  like  miracle.s,  have  been 
most  numerous  in  proportion  as  ignorance  and 
superstition  have  been  most  profound.  Bi- 
zancus,  the  metropolitan  of  Trany,  presented 
to  the  fathers,  according  to  custom,  the  rela- 
tion of  the  pious  acts  and  prodigies  performed 
by  Nicholas  Peregrini,  and  the  pope  made 
the  following  decree :  "  We  place  in  the  cata- 
logue of  saints  the  venerable  Nicholas,  sur- 
named  Peregrini,  and  we  order  that  he  be 


honoured  by  the  church."  By  virtue  of  this 
decision,  the  Archbishop  Bizancus  erected  a 
church  in  honour  of  the  new  saint,  and  sold 
his  relics  to  a  community  of  monks,  who  ex- 
posed them  to  the  veneration  of  the  faithful, 
and  made  use  of  them  to  extort  offerings  and 
money  from  devotees. 

The  assembly  then  received  a  deputation 
of  monks  from  the  abbey  of  Molesme,  who 
came  to  accuse  Robert,  their  abbot,  of  having 
abandoned  them  in  order  to  retire  with  some 
fanatics  to  a  place  called  Cisterium  in  Latin, 
and  Citeaux  in  the  Roman  tongue,  w  hich  was 
five  leagues  from  Dijon,  which  was  a  desert 
covered  with  woods  and  rocks.  They  had 
commenced  clearing  it.  having  dug  out  some 
cells  in  a  rock,  and  having  then  built  some 
others  with  branches  of  trees,  covered  with 
thatch.  Robert  gradually  increased  the  num- 
ber of  his  monks ;  and,  authorized  by  Eudes 
of  Burgundy  and  the  archbishop  of  Lyons,  he 
built  a  church,  which  was  solemnly  conse- 
crated on  Palm  Sunday,  in  the  year  1099,  the 
day  of  St.  Benedict.  Such  was  the  foundation 
of  the  celebrated  abbey  of  Citeaux. 

The  monks  of  Molesme  claimed  their  holv 
abbot,  whose  absence  caused  notable  preju- 
dice to  their  convent ;  and  they  obtained  a 
decree  which  declared  Robert  deprived  of  his 
title  of  abbot,  if  he  refused  to  return  to  his 
old  monastery.  Robert  consequently  returned 
to  Molesme,  and  the  new  monks  of  Citeaux 
were  compelled  to  proceed  to  an  election  to 
replace  him. 

After  the  termination  of  this  council,  chro- 
nicles make  no  further  mention  of  the  acts  of 
Urban.  We  only  know  that  he  died  on  the 
29th  of  July,  1099. 

Pride,  avarice,  ambition  and  hypocrisy  form- 
ed the  character  of  Urban.  He  walked  in 
the  footsteps  of  Hildebrand;  and,  although  he 
did  not  possess  the  energy  and  talents  of 
that  monk,  he  knew  how,  however,  by  means 
of  a  perfidious  policj',  to  re-establish  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  See,  which  the  pride 
of  Gregory  the  Seventh  had  strongly  compro- 
mised. 


388 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


THE      TWELFTH    CENTURY. 

PASCAL   THE   SECOND,   THE   ONE   HUNDRED    AND   SIXTY- 
FIFTH   POPE. 

Character  of  the  ttcelfth  century — The  origin  of  Pascals-Election  of  a  pontiff — Conquests  of  the 
crusaders — Consequences  of  the  schisrn  caused  by  the  anti-pojie  Guibert  and  the  emperor  Henry 
— Quarrel  about  the  investitures — Councils  of  Poictiers  and  Rome — Letter  of  the  pope  to  the 
metropolitan  of  Guesne — Nciv  council  at  Rome — The  countess  Matilda  reneivs  the  act  of  do- 
nation of  her  property  to  the  Holy  See — Reply  of  Ives  of  Chartrcs  to  the  complaints  made 
against  him — Revolt  of  young  Henry  against  his  father — Henry  the  Fourth  makes  his  sub- 
mission to  the  Holy  See-^Infamous  letter  of  the  pope — Rejily  of  the  clergy  of  Liege — Prepa- 
rations for  a  neiv  crusade — The  pontiff"  goes  to  France — The  Eastern  church — Quarrels  between 
the  pope  and  king  of  Germany — The  pope  is  made  prisoner — Revolt  of  the  Romans — Pascal 
grants  the  investitures — He  is  set  at  liberty — Coronation  of  the  emperor — The  pope  is  accused 
of  heresy — He  wishes  to  renounce  the  pontificate — Councils  of  the  Lateran,  of  Ceperan.  and 
of  Beauvais — Neic  seditions  against  the  pope — The  emperor  enters  Rome  at  the  head  of  an 
army — The  pope  flies — His  death — His  character. 


The  history  of  the  church  in  the  twelfth 
century  affords  a  long  train  of  horrible  crimes 
and  infamous  corruptions.  Cardinal  Baronius, 
the  zealous  defender  of  the  popes,  himself 
avows,  that  it  appeared  as  if  antichrist  then 
governed  Christendom.  St.  Bernard,  who 
lived  in  these  deplorable  time,s,  wrote  to  Gan- 
frid  :  "Having  had  for  some  days  the  happi- 
ness of  seeing  the  pious  Nobert,  and  of 
listening  to  some  words  from  his  mouth,  I 
asked  him  what  were  his  thoughts  with  re- 
gard to  antichrist.  He  replied  to  me  that  this 
generation  would  certainly  be  exterminated 
by  the  enemy  of  God  and  of  men;  for  his 
reign  had  commenced." 

Bernard  de  Morlaix,  a  monk  of  Cluny. 
their  contemporary,  also  wrote  :  "The  golden 
ages  are  past;  pure  souls exi.st  no  longer;  we 
live  in  the  last  times;  fraud,  impurity,  rapine, 
schisms,  quarrels,  wars,  treasons,  incests,  and 
inurders,  desolate  the  church.  Rome  is  the 
impure  city  of  the  hunter  Nimrod  ;  piet)'  and 
religion  have  deserted  its  walls.  Alas !  the 
pontiff,  or  rather  the  king,  of  this  odious 
Babylon,  tramples  under  foot  the  Gospels  and 
Christ,  and  causes  himself  to  be  adored  as  a 
God." 

Finally,  Honorius,  the  priest  of  Antron,  ex- 
pressed himself  with  still  more  energy  con- 
cerning the  clergy.  "Behold,"  cried  he, 
"  these  bishops  and  cardinals  of  Rome  !  the.se 
worthy  ministers  who  surround  the  throne  of 
the  Beast !  They  are  constantly  occupied 
with  new  iniquities,  and  never  cease  commit- 
ting crimes.  Not  only  do  these  wretches 
abandon  themselves  to  all  kinds  of  depravity 
with  young  deacons,  but  they  even  wish  to 
oblige  the  clergy  of  the  provinces  to  imitate 
them.  Thus,  in  all  the  churches,  the  priests 
neglect  divine  service,  soil  the  priesthood  by 
their  impurities;  deceive  the  people  by  their 
hypocrisy;  deny  God  by  their  works;  render 
themselves  the  scandal  of  nations,'  and  forge 
a  chain  of  iniquities  to  bind  men.  These  are 
the  blind  who  precipitate  themselves  into  the 
abyss,  and  drag  with  them  the  simple  ones 
who  follow  them. 


"  Look  also  at  those  monks  !  Knavery  and 
hypocrisy  shelter-  themselves  beneath  their 
cowls ;  the  frock  covers  every  vice  :  gorman- 
dizing, cupidity,  avarice,  luxury,  and  sodomy. 
Examine  also  those  convents  of  nuns.  The 
Beast  has  made  his  bed  in  those  dormitories, 
all  of  whose  couches  are  defiled  by  the  most 
horrid  debauchery.  These  abominable  girls 
no  longer  choose  the  Virgin  for  their  model; 
they  take  Phryna  and  Messalina:  they  no 
longer  prostrate  themselves  before  Christ,  but 
before  an  idol  of  Priapus.  The  reign  of  God 
has  finished,  and  that  of  antichrist  has  com- 
menced ;  a  new  law  has  replaced  the  old ; 
scholastic  theology  has  sallied  from  the  depths 
of  hell  to  strangle  religion;  finall)^,  there  are 
no  longer  morality,  tenets,  nor  worships — and 
lo  !  the  last  times  announced  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse have  come  !  .  ." 

Pascal  the  Second  was  worthy  to  occupy 
the  apostolic  throne  at  this  deplorable  pe- 
riod. Before  he  was  pope,  he  was  called 
Rainerius,  or  Regnerus.  Italy  was  his  coun- 
try, and  his  father  dwelt  at  Bleda,  in  Tus- 
cany, eight  leagues  from  Rome.  In  his  child- 
hood he  had  been .  sent  to  the  abbey  of 
Cluny,  to  be  instructed  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, where  he  afterwards  embraced  the 
ecclesiastical  state.  At  the  age  of  twenty, 
he  was  sent  by  his  community  to  Rome,  to 
treat  of  an  important  matter  with  the  pope. 
Gregory  the  Seventh,  who  was  then  reigning, 
surprised  at  the  address  and  tenacity  of  the 
young  monk,  wished  to  retain  him  at  his 
court,  and  attached  him  to  his  person  in  the 
capacity  of  scribe.  Some  time  afterwards, 
he  ordained  him  a  cardinal  priest ;  and  finally 
the  young  Rainerius  became  abbot  of  St. 
Paul's  during  the  pontificate  of  Urban  the 
Second. 

After  the  death  of  that  pope,  the  cardinals, 
bishops,  other  ecclesiastics  and  notables  of 
the  city,  having  assembled  in  the  church  of 
St.  Clement,  to  proceed  to  a  new  election, 
chose  the  cardinal  Rainerius  unanimously. 
The  latter,  in  accordance  with  the  custom  of 
the  successors  of  the  apostle,  immediately 


HISTORY   OF  THE   POPES, 


389 


escaped  from  the  church,  iu  order  to  be 
brought  back  in  triumph  to  the  assembly. 
The  prothonotary  of  St.  Peter  cried  out  three 
times — "Pascal  is  pope  !"  and  the  assistants 
replied  by  the  same  acclamations.  They 
then  clothed  him  with  a  scarlet  cape  and  the 
tiara,  and  conducted  him  on  horseback  to  the 
southern  door  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran. 

He  then  dismounted,  walked  up  the  steps 
of  the  porch,  and  entered  the  saloon  in  which 
were  the  two  porphyry  chairs.  A  girdle  was 
then  fastened  round  him,  to  which  were  at- 
tached seven  keys  and  seven  seals,  which 
indicated  the  seven  spiritual  gifts,  by  which 
the  pope  could  bind  or  loose  in  heaven.  He 
was  then  placed  alternately,  and  half  reclin- 
ing, on  each  of  the  seats ;  and  when  all  the 
proofs  were  gone  through,  the  pastoral  baton 
was  given  to  him,  and  he  took  possession  of 
the  apostolic  throne.  On  the  ne.\t  day,  Pascal 
was  consecrated  by  Otho,  bishop  of  Ostia,  as- 
sisted by  four  prelates. 

Berthold  affirms,  that  his  election  was  mi- 
raculous and  divine,  and  that  it  was  revealed 
in  several  visions  to  a  large  number  of  eccle- 
siastics and  monks.  Some  months  after  his 
election,  the  holy  father  received  a  letter  from 
Palestine,  which  was  addressed  to  all  the 
faithful,  and  in  which  the  crusaders  gave  a 
detailed  recital  of  their  conquests,  from  the 
capture  of  Nice  to  that  of  Jerusalem.  Pascal 
wrote  them  a  long  letter,  in  which  he  dwelt 
principally  on  the  discovery  of  the  holy  lance 
which  had  pierced  the  Saviour,  and  which 
was  miraculously  found  at  the  siege  of  An- 
tioch.  He  claimed  from  their  piety  the  gift  of 
several  very  precious  relics,  and  of  a  great  part 
of  the  true  cross  which  had  been  disinterred 
at  Jerusalem.  He  also  advised  them  of  the 
departure  of  his  legate,  Maurice,  bishop  of 
Porto,  w  ho  was  about  to  rejoin  them,  fortified 
with  the  necessary  powers  to  regulate  the  in- 
terests of  the  Holy  See  in  the  churches  which 
had  been  conquered  by  the  infidel. 

From  the  very  commencement  of  his  pon- 
tificate, Pascal  continued  the  policy  of  his 
predecessor.*,  and  pursued  Henry  the  Fourth, 
king  of  Germany,  and  the  anti-pope  Guibcrt, 
who  was  the  creature  of  that  monarch.  He 
did  this  the  more  successfully,  as  he  was  sus- 
tained by  Count  Roger,  who  sent  him  seven 
thousand  ounces  of  gold  and  a  well  disciplined 
army,  in  e.\change  for  the  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral sovereignty  of  Sicily. 

The  anti-pope  was  soon  besieged  in  the 
city  of  Albano,  his  residence,  and  he  was 
about  falling  into  the  hands  of  his  competitor, 
when  he  wa.s  enabled  to  escape ;  but  in  his 
flight  the  unfiprtunate  Guibert  was  poisoned 
by  one  of  his  domestics,  gained  by  the  gold 
of  Pascal. 

The  death  of  Guibert  could  not,  however, 
subdue  the  schismatics,  and  they  chose  a  new 
pontiff  named  Albert.  But  treason  still  came 
to  the  aid  of  Pascal.  The  anti-pope  was  seized 
on  the  very  day  of  his  election  and  confined 
in  the  dungeons  of  the  monastery  of  St.  T-aw- 
rence.  King  Henry  nominated  the  priest  Th(>o- 
doric  to  rt^place  Albert.     Three  months  after 


his  consecration,  the  new  anti-pope  was  also 
carried  off  by  the  agents  of  the  Holy  See.  and 
conlined  in  the  abbey  of  Lava.  The  obstinate 
schismatics  then  chose  the  priest  Maginuljjh, 
who  was  enabled  to  maintain  himself  for  some 
days.  Pascal  drove  him  from  Rome,  and  the 
unfortunate  man  died  in  exile. 

Peace  at  last  seemed  restored  to  the  church 
and  Italy,  under  the  government  of  Conrad, 
when  death  suddenly  carried  off  that  young 
prince.  This  unfortunate  event  became  the 
signal  for  new  disorders.  Pascal  j)ublished 
that  Conrad  had  been  poisoned  by  his  father. 
He  e.vcited  the  people  to  avenge  the  martyr, 
and  ordered  the  citizens  to  take  up  arms.  Hut 
this  new  sedition  was  fjuickly  stifled  by  the 
king  of  Germany,  and  Pascal  was  constrained 
to  write  to  him,  beseeching  him  to  restore 
peace  to  the  church,  by  assisting  at  a  council 
which  had  been  convoked  at  Rome. 

At  this  period,  England  was  a  prey  to  the 
violent  dissensions  which  had  been  excited  by 
Archbishop  Anselm  on  the  subject  of  inves- 
titures. Ihis  prelate,  devoted  to  the  Holy 
See,  had  excited  these  quarrels  in  order  to 
avenge  himself  on  King  William  the  Red,  who 
had  refused  to  recognize  Urban  the  Second  as 
the  legitimate  pontiff.  The  prince  had  in 
turn  punished  the  metropolitan,  by  depriving 
him  of  the  primacy  of  Great  Britain,  and  by 
taking  from  him  the  benefices  he  had  seized. 

Anselm  went  to  Rome,  to  obtain,  by  means 
of  his  intrigTies,  a  bull  which  should  constrain 
the  king,  under  penalty  of  excommunication, 
to  re-instate  him  in  all  his  honours,  and  to  re- 
instal  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  revenues  of 
the  See  of  Canterbury,  and  of  the  churches  or 
monasteries  dependa:it  on  that  archbishopric, 
with  which  he  had  invested  other  bishops  by 
royal  ordinances.  Pa.^cal.  faithful  to  his  policy, 
approved  of  the  conduct  of  the  prelate  ;  and, 
in  a  council  held  at  Rome,  he  pronounced  an 
anathema  against  all  laymen  who  should  be- 
stow ecclesiastical  investitures,  or  should  re- 
ceive presents  to  confirm  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  declaration  of  the  holy 
father,  William  was  immovable  in  his  deter- 
mination, and  Anselm  could  not  return  to 
England  until  after  the  death  of  that  prince. 
His  successor  Henry  the  First,  having  also  re- 
fused to  conform  to  the  decisionsof  the  court  of 
Rome,  the  metropolitan  loudly  declared  against 
the  Norman  kings  ;  hi'  threatened  Henry  with 
anathematizing  him,  in  virtue  of  the  canons 
of  the  la.st  council  of  Rome )  he  demanded, 
in  the  name  of  the  pope,  Peter's  pence  :  and 
excited  the  greatest  part  of  the  English  clergy 
against  the  throne. 

Pascal,  informed  by  the  archbishop  of  the 
progress  which  the  insurrection  was  making, 
wrote  to  him,  to  congratulate  him  on  his  apos- 
tolic vigour,  adding:  ''Robert,  duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, has  laid  before  us  his  complaints 
against  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  his  brother, 
who  has  seized  upon  the  crown  to  his  detri- 
ment by  giving  to  the  people  a  constitution, 
which  he  calls  a  charter  of  liberty.  You  are 
not  ignorant  that  our  aid  and  protection  are  due 
to  Robert,  who  has  laboured  for  the  deliver 
33* 


390 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


ance  of  Asia.  It  is  on  this  account  that  we 
are  pledged  to  maintain  the  just  rights  of  this 
prince  against  Henry.  .  .  ."  The  kmg  learned 
that  the  duke  of  Normandy  was  about  to  make 
a  descent  on  England,  hoping  to  be  seconded 
hi  his  plans  by  the  nobles  and  priests. 

The  wary  Henry  then  called  to  his  court 
the  metropolitan  Anselm,  and  won  him  back 
to  his  party  by  brilliant  promises.  The  arch- 
bishop, gained  over  by  the  presents  of  the 
inonarch,  laboured  for  his  interests,  re-af- 
firmed in  their  duty  the  ecclesiastics  whose 
fidelity  was  wavering,  and  brought  back  to 
the  army  of  Henry  the  nobles  whom  he  had 
detached  from  it.  Thus,  when  Robert  dis- 
embarked in  England,  those  who  had  at  first 
favoured  his  intentions  showed  themselves  op- 
posed to  his  pretensions,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  accept  a  rental  of  three  thousand  marks  of 
silver,  which  his  brother  engaged  to  pay  him 
yearly  for  his  renunciation  of  the  crown. 

Such  was  the  end  of  that  war  which  threat- 
ened Great  Britain  whh  a  new  revolution. 
As  soon  as  quiet  was  restored,  Anselm  came 
to  claim  from  Henry  the  price  of  his  devotion, 
and  the  services  which  he  had  rendered  him  ; 
but  the  monarch,  who  had  no  longer  any  need 
of  the  archbishop,  replied  to  him  harshly,  that 
he  had  better  retire  as  soon  as  possible  to  his 
diocese,  if  he  wished  to  avoid  the  chastise- 
ment which  his  treason  merited.  At  the  same 
time,  he  spat  upon  him  before  all  his  court, 
and  threw  in  his  face  a  letter  which  he  had 
received  from  Rome.  This  missive,  which 
had  so  strongly  excited  the  indignation  of 
Henry,  was  conceived  in  these  terms  :  '■'■  An- 
selm has  informed  us  that  you  arrogate  to 
yourself  the  right  of  investiture,  and  that  you 
attribute  to  tlie  royal  power  an  authority  which 
belongs  to  God  alone  ;  for  Christ  has  said  :  '  I 
am  the  door.'  A  king,  then,  cannot  be  the 
door  of  the  church ;  and  ecclesiastics  who  en- 
ter the  priesthood  by  the  will  of  sovereigns 
are  not  shepherds,  but  robbers.  Your  pre- 
tensions are  unworthy  of  a  Chiistian,  and  the 
Holy  See  cannot  approve  of  them.  Do  you 
not  knowj  that  St.  Ambrose  would  have  suf- 
fered every  punishment,  rather  than  permit 
Theodosius  to  dispose  of  the  dignities  and 
property  of  the  church ;  and  are  you  ignorant 
of  his  reply  to  that  emperor :  '  Do  not  think, 
Caesar,  that  you  have  any  rights  over  divine 
things.  Palaces  belong  to  princes,  churches 
•to  the  pope '  "  The  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, furious  at  the  signal  insult  he  had  receiv- 
ed, quitted  the  court,  and  returned  to  his  See 
to  excite  new  enemies  against  the  king. 

Henry,  on  his  side,  pursued  the  metropoli- 
tan and  his  partizans  with  the  greatest  rigour  ; 
and  threatened  to  refuse  obedience  to  the 
pope,  and  prevent  the  collection  of  Peter's 
pence  in  his  kingdom,  if  he  did  not  recognize 
the  right  of  ecclesiastical  investitures  to  reside 
in  the  crown.  In  this  extremity,  Anselm  con- 
vened a  provincial  council,  at  which  the  com- 
missioners of  the  king  assisted,  at  which  it 
was  determined  to  send  deputies  to  Rome  to 
confer  with  the  pope,  and  put  a  final  end  to 
these  deplorable  quarrels.     The  embassadors, 


having  arrived  in  the  holy  city,  were  admit- 
ted into  the  presence  of  Pascal  to  explain  to 
him  the  cause  of  their  journey  and  the  inten- 
tions of  the  king. 

At  first,  the  pope  was  unable  to  reply,  so 
violent  was  his  rage.  He  then  rose  from  his 
seat,  dashed  it  upon  the  floor,  and  exclaimed 
with  frightful  blasphemies :  "  Not  if  it  were  a 
question  of  my  head,  will  the  threats  of  a  king 
force  me  to  yield  a  single  one  of  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  apostolic  throne  !  Jleturn  to  your 
master,  and  tell  him  to  dread  how  he  raises 
the  holy  anger  of  the  vicar  of  Gotl."  He  then 
wrote  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  in- 
duce him  to  resist  more  vigorously  than  ever 
the  pretensions  of  the  monarch. 

Henry,  irritated  by  the  insolence  of  the 
pope,  immediately  assembled  the  lords  of  his 
kingdom  at  London,  and  caused  the  archbi- 
shop Anselm,  the  cause  of  the  dissensions,  to 
appear  before  it,  in  order  that  he  might  hear 
the  royal  sentence  which  exiled  him  from 
Great  Britain.  The  metropolitan  made  no 
complaint,  and  embarked  the  same  day  for 
Italy. 

This  apparent  submission  of  the  proud  pre- 
late mdnced  the  monarch  to  fear  fresh  trea- 
son ;  and,  in  order  to  disconcert  his  machina- 
tions at  the  court  of  Rome,  he  sent  immedi- 
ately into  Italy,  and  by  land,  William  of 
Varevast,  with  full  powers  to  put  an  end  to 
all  the  differences  existing  between  the  crown 
and  the  Holy  See.  The  embassador  used 
such  speed,  that  he  arrived  in  the  holy  city  a 
month  before  the  archbishop,  and  had  time  to 
gain  to  the  side  of  the  king  a  large  number 
of  the  priests  and  cardinals.  Finally,  Anselm 
made  his  entry  into  the  holy  city,  and,  on  the 
next  day,  Pascal  convoked  a  council  of  the 
bishops,  cardinals,  and  priests  of  all  Italy,  to 
hear  the  accusations  of  the  metropolitan  of 
Canterbury  against  Henry,  and  to  judge  of  the 
reclamations  which  that  prince  had  addressed 
to  the  pope  through  his  deputy. 

William  of  Varevast  presented  the  case  of 
his  master  with  great  skill,  and  displayed  a 
rare  eloquence,  which  excited  the  applause 
of  the  whole  assembly.  Anselm  and  the 
pope  alone  remained  immovable,  without  per- 
mitting their  sentiments  to  be  known.  Wil- 
liam, interpreting  the  silence  of  the  pontiff,  as 
well  as  the  applause  of  the  other  ecclesiastics, 
as  certain  signs  of  a  victory,  added  with  as- 
surance :  "All  Italy  must  learn,  that  the  so- 
vereign, my  master,  will  not  suffer  the  inves- 
titures ever  to  be  taken  from  him,  when  lie 
would,  in  defence  of  this  right,  lose  his  king- 
dom." At  these  last  words,  the  pontiff  sud- 
denly rose,  and,  looking  at  the  embassador 
with  a  fierce  and  imperious  air,  replied  to  him 
in  a  voice  of  thunder:  "Know,  then,  embas- 
sador of  Henrv,  that  Pascal,  though  it  should 
cost  him  his  life,  and  we  swear  it  before  God, 
will  never  permit  a  layman  to  govern  the 
church."  There  was  no  need  of  more  to 
change  their  minds,  and  the  fathers,  rising 
tumultuously.  e.xcommunicated  the  king,  as 
well  as  the  lords  who  elevated  clergymen  to 
ecclesiastical  dignities. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


391 


Notwithstanding  this  victory,  Anselm  could 
not  return  to  England,  and  was  obliged  to  go 
to  France,  where  he  chose  the  city  of  Lyons 
for  his  residence,  in  onler  to  be  enabled  to 
awaken,  with  more  facility,  the  old  hatred  of 
the  duke  of  Normandy  to  his  brother,  and  to 
excite  him  to  make  a  second  descent  on  the 
shores  of  Great  Britain.  In  consequence  of 
his  intrigues,  the  wur  broke  out  with  more 
fury  than  ever  between  Henry  and  Robert ; 
and,  as  the  king  feared  least  a  single  defeat 
might  hurl  him  from  his  throne,  he  decided 
to  send  an  embassador  to  Italy,  with  large 
sums  of  money,  in  order  to  enter  into  an  ar- 
rangement with  the  court  of  Rome.  The 
prince  then  promised  Pascal  to  discharge  the 
churches  of  England  from  the  rent  which 
William  the  Red  had  imposed  on  them ;  he 
pledged  himself  to  receive  no  pay  for  investi- 
tures; not  to  exact  taxes  from  the  curates, 
and  to  levy  Peter's  pence  regularly.  Anselm, 
also,  received  permission  to  return  to  his  dio- 
cese of  Canterbury ;  he  recovered  all  his  bene- 
fices, and  was  declared  legate  a  latere  to  the 
Holy  See.  In  this  capacity  he  received,  in 
the  presence  of  the  grandees  and  bishops  of 
the  kingdom,  a  decree  of  Henry's,  in  which  it 
was  said,  that  for  the  future,  no  one  in  Eng- 
land should  receive  an  investiture  of  a  bi- 
shopric or  abbey,  by  the  cross  or  the  ring,  in 
the  name  of  a  lord  or  of  the  king  himself. 
On  his  side,  Anselm  declared  that  he  would 
not  refuse  consecration  to  any  prelates  who 
should  do  homage  to  their  sovereign.  Finally, 
they  were  occupied  with  providing  ecclesias- 
tics for  the  churches  of  England,  almost  all  of 
which  had  been  without  pastors  for  several 
years.  Thus,  an  end  was  put  in  England  to 
the  quarrel  of  the  investitures. 

But  in  Germany  the  war  broke  out  fiercer 
than  ever.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  ]  102 
the  pope  had  convened  a  council,  at  which 
were  assembled  the  deputies  of  Italy,  France 
and  Bavaria;  the  emperor  of  Germany  alone 
failed  in  the  appeal  which  was  made  to  him, 
to  renew  his  submission  to  the  Holy  See. 
His  absence  was  regarded  as  an  irremissible 
crime,  and  the  fathers  decreed  this  formula  of 
an  oath  against  schismatics,  or  rather  against 
the  partizans  of  that  prince.  •'  We  anathema- 
tize every  heresy,  and  especially  that  which 
now  troubles  Christendom,  and  which  teaches 
that  we  may  despise  the  anathemas  and  cen- 
sures of  the  court  of  Rome.  We  promise  un- 
limited obedience  to  the  pontiff  Pascal  and 
his  successors,  in  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  apostle  ;  accepting,  without  examina- 
tion, all  that  the  church  affirms,  and  condemn- 
ing what  it  condemns;  promising  to  sacrifice 
in  its  defence  riches,  friends,  parents,  and  even 
our  life,  if  it  is  required  of  us."  They  renewed 
the  excommunication  pronounced  against  Hen- 
ry the  Fourth  by  Gregory  the  Seventh  and 
his  successor  Urban  the  Second.  Pope  Pas- 
cal himself  mounted  the  puipit  of  the  church 
of  the  Lateran  on  Holy  Thursday,  the  3d  of 
April,  the  same  year,  and  in  the  presence  of 
an  innumerable  crowd  of  the  faithful,  read 
the  sentence,  employing  strange  imprecations 


in  order  to  impress  terror  on  the  coarse  men 
of  that  period,  who  only  judged  of  the  value 
of  things  by  their  appearance. 

In  this  same  assembly,  the  countess  Ma- 
tilda accused  the  king  of  Germany  of  having 
stolen,  by  his  agents,  the  act  of  donation  by 
which  she  had  made  the  Holy  See  the  in- 
heritor of  all  her  property.  This  implacable 
woman,  after  eighteen  years  hatl  flown  by  in 
strife  and  battle,  still  wished  to  avenge  Gre- 
gory the  Seventh,  her  lover,  on  Henry,  whom 
she  accused  of  his  death.  She  made  a  so- 
lemn declaration,  in  which,  disinheriting  her 
family  for  ever,  she  made  the  Holy  See  the 
sole  legatee  of  her  immense  domains. 

We  translate  this  singular  act,  in  which  the 
countess  glories  in  her  title  of  concubine  :  •'•  In 
the  time  of  the  illustrious  pontiff' Gregory  the 
Seventh,  our  most  beloved  and  most  dear,  and 
of  whom  we  w^ere  the  greatest  joy.  I  gave  to 
the  church  of  St.  Peter  all  my  goods,  which  I 
then  had  or  might  acquire  ;  and  I  wrote  with 
my  own  hand,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Cross, 
in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  a  writing  which 
constituted  this  donation.  Since  then,  this 
deed  has  been  destroyed  by  the  enemies  of 
the  Holy  See  and  mine.  Thus,  fearing  lest 
my  wishes  should  be  called  in  question  after 
my  death,  I  now  declare,  with  the  formalities 
usual  in  such  cases,  that  I  abandon  all  my 
property  to  the  Roman  church,  without  I  or 
my  heirs  being  ever  able  to  claim  it  against 
my  present  will,  under  the  penalty  of  a  fine 
of  four  thousand  pounds  weight  of  gold,  and 
ten  thousand  of  silver." 

Whilst  the  pontiff"  was  triumphing  in  Italy 
and  England,  he  also  subjected  France  to  his 
authority;  and  he  sent  the  bishop  of  Albano 
as  legate  to  the  court  of  King  Phillip,  to  ab- 
solve that  prince  and  the  infamous  Bertrade 
from  the  excommunication  they  had  incurred 
from  the  council  of  Clermont  during  the  reign 
of  Urban. 

Ives  of  Chartres  has  left  us  the  following 
relation  of  this  ceremony,  which  he  wrote  to 
Rome:  '-'We  inform  your  paternity,  that  the 
prelates  of  the  provinces  of  Sens  and  Rheims, 
convoked  by  Richard,  your  legate,  assembled 
in  the  diocese  of  Orleans,  in  a  city  called 
Baregenci,  to  relieve  King  Phillip  and  Ber- 
trade, his  wife,  from  the  anathema  pronounced 
against  them.  The  two  guilty  ones  presented 
themselves  in  the  assembly  with  naked  feet, 
and  covered  with  sackcloth,  weeping  and 
crying  for  mercy,  and  swearing  they  would 
renonnce  their  nuptial  intimacies,  and  even 
speaking  together,  if  your  legate  placed  this 
condition  on  their  absolution.  They  xhon 
placed  their  hands  on  the  Gospels  and  swoie 
never  to  fall  into  the  sin  of  fornication  with 
each  other,  and  the  anathema  was  raised. 

"I  ought  also,  most  holy  father,  to  inform 
you  of  an  accusation  brought  against  me  in 
the  council  of  Baregenci,  and  of  which  I  am 
to  justify  myself.  It  is  false  that  I  have  ever 
been  guilty  of  simony.  This  crime  is.  in  my 
eyes,  one  of  the  most  hideous  sores  of  the 
clerg}' ;  and  since  I  have  been  a  bishop.  I 
have  pursued  it.  as  far  as  was  possible  for  me 


392 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


lo  do  through  the  whole  extent  of  my  jurisdic- 
tion. I  ought,  however,  to  inform  you,  that  not- 
withstanding my  recommendations,  the  dean, 
chorister,  and  other  officers  of  the  canons  of 
Chartres,  receive  money  from  clergy  and  laity ; 
they  maintain  that  it  is  their  right,  and  that 
they  follow  the  usages  of  the  Roman  church, 
in  which  your  chamberlains  and  the  minis- 
ters of  your  palace  receive  rich  presents  from 
bishops  and  abbots,  at  the  time  of  their  con- 
secration, under  the  name  of  ofTerings  and 
benedictions.  They  maintain  that  the  court 
of  Rome  gives  nothing  gratis,  and  is  even  paid 
for  pens  and  paper.  To  tliis  I  could  only  oppose 
to  them  the  words  of  the  evangelist,  'Do  as 
the  pope  commands  and  not  as  he  does.'  " 

Pascal,  whose  policy  was  characterized  by 
the  perlidy  of  that  of  Urban  and  the  violence  of 
that  of  Gregory,  seconded  Matilda's  schemes 
of  vengeance,  and  sent  prelates  into  Germany 
and  Saxony,  to  publish  the  anathema  against 
Henry  the  Fourth,  and  to  excite  the  young 
Henry  to  revolt  against  his  father,  after  the 
example  of  his  brother  Conrad. 

The  legates  at  hist  stirred  the  people  by 
furious  preaching;  they  represented  the  king 
as  a  renegade  who  had  refused  to  take  part 
with  the  faithftd  in  the  glorious  enterprise  of 
the  crusades ;  they  accused  him  of  having  ex- 
cited bloody  .schisms  since  his  advent  to  the 
throne,  and  of  having  desolated  the  church  by 
persecutions  worthy  of  the  age  of  Diocletian. 
By  way  of  contrast  they  exalted  the  merits 
and  piety  of  his  son ;  they  spread  gold  pro- 
fusely about,  and  when  the  young  Henry,  at 
their  instigation,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt, 
a  formidable  party  rallied  around  him  to  com- 
bat the  king  of  Germany.  After  this.  Gebe- 
hard,  the  legate  of  the  Holy  See,  the  soul  of 
all  these  intrigues,  being  desirous  of  increas- 
ing the  pontilical  influence  by  the  splendour 
of  an  external  ceremony,  convoked  all  the 
grandees  and  clergy  in  a  church.  On  the  ap- 
pointed day,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
crowd,  he  conducted  the  young  Henry  to  the 
altar  of  Chiist,  gave  him  in  the  name  of  the 
pope,  power  to  combat  against  his  father,  to 
dethrone  him  and  put  him  to  death  by  torture. 

After  this  ceremony  Henry  entered  Saxony 
at  the  head  of  the  nobility  of  Bavaria,  Snabia, 
the  upper  Palatinate  and  Franconia  ;  he  was 
received  with  transports  of  joy  by  the  Saxons, 
who  were  worn  ont  by  the  tyranny  of  the 
father.  But  the  young  chief,  concealing  under 
an  apparent  modesty,  the  ambition  which  de- 
voured him,  declared  that  he  had  not  taken 
up  arms  from  a  desire  of  reigning,  antl  would 
not  submit  that  his  lord  andfalher  should  be 
deposed.  ••  On  the  contrary."  added  he,  "as 
.soon  as  the  king  shall  have  determined  to 
obey  St.  Peter  and  his  successors,  we  shall 
immediately  lay  aside  the  sword,  in  order  to 
submit  to  our  father,  as  the  humblest  of  his 
subjects;  but  if  he  persist  in  his  disobedience 
to  the  orders  of  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
we  devote  ourselves  to  God  before  all  things, 
we  will  put  him  to  death  with  our  own  hand, 
if  it  be  necessary,  in  defence  of  religion,  as 
the  pontiff  Pascal  has  ordered  us." 


The  king  of  Germany  finding  himself  almost 
abandoned  by  his  troops,  dared  not  march 
against  the  rebels,  and  retired  to  his  northern 
provinces.  He  then  determined,  in  order  to 
put  an  end  to  all  pretexts  for  revolt,  to  replace 
the  Teutonic  kingdom  under  the  authority  of 
the  Holy  See,  and  to  make  his  submission  to 
the  pope.  For  this  purpose,  an  embassador 
was  despatched  to  Rome  with  the  following 
letter :  "  The  pontiffs  Nicholas  and  Alexander 
honoured  me  by  their  friendship,  always 
treating  me  as  a  son  ;  but  their  successors, 
animated  by  a  fury  whose  cause  is  inexplica- 
ble to  me,  excited  our  people  and  even  our 
son  Conrad  against  us ;  it  is  still  the  same, 
our  only  remaining  child  is  infected  by  the 
same  poison  ;  he  has  raised  himself  against 
us  in  contempt  of  his  oaths,  urged  on  by 
knaves  who  seek  to  increase  their  wealth  by 
injury  to  our  crown.  Several  of  our  wi,se 
councillors  have  exhorted  us  to  pursue  him 
without  delay  by  arms;  but  we  have  preferred 
to  suspend  the  effects  of  our  wrath,  so  that  no 
one  in  Italy  or  Germany  may  impute  to  us  the 
evils  of  such  a  war.  Besides,  we  are  assured 
that  your  legates  themselves  excited  our  sub- 
jects to  rebellion,  by  accusing  us  of  troubling 
the  peace  of  the  church.  We,  therefore,  send 
to  you  one  of  our  faithful  fi  lends  to  learn  your 
intentions,  and  to  know  if  you  desire  our  al- 
liance without  prejudice  to  our  rights,  such 
as  our  ancestors  exercised,  and  you  preserving 
your  apostolic  dignity  as  your  predecessors 
preserved  it.  Finally,  if  you  wish  to  act  pa- 
ternally to  us,  send  us  some  one  in  your  con- 
fidence, carrying  your  secret  letters,  and  who 
will  inform  us  of  your  wishes;  then  we  will 
send  you  embassadors  who  will  finish  this 
great  matter  with  you." 

All  these  tokens  of  submission  were  use- 
less ;  Pascal  continued  his  dark  schemes ;  he 
even  purchased  the  treason  of  the  officers  who 
surrounded  Henry  the  Fourth,  and  the  old 
king  of  Germany  was  given  up  to  his  son  at 
the  castle  of  Bighen.  In  vain  he  cast  himself 
at  the  feet  of  the  bishop  of  Albano,  the  legate 
of  the  Holy  See,  imploring  absolution  from 
the  censures  of  the  church,  he  was  despoiled 
of  the  ensigns  of  royalty  and  forced  to  abdicate 
the  throne  in  favour  of  his  son  Henry  the 
Fifth.  He  was  then  sent  in  chains  to  Ingel- 
heim,  Avhere  he  was  subjected  to  the  most 
cruel  treatment. 

These  barbarities  excited  general  indigna- 
tion ;  the  lords,  as  well  as  the  people  of  the 
cities  this  side  the  Rhine,  declared  in  his 
favour  and  refused  to  recognize  Henry  the 
Fifth.  One  of  the  other  side,  Henry  of  Lim- 
burg,  who  possessed  the  Dutchy  of  Lower 
Brittany,  havrng  been  secretly  informed  that 
the  court  of  Rome  intended  to  strangle  the 
old  king,  hastened  to  inform  him  of  it.  By 
the  interference  of  this  generous  friend,  the 
emperor  was  enabled  to  escape  secretly  from 
Ingelheim,  where  he  was  strictly  guarded, 
and  he  descended  the  Rhine  as  far  as  the  city 
of  Cologne,  from  whence  he  went  to  Liege. 
From  that  place  he  addressed  messages  to  all 
the  princes  of  Christendom,  and  in  particular 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


393 


to  the  king  of  France,  imploring  their  assist- 
ance in  the  general  interest  of  sovereigns, 
whose  majesty  the  popes  had  violated  in  his 
person. 

But  the  indignant  Pascal,  furious  at  the 
escape  of  the  emperor,  and  at  the  manifesto 
which  he  had  lanched  in  all  courts  against  the 
Holy  See,  also  wrote  to  the  bishops,  lords  and 
princes  of  France,  Germany,  Bavaria,  Suabia 
and  Saxony,  and  to  the  clergy  of  Liege  :  "  Pur- 
sue every  where,  and  with  all  your  strength, 
Henry  the  chief  of  the  heretics,"'  he  said  to 
them  ;  '■'■  exterminate  that  infamous  king !  you 
will  never  be  able  to  offer  a  sacrifice  more 
agreeable  to  God  than  the  life  of  that  enemy 
of  Christ,  who  would  snatch  their  supreme 
power  from  the  popes.  We  order  you  and 
your  vassals  to  put  him  to  death  in  the  most 
cruel  tortures,  and  if  you  faithfully  execute 
our  will,  we  grant  to  you  remission  of  your 
sins,  and  an  arrival  after  death  at  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem." 

This  sanguinary  order  disgusted  even  the 
ecclesiastics  themselves,  and  the  bishop  of 
Liege  addressed  this  reply  to  the  Holy  See : 
"  VVe  have  searched  in  vain  through  ail  the 
texts  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  the  fathers, 
and  have  found  no  example  of  a  command 
such  as  you  send  us.  We  learn  on  the  con- 
trary from  the  sacred  books,  that  popes  can- 
not bind  or  loose  any  one  without  examina- 
tion ;  from  whence  then  comes  this  new  law, 
which  condemns  a  Christian  to  expiate  in  tor- 
tures an  error  of  which  he  has  not  been  con- 
victed ?  from  whence  has  the  Holy  See  power 
to  command  a  murder  as  a  meritorious  act, 
whose  sanctity  will  efface  not  only  crimes 
which  are  passed,  but  even  bestow  in  advance 
absolution  for  incests,  robberies,  and  assassi- 
nations ?  Command  such  crimes  to  the  in- 
famous hired  assassins  of  Rome,  we  refuse 
you  obedience. 

"Did  there  formerly  exist  in  ancient  Babylon, 
a  more  horrible  confusion  than  that  monstrous 
mixture  of  barbarity,  pride,  idolatry  and  im- 
purity which  now  reigns  in  the  holy  city  ? 
Alas  !  the  words  of  the  apostle  are  already 
realized;  a  frightful  vision,  coming  from  a 
horrible  land,  strikes  my  mind  ;  I  see  an  im- 
petuous whirlwind  rising  in  Rome  which  over- 
whelms the  world,  and  in  which  the  prince 
of  darkness  acts  with  his  infernal  cohorts.  .  ." 

Notwithstanding  the  firmness  of  the  bishop 
of  Liege,  the  unfortunate  king  of  Germany 
could  not  escape  pontifical  vengeance :  he 
died,  poisoned  by  the  agents  of  the  Holy  See, 
whilst  his  son  was  besieging  tlie  city.  The 
inhabitants  of  Liege  having  no  longer  the  em- 
peror to  defend,  and  fearing  the  horrors  of  a 
siege,  sent  deputies  to  the  camp  of  Henry  to 
announce  to  him  the  death  of  his  father  and 
make  their  submission.  This  monster  dared 
to  demand  that  the  dead  body  should  be  de- 
livered up  to  the  executioner  to  undergo  the 
frightful  tortures  ordained  in  the  sentence 
passed  by  the  pontiff;  after  having  committed 
this  horrid  sacrilege,  he  ordered  that  the 
shreds  of  the  dead  body  should  be  deposited 
in  a  stone  sepulchre,  which  remained  for  i\\(i 

Vol.  L  2  Z 


centuries  before  the  porch  of  the  cathedral, 
with  this  inscription:  "Here  lies  the  enemy 
of  Rome." 

At  this  period,  bands  of  pillagers  traversed 
the  provinces  of  Gaul,  sometimes  under  the 
leading  of  ruined  lords,  sometimes  under  the 
orders  of  plebeian  adventureis.  and  frequently 
even  under  the  command  of  debauched  monks 
who  had  been  driven  from  their  monasteries. 
It  is  related  that  the  famous  Robert  d'Abrissel 
commanded  one  of  these  troops,  when,  struck 
by  an  inspiration  from  heaven,  he  resolved  to 
quit  this  life  of  crime,  and  retire  to  a  pious 
retreat  with  the  men  and  women  of  his  band, 
in  order  to  labour  with  their  own  hands.  He 
impressed  his  sentiments  on  all  his  followers, 
and  went  to  the  extremity  of  the  diocese  of 
Poictiers,  two  leagues  from  Cande  inTouraine, 
near  to  an  uncultivated  ravine,  covered  with 
rocks  called  Fontebrault.  They  first  built 
cabins  and  a  chapel ;  they  then  cleared  the 
land,  and  when  the  young  colony  increased, 
Robert  separated  the  men  from  the  women, 
destining  the  one  for  prayer,  the  other  for 
labour  in  the  fields.  He,  however,  permitted 
them  to  maintain  intimate  relations  every 
Sunday.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  cele- 
brated abbey  of  Fontebrault.  Pascal  con- 
firmed the  foundation  of  this  establishment 
as  well  as  the  rule  which  permitted  this  mul- 
titutle  of  men  and  women  to  live  hi  the  same 
enclosure. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year  (1106)  the 
holy  father  resolved  to  travel  over  Italy, 
France  and  Germany,  in  order  to  consolidate 
his  sway  over  these  three  kingdoms.  He 
went  first  to  Florence  where  he  convened  a 
council  for  the  purpose  of  assuming  to  himself 
the  right  of  rule  over  that  church;  but  the 
bishop  of  that  city  destroyed  his  hopes  by 
maintaining  in  the  assembly  in  the  presence 
of  the  pope,  and  of  a  crowd  of  priests  and 
laymen,  that  antichrist  was  born,  and  that  he 
wished  to  seize  on  the  throne  of  the  church. 
This  opinion,  from  the  application  which  was 
made  of  it  to  the  pope,  created  so  great  a 
tumult,  that  they  could  neither  decide  the 
question  nor  terminate  the  council,  and  Pascal 
was  obliged  to  escape  from  Florence  to  avoid 
being  stoned  by  the  people'.  The  holy  father 
then  directed  his  efforts  upon  Lombardy,  and 
held  a  general  synod  at  Guastalla  ;  at  this  it 
was  decreed  that  the  whole  province  of  Emi- 
lia, with  the  cities  of  Parma,  INIodena,  Pla- 
cenza,  Reggio  ^nd  Bologna,  should  no  longer 
be  submitted  to  the  metropolitan  of  Ravenna, 
who  only  retained  Flaminia. 

Pascal  thus  wished  to  diminish  the  influ- 
ence of  the  archbishopric  of  Ravenna,  whose 
titularies,  for  two  hundred  years,  had  con- 
stantly exhibited  hostility  to  the  Roman  church. 
The  council  renewed  the  censures  pronounced 
against  laymen  who  pretended  to  have  the 
right  of  investiture  of  ecclesiastical  benefices. 
The  deputies  of  King  Henry  the  Fifth,  then 
swore  filial  fidelity  and  obedience  to  the  pope 
in  the  name  of  their  master,  and  demanded 
that  his  holiness  should  authentically  confirm 
the  dignity  of  emperor. 


394 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


The  pontiff  went  from  Guastalla  to  Parma, 
where  he  conseciated  the  cathedral  of  that 
city,  in  compliance  with  an  invitation  from  the 
citizens,  in  honour  of  the  Virgin.  When  the 
ceremony  was  finished,  he  declared  the  new 
church  to  be  a  dependency  of  the  Holy  See, 
and  sold  it  to  Cardinal  Bernard,  a  cruel  and 
sodomite  priest,  w'ho  was  execrated  through- 
out all  Italy.  Finally,  Pascal  started  for  Ba- 
varia, where  he  was  to  wait  for  the  festivals 
of  Christmas;  but  having  been  informed  on 
his  journey  that  the  people  were  not  disposed 
to  confirm  the  decrees  against  the  investitures, 
and  that  the  emperor  was  not  as  docile  as  he 
had  appeared,  he  suddenly  changed  his  de- 
termination and  went  towards  France,  con- 
tenting himself  with  simply  informing  Henry 
by  letter  of  his  new  plan,  and  telling  him  that 
he  was  going  into  France,  because  the  door 
of  Germany  was  not  yet  open  to  him. 

The  holy  father  having  arrived  at  the  mo- 
nastery of  Cluny,  with  a  numerous  suite  of 
bishops,  cardinals  and  Roman  lords,  found  the 
Count  de  Rochfort,  the  seneschal  of  the  king 
of  France,  who  had  been  sent  as  his  gTiide 
through  the  kingdom.  After  having  visited 
the  convents  of  la  charite  afnd  St.  Martin  of 
Tours,  Pascal  went  to  St.  Denis,  where  he 
was  received  with  great  honours  by  the  abbot 
Adam,  who  then  ruled'  that  abbey.  He  en- 
tered it,  clothed  in  his  pontifical  ornaments, 
with  his  tiara  on  his  head,  in  the  midst  of  the 
cardinals  wearing  their  violet  coloured  capes, 
and  his  bishops  bearing  the  cross  and  mitre. 

The  most  extraordinary  part,  says  the  abbot 
Suger,  who  was  present  at  that  ceremony,  was, 
"  that  the  pontiff,  whose  sordid  avarice  was 
well  known  to  all  the  clerg}',  carried  off  nei- 
ther the  gold  nor  the  silver,  nor  the  precious 
stones  of  this  monastery  as  the  monks  feared  ; 
he  scarcely  deigned  to  regard  all  this  wealth, 
and  prostrated  himself  humbly  before  the 
precious  relics  of  the  saint.  He  then  lifted  up 
his  face  bathed  in  tears,  and  asked  the  good 
monks,  with  the  tones  of  a  suppliant,  if  they 
would  give  a  part  of  the  garments  tinged  with 
the  blood  of  the  blessed  martyr]  "Do  not 
refuse,"  said  he,  "  to  give  us  some  little  of 
the  episcopal  ornaments  of  him  whom  our 
apostolic  See  so  ifberally  sent  to  you  for  an 
apostle." 

Philip  and  his  son  came  the  next  day  to 
visit  the  pope  and  kissed  his  feet.  Pascal 
raised  them  up  and  conferred  familiarly  with 
them  on  the  affairs  of  the  church,  beseeching 
ihem  pathetically  to  protect  it  as  Pepin  and 
Charlemagne  had  done,  and  courageously  to 
resist  the  enemies  of  the  Holy  See,  and  par- 
ticularly the  king  of  Germany.  The  two 
princes  swore  a  boundless  submission  to  the 
pontiff,  and  as  he  expressed  fears  in  relation 
to  the  conference  which  he  was  about  to  have 
with  the  embassadors  of  Henry  at  Chalons- 
sur-Marne,  they  promised  to  place  at  his  dis- 
posal a  numerous  escort  which  was  capable 
of  defending  him  against  every  enterprise. 

When  the  holy  father  arrived  in  the  city  of 
Chalons,  he  found  the  envoys  of  the  king  of 
German)',  the  bishops  of  Treves,  Halberstadt 


and  Munster.  as  well  as  several  German  counts 
and  the  terrible  duke  of  GueJph.  This  lord 
went  nowhere  without  an  herald-at-arms  car- 
rying his  long  sword  before  him.  His  height, 
imposing  stature,  even  the  formidable  sound  of 
his  voice,  every  thing  about  him  appeared  to 
indicate  that  he  had  been  sent  to  intimidate 
the  pontiff  rather  than  confer  with  him.  The 
escort  of  the  French  was  fortunately  com- 
posed of  redoubtable  warriors  :  and  thanks  to 
their  presence,  the  negotiations  could  com- 
mence unshackled.  The  archbishop  of  Treves, 
who  understood  the  Roman  language,  spoke 
in  the  name  of  his  master,  and  offered  to  sub- 
mit to  the  Roman  See,  saving  the  rights  of  the 
imperial  crown,  which  consisted  in  bestovving 
a  cross  and  ring  on  the  pope  chosen  by  the 
clergy  and  people,  and  whose  nomination  had 
been  approved  by  the  emperor. 

The  bishop  of  Placenza  rejected  this  pro- 
position, and  replied  in  the  name  of  the  holy 
father,  "The  church,  purchased  by  the  pre- 
cious blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  has  conquered  its 
liberty  by  the  martyrdom  of  the  apostle  Peter, 
and  that  of  many  of  his  successors.  We  will 
not  permit  it  to  fall  back  into  servitude,  which 
would  happen  if  we  could  not  appoint  a 
chief  without  consulting  the  emperor.  To 
wish  to  constrain  it  to  such  subjection,  is  to 
commit  treason  against  the  divinity !  I  then 
pronounce  an  anathema  on  the  prince  who 
wishes  to  arrogate  to  himself  the  investiture 
of  the  sacred  throne  of  the  apostle  !  and  ma- 
lediction on  the  ecclesiastic  who  would  re- 
ceive the  cross  and  ring  from  a  king  whose 
hands  are  empurpled  by  the  sword." 

The  German  embassadors  understood  from 
this  reply  that  it  was  useless  to  continue  the 
negotiations,  and  the  duke  of  Guelph  exclaim- 
ed with  a  thundering  voice,  "  It  is  not  here  by 
vain  discourse,  but  at  Rome,  by  blows  of  the 
sword,  that  we  must  settle  this  quarrel." 
After  these  words  they  all  retired,  without 
even  taking  leave  of  the  assembly. 

Pascal,  although  of  an  impetuous  character, 
knew  how  to  curb  his  anger ;  and  he  even  sent 
some  of  his  most  skilful  counsellors  to  Adal- 
bert, the  chancellor  of  Henry,  to  beseech  him 
to  listen  quietly  to  the  representations  of  the 
Holy  See.  But  he  could  do  nothing,  as  the 
embassadors  were  ordered  to  make  no  con- 
cessions opposed  to  the  right  of  investiture 
claimed  by  the  emperor.  The  conferences 
were  then  entirely  broken  off,  and  the  depu- 
ties returned  to  the  court  of  Germany.  The 
holy  father,  who  counted  on  the  assistance  of 
the  king  of  France,  seized  eagerly  upon  the 
opportunity  which  was  afforded  of  kindling  a 
war  in  Germany;  and  following  the  example 
of  his  predecessors,  he  resolved  to  act  against 
the  son  as  they  had  done  against  the  father. 
He  went  to  Troyes  in  Champagne,  w'here  he 
held  a  council,  in  which  the  liberty  of  eccle- 
siastical elections  was  decreed,  and  the  con- 
demnation of  investitures  confirmed. 

Henry,  on  his  part,  had  foreseen  the  inten- 
tions of  the  pope,  and  his  embassadors  de- 
clared, in  the  presence  of  all  the  French 
clergy,  that  the  emperor  possessed  the  right 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


395 


of  investiture  since  the  times  of  Charlemagne, 
^which  Adrian  the  First  had  confirmed  by  an 
"authentic  act,  which  they  were  ready  to  pro- 
duce to  the  assembly.  As  the  pontiff  was 
unwilling  to  submit  to  the  tenor  of  this  writing, 
he  affirmed  by  oath  that  it  was  apocryphal, 
and  ordered  the  fathers  to  pass  it  by.  The 
Germans  protested  that  their  master  would 
never  ratify  any  determination  made  by  judges 
60  unjust  as  to  refuse  the  verification  of  an 
authentic  act,  and  threatened  the  pope  with 
all  the  wrath  of  their  sovereign.  Pascal  at 
last,  intimidated  by  this  energetic  opposition, 
broke  up  the  session,  and  granted  the  king  a 
whole  year  to  plead  his  cause  at  Rome  before 
a  general  council. 

Henry  was  indignant  at  the  Holy  See;  he, 
however,  dissimulated  his  resentment,  being 
occupied  with  subjugating  Flanders,  Poland, 
Hungary,  and  Bohemia ;  but  when  tranquillity 
was  restored  to  his  kingdom,  and  he  was  freed 
from  a  redoubtable  adversary,  Philip  being 
deael,  and  the  king,  Louis  the  Gross,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  having  too  many  affairs  of  his 
own  on  hand  to  oppose  his  projects,  he  con- 
vened a  general  assembly  of  his  estates  at 
Ratisbon,  and  declared  that  he  had  resolved 
to  go  to  Rome  to  receive  the  imperial  crown 
from  the  hands  of  the  pontiff,  in  accordance 
with  the  custom  of  his  predecessors.  He 
consequently  ordered  his  princes,  dukes, 
counts,  all  his  nobility,  even  the  bishops  them- 
selves, to  join  him  at  his  court  with  their 
richest  equipages,  to  render  his  train  more 
imposing,  and  to  follow  him  into  Italy. 

Pascal,  informed  of  the  hostile  disposition 
of  Henry,  immediately  went  into  Apulia, 
where  he  convened  the  Italian  dukes,  the 
prince  of  Capua,  and  the  counts  of  these  pro- 
vinces. He  made  them  swear  to  aid  him 
against  the  king  of  Germany;  he  then  re- 
turned to  Rome  and  made  the  grandees  and 
people  take  the  same  oath.  All  these  steps 
were  useless;  the  emperor  entered  Lombardy 
at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army,  and  was 
crowned  king  of  Italy  by  the  archbishop  of 
Milan.  After  the  ceremony,  Henry  hastened 
to  send  embassadors  to  the  Holy  See  to  pro- 
pose an  accommodation,  or  rather  to  gain 
time ;  for  his  troops  continued  their  march, 
ruining,  on  their  passage,  the  cities  which  re- 
fused to  recognize  his  authority. 

Finally,  the  embassadors  of  Henry  and  of 
the  pontiff  met  on  the  5th  of  February,  1111, 
on  the  porch  of  St.  Peter,  in  the  church  of 
our  Lady  of  the  Tower,  and  made  the  basis 
of  a  treaty  on  the  following  propositions — On 
the  day  of  his  coronation  the  emperor  was  to 
renounce  in  writing  all  ecclesiastical  investi- 
tures, and  deposit  the  act  in  the  hands  of  the 
holy  father,  in  the  presence  of  the  clergy  and 
the  people;  he  was  to  encrage  to  leave  all 
churches  at  liberty,  as  also  their  oblations  and 
domains,  which  they  did  not  receive  directly 
from  the  crown ;  he  was  to  restore  to  the  Holy 
See  all  the  donations  which  had  been  made 
to  it  by  Charlemagne,  Louis  le  Debonaire,  and 
the  other  emperors;  he  was  to  contribute 
neither  by  counsel,  nor  actions,  to  injure  the 


pope  in  his  pontificate,  life,  members,  nor  liber- 
ty. This  last  promise  extended  to  the  faithful 
servants  who  had  guaranteed  the  execution 
of  the  treaty  in  the  name  of  the  Roman 
church.  In  addition,  the  emperor  was  to  give 
as  hostages  his  nephew  Frederick,  and  twelve 
of  the  principal  lords  of  Germany. 

On  his  side,  Pascal  engaged  to  restore  to 
the  king  on  the  day  of  his  coronation,  the 
lands  and  domains  which  belonged  to  the  em- 
pire in  the  times  of  Lewis,  Henry,  and  his 
other  predecessors;  he  promised  to  publish  a 
bull  which  should  prohibit  all  bishops,  under 
pain  of  anathema,  from  usurping  regalities, 
that  is  to  say,  cities,  dutchies,  marquisates, 
countships,  jurisdictions,  mints,  marches, 
lands  or  castles,  which  were  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  throne. 

This  treaty  granted  to  Henry  one  of  two 
things  which  he  had  demanded — the  surrender 
of  the  great  wealth  which  the  priests  pos- 
sessed in  his  states,  in  exchange  for  the  right 
of  investiture ;  but  foreseeing  that  the  prelates 
would  refuse  to  obey  the  pontiff,  when  he 
ordered  them  to  give  up  their  wealth,  and  that 
they  would  boldly  maintain  that  no  power 
could  take  from  them  the  domains  they  pos- 
sessed, the  prince  made  an  extremely  adroit 
determination  in  order  not  to  be  himself  de- 
spoiled and  to  be  beyond  the  reproaches  which 
might  be  made  if  he  were  forced  to  retain  the 
investitures.  He  ratified  the  treaty,  adding, 
however,  as  an  indispensable  clause,  that  the 
exchange  which  he  made  of  the  right  of  in- 
vestiture for  the  royalties  or  property  which 
the  priests  held  from  the  crown,  should  be 
approved  and  solemnly  confirmed  by  all  the 
princes  of  the  states  of  Germany. 

After  these  preliminaries  he  came  to  en- 
camp near  Rome ;  as  soon  as  he  was  beneath 
the  walls  of  the  city,  the  pontiff  sent  to  meet 
him,  the  principal  officers  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  the  magistrates,  the  schools,  an 
hundred  young  nuns  veiled,  and  carrying 
torches,  and  a  multitude  of  children  who  cast 
flowers  in  his  way.  When  Henry  had  en- 
tered Rome,  all  the  ecclesiastics  surrounded 
him,  singing  hymns  in  his  praise,  and  con- 
ducted him  in  triumph  to  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  where  he  found  the  pope,  who  awaited 
him  on  the  porch.  The  prince  pro.stiated 
himself  before  the  pontiff  and  humbly  kissed 
his  feet ;  they  then  entered  the  temple  by  the 
silver  door  amidst  the  loud  acclamations  of 
the  people. 

Pascal  saluted  Henry  as  Emperor  of  the 
West,  and  the  bishop  of  Lavici  pronounced 
the  first  prayer  of  the  consecration;  when  it 
was  finished,  and  before  continuing  the  cere- 
mony, the  holy  father  demanded  from  the 
prince  the  oath,  in  writing,  of  his  renunciation 
of  the  investitures;  Henry  replied,  that  he 
was  ready  to  fulfil  his  promise,  but  that  his 
conscience  required  he  should  first  consult 
the  German  bishops,  who  had  a  great  interest 
in  the  matter.  He  went  in  fact  with  his  pre- 
lates into  the  sacristy  to  deliberate  over  the 
demands  of  the  pope.  The  discussion  was 
longand  stormy :  Pascal,  impatient  to  know  the 


396 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


result  of  their  deliberations,  sent  to  ask  the 
emperor  if  he  were  willing  to  execute  the 
convention  which  had  been  agreed  upon. 
This  step  of  the  pope  decided  the  question  ] 
the  bishops  immediately  rose  from  their  seats 
protesting  that  they  would  never  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  despoiled  of  their  goods,  and 
went  tumultuously  towards  the  saloon  of  the 
wheel  of  porphyry,  where  the  pope  was 
seated,  waiting  for  them.  The  pontiff  endea- 
voured to  calm  them  by  addressing  to  them 
a  long  discourse  to  represent  to  them  "  that 
they  should  render  to  Cassar  that  which  be- 
longed to  him  ;  that  he  who  devoted  himself 
to  God,  should  not  be  engaged  in  temporal 
affairs;  and  that,  according  to  St.  Ambrose, 
worldly  priests  were  unworthy  of  the  priest- 
hood." But  they  interrupted  him  quickly, 
saying  to  him.  "Most  holy  father,  we  would 
enjoy  the  property  of  our  bishoprics  as  you 
do  the  patrimony  of  the  Holy  See :  and  we 
would  not  permit  the  apostle  himself  to  take 
from  us  the  least  part  of  our  revenues." 

During  the  discussion,  the  duke  of  Guelph. 
overmastering  all  other  voices,  exclaimed  to 
the  holy  father,  "  what  is  the  end  of  your 
discourse,  priest  of  Satan?  We  have  nothing 
to  do  with  your  foolish  conditions.  We  wish 
you  to  crown  our  emperor,  as  his  predecessors 
have  been  by  yours,  without  your  making 
any  innovations  nor  taking  from  him  or  our 
bishops  what  belongs  to  them." 

Henry  then  took  the  tone  of  a  master,  and 
said,  "most  holy  father,  it  is  our  will  that  all 
these  divisions  should  cease,  and  that  you 
should  finish  at  once  the  ceremony  of  our 
consecration."  Pascal,  humbled  in  his  pride, 
replied,  "the  greater  part  of  the  day  is  past; 
the  ceremony  is  long,  and  we  shall  not  have 
time  to  crown  you  to  day."  The  emperor, 
indignant  at  this  obstinacy,  caused  the  sanctu- 
ary to  be  surrounded  by  armed  men,  in  order 
to  reduce  the  pope  to  obedience.  He  mani- 
fested no  fear,  slowly  mounted  up  to  the  altar 
of  St.  Peter  and  performed  divine  service,  after 
which  he  wished  to  return  to  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran.  But  the  guards  of  the  emperor 
presented- to  him  the  points  of  their  swords 
and  interdicted  his  passage ;  he  then  retraced 
his  steps  and  seated  himself  in  silence  before 
the  confessional  of  the  apostle. 

Suddenly  a  loud  noise  was  heard  in  the 
church ;  the  priests,  who  had  mingled  them- 
selves in  the  crowd,  cried,  "  to  arms !  to 
arms  !  they  wish  the  life  of  the  pontiff," — and 
at  their  call,  the  faithful  having  assembled, 
charged  the  German  troops  furiously.  These, 
obliged  to  defend  themselves,  drew  their 
swords,  struck  without  discrimination  priests, 
women,  and  men,  and  drove  all  these  fanatics 
out  of  the  church.  The  emperor  remained 
master  of  the  field,  and  during  the  night  he 
sent  the  pope  to  a  fortress,  the  custody  of 
which  he  confided  to  Altro,  count  of  Milan. 

The  cardinals  of  Tusculum  and  Ostia,  who 
had  made  their  escape  during  the  tumult, 
traversed  the  streets,  exciting  the  citizens  to 
punish  the  infamous  treatment  of  the  emperor. 
All  flew  to  arms,  fell  upon  the  Germans  whom 


they  met  in  the  streets,  and  on  the  next  day, 
at  daybreak,  all  the  companies  of  the  Romans 
advanced  in  good  order  under  the  leading  of^ 
their  captains,  passed  the  gates  and  attacked 
the  imperialists  with  such  impetuosity  that 
they  slew  a  great  number  and  put  the  rest  to 
flight.  Henry  himself  was  thrown  to  the 
ground,  wounded  in  the  face,  and  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  massacred  if  Otho  had  not 
given  him  his  horse  and  devoted  himself  to 
save  him.  The  Romans  seized  the  count,  and, 
to  punish  him  for  his  generous  sacrifice,  they 
cut  him  in  pieces  before  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran  and  made  the  dogs  devour  the  bleed- 
ing morsels  of  his  dead  body. 

Henry  regained  his  camp,  where  he  found 
the  prisoners  whom  he  had  sent  in  advance, 
under  a  good  escort;  the  next  day  he  ap- 
proached Rome  and  commenced  the  siege; 
his  troops  devastated  the  country,  pillaged  the 
convents  and  churches,  burned  the  domains 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  massacred  the  culti- 
vators. 

On  his  side,  the  bishop  of  Tusculum,  to 
whom  the  defence  of  Rome  was  committed, 
did  not  remain  inactive;  he  encouraged  the 
people  in  their  resistance,  and  his  emissaries 
traversed  Italy  to  engage  its  princes  to  come 
to  the  succour  of  the  church :  but  all  his  ef- 
forts were  useless.  The  emperor  daily  press- 
ed the  place  more  actively;  and  the  cardinals, 
as  \^■ell  as  the  other  prelates  who  were  pri- 
soners, finding  themselves  threatened  with 
death  or  the  mutilation  of  their  members,  if 
they  refused  to  submit  to  the  Avill  of  the  prince 
and  the  German  bishops,  determined  to  con- 
firm the  privilege  of  ecclesiastical  investitures 
in  the  crown,  and  besought  Pascal  to  giant  to 
the  emperor  the  rights  which  he  claimed, 
since  there  remained  to  them  no  hope  of  suc- 
cour or  of  escape  from  captivity.  Finall)-, 
overcome  by  their  urgency  and  their  tears, 
the  pontiff"  said  to  Herny  that  he  was  sub- 
missive to  his  will.  "I  will  save  my  children," 
he  added,  "but  I  take  God  to  witness,  that 
I  do  for  them,  and  the  peace  of  the  church,  an 
act  which  I  should  have  M-ished  to  shun  at 
the  price  of  my  own  blood." 

The  treaty  was  drawn  up  which  accorded 
the  investitures  to  the  king;  and  in  the  act 
the  pontiff  solemnly  engaged  never  to  pro- 
nounce an  anathema  against  the  king,  and 
never  to  disturb  him  for  the  violences  which 
his  soldiers  had  used  in  the  states  of  the 
church.  It  was,  besides,  specified,  "That  the 
rights  of  the  throne  should  be  confirmed  by  a 
privilege  contained  in  a  bull  in  proper  form, 
and  prohibiting  clergy  and  laity  from  opposing 
their  e.xercise  under  penalty  of  excommunica- 
tion ;  still  more,  that  the  emperor  should  grant 
investitures,  as  in  times  past,  by  giving  a 
cross  and  a  ring  to  the  bishops  and  abbots 
who  should  have  been  canonically  elected 
without  simony,  and  with  his  consent ;  that 
metropolitans  and  even  bishops  should  freely 
ordain  prelates  whom  the  king  and  his  suc- 
cessors had  invested  with  the  privilege ;  but 
that  the  claimant  should  not  be  consecrated 
except  with  the  authority  of  his  sovereign. 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


397 


It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  pope  should 
crown  Henry  without  delay,  and  would  faith- 
fully aid  him  to  preserve  his  states  and  em- 
pire. 

On  his  side,  the  prince  engaged  "to  set  the 
holy  father  at  liberty,  as  well  as  all  the  bi- 
shops, cardinals,  lords,  and  hostages  who  had 
been  seized  with  him  ;  he  promised  to  pre- 
serve peace  with  the  Roman  people ;  to  re- 
store immediately  the  patrimonies  and  do- 
mains of  the  church  ;  and  to  swear  obedience 
to  Pope  Pascal,  saving  the  rights  and  honour 
of  the  kingdom  and  the  empire,  as  the  Catho- 
lic emperors  had  done  towards  the  chiefs  of 
the  Holy  See."  These  conditions  were  signed 
by  the  pope  and  the  prince,  and  solemnly 
confirmed  upon  the  Gospels. 

Henry,  however,  who  distrusted,  with  reason, 
the  sincerity  of  the  pontiff,  was  unwilling  to 
surrender  him,  before  the  promulgation  of  the 
bull  which  bestowed  on  him  the  right  of  in- 
vestitures. In  vain  did  the  pontifi'make  pro- 
testations of  his  good  faith,  ami  afiirm  that  the 
seal  of  the  Holy  See  remaining  in  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  he  could  not  seal  the  diploma 
which  the  emperor  claimed ;  for  at  the  very 
moment  a  secretary  came  to  present  to  him 
the  seal,  which  had  been  found  in  his  cham- 
ber. The  bull  was  drawn  up,  and  the  pope 
was  obliged  to  sign  it.  The  face  of  Pascal 
was  pale  from  rage  at  seeing  his  knavery  un- 
masked ;  he  however  signed  it.  The  follow- 
ing is  its  tenor  : — "  We  grant  and  confirm  to 
you  the  prerogative  which  our  predecessors 
have  granted  to  yours,  to  wit.  that  you  should 
invest  with  the  cross  and  a  ring  bishops  and 
abbots  of  your  kingdom,  freely  chosen  and 
without  simony ;  and  that  no  one  can  be  con- 
secrated if  he  has  not  received  the  investiture 
by  your  authority  ;  and  that  because  your  an- 
cestors have  given  so  much  property  of  the 
crown  to  the  churches,  that  prelates  should 
contribute  their  first  fruits  to  the  defence  of  the 
state.  The  clergy  or  laity  who  shall  dare  to  con- 
travene the  present  concession,  shall  be  ana- 
thematized, and  shall  lose  all  their  dignities." 

The  emperor  and  pope  then  made  their  en- 
trance into  Rome.  They  went  to  St.  Peter's 
holding  each  other's  hand,  in  the  midst  of  a 
triple  line  of  German  soldiers,  who  kept  all 
the  avenues  in  order  to  prevent  any  effort  at 
sedition.  Pascal  crowned  Henry  and  solemn- 
ly performed  divine  service.  After  the  con- 
secration, he  took  the  host,  broke  it  into  two 
part.s,  and  turning  to  the  emperor,  said  to  him, 
*■  Prince,  behold  the  body  of  Christ :  I  give 
it  to  you  in  consecration  of  the  peace  we 
have  made,  and  of  the  concord  which  should 
reign  between  us.  But  as  this  part  of  the 
eucharist  has  beeti  divided  from  the  other,  so 
let  him  who  shall  seek  to  break  the  union  be 
separated  from  the  kingdom  of  God."  The 
mass  being  finished,  the  pontiff  left  the  church 
with  his  cardinals,  and  went  to  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran. 

On  the  following  day  Henry  broke  up  his 
camp,  and  retook  his  way  to  Germany,  full 
of  confidence  in  the  solemn  oaths  of  the  pope  ; 
but  he  soon  learned  how  knavish  are  priests, 


and  how  they  sport  with  the  holiest  thing.?, 
and  the  most  august  ceremonies  of  religion. 
The  cardinals  who  were  at  Rome  during  the 
captivity  of  Pascal,  openly  condemned  the 
cession  of  the  investitures  which  had  been 
made  to  Henry,  and  refused  to  ratify  it,  de- 
claring it  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  church. 
Fra  Paolo  relates  that  they  were  excited  to  this 
resistance  by  the  pontiff  himself,  who  went  to 
Terracina  that  they  might  be  able  to  condemn 
his  acts.  In  fact,  during  the  absence  of  the 
pope,  they  assembled  under  the  presidency 
of  John,  bishop  of  TuscuUim,  and  lanched  a 
decree  against  the  holy  father  and  his  bull. 
Pascal  immediately  addressed  a  letter  to 
them,  which  he  published,  and  in  which  he 
promised  to  annul  that  which  was  only  done 
to  avoid  the  ruin  of  Rome  and  of  all  the  pro- 
vince. "  I  have  failed  in  my  aim,  my  fathers," 
wrote  the  hypocritical  Pascal,  -'but  I  am 
ready  to  do  penance  for  my  fault,  and  repair 
the  evil  I  have  done." 

Brunon,  bishop  of  Segni,  who  presided  over 
the  council,  replied  to  his  letter  in  the  name 
of  the  prelates:  "My  enemies  publish,  most 
holy  father,  that  I  have  no  afTection  for  you, 
and  that  my  words  accuse  you;  they  calum- 
niate me,  for  I  love  you  as  my  father  and  my 
lord  ;  but  I  ought  to  love  him  more  who  has 
immolated  himself  upon  the  cross  to  ransom 
us  from  death  and  hell.  In  his  name  I  have 
declared  to  you,  that  we  do  not  approve  of  the 
bull  granted  by  your  holiness  to  the  emperor, 
because  it  is  opposed  to  religion.  Your  avowal 
then  filled  us  with  joy,  when  we  learned  that 
you  also  condemn  it.  What  priest  could  ap- 
prove of  a  decree  which  would  destro)'  the 
liberty  of  the  church,  close  on  the  clergy  the 
only  door  by  which  they  could  legitimately 
enter  the  priesthood,  and  open  several  secret 
issues  to  robbers  1  The  apostles  condemn 
those  who  obtain  a  See  or  order  through  the 
secular  power,  because  laymen,  how  great 
soever  may  be  their  piety  and  their  power, 
have  no  authority  to  dispose  of  churches;  the 
constitutions  which  yon  yourself  before  have 
made,  condemn  clerks  who  receive  institution 
from  the  hand  whieh  bears  the  sword  ;  these 
decrees  are  sent  out,  and  no  one  who  opposes 
their  execution  is  a  Catholic.  Confirm,  then, 
your  old  ordinances,  and  proscribe  the  thought 
which  would  destroy  them,  for  it  is  an  infa- 
mous heresy.  You  will  then  see  tranquillity 
restored  to  the  church,  and  all  ecclesiastics 
prostrate  at  your  feet.  In  vain  will  you  op- 
pose the  .«anctity  of  the  oath  which  you  have 
taken.  You  should  violate  it  if  the  interests  of 
religion  demand  it ;  and  no  one  can  condemn  a 
pope  who  bn'aks  his  oath  by  order  of  God." 

Pascal  then  returned  to  Rome,  and  con- 
vened a  synod  to  decide  on  the  measures  to 
be  taken  to  break  with  the  emperor.  The  as- 
sembly commenced  its  sessions  in  the  church 
of  the  Lateran  on  the  28lh  of  March,  1112. 
Twelve  metropolitans,  one  hundred  and  four 
bishops,  and  a  great  number  of  other  ecclesi- 
astics, were  present.  The  holy  father  first 
spoke  and  said  :  "  I  have  sworn  by  the  bishops 
and  cardinals,  that  I  would  never  more  disturb 
34 


398 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


the  emperor  on  the  subject  of  mvestitures, 
and  that  I  would  not  pronounce  an  anathema 
against  him.  I  wilJ  keep  this  promise.  But  I 
declare  the  bull  which  I  made  from  constraint, 
without  the  counsel  of  my  brethren,  and  with- 
out their  subscription,  to  be  tainted  with  here- 
sy, and  I  ask  this  assembly  to  correct  it,  that 
neither  the  church  nor  my  soul  suffer  any 
harm."  Gerard,  bishop  of  Aquitaiue,  rising- 
then,  read  the  following  decretal :  "  We  all, 
the  fathers  of  this  holy  council,  condemn  by 
ecclesiastical  authority,  and  the  judgment  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  the  privilege  which  the  vio- 
lence of  King  Henry  wrested  from  the  pontiff 
Pascal.  We  declare  it  null,  and  prohibit 
clergymen  or  laymen  from  conforming  to  it 
under  penalty  of  e.KCommunication."  AH  re- 
plied :   '-Amen,  amen." 

The  pope  then  rose,  laid  aside  his  tiara  and 
cape,  declared  himself  unworthy  of  the  pon- 
tificate, and  besought  the  council  to  depose 
him,  inflicting  the  most  severe  penance,  for 
having  faltered  before  the  sword  of  a  king. 
The  assembly  refused  to  condemn  the  holy 
father,  and  cast  all  the  blame  on  Henry,  who 
was  declared  the  enemy  of  God  and  the 
church,  and  a  heretic,  like  Itis  father.  They 
finally  pronounced  an  anathema  on  him  and 
his  partizans. 

Pascal  wrote  immediately  to  Guy,  the  me- 
tropolitan of  Vienne,  and  legate  of  the  Holy 
See,  to  inform  him  of  the  decisions  of  the 
synod,  and  to  exhort  him  to  put  them  in  exe- 
cution. ''Remain  firm,"  added  he:  ''resist 
the  cajolements  and  threats  of  the  excommu- 
cated  emperor ;  publish  our  sentence  through- 
out Germany,  being  careful  to  avoid  throwing 
the  blame  on  me,  lest  I  be  accused  of  having 
betrayed  the  oath  sworn  upon  the  host  and 
the  Gospels.  Declare  to  the  faithful  that  the 
treaties  made  in  the  camp  to  which  I  was 
carried  prisoner  by  means  of  the  most  odious 
tyranny,  are  null  of  right.  .  .  ." 

Guy  faithfully  obeyed  the  instructions  of 
the  holy  father,  and  fulminated  a  terrible  ana- 
thenaa  against  the  king  of  Germany.  The 
Saxons  revolted  at  his  word,  and  the  ambi- 
tious lords,  using  the  excommunication  as  a 
pretence,  refused  to  obey  the  emperor.  The 
pope,  however,  desirous  of  preserving  the  ap- 
pearance of  justice  towards  the  prince,  sent 
to  him  the  following  paternal  advice  :  "  The 
divine  law  and  the  holy  canons  prohibit  priests 
from  being  engaged  in  secular  matters,  or 
from  going  to  the  court  of  princes,  except 
when  they  are  called  to  deliver  the  con- 
demned, or  to  obtain  pardon  for  the  unfortu- 
nate oppressed.  Notwithstanding  these  pro- 
hibitions of  the  church,  ministers  of  the  altar 
have  become  in  your  kingdom  the  ministers 
of  the  throne.  Bishops  and  abbots  clothe 
themselves  in  armour,  and  march  at  the  head 
of  their  armed  bands  to  devastate  the  country, 
and  pillage  and  massacre  Christians.  They 
hold  from  the  state  dutchies,  marquisates, 
provinces,  cities  and  castles.  From  this  has 
arisen  the  deplorable  custom  of  not  consecrat- 
ing prelates  until  they  have  received  an  in- 
vestiture at  the  hands  of  the  king.     These  dis- 


orders have  been  justly  condemned  by  Popes 
Gregory  the  Seventh  and  Urban  the  Second; 
and  we  confirm  the  judgment  of  our  predeces- 
sors, ordering  that  ecclesiastics  shall  render  to 
you,  our  dear  son,  all  the  royal  rights  which 
formerly  belonged  to  the  empire  during  the 
reigns  of  Charles,  Louis  and  Otho,  your  prede- 
cessors. The  churches,  with  their  oblations 
and  domains,  shall  always  remain  free,  as  you 
promised  God  on  the  day  of  your  coronation." 

Notwithstanding  all  the  address  of  the  pon- 
tiff not  to  declare  himself  in  open  hostility  to 
the  emperor,  Henry  had  penetrated  the  secret 
intentions  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  deter- 
mined to  pass  over  into  Italy  a  second  time. 
Whilst  preparations  were  making  for  this  ex- 
pedition, Pascal  convened  a  council  at  Ceperan 
to  judge  the  metropolitan  of  Beneventum,  who 
had  excited  a  sedition  against  the  constable 
Landulph,  whom  the  pope  had  sent  to  that 
city.  At  the  opening  of  the  synod  the  pope 
accused  the  archbishop  of  having  seized  on 
the  regalia  of  St.  Peter  and  the  keys  of  the 
city  of  Beneventum;  of  having  borne  casque 
and  buckler,  and  of  having  compelled  the 
prefect  Foulk  to  take  an  oath  of  obedience  to 
the  Normans,  who  had  been  introduced  into 
the  place.  The  prelate  fiercely  replied,  that 
he  had  never  received  the  regalia,  but  to  pour 
the  product  into  the  treasury  of  St.  Peter ; 
that  he  had  never  had  the  keys  of  Beneven- 
tum in  his  power,  and  that  the  officer  who 
kept  them  was  always  faithful  to  the  court  of 
Rome;  that  finally,  it  was  false  that  he  had 
introduced  the  Normans  into  the  city;  and 
that  if  Foulk,  as  well  as  the  people,  had  sworn 
fealty  to  them,  it  was  of  their  own  accord,  and 
not  by  his  orders. 

Pascal,  exasperated  at  this  reply,  wished  to 
have  the  archduke  condemned  of  being  guilty 
of  high  treason.  In  vain  did  Duke  William, 
Count  Robert.  Peter  de  Leo,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  bishops  who  were  at  the  council,  im- 
plore the  clemency  of  the  holy  father,  not  to  dis- 
honour publicly  the  chief  of  the  clergy  of  Be- 
neventum ;  in  vain  did  he  himself  offer,  though 
innocent,  to  go  as  an  exile  from  Italy.  Pascal 
was  inflexible,  and  declared  that  he  wished 
the  guilty  man  condemned  with  all  the  seve- 
rity of  the  canons.  The  fathers  of  the  council, 
who  all  feared  the  wrath  of  the  pontiff,  were 
compelled  to  condemn  the  venerable  prelate, 
and  though  they  had  recognized  his  innocence, 
pronounced  sentence  of  deposition  against 
him.  The  archbishop,  indignant  at  such  cow- 
ardice, rose  from  his  seat,  tore  off  his  sacer- 
dotal garments,  and  having  loaded  the  pope 
with  imprecations  left  the  council  chamber. 

Some  months  after,  Conon,  bishop  of  Pa- 
lestrina  and  legate  of  the  Roman  church,  con- 
vened a  synod  at  Beauvais,  at  which  Henry 
was  excommunicated.  This  new  bull  was 
confirmed  by  a  large  number  of  German  lords 
and  bishops  who  had  as,sembled  at  Cologne, 
under  the  presidency  of  Thierry,  the  cardinal 
legate.  The  king,  irritated  by  this  inconveni- 
ent manifestation,  sent  the  bishop  of  Wirtzburg 
with  orders  to  dissolve  the  coiuicil  and  pursue 
those  who  should  refuse  to  leave  Cologne  at 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


399 


once  as  rebels.  This  mission  resulted  deplor- 
ably; the  synod  refused  to  receive  the  envoy 
of  the  excommunicated  sovereign,  and  passed 
a  decree  which  declared  all  those  who  re- 
mained in  the  service  of  the  prmce  excom- 
municated and  anathematized.  The  embassa- 
dor left  Cologne  in  alarm,  and  did  not  dare  to 
appear  again  at  court.  The  fear,  however,  of 
loosing  his  bishopric  determined  him  to  go  to 
the  prince,  and  he  once  more  celebrated  mass 
in  his  presence ;  but  on  the  next  day  he  felt  so 
much  remorse  that  he  fled  from  the  capital. 

Henry,  fearing  the  consequences  of  an  ana- 
thema on  the  superstitious  minds  of  his  people, 
returned  to  Italy  at  the  head  of  an  army,  with 
which  he  encamped  in  the  environsof  Pavia  ; 
before,  however,  recommencing  hostilities  he 
wished  to  try  the  effect  of  negotiations,  and 
sent  the  celebrated  Peter,  abbot  of  Cluny.  as 
his  deputy  to  the  pope.  Pascal  convened  his 
clergy  in  council  in  the  palace  of  the  Luteran, 
to  reply  to  the  embassador.  At  the  opening 
of  the  session,  the  holy  father  thus  spoke. 
'■  We  have  come,  my  brethren,  through  ihe 
greatest  perils  by  land  and  sea,  to  treat  of 
peace  between  the  church  and  the  throne. 
We  declare  at  once  in  your  presence,  that  it 
is  to  free  the  holy  city  from  the  pillage,  in- 
cendiarism and  massacres  of  the  baibarous 
soldiers  of  the  king  of  Germany,  that  we  have 
signed  a  condemnable  treaty; — we  have  com- 
mitted this  fault,  because  the  pontificate  does 
not  bestow  the  privilege  of  infallibility,  and 
because  a  pope  is  made  of  dust  as  other  men. 
It  is  on  this  account  we  beseech  you  to  pray 
to  God  to  pardon  us  for  this  action;  and  with 
you  we  anathematize  that  infamous  bull, 
whose  memory  should  be  odious  to  all  Chris- 
tians." The  pope  then  renewed  the  decretal 
of  Gregory  the  Seventh,  which  prohibited  in- 
vestitures by  princes  under  penalty  of  excom- 
munication. 

The  agents  of  Henry  seeing  that  the  synod 
shunned  even  raising  the  question  of  agree- 
ment between  the  prince  and  the  pope,  sought 
to  excite  a  popular  movement  against  Pascal, 
and  availed  themselves  of  the  death  of  Peter 
the  prefect  of  Rome,  to  declare  his  son  his 
successor  in  this  important  office.  This  young 
man,  who  was  .scarcely  grown  up,  appeared 
to  be  easy  to  seduce,  and  they  hoped  that  he 
would  enter  readily  into  a  plan  of  revolt 
against  the  Holy  See.  In  fact,  on  Holy  Thurs- 
day, whilst  the  pope  was  saying  the  first  prayer 
in  the  divine  service,  the  leaders  of  the  im- 
perial faction  entered  the  church  with  the 
young  prefect,  and  summoned  Pascal  to  con- 
firm the  nomination  of  the  people  ;  the  holy 
father  did  not  reply,  and  continued  the  ser- 
vice. They  then  raised  their  voices  and 
callingonGod  as  their  witness,  threatened  the 
pontiff  with  an  approaching  revolution. 

On  the  next  day,  the  seditious  raised  a  mob 
and  after  having  sworn  not  to  lay  aside  thtnr 
arms  until  they  were  victorious,  attacked  the 
clergy  during  a  solemn  procession,  at  which 
the  pope  was  assisting.  Several  cardinals 
were  seriously  wounded.  Pascal  himself  was 
struck  with  blows  of  a  club,  and  he  would  have 


been  murdered  on  the  spot,  if  he  had  not 
formally  pledged  himself  to  ratify  the  election 
of  Peter  during  the  following  week.  This 
promise  did  not  entirely  satisfy  the  prelect. 
He  gave  orders  to  raze  the  houses  of  the  lords 
who  had  declared  against  him,  and  even 
threatened  to  invade  the  palace  of  theLateran 
if  the  pontiff  did  not  proceed  immediately  to 
the  ceremony  of  his  installation. 

Pascal,  fearful  that  he  could  not  resist  the 
mob,  judged  it  prudent  to  quit  Rome,  and  he 
fled  to  Aibano.  His  absence  did  not,  how- 
ever, suspend  the  civil  war;  they  continued  to 
fight  furiously  in  the  streets  of  the  holy  city ; 
all  the  partizans  of  the  pope  were  driven  out. 
Convents  were  pillaged,  churches  burned,  and 
the  massacres  did  not  cease  in  the  country 
until  the  time  of  harvest.  When  Henry  learn- 
ed the  success  of  his  measures,  he  sent  rich 
presents  to  the  new  prefect  and  the  chiei's  of 
his  faction,  informing  them  that  he  would 
come  to  Rome  to  recompense  them  for  their 
zeal,  as  soon  as  he  had  completed  the  con- 
quest of  the  estates  of  the  countess  Matilda, 
who  was  about  to  die.  In  fact  he  soon  ad- 
vanced towards  the  holy  city  at  the  head  of 
a  numerous  army,  forcing  on  his  way  all  the 
small  places  and  castles  which  held  out  for 
the  pope. 

On  entering  into  Rome,  the  king  of  Ger- 
many was  received  in  triumph  by  the  prefect 
and  Roman  barons;  he  went  1o  St.  Peter-s, 
and  demanded  the  crown  fiom  the  eccle- 
siastics, protesting  that  he  had  no  other  de- 
sire than  to  receive  it  at  the  hands  of  the 
pontiff,  whose  absence  he  regarded  as  a  mis- 
fortune, since  it  deprived  him  of  his  blessing. 
He  then  received  the  imperial  crown  before 
the  tomb  of  the  apostle,  from  the  hands  of 
Maurice  Bourdin,  the  metropohtan  of  Brag-a, 
who  had  been  sent  to  his  court  some  months 
previously  in  the  capacity  of  legate,  and  re- 
gulated the  principal  political  affairs  with  the 
senate  and  prefect,  after  which  he  repaired 
to  Tuscany,  in  order  to  avoid  the  excessive 
heat,  promising,  however,  to  return  at  the  end 
of  the  season,  and  leaving  in  Rome,  fiom  wise 
precaution,  a  large  body  of  German  troops. 

A  few  days  after  the  departure  of  Henry, 
the  Normans,  at  the  instigation  of  the  holy 
father,  made  an  attack  on  the  city.  This  first 
expedition  failed  completely.  Pascal,  how- 
ever did  not  lose  his  courage  ;  on  the  contrary, 
anger  doubled  his  energy ;  he  made  a  second 
effort,  entered  Rome  by  tlie  aid  of  a  dark  night, 
and  on  the  next  day  his  enemies  were  so 
frightened  by  his  boldness  that  they  submitted 
to  him.  The  pope  drove  the  Germans  from 
the  city  anil  was  at  once  engaged  in  construct- 
ing machines  to  besiege  the  fortresses  to  which 
they  had  retired. 

At  the  termination  of  all  these  troubles 
Pascal  fell  seriously  ill,  and  finding  that  his 
end  was  approaching,  he  convened  the  cardi- 
nals and  bishops  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
and  exhorted  them  to  bid  defiance  to  the  fac- 
tions of  the  emperor  in  the  election  of  the  new 
pope.  He  died  during  the  same  night,  on  the 
18th  of  January,  1118.     His  body,  embalmed 


400 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


and  clothed  in  the  pontifical  ornaments,  was 
borne,  according  to  the  usual  ceremony,  by  the 
cardinals  to  St.  John's  of  the  Lateran,  and  de- 


Pascal  was  of  a  perfidious,  vindictive,  and 
implacable  character;  his  avarice  was  ex- 
treme, and  he  would  beyond  doubt  have  sold 


posited  in  a  sepulchre  of  marble  admirably    to   Henry  the   right   of  investitures,   if  that 
made.  I  prince  had  been  rich  enough  to  pay  for  it. 


GELASUS  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDKED  AND  SIXTY- 
SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1118.] 

History  of  Gclasiis  before  his  pontificate — His  election — He  is  maltreated  by  Cencius — The  fac- 
tion of  the  Frangipani  makes  him  a  prisoner — He  is  delivered  by  the  prefect — He  is  enthroned 
— He  escapes  from  Rome  at  the  approach  of  the  emperor — Election  of  the  Anti-Pope,  Gregory 
the  Eis-hth. 


Gelasus  was  of  Gaeta,  and  of  noble  parents, 
who  consecrated  him  from  his  infancy  to  the 
study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Orderisus,  ab- 
bot of  Monte  Cassino,  being  informed  of  the 
progress  which  the  young  clerk  was  making 
in  the  sciences,  took  him  to  his  monastery, 
where  he  soon  distinguished  himself  by  his 
aptitude  and  skill.  He  was  still  very  young 
when  Pope  Urban  ordained  him  a  cardinal 
deacon,  and  soon  after  made  him  chancellor, 
charging  him  to  restore  to  the  works  emana- 
ting from  the  Holy  See,  the  elegance  of  style 
Avhich  had  been  lost  in  the  church  since  the 
seventh  century. 

John  of  Gaeta,  had  shown  great  affection  for 
Pascal;  aiding  to  support  him  in  all  his  afHic- 
tions  and  seconding  him  with  indefatigable 
zeal  in  his  plans  of  conquest  over  empires. 
The  Jesuit  Maimbourg  says  he  was  a  man  of 
holy  life,  of  consummate  prudence  and  skill, 
and  the  most  learned  of  the  sacred  college. 

The  Holy  See  remained  vacant  for  twelve 
days  after  the  death  of  Pascal,  whilst  his  fune- 
ral rites  were  celebrating;  then  Peter  of  Porto, 
who  had  for  a  long  time  occupied  the  first 
rank  in  the  church,  convened  the  cardinals, 
bishops  aiid  principal  clergy  in  the  pontifical 
palace,  to  proceed  to  a  new  election ;  in  this 
caucus  they  agreed  to  choose  Gaetan  pope. 
The  father  in  consequence,  wrote  to  him,  he 
having  retired  to  Monte  Cassino  after  the 
death  of  Pascal,  to  beseech  him  to  return 
among  them  to  aid  them  with  his  wise  coun- 
cils. John  mounted  his  mule  and  quitted  the 
convent,  ignorant  of  the  decision  to  which  the 
sacred  college  had  already  come.  On  his  ar- 
rival in  Rome,  they  re-assembled  in  a  monas- 
tery of  the  Benedictines,  called  the  Palladium, 
where  Gaetan  was  proclaimed  sovereign  pon- 
tiff by  the  name  of  Gelasus  the  Second,  and 
enthroned  notwithstanding  his  resistance. 

Although  this  election  was  made  with  the 
greatest  secrecy,  Cencius,  the  head  of  the 
family  of  the  Frangipani,  was  informed  of 
what  was  taking  place  in  the  convent  of  the 
Benedictines.  He  immediately  sallied  in  fury 
from  his  palace,  followed  by  a  band  of  armed 
men,  broke  open  the  gates  of  the  monastery, 


and  penetrated  forcibly  into  the  church  in 
which  they  were  celebrating  the  ceremony  of 
adoration.  He  cast  himself,  like  a  madman, 
on  the  new  pope,  struck  him  with  his  gaunt- 
lets, threw  him  down  on  the  steps  of  the  altar, 
tore  his  face  with  his  spurs,  and  dragged  him 
by  the  hair  to  the  threshold  of  the  door;  he 
then  caused  him  to  be  bound  and  borne  by 
his  soldiers  to  one  of  the  dungeons  of  his 
palace.  A  great  number  of  bishops,  cardi- 
nals, and  even  laymen,  who  assisted  at  the 
election,  were  also  arrested  by  the  satellites 
of  Cencius. 

This  scene  of  violence  e.vasperated  the  popu- 
lace— they  assembled  in  arms — the  prefect, 
Peter  de  Leon,  placed  himself  at  their  head, 
hastened  to  the  capitol,  and  sent  a  deputation 
to  the  Frangipani  to  demand  the  liberty  of 
Gelasus,  threatening  to  sack  the  palace  of 
Cencius  if  he  refused  to  give  up  the  pontiff. 
He,  alarmed  by  the  menaces  of  the  clergy, 
went  himself  to  open  the  dungeon  of  the  pope, 
and  set  him  at  liberty.  Gelasus  was  immedi- 
ately placed  on  a  white  horse,  and  conducted 
in  triumph  through  the  streets  to  St.  John  of 
the  Lateran,  preceded  and  followed  by  ban- 
ners, in  accordance  with  the  usage  followed 
at  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation.  On  the 
Following  day  he  gave  audience  to  the  counts, 
barons,  and  ecclesiastics  who  had  business  to 
transact  with  the  Holy  See. 

These  troubles  at  last  appeared  to  be  settled, 
when  on  the  following  night  some  priests 
hastened  to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  to  warn 
Gelasus,  that  the  Emperor  Henry,  whom  they 
thought  in  Lombardy,  was  about  entering  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  at  the  head  of  armed  men. 
At  the  same  time  they  produced  a  letter  from 
him  which  contained  only  these  words:  "If 
you  confirm  the  bull  published  by  Pascal,  in 
favour  of  the  investitures,  w^e  will  recognize 
you  as  pontiff,  and  will  take  an  oath  of  fidelity 
to  you;  if  not,  another  pope  shall  be  chosen, 
and  we  will  put  him  in  possession  of  the  apos- 
tolic throne.'"' 

Gelasus  who  wished  to  pursue  the  policy 
of  his  predecessors,  refused  to  yield  to  the 
wishes  of  the  prince,  and  resolved  to  fly  from 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


401 


Rome ;  he  embarked  on  the  Tiber,  and  reached 
Porto,  where  he  was  obliged  to  stop  on  ac- 
count of  the  bad  weatlier,  which  prevented 
ships  from  putting  to  sea.  The  holy  father 
there  underwent  new  dangers,  finding  himself 
in  the  alternative  of  having  his  vessel  upset 
or  run  ashore  before  the  city,  from  which  the 
troops  of  Henry  hurled  poisoned  darts  at  the 
people  of  his  train.  At  last  the  tempest  having 
calmed  with  the  setting  of  the  sun,  the  galleys 
ran,  under  cover  of  the  night,  into  a  covered 
place,  in  front  of  the  castle  of  St.  Paul  of 
Ardea.  Gelasus  could  go  no  further  on  ac- 
count of  his  age  and  infirmities,  and  especially 
the  fatigue  which  he  had  undergone.  The 
cardinal  Hugh  d'Alatri,  who  was  very  strong, 
then  took  him  on  his  shoulders  and  carried 
him  to  the  castle.  On  the  following  night 
they  disembarked,  and  two  days  afterwards 
arrived  at  Gaeta,  the  country  of  the  pontiff. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  Gela- 
sus had  spread  through  the  province,  a  great 
number  of  bishops  came  to  him  :  the  emperor 
also  sent  embassadors  to  him  to  beseech  him 
to  return  to  Rome  to  be  consecrated,  and  who 
assured  him  that  their  master  was  very  desi- 
rous of  assisting  at  that  ceremony,  and  would 
authorize  it  by  his  presence:  they  added  that 
a  single  conference  would  infallibly  re-esta- 
bhsh  concord  between  the  altar  and  the  throne. 
But  Gelasus  who  had  been  already  imprisoned 
■with  Pascal  by  Henry,  was  unwilling  to  expose 
himself  a  second  time  to  the  word  of  a  king  3 
he  replied  to  the  deputies,  that  he  must  above 
every  thing  else  be  consecrated  pontiff,  and 
that  then  the  king  of  Germany  would  find  him 
ready  to  treat  with  him  wherever  he  pleased. 
As  he  was  but  a  deacon,  he  was,  on  the  fol- 
lowing day,  ordained  a  priest  and  bishop,  in  the 
presence  of  William,  duke  of  Apulia,  Robert, 
prince  of  Capua,  and  several  other  Italian 
lords  who  took  the  oath  of  obedience  and 
fidelity  to  him. 

Henry,  irritated  by  the  obstinacy  of  Gelasus, 
then  resolved  to  cause  a  new  pope  to  be 
chosen,  and  selected  JVIaurice  Bourdin,  arch- 
bishop of  Braga,  the  same  who  had  crowned 
him  emperor  during  the  preceding  year.  This 
ecclesiastic  was,  according  to  Maimbourg,  a 
wretch  who  regarded  neither  laws  nor  religion, 
so  that  he  could  satisfy  his  daring  ambition. 
He  relates  that  Bernard,  the  metropolitan  of 


Toledo,  on  his  return  from  Rome,  during  the 
pontificate  of  Urban,  had  taken  Bourdin  from 
a  monastery  of  Limousin  to  ordain  him  arch- 
deacon of  his  church;  that  he  afterwards  ob- 
tained the  See  of  Coimbra,  and  finally  the 
archbishopric  of  Braga.  Maimburg  adds,  that 
in  his  measureless  ambition,  he  had  aspired 
to  the  po.ssession  of  the  See  of  Toledo,  to  the 
detriment  of  his  benefactor,  and  even  went  to 
Rome  to  confer  with  the  pope  on  the  subject; 
but  that  nothavingofferedenoughmoney  to  the 
pontifL  his  claim  had  been  rejected,  autl  that 
this  refusal  was  the  cause  of  his  hatred  towards 
the  Roman  church,  and  his  treasons  in  favour 
of  King  Henry,  whom  he  followed  in  court 
and  camp,  where  he  led  a  very  dissolute  life. 

Baluze  gives  a  very  different  account  of  the 
life  of  this  bishop,  which  appears  to  us  to  be 
the  most* authentic  :  "Bourdin,"  says  this 
historian,  '-'after  liis  installation  on  the  See  of 
Coimbra,  undertook  the  holy  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  towards  the  year  llOS.  He  stopped 
at  Constantinople,  where  he  was  laden  with 
honours  by  the  emperor  Ale.vis,  and  formed 
relations  of  friendship  with  several  grandees 
of  the  empire.  He  had  .scarcely  returned  to 
Portugal,  after  an  absence  of  three  years, 
when  he  was  chosen  arcjibishop  of  Braga,  to 
succeed  St.  Geraud  who  had  died.  This  new 
appointment  obliged  him  to  go  to  Rome  to 
have  his  translations  approved,  and  to  receive 
the  pallium,  which  Pope  Pascal  granted  to 
him  in  consideration  of  large  presents.  When 
Bourdin  returned  to  his  diocese,  he  found  him- 
self exposed  to  the  jealousy  of  Bernard,  the 
metropolitan  of  Toledo,  and  legate  of  the  Holy 
See  ;  he  was  even  constrained  to  return  to 
Italy  to  implore  the  protection  of  the  pontiff 
against  the  vexations  of  the  primate  of  Spain. 
During  his  sojourn  at  the  court  of  Rome,  ia 
pursuing  this  important  affair,  Pascal,  recog- 
nizing his  superior  abilitie.s,  appointed  him 
his  legate  to  treat  of  peace  with  the  emperor 
Henry,  who  was  in  Lombardy:  and  it  was  in 
this  capacity  that  he  crownetl  the  prince  after 
the  flight  of  the  pope.  His  condescension 
having  been  imputed  to  him  as  a  crime,  he 
was  excommunicated  in  the  council  of  Bene- 
ventum,  which  determined  him  to  attach  him- 
self to  the  person  of  the  king,  who  cau.sed 
him  to  be  chosen  pontiff  on  the  14lh  of  March, 
1118,  by  the  name  of  Gregory  the  Eighth. 


GREGORY  THE  EIGHTH,  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  1118.] 


Letter  of  Gelnsns  azainst  the  emperor  Henry  and  Gres^ory  the  Eighth — The  antt-fOfe  is 
nizcd  as  the  lawful  pontiff  in  Germany  and  Emrland — Gelasus  re-enters  Borne — Blooi 
volt  n<rainst  him — He  comes  to  France — Inwlorcs  the  aid  of  the  Normans — Retires 


recog- 
.J -Bloody  re- 
volt against  him — ?/'.'  comes  to  France — Lnplorcs  the  aid  of  the  Normans — Retires    to  the 
monastery  of  Clitny — His  death. 

Gelasus  was  still  at  Gaota,  when  he  heard  the  lords  and  ecclesiastics  of  Gaul:  ''We  in- 
that  Gregory  the  Eighth  was  enthroned  ;  he!  form  you  my  brethren,  that  after  our  election, 
immediately  addressed  the  following  letter  to  I  the  emperor  Henry  introduced  himself  fur- 

VoL.  I.  3  A  34* 


402 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


tively,  at  the  head  of  his  cavahy,  into  Rome, 
and  obliged  us  to  quit  it.  This  prince  pursued 
us  as  far  as  Gaeta,  threatening,  through  his 
embassadors,  to  use  his  power  against  us,  if 
we  refused  to  approve  of  the  bull  of  our  pre- 
decessors. We  courageously  replied,  that  we 
would  do  nothing  adverse  to  the  liberties  of 
the  church ;  he  then  placed  the  metropohtan 
of  Braga  on  the  Holy  See,  that  intruder  who 
had  been  excommunicated  the  year  before  by 
Pope  Pascal  at  the  council  of  Beneventum. 
We  order  you  then  to  prepare  to  wrest  the  holy 
Roman  Church,  your  mother,  from  the  exe- 
crable tyranny  of  the  king  of  Germany  .  .  .  ." 
He  also  wrote  into  Portugal  that  they  should 
choose  another  metropolitan  for  the  diocese 
of  Braga,  in  place  of  Maurice  ;  and,  finally,  he 
addressed  a  circular  to  the  clergy  and  people 
of  Rome,  prohibiting  all  communication  with 
the  emperor  and  the  anti-pope,  who  were  both 
anathematized  by  the  authority  of  St.  Peter. 

Whilst  Gclasus  was  using  all  the  resources 
of  policy  to  excite  the  French,  Spaniards,  and 
other  Catholic  nations  against  his  enemies, 
Gregory  the  Eighth  seated  himself  in  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  gave  magnificent  fetes 
to  Henry  the  Fifth,  renewed  the  ceremony  of 
the  coronation,  and  consecrated  him  a  second 
time  emperor.  Tht^  monarch  was  soon  after 
obliged  to  return  into  Germany,  whither  the 
interests  of  his  throne  called  him  ;  Bourdin 
sent  his  bulls  into  every  country,  and  was 
recognized  as  chief  of  the  Holy  See  in  Ger- 
many by  Herman,  the  metropolitan  of  Augs- 
burg, and  in  England  by  several  bishops  who 
regarded  Gelasus  as  anti-pope. 

Scarcely  was  Gelasus  informed  that  the 
king  had  returned  to  his  kingdom,  when  he 
hastened  to  re-enter  Rome,  where  his  friends 
had  prepared  a  retreat  for  him  in  the  church 
of  St.  Mary,  situated  between  the  palaces  of 
his  friends,  Stephen  the  Norman,  and  Peter 
of  the  Lateran.  Encouraged  by  this  first  suc- 
cess, he  re.solved  to  celebrate  mass  publicly 
in  the  church  of  St.  Praxides,  in  opposition  to 
the  advice  of  several  ecclesiastics,  who  repre- 
sented to  him  that  this  church  being  located 
among  the  dependencies  of  the  castle  of  the 
Frangipani,  his  most  mortal  foes,  he  ran  the 
risk  of  an  attempt  upon  his  person.  But  all 
advice  was  useless ;  he  followed  the  inspira- 
tion of  his  pride,  and  went  to  that  church.  He 
had  but  commenced  divine  service  when  the 
Frangipani  made  an  irruption  into  the  church 
with  a  numerous  band,  and  attacked  Gelasus 
and  his  party  with  stones  and  darts.  Stephen 
the  Norman,  and  Crescentius  Gaetan,  the 
nephew  of  the  pope,  resisted  their  adversa- 
ries vigorously,  and  protracted  the  combat 
for  a  part  of  a  day.  The  pope,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  tumult,  escaped  through  the  pres- 
bytery, and  escaped  from  Rome  on  a  poor 
horse,  witiiout  having  had  time  to  put  off  his 
pontifical  ornaments."  After  the  flight  of  the 
holy  father,  the  combatants  separated  and  re- 
tired to  their  fortified  palaces. 

On  the  next  day  the  partizans  of  Gelasus 
sought  for  him  and  found  him,  worn  out  with 
fatigue,  several  miles  from  Rome,  concealed 


behind  a  grove  of  trees,  in  which  he  had 
passed  the  night.  They  held  a  council  in  his 
presence,  as  to  the  measures  to  be  taken  under 
the  circumstances,  for  re-entering  the  city ;  but 
the  pontiff,  who  had  scarcely  recovered  from 
the  fright  of  the  preceding  day,  stopped  them 
in  the  midst  of  their  discourse,  "  No,  my 
brethren,  it  is  better  we  should  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  fathers,  and  the  precept  of  the 
Gospel ;  and  since  we  cannot  live  in  this  fright- 
ful Babylon,  this  abominable  Sodom,  let  us 
fly  into  another  city."  His  cowardice  dis- 
gusted his  friends;  no  one  urged  him  to  change 
his  decision,  and  they  only  asked  him  before 
going  to  appoint  Peter  of  Porto  vicar  of  the 
Holy  See  in  his  absence,  and  to  designate  a 
council  of  cardinals  to  direct  the  affairs  of  the 
church.  He  did  all  that  was  required  of  him. 
He  confided  the  keeping  of  Beneventum  to 
Hugh,  cardinal  of  the  holy  apostles,  and  placed 
the  singers  under  the  direction  of  Nicholas ; 
he  left  the  prefecture  of  Rome  to  Peter,  and 
intrusted  the  standard  of  the  holy  city  to 
Stephen  the  Norman,  the  most  influential  per- 
sonage of  his  party. 

When  these  matters  were  settled,  he  em- 
barked on  the  Tiber,  and  descended  it  as  far 
as  Ostia,  where  he  took  another  vessel  accom- 
panied by  six  cardinals,  twelve  noble  Romans 
and  an  imposing  train.  He  stopped  for  some 
days  at  Pisa,  and  was  received  by  the  bishops 
of  that  citjr,  and  the  principal  inhabitants,  with 
great  honours;  after  a  fortunate  passage  he 
disembarked  in  Provence  at  the  port  of  St. 
Gilles,  where  the  abbot  Hugh  received  him 
in  his  monastery.  During  his  sojourn  in  this 
abbey  the  bishops  and  nobles  made  him  splen- 
did presents.  The  abbot  of  Cluny,  amongst 
others,  offered  him  forty  horses  and  their 
equipages.  He  received  also  large  sums  from 
Peter  of  Libranus,  who  had  been  sent  from 
Saragossa  by  Alphonso  of  Arragon,  and  who 
had  came  to  be  consecrated  metropohtan  of 
that  city  by  the  pope  himself. 

After  the  ceremony  of  the  consecration, 
Gelasus  gave  him  a  bull  by  Avhich  he  granted 
plenary  indulgences  to  the  Spanish  soldiers 
who  were  fighting  the  Moors,  and  to  all  the 
faithful  who  should  aid  in  the  conquest  of  the 
church  of  Saragossa,  which  had  been  in  the 
power  of  the  Mussulmen  for  four  hundred 
years.  Peter  of  Libranus  found  himself  au- 
thorized by  this  bull  to  collect  alms  from  the 
faithful,  and  to  sell  indulgences  through  the 
whole  kingdom  of  Spain,  on  the  sole  condition 
of  paying  over  a  tenth  of  the  proceeds  into 
the  treasury  of  the  holy  father.  Gelasus  was 
informed  in  the  interval,  that  the  king  of  Eng- 
land had  convened  a  council  at  Rouen  to  re- 
gulate the  affairs  of  his  clergy;  he  availed 
himself  of  the  circumstance  to  send  an  envoy 
into  that  city  to  create  partizans.  The  young 
Conrad,  whom  he  chose  as  his  embassador, 
spoke  before  the  fathers  with  great  eloquence  ; 
he  drew,  in  a  most  masterly  style,  a  picture 
of  the  miseries  of  the  Roman  church,  surren- 
dered to  the  profanation  of  the  anti-pope  Bour- 
din, and  the  tyranny  of  the  emperor  Henry. 
He  represented  the^  virtuous  Gelasus  as  the 


HISTORY    OF   THE   POPES. 


403 


sole  and  legitimate  successor  of  the  apostles ; 
who  had,  however,  been  forced  lo  fly  from 
Italy,  and  to  cross  the  Alps,  to  implore  the  suc- 
cour of  the  French  princes,  and  especially  that 
of  the  king  of  England.  He  finished  his 
speech  by  asking  from  the  faithful  of  Nor- 
mandy pecuniary  aid  to  prevent  the  pope  from 
being  reduced  to  beggary. 

As  soon  as  King  Louis  the  Sixth  was  ap- 
prised of  the  arrival  of  the  holy  father  in  Pro- 
vence, he  deputed  to  him  Suger,  a  monk  of  St. 
Denis,  who  carried  rich  presents,  to  beseech 
him  to  go  to  Vezelay  to  confer  with  him  on  the 
pacification  of  the  church.  In  compliance 
with  the  orders  of  the  king,  Gelasus  quitted  St. 
Gilles  and  went  to  Cluny,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived with  great  magnificence,  as  was  be- 
coming in  lords  so  opulent  as  were  the  monks 
of  that  abbey.  The  prelates  and  lords  of  Bur- 
gundy also  crowded  lo  visit  the  holy  father. 
He  profited  so  well  by  their  good  will  that  in 
less  than  a  month  he  was  enabled  to  fill  all 
his  trunks  with  rich  off"erings,  and  even  to 
send  some  to  Rome  to  his  allies. 

At  length  everything  foretold  the  near  tri- 
umph of  Gelasus  over  his  competitor,  when 
he  was  attacked  by  a  most  violent  pleuris)', 


which  reduced  him  extremely  in  a  few  days. 
He  then  summoned  the  cardinals  who  had 
accompanied  him  around  his  bed,  and  desig- 
nated the  bishop  of  Palestine  to  them  as  his  suc- 
cessor. That  prelate,  who  was  present,  refus- 
ed to  accept  it.  observing,  that  the  Holy  See  had 
need  of  a  pope  who  could  maintain  his  autho- 
rity by  great  personal  wealth  and  a  high  tem- 
poral position.  "  My  nomination,"  added  he, 
'•'would  be  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the 
church,  and  I  am  unwilling  to  take  upon  my- 
self a  burthen  which  I  have  not  strength  to 
bear;  I  pray  you,  then,  holy  father,  to  elevate 
to  the  pontificate  the  metropolitan  of  Vienne, 
who  alone  can  deliver  the  church  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  emperor."  Gelasus  assented 
to  his  views,  and  ordered  an  express  to  be 
sent  for  the  archbishop,  but  before  the  arrival 
of  that  prelate  his  illness  increased,  so  that 
the  pontiff  only  thought  of  dying.  He  made 
his  general  confession  in  a  loud  voice,  before 
a  large  number  of  ecclesiastics  and  lords,  re- 
ceived the  communion,  laid  himself  on  the 
earth  according  to  the  monastic  custom,  and 
in  this  position  died,  on  the  29th  January, 
1119,  after  a  reign  of  a  year.  He  was  buried 
at  Cluny,  in  the  church  of  the  monastery. 


CALIXTUS   THE   SECOND,  THE   ONE   HUNDRED   AND   SIXTY- 
SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1119.] 

Election  of  Guy,  archbishop  of  Vienna — Council  of  Toulouse — The  Emperor  Henry  renounces 
the  investitures — Council  of  Rhcims — Conferences  of  Mousson  and  Gison — Pope  Calixhis 
enters  Rome — Flis(ht  of  the  anti-pope — Histortj  of  Ahelard  and  Hcloise — Punishment  of  the 
anti-pope  Gregory  the  Eighth — Calixtus  exercises  the  sole  pontifical  authority — Council  of  the 
Lateran — Complaints  against  the  monks — Death  of  Calixtus. 


Gfv,  the  metropolitan  of  Vienne,  arrived  at 
Cluny  fifteen  days  after  the  death  of  Gelasus. 
He  was  immediately  proclaimed  sovereign 
pontiff"  by  the  cardinals  and  bishops,  and  con- 
secrated by  the  name  of  Cali.xtus  the  Second. 
He  was  the  son  of  William,  count  of  Burgun- 
dy, surnamed  the  Hard-head,  and  a  relative 
of  the  emperors  of  the  West,  and  the  kings 
of  France.  His  sister  Wilhelmina  had  married 
Humbert  the  Second,  count  of  Mauiienne,  and 
their  daughter  Adelaide,  the  neice  of  the 
archbishop,  was  the  queen  of  France.  Thus 
his  election  was  enthusiastically  approved  of 
not  only  in  Italy,  but  even  in  Germany.  All 
the  prelates  of  Germany  swore  obedience  to 
him,  and  approved  of  the  convocation  of  a 
council  to  be  held  at  Rheims.  The  emperor 
himself  promised  to  be  present  at  this  assem- 
bly, in  order  to  bring  about  a  re-union  of  the 
churches. 

The  holy  father,  however,  judged  it  pru- 
dent to  send  embassadors  to  Henry,  to  deter- 
mine the  basis  of  an  alliance.  Guilliam  of 
Champeaux,  bishop  of  Chilons,  and  Pons,  ab- 
bot of  Cluny,  were  sent  on  this  delicate  mis- 


sion. They  represented  to  the  prince  that  it 
was  impossible  to  establish  perfect  concord 
between  the  Holy  See  and  the  empire,  whilst 
the  crown  preserved  the  right  of  investiture. 
After  some  conferences,  the  emperor  declared 
his  consent  to  yield  his  privilege  to  the  pope, 
provided  an  equitable  consideration  was  grant- 
ed him.  He  then  swore  on  the  Gospels  be- 
tween the  hands  of  the  bishop  and  the  abbot, 
to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  engagement 
into  which  he  had  entered. 

Pons  and  William,  satisfied  with  the  suc- 
cess of  their  negotiation,  immediately  returned 
to  the  holy  father  at  Paris.  Calixtus  heard 
them  with  an  air  of  incredulity,  and  exclaim- 
ed, •'  Thank  God  that  the  thing  was  already 
done."  He,  however,  designated  the  city  of 
IMousson  as  the  place  for  the  conference,  and 
the  definite  signing  of  the  treaty.  The  holy 
father  then  went  to  the  council  at  Rheims, 
where  he  found  assembled  more  than  three 
hundred  bishops  from  Italy,  Germany,  Spain, 
England,  and  France,  as  well  as  a  great  num- 
ber of  lay  lords  of  all  those  countries. 

At  the  opening  of  the  sittings,  the  pope  ex- 


404 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


plained  to  the  fathers  the  difTerent  causes 
they  were  called  upon  to  examine.  That  of 
King  Louis  was  the  tirst  called.  He  entered  the 
saloon,  followed  by  the  principal  lords  of  his 
court,  and  seated  himself  on  the  platform  by 
the  side  of  the  sovereign  pontifi.  He  thus 
spoke  : — '■  We  have  come,  my  fathers,  to  lay 
before  you  the  disloyal  conduct  of  Henry  the 
First,  of  England,  who  has  not  only  invaded 
one  of  our  provinces,  Normandy,  in  contempt 
of  treaties,  but  has  even  seized  the  person  of 
one  of  our  vassals,  Duke  Robert,  his  brother, 
and  has  confined  him  for  some  years  in  prison 
at  London.  I  have  frequently  summoned  him 
to  give  up  his  prisoner  to  me,  without  my  en- 
treaties, complaints  or  threats  being  able  to 
change  his  resolve ;  and  j'ou  now  see  by  my 
side  Wdliam,  the  son  of  that  noble  duke,  who 
comes  to  implore  the  aid  of  your  intelligence 
and  justice  in  recovering  his  estates." 

Hildegarde,  countess  of  Poictiers,  in  her 
turn  presented  herself  before  the  assembly 
with  the  ladies  of  her  suite.  She  accused  her 
husband,  count  William,  of  having  abandoned 
her  to  live  in  disgraceful  commerce  with 
Maubergeon,  the  lawful  wi(e  of  the  viscount 
of  Chateileraut.  The  holy  father  ordered  the 
count  of  Poictiers  to  be  loudly  called,  that  he 
might  justify  himself  before  the  synod.  The 
bishop  of  Saintes  and  other  prelates  of  Aqui- 
taine,  his  creatures,  replietf.  that  their  lord 
was  grievously  sick.  This  excuse  w^as  ad- 
mitted by  the  council,  which  granted  a  delay 
to  the  count  to  present  himself  at  Rome,  or  to 
retake  his  wife,  declaring  him  excommuni- 
cated, if  he  refused  to  obey  one  of  these  con- 
ditions. They  then  called  up  some  affairs  of 
minor  importance;  and  then  the  holy  father 
announced  that  the  sitting  was  closed.  He 
added: — "We  are  going  to  Mousson,  my 
brethren,  where  the  emperor  waits  for  us  to 
treat  of  the  peace  of  the  church.  The  arch- 
bishops of  Rheims  and  Rouen,  and  some  other 
prelates  whose  presence  is  necessary,  will 
accompany  us.  We  beseech  you  during  our 
absence  to  address  fervent  prayers  to  God  for 
the  success  of  our  enterprise.  We  will  soon  re- 
turn to  you,  and  recommence  our  sessions, 
before  sending  you  in  peace  to  your  homes. 
Finally,  when  the  council  has  terminated,  we 
will  go  ourselves  to  find  the  king  of  England, 
our  spiritual  son,  and  our  relative  according  to 
the  flesh,  and  will  pledge  ovu'selves  to  put  an 
end  to  the  causes  of  discord  which  exist  be- 
tween him  and  William  his  nephew,  and  will 
inflict  a  terrible  anathema  on  those  who  shall 
be  deaf  to  our  words." 

Calixtus  having  arrived  at  Mousson  assem- 
bled the  prelates  of  his  suite  in  council,  and 
submitted  to  them  the  matters  which  had 
been  concerted  between  him  and  Henry. 
After  this  examination,  the  cardinal  of  Crema, 
the  bishops  of  Viviers  and  Chalons,  and  the 
abbot  of  Cluny  were  sent  with  them  to  the 
camp  of  the  emperor,  that  he  might  give  them 
his  definite  sanction.  Henry  at  first  denied 
having  promised  any  thing  of  the  kind  ;  when 
William  of  Champeaux,  no  longer  restraining 
his  indignation,  turned  on  the  prince,  called 


him  a  traitor  and  knave,  and  demanded  from 
him  if  he  were  ready  to  swear  on  the  host, 
that  he  had  not  placed  this  promise  in  his 
hands.  The  Emperor  was  obliged  to  confess 
that  he  had  given  a  writing  somewhat  similar 
to  it ;  but  that  he  had  not  reflected  that  he 
could  not  execute  the  tenor  of  it  without 
considerably  weakening  the  royal  authority. 
The  bishop  replied  to  him  "  prince,  you  still 
seek  an  excuse  for  your  disloyalty;  the  pon- 
tiff does  not  pretend  to  diminish  your  power; 
he  declares,  on  the  contrary,  that  all  your  sub- 
jects, no  matter  of  what  rank,  should  follow 
you  to  war  and  serve  you  as  heretofore,  as 
was  the  custom  under  your  predecessors.  Do 
not  think  that  your  crown  will  be  weakened, 
because  you  will  be  prohibited  from  selling 
bishoprics ;  on  the  contrary  your  authority  will 
be  more  respectable  in  the  eyes  of  the  people, 
when  you  shall  have  renounced,  of  your  own 
free  will,  a  sacrilegious  traffic."  The  em- 
peror then  asked  time,  until  the  next  day.  to 
confer  anew  with  his  barons,  and  to  determine 
them  to  give  their  consent  to  his  promise. 

Calixtus,  despairing  of  triumphing  over 
the  obstinacy  of  the  king,  wished  to  re- 
turn immediately  to  Rheims,  that  he  might 
avoid  the  snares  which  the  German  monarch 
might  lay  for  him  ;  he  yielded,  however,  to 
the  counsels  of  the  count  of  Troyes  and 
several  other  lords,  and  agreed  to  remain 
until  the  next  day.  in  order  to  deprive  Henry 
of  all  excuse  from  bad  will.  As  soon  as  day 
dawned,  the  bishop  of  Chalons  and  the  abbot 
of  Cluny  returned  to  the  camp,  and,  having 
been  admitted  to  the  presence  of  the  emperor, 
said  to  him  "we  might  my  lord  have  retired 
yesterday,  but  his  holiness  was  unwilling  to 
break  with  you  about  a  delay  of  a, few  hours, 
and  he  still  waits  for  your  subscription  to  the 
treaties  which  are  to  assure  tranquillity  to  the 
church.  Here  are  the  deeds ;  no  obstacle 
can  now  oppose  their  ratification."  Henry 
replied  to  the  prelates,  that  they  pressed  him 
too  urgently  to  subscribe  to  the  treaty,  and 
that  he  wished  to  await  the  general  diet 
of  his  kingdom,  W'hich  alone  had  power  to 
decide  on  a  question  that  interested  all  his 
lords. 

William  of  Champeaux  and  Pons  at  once 
broke  ofT  the  negotiations  and  retired  without 
even  taking  leave  of  the  prince.  After  their 
departure  the  emperor  sent  troops  to  beseige 
the  castle  to  which  the  pope  had  retired  :  but 
Calixtus  had  already  quitted  the  place  and 
taken  refuge  in  aii  impenetrable  fortress  be- 
longing to  the  count  of  Troyes.  Henry  then 
sent  a  courier  to  him  to  urge  him  to  retrace 
his  steps,  promising  to  sign  the  treaty  defi- 
nitely before  the  expiration  of  two  days. 
The  pope  made  this  reply  to  the  king.  "I 
have  done  from  a  love  of  peace,  that  which 
was  never  done  by  any  of  my  predecessors; 
I  left  a  general  council  and  came  to  find  a 
man  who  has  not  in  his  heart  any  disposi- 
tion for  concord.  I  now  retire  ;  if,  however, 
after  the  synod  is  tei-minated,  Henry  shall 
have  learned  that  he  ought  to  keep  his  pro- 
mises, I  will  pardon  him  and  receive  him  with 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


405 


open  arms."  He  continued  on  his  journey 
and  arrived  on  the  same  day  at  Kheims, 
where  he  celebrated  divine  service  in  the 
cathedral. 

The  sessions  of  the  council  recommenced 
on  the  following  day.  and  John,  a  cardinal 
priest,  thus  informed  them  of  the  result  of 
the  negotiations  with  the  Emperor :  "  We 
went  to  Mouson  my  brethren,  as  we  had  an- 
nouced  to  you,  to  conclude  a  peace  with  King 
Henry ;  we  found  that  prince  at  the  head  of 
an  army  of  thirty  thou.sand  men,  as  if  he  had 
come  to  war  with  numerous  enemies.  Thus 
fearing  some  sinister  plans,  we  closed  the 
gates  of  the  castle  in  which  the  holy  father 
was,  and  presented  ourselves  only  at  the 
camp  of  Henry.  We  several  times  de- 
manded, in  the  name  of  the  pope,  a  private 
interview  with  the  prince,  without  being  able 
to  obtain  it ;  and  when  at  last  this  favour  was 
granted  us,  we  found  ourselves  surrounded 
by  soldiers  who  sought  to  intimidate  us  by 
brandishing  their  lances  and  swords.  W^e 
had,  however,  gone  unarmed,  as  embassadors 
instructed  to  treat  of  peace.  The  emperor 
spoke  to  us  with  a  feigned  mildness,  asking 
to  see  the  pope  that  he  might  render  homage 
lo  him,  he  said ;  whilst  we  knew  he  wanted 
to  seize  on  his  person  as  he  had  done  at  Rome 
on  the  pontiff  Pascal.  Finally,  all  our  hopes 
having  been  deceived,  we  hastened  to  return 
to  Rheims  to  escape  the  troops  whom  the 
tyrant  had  sent  in  pursuit  of  us." 

The  fathers  having  heard  this  report,  ap- 
proved of  the  conduct  of  Calixtus,  and  passed 
several  canons  against  simony  and  the  inves- 
titures of  bishoprics  and  abbeys.  They  also 
condemned  the  usurpers  of  the  wealth  of  the 
church,  and  prohibited  benefices  from  being 
bequeathed  by  inheritance,  and  the  exaction 
of  pay  for  administering  baptism,  the  holy 
oil,  extreme  unction,  and  sepulture. 

In  the  closing  session  they  sung  the  hymn 
of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the  pope  exhorted  all  those 
present  to  concord  and  submission  to  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  See;  he  then  caused 
lighted  candles  to  be  distributed  to  all  the 
prelates  who  carried  a  cross.  The  gates  of 
the  church  were  opened,  all  the  bells  of  the 
city  were  loudly  rung,  and,  by  the  light  of 
tapers,  to  the  lugubrious  sound  of  the  bells, 
Calixtus  standing  upon  the  steps  of  the  altar, 
pronounced  a  solemn  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication against  the  emperor  Henry,  and  the 
anti-pope  Gregory  the  Eighth. 

The  council  having  terminated,  the  pontiff 
went  to  Gison  to  confer  with  the  king  of  Eng- 
land. Henry  the  First  received  him  with  great 
honours,  prostrated  himself  at  his  feet,  and 
took  an  oath  of  submission  and  fidelity  to  him. 
Cali.xtus  raised  him  kindly,  and  after  having 
embraced  him  said  to  him,  "As  we  must 
by  the  law  of  God,  restore  to  every  one  that 
which  belongs  lo  him,  we  beseech  you  to  re- 
store freedom  to  your  brother  Robert,  and  the 
dutchy  of  Normandy  to  his  son."'  The  prince 
replied,  '•'  I  have  not  despoiled  my  brother  of 
his  estates,  but  I  have  freed  that  province, 
the  heritage  of  my  father,  from  the  nobles 


who  covered  it  with  disasters.  Monasteries 
were  pillaged,  monks  massacred,  virgins  dis- 
honoured, churches  were  burned,  and  the  un- 
fortunate, who  sought  an  asylum  in  conse- 
crated places,  were  massacred.  I  then  came 
to  the  aid  of  this  afflicted  people ;  and  as  I 
found  it  impossible  to  stop  the  tyranny  of  the 
lords  without  employing  the  power  of  the 
sword,  I  was  forced  to  make  war.  God  fa- 
vouring my  designs,  gave  me  the  victory,  and 
I  re-established  the  reign  of  the  laws  and  of 
public  security.  It  was,  however,  necessary, 
in  order  to  consolidate  peace,  that  my  brother 
Robert  should  remain  a  prisoner  in  England^ 
where  he  is  treated  with  all  the  honour  and 
respect  which  his  rank  and  the  ties  of  blood 
demand  of  me.  I  have  not  forgotten  that  we 
are  brothers,  and  if  he  had  not  taken  his 
son  from  me,  I  would  have  educated  him 
with  my  own." 

Calixtus,  satisfied  with  this  reply,  granted 
to  King  Henry  a  confirmation  of  the  privileges 
which  his  father  had  obtained  for  England 
and  Normandy  ;  he  promised,  besides,  not  to 
send  into  his  kingdom,  in  the  capacity  of  le- 
gates, any  prelates  but  those  whom  he  should 
himself  ask  for;  and.  finally,  he  besought  him 
to  restore  the  prelate  Tunstan  to  his  friend- 
ship, and  re-instate  him  in  the  archbishopric 
of  York.  But  the  prince  observed  that  he 
had  sworn  upon  the  Gospels  never  to  receive 
that  metropolitan  into  favour. — "Is  that  all?" 
replied  Calixtus.  "  Do  as  I  ask  you.  without 
disquieting  yourself;  I  am  the  pope,  and  I 
permit  you  to  violate  your  oath." 

After  this  conference,  the  pope  determined 
to  go  into  Italy  to  take  possession  of  the  Holy 
See.  He  went  towards  the  Alps,  and  entered 
Lombardy,  where  the  people  received  him 
whh  great  veneration.  He  then  traversed 
Tuscany,  and  came  to  Lucca,  where  the  mi- 
litia gave  him  a  triumphal  reception.  At  Pisa 
he  was  received  with  the  same  enthusiasm, 
and  he  dedicated  one  of  the  churches  of  that 
city.  In  proportion  as  he  approached  Rome 
was  his  cortege  increased,  by  the  crowds  who 
came  to  meet  him,  and  \\  ho  accompanied  his 
march. 

This  general  manifestation  alarmed  the 
partizans  of  the  emperor,  and  Gregory,  who 
not  daring  to  remain  longer  in  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran,  fled  to  Sutri,  and  shut  themselves 
up  in  the  fortress,  waiting  for  succours  from 
Germany.  After  the  departure  of  the  anti- 
pope,  the  Roman  militia  advanced  to  meet 
Calixtu.s,  three  days  march  from  the  city; 
and  when  he  approached  the  holy  city,  the 
schools,  the  lords,  the  magistrates,  and  the 
monks,  came  to  receive  him  at  the  principal 
gates,  all  carrying  branches  in  sign  of  joy, 
and  singing  hymns  in  his  prai.se.  The  streets, 
richly  tapestried,  were  strewed  with  flowers, 
and  the  crowd  of  people  was  so  great,  that 
the  cortege  employed  ten  hours  in  defiling 
before  the  palace. 

On  the  day  succeeding  his  installation,  the 
holy  father  was  engaged  in  the  organization 
of  an  army,  and  the  conclusion  of  an  alliance 
with  the  Normans,  in  order  to  accelerate  the 


406 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ruin  of  the  faction  of  the  king  of  Germany 
and  of  Boualin.  By  his  care,  troops  were 
soon  assembled,  under  the  orders  of  John  of 
Crema,  cardinal  of  St.  Chrysogonus,  who  laid 
siege  to  Suri,  the  residence  of  the  anti-pope. 
It  is  related  that  Calixtus  himself  directed  the 
labours  of  the  siege,  and  mounted  several 
times  to  the  assault,  with  his  casque  on  his 
head  and  his  sword  by  his  side. 

At  length,  after  a  vigorous  resistance,  the 
German  soldiers,  decimated  by  sickness  and 
the  sword  of  their  enemies,  agreed  to  sur- 
render, and  dehvered  up  Bourdin  to  his  com- 
petitor. The  pontitr  had  the  cruelty  to  cause 
him  to  be  shamefully  mutilated  by  the  hand 
of  the  executioner.  His  eyes  were  put  out 
and  his  natural  parts  torn  from  him.  The 
unfortunate  man  was  placed  backwards  on  a 
camel,  the  tail  between  his  hands  instead  of 
a  bridle,  and  a  sheep-skin,  reeking  with  blood, 
upon  his  shoulders,  in  mockery  of  the  scarlet 
cape  which  the  pontiffs  wore.  In  this  condi- 
tion he  was  led  to  Rome,  to  prolong  his  hu- 
miliation, and  to  intimidate  by  this  example 
of  severity,  the  ambitious  who  would  dare 
mount  the  Holy  See. 

The  anti-pope  was  then  confined  in  the 
monastery  of  Cava ;  the  next  year  he  was 
transferred  to  the  convent  of  Janula,  from 
which  Honorius  afterwards  took  him  to  con- 
fine him  in  the  abbey  of  Fumon  near  Alatri, 
where  he  passed  his  days  nriserably.  Such 
was  the  end  of  the  unfortunate  Maurice 
Bourdin,  a  prelate  distinguished  for  his  merit, 
and  whose  only  fault  consisted  in  having 
wished  to  place  himself  between  the  altar 
and  the  throne,  at  the  moment  in  which 
these  two  powers  were  disputing  for  the  pre- 
eminence. 

In  order  to  bequeath  to  posterity  a  monu- 
ment of  his  victory,  the  pontiff  caused  a 
.saloon  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  to  be 
magnificently  decorated,  in  which  he  was 
represented  trampling  the  anti-pope,  Gregory 
the  Eighth,  beneath  his  feet.  He  caused  the 
palaces  of  Censius  Franglpani,  and  such  other 
lords  as  had  shown  themselves  to  be  his  ene- 
mies, to  be  razed  ;  he  drove  from  their  castles 
the  Italian  counts  who  devastated  the  domains 
of  the  church,  and  sought  to  re-establish  an' 
absolute  government  over  all  Italy.  Having 
no  more  enemies  to  combat,  he  occupied 
himself  with  the  religious  quarrels  of  other 
churches,  and  sent  his  legate  Conon  and  the 
archbishop,  Ralph  the  Green,  to  Soissons,  to 
jud^e  in  council  a  work  on  the  Trinity  written 
by  Peter  Abelard,  one  of  tire  most  remarkable 
dialecticians  of  the  twelfth  century. 

This  extraordinary  man,  whom  his  amours 
have  rendered  even  more  celebrated  than  his 
vast  knowledge,  was  the  son  of  a  lord  of  a 
small  city  called  Palais,  situated  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Nantes.  He  had  surrendered  him- 
self, from  his  tenderest  youth,  with  an  incredi- 
ble ardour,  to  the  study  of  the  sciences  and 
of  languages.  Poetry,  eloquence,  philosophy, 
jurisprudence,  theology,  mathematics,  the 
Greek.  Hebrew  and  Latin  languages,  in  fine, 
all   human    knowledge   became  familiar  to 


him.  Having  arrived  at  man's  estate,  and 
being  desirous  of  completing  his  studies,  he 
went  to  the  university  of  Paris,  whose  pro- 
fessors were  regarded  as  the  best  rhetoricians 
in  the  world. 

Among  these,  William  of  Champeaux,  the 
archdeacon  of  Notre  Dame,  was  styled  the 
prince  of  scholastic  logicians.  Abelard  studied 
under  him,  and  profited  so  well  by  his  lessons, 
that  the  master  was  frequently  unable  to  re- 
solve the  subtle  questions  of  the  scholar.  The 
teacher  was  at  first  attached  to  his  learned 
disciple,  but  hatred  succeeded  friendship  when 
he  discovered  that  his  proud  pupil  gloried  in 
confounding  him  in  argument.  William  even 
drove  him  from  Paris.  He  retired  at  first  to 
Melun,  and  then  to  Corbeil.  Some  years  af- 
terwards, Abelard  became  reconciled  to  his 
former  master,  and  obtained  permission  to  re- 
turn to  the  capital  to  open  a  school  of  elo- 
quence. His  great  talents  soon  caused  all  the 
academies  to  be  deserted  •  and  chroniclers  re- 
late that  his  auditors  exceeded  three  thousand 
in  numbers.  The  method  which  he  pursued 
in  his  course,  consisted  of  the  praise  of  sci- 
ence, and  the  censure  of  men  who,  in  these 
barbarous  times,  regarded  ignorance  as  a  title 
of  nobility.  He  taught  logic,  metaphysics, 
physics,  mathematics,  and,  finall)',  astronomy. 
He  became  the  fashionable  teacher,  because 
he  was  the  only  one  who  united  the  science 
of  philosophy  with  the  eloquence  of  the 
tribune. 

Abelard  was  much  run  after  by  the  distin- 
guished women  of  the  day;  but  Heloise,  the 
niece  of  the  canon  Fulbert,  was  alone  able  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  professor.  Al- 
though he  was  now  thirty-mne  years  old, 
and  she  only  seventeen,  he  conceived  so  vio- 
lent a  passion  for  her  that  iie  resolved  to  do 
every  thing  to  gain  her  love.  Historians  gay 
he  was  admitted  into  the  hou.se  of  the  canon 
as  a  boarder,  by  paying  a  high  board,  and  that 
he  then  obtained  permission  from  the  greedy 
old  man  to  educate  his  niece  without  receiv- 
ing any  pay  therefor.  The  confidence  of  the 
canon  was  so  great,  that  he  not  only  left  the 
two  lovers  entirely  alone,  but  even,  before 
leaving  home,  would  recommend  to  the  mas- 
ter to  chastise  his  scholar  if  she  were  neglect- 
ful of  her  lessons. 

There  was  no  necessity  for  so  great  severity 
to  control  Heloise,  for  she  responded  with  equal 
ardour  to  the  passion  of  Abelard.  These  ten- 
der lovers  passed  a  whole  year  in  the  ineffa- 
ble joys  of  requited  love.  Abelard,  formerly 
so  ambitious  of  glory,  so  greedy  of  renown, 
entirely  deserted  his  school,  and  consecrated 
all  the  time  he  could  to  his  mistress,  and  to 
composing  songs  in  her  praise.  Heloise  her- 
self informs  us  of  these  particulars  in  one  of 
her  letters.  "  Among  your  brilliant  qualities," 
she  wrote  to  him  long  afterwards,  "  you  pos- 
sessed two  which  moved  me  more  than  all 
the  others  :  the  grace  of  your  language  and 
the  sweetness  of  your  song;  and  no  other 
woman  would  have  been  less  touched  than  I. 
The  melodies  which  you  composed,  in  simple 
measure  or  in  rhyme,  had  an  irresistible  charm 


HISTORY  OF   THE   POPES. 


407 


which  compelled  me  to  sing  them,  on  account 
of  the  sweetness  of  the  expressions  and  the 
softness  of  their  amorous  poetry.  The  most 
insensible  women  could  not  refuse  you  their 
admiration ;  and  as  your  verses  celebrated  our 
lives,  my  name  was  soon  spread  through  the 
whole  world,  ami  all  women  envied  the  happi- 
ness of  Heloise.'' 

The  canon  Fulbert  at  length  discovered  the 
criminal  intercourse  of  his  niece  and  Abelard, 
but  it  was  too  late  to  break  olT  the  intimacy 
of  this  connection.  Heloise  carried  witlun 
her  a  pledge  of  their  love.  According  to  the 
chroniclers  of  the  time,  the  canon  wished  that 
marriage  should  stop  the  public  scandal ;  but 
Heloise  having  declared  to  her  uncle  that  she 
wished  to  be  the  mistress  of  Abelard,  and  not 
his  wife,  he  became  violently  enraged,  and 
swore  to  be  avenged.  To  appease  the  cha- 
grin of  the  canon,  the  two  lovers  consented  to 
a  private  marriage,  which  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  the  canon  and  some  witnesses. 
Fulbert,  not  being  yet  satislied  with  this  repa- 
ration, demanded  that  the  marriage  shoulil  be 
Eublic ;  and  on  the  refusal  of  Heloise,  retook 
is  plans  of  vengeance.  During  the  night 
masked  men  entered  the  chamber  of  Abelard, 
and  whilst  four  of  them  held  him  by  the  arms 
and  legs,  the  canon,  armed  with  a  razor,  sub- 
jected him  to  a  horrible  mutilation,  which 
seimrated  him  for  ever  from  Heloise.  Abe- 
lard concealed  his  tears  and  his  shame  in  the 
abbey  of  St.  Denis,  and  Heloise  took  the  veil 
in  the  convent  of  Argenteuil. 

Time  soothed  the  grief  of  Abelard,  and  he 
yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  his  admirers, 
who  besought  him  to  recommence  his  admir- 
able teaching.  Soon,  as  formerly,  he  found 
himself  surrounded  by  numerous  pupils;  but 
with  his  success  also  appeared  the  envious. 
Two  powerful  enemies,  Albericand  Leotulph, 
theologians  of  Rheims,  denounced  to  the  coun- 
cil of  Soissons,  in  1122,  a  treatise  which  he 
had  composed  upon  the  Trinity,  and  which 
had  been  received  with  general  enthusiasm. 
As  unfortunate  in  his  literary  career  as  in  his 
amours,  Abelard  was  condemned  by  the  fa- 
thers of  the  synod,  and  forced  to  burn  his 
book  in  the  presence  of  the  assembly.  He 
was  then  confined  at  St.  Medard,  and  after- 
wards at  St.  Denis,  and  placed  under  the  su- 
pervision of  the  abbot.  Some  years  after- 
wards he  determined  to  escape,  and  retired 
to  Nogent  on  the  Seine,  where  he  built  a  con- 
vent at  his  own  expense,  which  he  dedicated 
to  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  which  he  called  the 
Paraclete,  or  the  Consolation  Heloise,  and 
some  other  nuns  of  Argenteuil,  came  to  dwell 
in  this  retreat,  and  it  was  there  that  the  lovers 
met  for  the  first  time  after  a  separation  of 
eleven  years. 

Abelard  was  then  made  abbot  of  St.  Gildas; 
but  his  enemies  pur.sued  him  even  in  the  si- 
lence of  the  cloisters,  and  accused  him  of 
heresy.  The  illustrious  professor  wished  to 
go  to  Rome  to  justify  liimself ;  but  on  his  ar- 
rival at  Cluny,  the  venerable  Peter  dissuaded 
him  from  the  journey,  and  even  retained  him 
in  the  abbey.     Two  years  afterward,  worn 


out  by  the  injustice  of  men,  he  determined  to 
finish  his  days  in  retirement,  and  shut  him- 
self up  in  the  priory  of  St.  Marcel,  near  Cha- 
lons in  the  Saone,  where  he  died  in  1142, 
aged  sixty-three  years.  He  was  at  first  in- 
terred in  the  convent,  but  afterwards,  at  the 
entreaty  of  Heloise,  his  remains  were  trans- 
ported to  Paraclete. 

This  unfortunate  lover  lived  twenty-lwo 
years  longer,  mourning  him  whom  she  had 
loved  so  well.  After  her  death,  her  body 
was  deposited  near  that  of  her  spouse ;  and 
the  chroniclers  of  the  times  relate  that  Abe- 
lard opened  his  arms  to  receive  her  when 
they  raised  the  stone  which  covered  his  coffin. 
Since  then  a  new  translation  has  changed  the 
place  of  the  monument  which  contained  their 
dust ;  but  the  last  wishes  of  Heloise  have  been 
religiously  respected,  and  the  tomb  which  has 
been  erected  to  them  in  the  cemetery  of  Pere 
la  Chaise,  still  re-unites  the  two  lovers. 

Calixlus  having  affirmed  his  authority  in 
Rome,  was  desirous  of  exercising  the  most 
absolute  despotism  over  other  kingdoms.  For 
this  purpose  he  gave  to  a  monk  of  Cluny, 
named  Peter,  the  legation  of  France,  Great 
Britain.  Ireland,  and  the  Orkney.s,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  subjugating  the  church  of  England  to 
the  court  of  Rome,  and  of  re-establishing  the 
affairs  of  the  Holy  See  in  France.  But  Louis 
the  Fat  had  already  protested  against  a  judg- 
ment of  the  pontiff  in  the  following  violent 
letter :  "  By  suspending  the  execution  of  the 
sentence  which  you  had  pronounced  against 
the  metropolitan  of  Sens  you  have,  holy  fa- 
ther, moderated  our  anger.  But  we  are  not 
yet  satisfied,  for  the  ambiguity  of  your  de- 
cision leaves  to  the  archbishop  of  Lyons  the 
hopes  of  obtaining  from  us  the  satisfaction  he 
demands.  Since  I  must  tell  you  all  I  think  on 
this  subject,  I  will  avow,  that  I  woukl  rather 
see  my  kingdom  in  flames  and  my  life  in 
danger,  than  obey  that  priest. 

"  We  beseech  you,  then,  to  preserve  to  the 
church  of  Sens  the  freedom  which  it  now  en- 
joys, and  to  prevent  it  from  sulferingany  harm 
by  the  subjection  which  they  would  impru- 
dently impose  on  it.  The  jiriviicavs  of  a  See 
belong  to  it,  and  not  to  the  prelates  who  go- 
vern it,  and  if  the  metropolitan  of  Sens  has 
alone  disposed  of  a  property  to  which  he  had 
no  right,  his  church  should  not  be  punished 
for  the  fault  of  its  chief,  and  lose  the  preroga- 
tives of  its  former  freedom.  Beside.^,  holy 
father,  be  careful  lest  the  city  of  Lyons,  which 
belongs  to  the  emperor,  is  not  strengthened  to 
our  injury;  and  fear,  lest  by  desiring  to  subju- 
gate our  cities  to  a  foreign  jurisdiction,  you 
break  the  peace  which  exists  between  King 
Henry  and  our  crown.  We,  moreover,  declare 
to  you,  that  if  our  wishes  were  treated  with 
contempt  in  so  simple  a  matter,  we  would 
not  longer  expose  ourselves  to  the  shame  of  a 
refusal,  nor  the  scorn  of  our  dignity,  but  would 
do  ourselves  justice." 

No  reply  v.as  made  to  this  letter  :  the  legate 
of  the  Holy  See  only  presented  himself  at  the 
court  of  France  to  hold  out  hopes  which  were 
evasive  and  in  conformity  with  the  policy  of 


408 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


Rome.  The  monk  of  Cluny  then  went  to  Eng- 
land, whither  he  had  been  preceded  by  skilful 
envoys,  who  knew  how  adroitly  to  excite  the 
curiosity  of  the  nation  about  the  embassador. 
But  the  king  did  not  partake  of  the  general 
disposition,  he  even  sent  Bernard,  bishop  of 
St.  David's,  and  a  clerk  named  John,  to  meet 
the  legate,  with  orders  to  prohibit  his  entrance 
into  Great  Britain,  if  he  refused  to  promise  not 
to  stop  at  ihe  monasteries  or  the  churches,  and 
to  pay  all  his  own  expenses.  Peter  accepted 
the  conditions  which  were  imposed  on  him, 
and  went  to  court  in  hopes  of  changing  the 
sentiments  of  the  king.  He  soon  discovered 
his  error.  Henry  received  him  with  great  cold- 
ness, and  was  unwilling  to  permit  him  to  ex- 
ercise any  act  of  authority.  This  prince  main- 
tained, with  reason,  that  a  legate  should  make 
no  attempt  on  the  established  customs  of  a 
kingdom,  especially  when  they  were  conse- 
crated by  the  manners  of  the  inhabitants  and 
the  wishes  of  the  people.  Peter  learned  that 
it  would  be  dangerous  to  enter  upon  a  struggle 
with  a  monarch  so  absolute  in  his  decisions; 
and,  baffled  and  humiliated,  he  retook  the  way 
to  Rome. 

If  the  enterprises  of  the  pope  failed  in 
France  and  England,  they  were  crowned 
with  entire  success  in  Germany.  The  arch- 
bishop of  Mayence,  by  publishing  the  decree 
of  anathema  against  Henry,  had  drawn  all 
Saxony  into  revolt,  and  the  emperor  had  been 
constrained  to  assemble  a  formidable  army  to 
subdue  the  rebels.  But  as  the  two  parties 
alike  dreaded  the  chances  of  a  general  battle, 
they  agreed  to  enter  upon  negotiations  before 
coming  to  blows.  For  this  purpose,  twelve 
lords  of  each  party  signed  a  truce,  by  which 
ihey  engaged  to  suspend  hostilities  until  the 
termination  of  a  diet  of  the  kingdom,  which 
was  fixed  to  be  held  on  the  day  of  the  festival 
of  St.  Michael,  in  the  city  of  Wurtzburg.  The 
assembled  at  first  discussed  a  mode  of  putting 
an  end  to  the  schism  which  separated  the 
churches;  they  then  decreed  an  absolute 
peace  through  all  Germany,  ordering  the  bel- 
ligerent parties  to  restore,  under  penally  of 
death,  all  usurped  property,  whether  by  ec- 
clesiastics, princes  or  lords.  On  the  subject 
of  the  excommunication  of  the  emperor  they 
decided  that  the  bishop  of  Spires,  and  Arnold, 
abbot  of  Fulda,  should  go  to  Rome  to  refer  it 
to  the  pontiff,  and  obtain  the  convocation  of  a 
great  council,  in  which  this  important  matter 
should  be  definitely  judged. 

These  embassadors  discharged  their  mis- 
sion with  great  zeal;  they  entirely  changed 
the  hostile  disposition  of  the  pope,  and  took 
back  \yith  them  as  legates.  Lambert,  bishop 
of  Ostia.  Gregory,  a  deacon,  and  Suxon,  a 
priest,  with  full  powers  to  assemble  a  synod 
and  relieve  Henry  from  the  excommunication 
if  he  would  renounce  the  investitures. 

A  general  diet  was  convened  anew  at 
Worms,  for  the  month  of  September,  1122, 
and  after  a  conference  of  ten  days  it  agreed 
upon  the  following:  "We,  the  legates  of  the 
Holy  See,  grant  to  the  emperor  the  power  of 
causing  the  bishops  and  abbots  of  the  king- 


dom of  Germany  to  be  chosen  in  his  presence^ 
without  employing  violence  or  simony,  and 
under  the  auspices  of  the  metropolitan  and 
co-provincial  prelates.  The  elected  shall  re- 
ceive from  the  prince  the  investiture  of  the 
regalia  by  the  sceptre,  and  not  the  ecclesias- 
tical regalia,  and  he  shall  perform  such  duties 
to  his  sovereign  as  are  imposed  on  him  by  his 
title  of  subject.  By  virtue  of  this  treaty  we 
grant  to  Henry  a  durable  peace,  and  the  same 
to  those  who  embraced  his  side  during  the 
unhappy  times  of  our  discords." 

The  prince  in  turn  replied  by  a  writing,  in 
which  he  thus  expressed  himself:  "For  the 
love  of  God,  and  the  holy  Roman  church,  of 
Pope  Calixtus,  and  the  safety  of  our  soul,  we 
renounce  the  privilege  of  investitures  by  the 
ring  and  the  cross,  and  we  grant  to  all  the 
churches  of  our  empire,  canonical  elections, 
and  free  consecrations.  We  restore  to  the 
Holy  See  the  lands  and  royalties  on  which  we 
have  seized  during  our  divisions,  and  we  pro- 
mise our  assistance  to  the  pope  to  recover 
those  on  which  our  subjects  have  seized.  We 
will  also  restore  to  the  churches,  lords,  and 
citizens  the  domains  which  are  in  our  posses- 
sion. Finally,  we  grant  an  entire  and  durable 
peace  to  Pope  Calixtus,  the  holy  Roman  church, 
and  all  those  who  have  aided  it  during  our 
discords." 

These  two  deeds  were  read  and  exchanged 
on  a  plain  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
where  tents  and  an  altar  had  been  erected. 
Thanks  were  then  returned  to  God,  and  a  so- 
lemn mass  celebrated  by  the  bishop  of  Ostia, 
at  which  he  admitted  the  emperor  to  com- 
munion, and  gave  him  the  kiss  of  peace.  He 
also  gave  his  absolution  to  the  troo2:)s  who 
surrounded  them,  and  to  all  those  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  schism.  Thus  the  pope  and 
the  king  cemented  their  union,  after  having 
devastated  Germany  and  Italy,  and  murdered 
the  people  of  Saxony,  Bavaria,  Lorraine,  and 
Lombardy,  for  half  a  century,  for  a  miserable 
quarrel  about  investitures. 

Deis  says,  on  this  subject,  "  We  see  clearly, 
that  matters  which  overturn  states  and  cost  so 
many  tears  and  so  much  blood  to  the  people, 
are  but  puerilities  or  pretexts  employed  by 
the  ambition  of  priests  and  kings.  From  the 
time  of  Charlemagne  to  Henry  the  Fourth, 
investitures  were  given  by  the  cross  and  ring, 
as  a  matter  of  perfect  indifference  to  the  state 
and  church  ;  but  under  this  last  emperor,  the 
popes  thought  of  making  of  the  cross  and  ring 
a  sacred  palladium,  which  the  impure  hands 
of  laymen  could  not  approach ;  and  by  the 
assistance  of  this  futile  pretension,  they  over- 
threw society,  increased  their  wealth,  and 
murdered  more  than  three  millions  of  men." 

During  the  following  year,  (1123),  the  pope 
held  a  new  council  in  the  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran,  to  confirm  the  treaty  concluded  with 
Henry,  and  to  prohibit  the  usurpation  of  the 
property  of  the  church,  particularly  that  of 
Beneventum.  They  granted  to  the  crusaders 
who  should  go  to  Jerusalem,  an  entire  re- 
mission of  sins ;  they  declared  their  houses, 
families,  and   property  under  the  protection 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


409 


of  St.  Peter ;  they  prohibited  laj-men,  under 
penalty  of  anathema,  from  carrying  off  the 
offerings  which  were  placed  on  the  altars  of 
the  churches,  and  they  interdicted  to  the  lords 
the  right  of  fortifying  churches,  so  as  to  make 
them  fortifications;  and,  finally,  they  condem- 
ned in  general  all  the  alienations  made  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  clergy.  They  ordered 
abbots  and  monks  not  to  visit  the  sick,  not 
to  celebrate  divine  service  outside  of  their 
monasteries;  and  not  to  call  in  other  prelates 
than  their  diocesan  bishops  to  administer  the 
holy  oil,  to  consecrate  clerks,  and  to  dedicate 
new  monasteries. 

The  bishops  who  composed  this  assembly, 
complained  strongly  of  the  monks,  and  thus 
expressed  themselves :  '•'  The  glory  of  the 
canons  and  of  other  ecclesiastics,  has  been 
entirely  obscured,  since  the  monks,  depart- 
ing from  the  rules  of  their  orders,  seek,  with 
an  insatiable  ambition,  the  privileges  of  the 
bishops,  and  refuse  to  live  by  the  labour  of 


their  own  hands,  as  the  rules  of  St.  Benedict 
prescribe.  They  possess  churches,  lands, 
and  houses ;  they  levy  dimes  and  oblations 
on  the  faithful,  and,  finally,  there  is  only  left 
to  them  to  take  from  us  the  cross  and  the 
ring,  in  order  to  have  completely  despoiled 
us." 

After  the  termination  of  this  council,  the 
pope,  always  alive  to  the  consolidation  of  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  See,  sent  into  France  as 
his  legates,  Gregory,  a  cardinal,  and  Peter  de 
Leon,  who  convened  several  synods  at  Char- 
tres,  Clermont,  Beauvais,  and  Vienne  to  con- 
firm the  acts  of  the  council  of  the  Lateran. 
But  at  the  moment,  when  the  holy  father, 
having  arrived  at  the  apogee  of  his  power, 
was  congratulating  himself  on  the  success  of 
his  policy,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  by  a 
violent  fever  which  carried  him  off  in  a  few 
hours.  He  died  on  the  12th  of  December, 
1124,  after  a  pontificate  of  five  years  and  ten 
months. 


HONORIUS  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY- 
EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1124.] 

P  reliminarics  to  the  election  of  Honorius — Cclcslin,  chosen  pope,  is  forced  to  abdicate — Schism  in 
the  monastery  of  Cluny — The  abbots  Peter  and  Pons  go  to  Rome  to  be  judged — Pons  is  con- 
fined in  a  tower  by  the  order  of  the  pope — Honorius  turns  the  sincere  piety  of  the  prior  Maihew 
into  derision-  Schism  in  the  convent  of  Monte  Cassino — The  treasurer  Nicholas  chosen  abbot 
— He  robs  the  treasury  of  the  convent — Honorius  causes  another  abbot  to  be  chosen — War 
between  the  pope  and  Count  Roger — Affair  of  Stephen  bishop  of  Paris — Death  of  Honorius. 


On  the  death  of  Calixtus,  two  factions  were 
immediately  formed  for  the  election  of  a  pope; 
Leo,  of  Frangipani,  wished  to  elevate  Lam- 
bert, bishop  of  Ostia,  to  the  pontificate,  and 
the  other  party  demanded  the  cardinal,  Saxon 
of  Anagina.  The  adroit  Leo,  in  order  the 
more  easily  to  deceive  the  cardinals,  employ- 
ed a  very  singular  ruse  ;  he  feigned  to  aban- 
don his  protege,  and  on  the  eve  of  the  elec- 
tion, went  very  mysteriously  to  the  residence 
of  each  cardinal,  to  engage  their  chaplains  to 
go  to  the  conclave,  on  the  following  day,  with 
a  red  cape  concealed  undtjr  their  black  ones, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  clothe  their  masters  with 
it,  thus  leaving  each  of  them  to  suppose  he 
woukl  be  chosen  pope.  On  the  following  day, 
all  the  prelates  assembled  in  the  chapel  of 
St.  Pancrace,  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  ; 
Leo  of  Frangipani  was  alone  absent.  They 
proceeded,  however,  to  an  election,  and  on 
the  proposal  of  Damian  and  Jonathan,  they 
clothed  with  the  red  cape,  Thebald,  a  priest 
of  St.  Anastasius,  who  was  proclaimed  pope 
by  the  name  of  Celestin,  amidst  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  nobles,  and  despite  the  active  op- 
position of  the  cardinals,  wno  all  counted  on 
the  papacy. 

At  last  quiet  was  restored,  and  they  were 
even  commencing  to  sing  the  Te  Deum,  in 

Vol.  L  3  B 


sign  of  rejoicing,  when  suddenly  the  Frangi- 
pani entered  the  church  with  their  partizans, 
exclaiming,  "Lambert,  bishop  of  Ostia,  is 
pope  by  the  will  of  St.  Peter."  They  imme- 
diately clothed  him  in  the  pontifical  orna- 
ments, and  ranged  themselves  around  him, 
with  their  drawn  swords  in  their  hands.  Then 
the  venerable  Celestin,  fearing  the  deplorable 
consequences  of  a  combat  in  the  church,  de- 
voted himself  for  the  safety  of  all.  He  ad- 
vanced between  the  two  parties,  despoiled 
himself  of  the  cape  and  purple,  and  yielded 
the  tiara  to  his  rival,  who  took  the  name  of 
Honorius  the  Second. 

Notwithstanding  the  voluntary  renunciation 
of  the  throne  of  the  apostle  by  Celestin,  the 
ecclesiastics,  the  people,  and  the  majority  of 
the  lords  continued  to  regard  him  as  the  sole 

Eope,  and  declared  the  election  of  Honorius  to 
e  irregular  and  sacrilegious.  The  latter  dis- 
covering this  state  of  affairs,  employed  all  his 
resources  to  create  partizans  to  himself;  he 
made  rich  presents  to  the  cardinals,  distributed 
money  to  the  people,  showed  himself  gracious 
to  the  princij)al  citizens  of  Rome,  and  pushed 
his  hypocrisy  so  far,  as  to  publish  that  he 
wished  to  renounce  the  papacy.  He  accord- 
ingly convened  all  the  electors  in  the  church 
of  St.  John,  of  the  Lateran,  and  laid  down  the 
35 


410 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


tiara  in  their  presence,  seven  days  after  he 
had  been  proclaimed  pontiff.  The  assistants, 
deceived  by  this  trick,  and  being  fearful,  be- 
sides, of  introducing  a  dangerous  precedent 
into  the  elections  by  nominating  a  new  pope, 
declared  him  to  be  the  lawful  chief  of  the 
church.  The  cardinals,  nobles,  and  people, 
accordingly  prostrated  themselves  at  his  feet 
and  swore  obedience  to  him. 

The  pontiff  was  originally  from  the  county 
of  Bologna;  his  parents  were  poor  farmers, 
who  had  placed  him  when  very  young  in  the 
cathedral  of  Bologna,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  among  the  young  clerks  by  his  love 
for  study  and  great  regularity  of  morals.  The 
metropolitan  having  conceived  an  affection  for 
him,  had  ordained  him  arch-deacon  of  his 
church,  and  afterwards  pope  Pascal  called 
him  to  Rome,  where  he  consecrated  him  bishop 
of  Velletri  or  Ostia.  As  soon  as  he  reached 
the  pontificate,  he  sent  Otho,  bishop  of  Bam- 
burg,  to  accelerate  the  conversion  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Pomerania,  who  were  governed  by 
Bratislaus.  This  mission  was  entirely  suc- 
cessful, thanks  to  the  duke  of  Poland,  Boles- 
laus  the  Third,  who  forced  the  Pomeranians 
to  embrace  the  Christian  faith'by  massacreing 
them  by  thousands. 

In  the  following  year  (1125),  the  church  was 
strongly  agitated  by  a  schism,  which  broke  out 
in  the  abbey  of  Cluny.  The  former  superior 
of  the  monastery,  Pon,s,  had  some  time  before 
laid  down  the  abbatial  baton  to  undertake  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  not  from  devo- 
tion, but  in  the  hopes  of  becoming  archbishop 
or  governor  of  a  province  of  Palestine.  His 
desires  not  being  realized,  he  resolved  to  re- 
turn to  Italy,  and  stopped  in  the  diocese  of 
Treviso,  where  he  built  an  oratory  some  miles 
from  that  city.  He  lived  in  this  retreat  with 
extreme  rigour,  praying,  fasting,  and  imposing 
on  himself  the  most  rigorous  macerations. 
His  hypocrisy  on  this  occasion,  however,  not 
having  yet  drawn  to  him  the  honours  v/hich 
he  believed  to  be  due  to  his  great  merits,  he 
determined  to  return  to  his  old  monastery.  He 
then  wrote  to  France  to  obtain  the  expulsion 
of  Peter  his  succes.sor.  and  pledged  himself 
to  his  partizans  to  distribute  among  them  the 
wealth  of  the  convent,  if  they  would  reinstate 
him  in  the  dignity  of  abbot.  His  intrigues 
having  created  powerful  protectors  for  him, 
he  went  secretly  to  Cluny,  and  taking  advan- 
tage, one  day,  of  the  absence  of  the  abbot 
Peter,  he  entered  the  convent  and  drove  out 
the  prior  Bernard,  a  venerable  old  man,  and 
the  monks  who  refused  to  submit  to  his  autho- 
rity ;  he  then  gave  up  the  monastery  to  pil- 
lage, he  took  the  crosses,  the  chalices,  the 
candelabras,  the  reliquaries,  caused  them  to 
be  melted  into  ingots,  and  drew  from  them 
enormous  sums  which  he  distributed  to  the 
lords  of  the  vicinage  and  the  men  at  arms  who 
had  joined  his  cause. 

Once  master  of  the  abbey,  he  employed 
himself  in  reducing  the  farms  and  country 
houses  which  were  dependent  on  it ;  his  ef- 
forts were  turned  principally  against  the  prior 
Bernard,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  fortified 


oratories  with  the  monks,  who  held  out  for  the 
abbot  Peter.  This  war  of  the  monks  lasted 
for  an  entire  year;  at  length  Honorius  being 
advised  of  all  these  disorders,  sent  the  car- 
dinal Peter  Defontaines  as  his  legate  into 
France,  who  pronounced  a  terrible  anathema 
against  Pons  and  his  partizans,  enjoining  on 
them  to  go  to  Italy  with  the  abbot  Peter  to  be 
judged  by  a  council. 

The  intrepid  Pons  went  to  Rome  accompa- 
nied by  some  nobles  of  his  faction  ;  Peter,  his 
competitor,  came,  having  with  him  Mathew, 
the  prior  of  St.  Martin  des  Champs.  But  as 
Pons  was  excommunicated,  and  consequently, 
by  the  canons,  incapable  of  appearing  for 
judgment  before  the  pope,  a  legate  said  to 
him,  when  introducing  him  into  the  council 
chamber,  that  he  ought  to  prepare  to  receive 
absolution.  The  proud  abbot,  raising  his  voice, 
replied,  "I have  nothing  to  do  with  your  abso- 
lution, since  no  man  living,  I  care  not  what  is 
his  rank  on  earth,  has  power  to  excommuni- 
cate me  ;  since  I  have  received  plenary  in- 
dulgences for  my  sins,  past,  present  and  to 
come,  by  undertaking  the  journey  to  the  holy 
land  ;  the  apostle  alone  can  judge  me  when 
I  shall  present  myself  before  him  to  be  intro- 
duced into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 

Honorius  was  indignant  at  such  a  reply,  as 
were  all  the  Roman  ecclesiastics  who  were 
present,  and  he  flew  into  a  rage  with  the  abbot, 
calling  him  a  schismatic,  an  heretic  and  anti- 
christ;  he  caused  him  to  be  put  out  of  the 
hall.  They  then  demanded  from  those  who 
had  accompanied  this  monk,  if  they  wished 
to  imitate  his  example,  or  do  their  duty  by 
asking  pardon  from  the  Holy  See,  in  order  to 
be  relieved  from  the  censures  which  had  been 
pronounced  against  them.  All  declared  that 
they  were  ready  to  give  entire  satisfaction  to 
the  holy  father,  and  presented  themselves  at 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  with  naked  feet, 
covered  with  ashes,  striking  their  breasts  and 
crying  for  mercy.  Having  received  absolution, 
they  were  admitted  to  plead  their  cause ;  the 
prior  Mathew  spoke  the  last  in  favour  of  the 
abbot  Peter,  and  he  made  himself  remarked 
for  his  profound  erudition  and  eloquence. — 
After  the  pleadings  were  over,  the  pope  retired 
with  his  cardinals  to  a  privy  council,  to  deli- 
berate on  the  matter. — At  the  end  of  some 
hours,  they  returned  to  the  great  hall,  and  th& 
bishop  of  Porto  pronounced  the  following  sen- 
tence : — "  The  holy  Roman  church  deposes 
for  ever  from  every  dignity,  and  all  ecclesi- 
astical functions  the  usurping,  sacrilegious, 
schismatic,  and  excommunicated  Pons;  it  re- 
stores the  church  of  Cluny,  the  monks  and  all 
the  dependencies  of  the  convent,  to  the  abbey 
Peter,  here  present,  who  has  been  unjustly 
despoiled  of  them." 

This  judgment  was  loudly  applauded  by 
the  assistants,  and  those  who  had  separated 
from  Peter  immediately  came  to  make  their 
submissions  to  him ;  thus  was  checked  the 
schism  which  had  scandalized  the  holy  abbey 
of  Cluny.  Pons  alone  wished  to  protest  against 
the  decision  of  the  fathers ;  he  was  tlien  con- 
fined in  a  tower,  where  he  died  some  months 


HISTORY  OF   THE   POPES. 


4H 


afterwards  of  a  contagious  malady,  and  in 
final  impenitence.  —  The  pontitl",  however, 
caused  him  to  be  honourably  interred  from 
regard  to  the  frock  of  the  monks. 

Honorius  retained  the  prior  Mathew,  whose 
talents  he  admired,  about  his  person,  and 
created  him  bishop  of  Albano  ;  this  new  dig- 
nity did  not  change  the  habits  of  the  monk, 
he  continued  to  lead  the  chaste  and  sober  life 
of  the  convent  in  the  midst  of  the  lu.vury  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  notwithstanding  the  sar- 
casms of  the  pope,  who  tinned  the  holiness 
of  the  prelate  hilo  ridicule,  calling  him  his 
anchorite,  and  snubbing  him  that  he  had  not 
like  the  other  bishops,  mistresses,  palaces  and 
horses. 

Scarcely  was  the  dispute  of  the  monks  of 
Cluny  terminated,  when  a  new  schism  broke 
out  in  another  celebrated  abbey,  the  monastery 
of  Monte  Cassino.  This  time  the  pope  was  the 
author  of  the  deplorable  division.  Whilst 
Honorius  was  but  the  simple  bishop  of  Ostia, 
when  flying  from  the  persecution  of  the  anti- 
pope  Gregory  the  Eighth,  he  had  taken  refuge 
in  this  convent,  and  had  besought  the  abbot, 
Oderisus  the  Second,  to  grant  him,  as  an  asy- 
lum, a  priorj-  which  was  dependent  on  the 
monastery,  as  his  predecessor.  Leon  de  Mar- 
sique,  had  obtained.  Oderisus  refused  this 
demand,  through  fear,  lest  as  a  consequence, 
the  prelates  of  Ostia  might  use  it  as  a  prece- 
dent to  seize  on  this  cloister.  Lambert  retired 
in  fury,  and  from  that  moment  vowed  an  im- 
placable hatred  to  the  abbot. 

On  the  day  succeeding  his  advent  to  the 
pontificate,  he  demanded  from  Oderisus  a 
considerable  sum  for  the  wants  of  the  Roman 
church.  The  latter,  who  was  a  canlinal,  re- 
plied, that  not  having  partici]iated  in  the  elec- 
tion of  their  master,  he  ought  not  to  contri- 
bute to  his  support.  Honorius,  exasperated 
at  this  new  insult,  summoned  the  abbot  to 
appear  immediately  before  him  at  the  castle 
of  Fremona,  where  he  was  with  a  numerous 
court,  and  there,  in  the  presence  of  his  cardi- 
nals, in  a  public  audience,  he  reprimanded 
him  severely;  he  accused  him  of  dissipating 
the  property  of  the  monastery  in  shameful 
debauchery;  reproached  him  with  bearing 
the  casque  and  the  sword  more  frequently 
than  the  mitre  and  the  cross,  and  finally  treated 
him  as  a  rebel,  and  drove  him  from  the  as- 
sembly. Not  content  with  having  subjected 
the  abbot  to  such  an  humiliation,  Honorius,  on 
his  return  to  Rome,  subsidized  false  witnesses, 
who  presented  themselves  with  Adenulph, 
count  of  Aquin,  the  mortal  enemy  of  Oderisus, 
and  affirmed  before  the  council  of  the  holy 
father,  that  the  abbot,  in  contempt  of  the 
canons,  exercised  the  papacy  in  his  monastery. 
The  bishop  of  Terracina  was  immediately 
sent  to  Monte  Cassino,  to  order  the  abbot  to 
come  to  Rome,  and  reply  to  the  accusations 
against  him ;  he  refused  to  obey.  The  holy 
father  then  assembled  a  council,  and  after 
having  three  times  called  the  rebel  with  a 
loud  voice,  and  no  one  having  replied,  he  pro- 
nounced a  sentence  of  deposition  against  him. 
The  abbot,  without  disquieting  himself  about 


this  pontifical  decree,  continued  to  sit  in  the 
chair  of  his  church,  with  the  cross  in  his  hand, 
which  led  to  his  excommunication,  and  that 
of  those  who  supportetl  him. 

This  last  censure  divided  the  monks  and 
the  people  of  the  city  of  St.  Germain,  a  de- 
pendency on  the  abbey,  into  two  parlies ;  their 
minds  became  excited;  they  flew  to  arms, 
and  afterseveral  bloody  combats,  the  people 
having  become  masters  of  Monte  Cassino, 
constrained  the  monks  to  drive  out  Oderisus, 
and  choose  another  abbot.  They  elected 
Nicholas,  who  was  the  treasurer  of  the  con- 
vent. But  the  pope,  who.se  only  intention  was 
to  seize  on  the  riches  of  the  monastery,  disap- 
proved of  this  election,  under  the  pretext  that 
Nicholas  had  been  promoted  to  the  dignity  of 
abbot  at  the  close  of  a  sedition,  and  he  ordered 
the  fathers  to  proceed  to  the  nomination  of 
another  superior,  whom  he  designated  to  them. 
Nicholas,  foreseeing  that  his  reign  would  be  of 
short  duration,  wished  to  use  the  time  to  advan- 
tage ;  he  filled  several  chests  with  money,  and 
embarked  for  Greece  with  the  treasures  of  the 
convent.  His  flight  was  so  skilfully  executed, 
that  the  monks  did  not  even  know  of  it  until 
it  was  too  late  to  seize  the  robber. 

Honorius  caused  the  prevost  of  Capua, 
named  Seignoret,  to  be  elevated  to  the  place 
of  Nicholas,  and  wished  to  compel  him  to 
take  an  oath  of  obedience  to  him ;  but  the 
monks  forcibly  opposed  this  new  pretension, 
which  placed  the  keys  of  Monte  Cassino  un- 
der the  dependency  of  the  bishops  of  Rome, 
and  openly  violated  their  privileges.  The 
holy  father  despairing  of  overcoming  their  re- 
solution, at  length  consecrated  the  new  abbot, 
only  exacting  from  him  a  large  sum  of  money. 

Shortly  afterwards,  William,  duke  of  Apu- 
lia, having  ilied  without  children,  Roger,  count 
of  Sicily,  his  great  uncle  and  heir,  came  lo 
Salernum  to  be  recognised  as  sovereign 
prince  by  the  inhabitants,  and  to  be  conse- 
crated by  Albanus,  bishop  of  Capua ;  he  then 
went  to  Reggie,  where  he  was  proclaimed 
duke  of  Apulia,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Sicily.  His  vanity  not  being  yet  satisfied  with 
the  title  of  duke,  he  sent  embassadors,  laden 
with  rich  presents,  to  Honorius,  to  obtain  the 
title  of  king  and  the  investiture,  by  the  stand- 
ard of  the  provinces  which  William  hail  pos- 
sessed, promising,  in  return  for  this  favour,  to 
surrender  to  the  Holy  See  the  cities  of  Troies 
and  Montefosco.  The  pontifll";  who  had  for  a 
long  time  aspired  to  the  possession  of  the  pro- 
vinces of  Apulia  and  Capua,  profited  by  this 
step  of  the  prince  to  establish  it  as  a  principle 
that  Roger  was  not  the  lawful  heir  to  the  es- 
tates of  his  nephew,  since  he  had  taken  pos- 
session of  them  before  having  received  the 
investiture  from  the  Holy  See,  and  he  rejected 
his  demand. 

Roger,  indignant  at  this  reply,  which  un- 
veiled all  the  ambitious  views  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  resolved  to  punish  the  pontifT;  he 
immediately  levied  troops,  invaded  the  terri- 
tory of  Beneventum,  and  advanced  as  far  as 
the  Campagna  of  Rome,  devastating  all  the 
domains  of   the  church.    Honorius,  on  his 


412 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


side,  judging  that  the  moment  was  favourable 
for  seizing  on  Apulia,  went  to  Capua,  where 
he  consecrated  prince  Robert,  who  had  enter- 
ed into  secret  engagements  with  the  Holy  See. 
After  the  ceremony  the  pope  harangued  the 
people  j  he  represented  Roger  as  the  enemy 
of  religion  j  he  dwelt  on  the  evils  he  would 
inflict  on  the  faithful,  and  swore,  with  horrid 
imprecation?,  that  he  would  never  receive  him 
into  favour.  He  finished  by  shedding  a  torrent 
of  tears,  and  imploring  the  aid  of  those  around 
for  his  own  defence  and  that  of  the  church. 
He  promised  a  plenary  indulgence  to  those 
who  died  in  this  expedition,  and  a  simple  in- 
dulgence to  those  whom  death  spared. 

Roger,  in  defiance  of  the  ecclesiastical 
thunders,  continued  his  march  across  Apulia, 
but  retiring  towards  the  mountains,  and  shun- 
ning the  army  of  the  pontiff,  which  was  supe- 
rior in  numbers  to  his  own.  The  duke  hoped 
by  these  tactics  to  fatigue  the  troops  of  the 
pope,  who,  being  new  recruits,  could  not  long 
endure  the  fatigues  of  marches  and  counter- 
marches. His  predictions  were  verified.  The 
partizans  of  the  holy  father,  tired  of  keeping 
the  field,  and  suffering  from  want  of  provi- 
sions and  clothing,  were  oblig'ed  to  disperse 
and  return  to  their  homes.  Honorius  seeing 
his  forces  almost  reduced,  by  the  desertion  of 
his  soldier.S;  to  only  the  bands  of  Robert,  de- 
termined to  regain  Beneventum.  Roger,  in 
his  turn,  took  the  off'ensive  and  blockaded  him 
in  the  place.  After  the  trenches  had  been 
opened  some  days,  he  summoned  the  pope  to 
surrender  himself  a  prisoner,  or  grant  him  the 
investiture  of  Apulia.  The  holy  father,  before 
a  danger  so  imminent,  forgot  the  oaths  which 
he  had  taken  never  to  pardon  him ;  he  sent 
him  the  standard,  and  the  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed  on  the  22d  of  August,  1128. 

HonoriuPj-  on  his  return  to  Rome,  found  em- 
bassadors from  Robert  de  Senlis,  the  chancel- 
lor of  France,  who,  four  years  before,  had 
been  elevated  to  the  dignity  of  metropolitan 
of  Paris.  They  were  instructed  to  bear  to  the 
pope  the  complaints  of  their  master  against 
the  king,  Louis  the  Fat,  whom  he  accused  of 
sustaining  the  disorders  of  the  French  clergy, 


'  by  extracting  from  them  benefices  prejudicial 
to  ecclesiastical  liberty.  Stephen  even  ac- 
cused the  prince  of  having  seized  on  the 
property  of  his  church,  and  of  having  even 
wished  to  murder  him  by  his  soldiers,  at  the 
moment  he  was  leaving  his  palace.  Honorius 
replied  to  him,  that  he  should  immediately 
lanch  a  decree  of  anathema  against  the  sove- 
reign, and  place  the  kingdom  of  France  under 
interdict.  The  metropolitan  obeyed  the  Holy 
J  See,  and  drew  to  his  party  the  bishop  of  Sens 
and  a  large  number  of  prelates. 

Alarmed  at  the  consequences  of  a  revolt  of 
the  clerg}',  the  king  immediately  sent  embas- 
sadors laden  with  rich  presents  to  Rome,  who 
bought  from  the  Holy  See  the  absolution  of 
the  anathema  and  the  suspension  of  the  inter- 
dict, after  which  he  was  able  to  continue  his 
persecution  of  Stephen,  and  the  dilapidation  of 
the  churches.  Saint  Bernard  and  Geofi"re3', 
bishop  of  Chartres.  addressed  eloquent  letters 
to  the  court  of  Rome  on  the  same  subject, 
but  they  were  unanswered.  Stephen  of  Senlis 
discovered  that  the  justice  of  his  cause  would 
always  be  despised  if  he  did  not  fortify  his 
complaints  by  a  large  sum  of  money ;  he  then 
collected  all  his  resources,  sold  the  chalices 
of  his  church,  borrowed  from  the  Jews  on 
pledges  of  the  sacred  ornaments  of  the  metro- 
pohs,  and  sent  to  Rome  four  thousand  deniers 
of  gold  in  exchange  for  the  protection  of  the 
pope.  Honorius  did  not  resist  so  conclusive 
an  argument ;  he  granted  authority  to  Stephen 
to  assemble  a  council  at  Rheims,  to  judge  the 
king  of  France,  and  to  anathematise  him  in 
the  name  of  the  apostle,  if  he  refused  to  re- 
store the  property  he  had  seized.  Louis  did 
not  w^ish  to  encounter  the  bishop  of  Paris 
again ;  he  perceived  that  it  was  better  in  this 
matter  to  have  a  good  understanding  with 
him,  and  peace  was  made  between  them  with- 
out the  intervention  of  the  pope. 

Soon  after  this  the  holy  father  became  very 
sick,  and  as  he  felt  death  approaching,  he  was 
carried  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Andrew,  where 
he  died  on  the  14th  of  February,  1130.  His 
remains  were  deposited  in  the  church  of  the 
Lateran. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


413 


INNOCENT  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY- 
NINTH  POPE. 
ANACLET  THE  SECOND,  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  1130.] 

Double  election  of  a  pope  and  anti-pope — History  of  the  two  pontiffs — Schism  in  the  Roman 
church — Letters  of  the  anti-pope  Anaclet — Legates  of  Anaclet — He  concludes  an  alliance 
with  Roger,  kin^  of  Sicily — Lmocent  the  Second  takes  refuge  in  France  and  implores  the  aid 
of  the  lords — He  is  recognized  in  Germany  as  the  lauful  pontiff — Comes  to  St.  Denis — 
Council  of  Rheims — Anaclet  is  excommunicated — The  pope  grants  privileges  to  the  monastery 
of  the  Citeaux — His  return  to  Italy  ivith  a  foreign  army — He  is  installed  in  the  palace  of  the 
Latcran  by  the  emperor  of  Germany — Coronation  of  Lothaire — Council  of  Pisa — Sai)it  Ber- 
nard is  sent  as  embassador  to  Milan — Return  of  Lothaire  into  Italy — 2'he  monks  of  Monte 
Cassino  submit  to  Innocent  the  Second — Differences  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor — Death 
of  the  anti-pope  and  end  of  the  schism — General  council  of  the  Lateran — Peace  is  concluded 
between  Ki)ig  Roger  and  the  pope — Schism  of  the  Greeks  and  conferences  for  their  re-union — 
History  of  Arnold  of  Brescia — His  doctrine  and  condemnation — Death  of  the  pontiff. 


The  cardinals  and  principal  citizens  of 
Rome,  seeing  the  end  of  Honorius  approach- 
ing, and  being  desirous  of  preventing  the  dis- 
orders which  took  place  at  the  election  of  the 
pontilT,  agreed  to  assemble  secretly  in  the 
church  of  St.  Mark,  and  proceed  together,  in 
accordance  with  the  canons,  to  the  election  of 
a  new  pope.  But  the  chancellor  Aimeri  and 
some  other  cardinals  of  his  party,  fearful  of 
losing  the  influence  which  they  had  in  the 
government  of  the  church  under  Honorius,  re- 
solved to  nominate  a  pontiff  who  was  devoted 
to  their  interests  and  would  retain  them  in 
their  honours  and  dignities.  For  this  purpose, 
as  soon  as  Honorius  hail  expired,  and  before 
even  making  public  his  death,  they  hastened 
to  choose  as  his  succes.sor  Gre^iory,  cardinal 
of  Saint  Angelo,  and  having  clothed  him  in 
the  pontifical  ornaments,  they  conducted  him 
to  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and  proclaimed 
him  the  supreme  chief  of  the  church,  by  the 
name  of  Innocent  the  Second.  • 

The  Roman  lords,  the  other  cardinals  and 
bishops,  furious  at  this  great  knavery,  in  their 
turn  assembled  with  the  people  in  the  church 
of  St.  Mark  and  elevated  Peter,  the  cardinal 
of  St.  Mary  of  Trastevera,  to  the  dignity  of 
sovereign  pontiff,  by  the  name  of  Anaclet  the 
Second.  Platinus  endeavours  to  show  that 
this  second  election  did  not  take  place  imme- 
diately, but  some  months  after,  on  account  of 
the  war  which  the  pope  wished  to  make  on 
Duke  Roger,  who  claimed  the  title  of  king 
of  Naples  and  Sicily,  and  also  the  sacerdotal 
as  well  as  political  authority  over  these  iwo 
provinces,  by  virtue  of  the  privilege  granted 
ijy  Urban  the  Second  to  the  countship  of  Sicily. 
'•  Innocent,"  adds  he,  "not  only  rejected  the 
preten.sions  of  Roger,  but  even  endeavoured 
to  take  the  city  of  Naples  from  him.  It  was 
a  very  common  thing  in  that  as-e  to  see  popes 
at  the  head  of  armies  plunge  their  cruel  hands 
in  Christian  blood  to  satisfy  their  insatiable 
ambition.  But  this  e.xpedilion  was  not  fortu- 
nate, and  the  holy  father,  with  three  of  his 
cardinals,  fell  into  the  power  of  the  count, 


who  retained  them  prisoners  until  the  pope 
had  decided  to  confer  on  him  the  royal  crown 
of  Naples  and  Sicily.  It  was  during  the  cap- 
tivity of  Innocent  that  the  Romans  elected 
Pope  Anaclet  the  Second "  This  ver- 
sion is  not  true,  and  it  is  impossible  to  lind  it 
in  the  chroniclers  to  whom  Platinus  has  re- 
ferred us. 

Innocent  the  Second  had  been  in  early  life 
a  monk  of  St.  John's  of  the  Lateran,  then 
abbot  of  the  convent  of  St.  Nicholas  and  St. 
Primitive,  which  was  located  without  the 
walls  of  Rome.  Urban  the  Second  had  or- 
dained him  a  cardinal  deacon,  and  Calixtus  the 
Second  had  sent  him  to  France  as  his  legate. 
Arnulf  affiiTns  that  he  always  evhiced  extreme 
regularity  of  morals,  and  that  he  joined  to 
great  affability,  mildness,  eloquence,  and  an 
evangelical  humility.  According  to  this  his- 
torian Innocent  wished  twice  to  renounce  the 
pontificate,  to  put  an  end  to  the  schism,  but  the 
cardinals  who  had  chosen  him,  prevented  him 
from  putting  his  good  designs  into  execution. 

Anaclet,  the  anti-pope,  was  the  grandson 
of  a  converted  Jew,  who  had  been  baptized 
by  pope  Leo  the  Ninth ;  this  Jew,  by  his  talents 
and  great  wealth,  became  very  powerful  at 
the  court  of  Rome  ;  his  son,  Peter  de  Leo, 
still  further  increased  his  credit  and  repu- 
tation by  serving  the  Holy  See  usefully  in 
the  quarrel  about  the  investitures.  As  a  re- 
compense the  popes  gave  to  him  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Tower  of  Crescentius,  or  Castle 
of  St.  Anaelo,  and  increased  his  fortune  by 
marrying  him  to  the  heiress  of  one  of  the  most 
powerful  families  of  Rome.  He  had  several 
chililren  by  his  marriage,  of  whom  Anaclet 
was  the  eldest ;  he  destined  him  for  litera- 
ture and  sent  him  to  the  University  of  Paris 
as  a  student. 

After  passing  some  years  in  the  schools,  the 
young  Anaclet  finding  himself  called  to  a  re- 
ligious life,  went  to  the  abbot  of  Cluny,  who 
admitted  him  into  the  number  of  his  monks. 
At  the  entreaty  of  his  father,  Pascal  the  Second 
afterwards  called  him  to  his  court  and  created 
35* 


414 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


him  a  cardinal.  During  the  pontificate  of  Ca- 
lixtus  he  was  sent  to  France  with  Gregory  in 
the  capacity  of  legate,  and  he  exhibited  in 
several  councils  an  imperious  character,  which 
gave  a  foresight  into  what  he  would  in  the 
end  become.  In  fact,  as  soon  as  he  was 
nominated  as  Pontiff,  he  pursued  his  competi- 
tor to  extremities,  drove  him  from  the  terri- 
tories of  the  church,  and  obliged  him  to  take 
refuge  with  the  Frangipani,  whose  fortresses 
placed  the  unfortunate  Innocent  beyond  the 
reach  of  his  wrath.  Not  being  able  to  reach 
his  enemy  in  his  inaccessible  retreats,  he 
turned  his  rage  upon  the  Romans,  drove  out 
the  clergy  from  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  carried 
off  the  sacred  ornaments,  as  well  as  the  statues 
of  gold  and  silver,  pillaged  the  church  of  St. 
Maria  Majora  and  the  other  temples  which 
were  esteemed  the  richest.  As  he  could  find 
no  Christians  impious  enough  to  lay  a  sacri- 
legious hand  upon  the  tabernacles,  he  called 
to  his  aid  the  ancient  co-religionists  of  his 
family  and  caused  them  to  break  to  pieces  the 
pixes,  chalices,  and  crucifixes,  which  were 
converted  into  gold  and  silver  money.  These 
depredations  considerably  increased  his  pri- 
vate fortune,  which  came  frorn  the  inheritance 
of  his  father,  and  the  exactions  which  he  had 
committed  at  the  court  of  Rome  and  in  his 
legations )  he  v.-as  thus  enabled  to  bestow 
largesses  on  his  partizans  and  to  subsidise 
assassins. 

Innocent  was  soon  forced  to  quit  Italy,  to 
avoid  falling  into  the  power  of  his  cruel  ene- 
my. He  embarked  secretly  on  the  Tiber 
with  several  cardinals,  reached  Ostia  rapidly, 
from  whence  he  went  to  Pisa,  where  he  was 
received  with  all  the  honours  due  to  his  dig- 
nit)^  The  holy  father  remained  for  some 
time  in  this  latter  city  to  regulate  the  eccle- 
siastical affairs  of  Tuscany,  and  to  choose  the 
embassadors  whom  he  sent  to  the  kings  of 
Germany  and  France,  to  infoiiTi  them  of  the 
schism  which  had  broken  out  in  the  holy  city. 

Anaclet,  on  his  part,  displayed  all  the  re- 
sources of  his  policy,  and  was  prodigal  of  the 
basest  flatteries  to  princes  and  lords,  to  induce 
them  to  recognise  him  as  the  lawful  pontiff. 
He  addressed  the  following  letter  to  Lothaire 
the  Second,  the  successor  to  Henry  the  Fifth, 
after  having  reminded  him  of  the  former 
friendship  which  united  their  families: — 
"  Dear  prince :  We  have  been  canonically 
elected  and  consecrated  by  the  bishop  of 
Porto,  before  the  altar  of  St.  Peter,  in  the 
presence  of  other  prelates,  before  all,  and 
with  great  solemnity;  whilst  the  schismatics 
chose  their  pope  in  darkness,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  fly  from  Rome  during  the  night,  to 
conceal  their  shame,  and  shun  the  wrath  of 
the  people.  As  we  have  been  chosen  by  all 
the  Romans,  clergy  and  laity,  we  freely  exer- 
cise the  pontifical  functions,  and  consecrate 
bishops  and  cardinals  without  difficulty.  Do 
not,  then,  grant  your  confidence  to  the  ex- 
chancellor  Aimeri,  that  robber-priest,  that 
shameless  and  simoniacal  wretch ;  no  longer 
place  confidence  in  the  soft  words  of  John  of 
Crema,  who  is  an  infamous  man,  a  veritable  I 


Nicolaite ;  but  be  convinced  by  the  voice  of 
the  people,  which  designates  us  as  the  sole, 
true,  and  lawful  successor  of  the  apostle." 
He  joined  to  his  letter  a  bull  of  the  clergy  of 
his  party,  signed  by  twenty-seven  cardinals, 
the  archpriests,  abbots,  dean  and  suffragan 
bishops  of  Rome.  "We  write  to  you,"  said 
they,  "  as  well  as  to  the  other  princes  of  the 
East  and  West,  to  dissipate  the  calumnies  of 
the  schismatics,  who  accuse  the  pontiff  Ana- 
clet the  Second  of  not  having  been  chosen 
canonically,  and  of  having  seized  upon  the 
Holy  See  by  violence,  and  with  effusion  of 
blood." 

In  the  embarrassment  in  which  he  found 
himself,  in  regard  to  which  of  the  two  popes 
was  the  usurper,  Lothaire  took  the  wise  part 
of  replying  to  no  one.  Anaclet,  annoyed  by 
his  silence,  wrote  to  him  again,  by  the  pre- 
fect and  principal  lords  of  Rome,  in  the  name 
of  the  whole  city.  He  complained  of  the 
contempt  Lothaire  had  shoAvn  for  the  Holy 
See  by  not  answering  his  letter,  and  pledged 
himself  to  take  him  under  his  protection,  if 
he  himself  desired  to  be  recognised  as  empe- 
ror of  the  Romans. 

Whilst  he  was  thus  seeking  to  assure  him- 
self of  the  support  of  Germany,  he  sent  into 
France  Otho,  bishop  of  Lodi,  with  the  title  of 
legate,  and  charged  with  several  letters,  in 
which  he  reminded  the  king  of  the  friendship 
with  which  he  had  honoured  him  in  his  youth, 
and  of  the  affectionate  cares  with  which  he 
had  laden  him.  Another  legale,  Gregory,  a 
cardinal-deacon,  was  sent  into  Aquitaine,  to 
remit  to  the  abbot  and  monks  of  Cluny,  the 
sentences  of  anathema  pronounced  against 
those  whom  he  called  schismatics;  that  is, 
against  all  those  who  refused  to  recognise  his 
authority.  Finally,  other  embassadors  were 
sent  to  John  Com nen us,  emperor  of  the  East, 
and  to  the  bishop  of  Drivasto,  in  Albania,  as 
also  to  the  king  of  Jerusalem. 

But  all  these  embassies  resulted  unfavour- 
ably. In  Italy  only  Avere  the  intrigues  of  Ana- 
clet fully  successful.  The  greater  part  of  the 
lords  took  the  oath  of  obedience  and  fidelity 
to  him.  He  even  concluded  an  alliance  with 
Duke  Roger,  to  whom  he  gave  his  sister  in 
marriage,  granting  to  him  the  title  of  King  of 
Sicily,  and  the  right  to  be  crowned  by  the 
metropolitans  of  his  kingdom.  He  surrendered 
to  him,  besides,  the  principality  of  Capua  and 
the  lordship  of  Naples ;  and  he  authorised  the 
archbishop  of  Palermo  to  consecrate  the  pre- 
lates of  Syracuse,  Girgenti,  Mazaria,  and  Ca- 
tania, Avithout  the  approval  of  the  court  of 
Rome.  This  bull  is  dated  on  the  27th  Sep- 
tember, 1130,  and  forms  the  first  authentic 
title  of  the  royalty  of  Sicily. 

Whilst  the  anti-pope,  sustained  by  the  arms 
of  his  brother-in-law,  caused  himself  to  be 
recognised,  either  willingly,  or  by  force,  in 
all  the  provinces  of  Italy,  Innocent  had  em- 
barked at  Pisa,  and  gone  towards  the  coast  of 
France.  He  disembarked  at  St.  Gilles,  in 
Provence,  and  from  thence  went  to  Viviers, 
then  to  Puy,  in  Auvergne,  and  finally  to  Cler- 
mont, where  he  held  a  council,  at  which  Eri- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES 


415 


bert  and  Conrad,  archbishops  of  Munster  and 
Saltzburg  were  present.  The  pope  then  went 
to  Cluny  to  thank  the  monks  who  had  sent 
him,  on  his  disembarkation,  sixty  horses,  with 
suitable  equipaues  for  himsL'lf  and  his  cardinals. 
Innocent  remained  eleven  days  in  this  opulent 
retreat,  where  he  dedicated  a  new  church 
■which  was  built  in  honour  of  the  apostle  St. 
Peter.  This  solemn  reception  by  the  monks 
of  Cluny  gave  him  a  great  preponderance 
throughout  all  France,  and  even  in  Germany, 
where  his  election  was  adjudged  to  be  cano- 
nical . 

During  the  sojourn  of  the  holy  father  at 
the  abbey  of  Cluny,  king  Louis  sent  Suger, 
abbot  of  St.  Denis,  to  present  him  his  best 
compliments.  He  then  went  himself,  with 
the  queen  and  princes,  as  far  as  St.  Benedict, 
sn  the  Loire,  to  meet  the  pontiff.  As  soon  as 
he  perceived  Innocent,  he  dismounted  from 
his  horse,  prostrated  himself  at  his  feet,  took 
an  oath  of  obedience  and  protection  to  him, 
and  pledged  himself,  by  oath,  to  overthrow 
the  enemies  of  the  church,  and  exterminate 
the  schismatics.  Saint  Bernard,  the  cele- 
brated abbot  of  the  Citeaux,  was  then  sent 
to  the  court  of  Henry  of  England,  to  induce 
him  to  recognise  Innocent.  The  pious  monk 
was  received  with  great  coldness,  which 
taught  him,  that  the  English  prelates,  cor- 
rupted by  the  gold  of  Anaclet,  had  already- 
alarmed  the  king  by  threatening  him  with 
eternal  damnation.  Bernard  was  at  last  able 
to  overcome  the  scruples  of  the  prince,  by 
reasoning,  and  in  a  last  audience  to  convince 
him  b}'  sayii^g  to  liim — ••  What  do  you  fear 
my  lord  ?  Is  it  to  burn  in  hell  for  having  re- 
cognised the  pope  ?  Fear  not ;  only  think  of 
obtaining  pardon  from  God  for  your  other 
sins-  I  take  that  to  my  own  account.''  The 
king  of  England  had  no  reply,  and  at  once 
recognised  the  pontiff.  On  the  next  day  he 
asse.nibled  an  imposing  train  and  went  as  far 
as  Chart  res  to  meet  Innocent. 

All  had  been  prepared  in  advance  for  this 
first  interview  ;  Henry,  following  the  e.xample 
of  the  king  of  France,  prostrated  himself  at 
the  feet  of  the  holy  father,  and  swore  filial 
obedience  to  hun  in  his  own  name  and  that 
of  his  people.  He  then  conducted  him  in 
triumph  to  the  city  of  Rouen,  where  the  pope 
received  considerable  presents  from  the  king. 
the  lords,  and  the  Jews.  During  his  sojourn 
at  Rouen,  the  holy  father  received  from  his 
legate  Gauthier,  the  metropolitan  of  Ravenna, 
the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Wurtzburg, 
which  informed  him  of  the  favourable  turn 
his  affairs  were  taking  in  Germany;  and  at  the 
same  time  a  letter  from  king  Lothaire  and 
the  prelates  of  his  kingdom,  who  besought 
him  to  go  to  Liege  to  preside  over  an  assembly 
of  Saxon,  German,  Bavarian,  and  Lorraine 
bishops  and  lords  which  was  to  be  held  on  the 
22d  of  March,  1131. 

Innocent  went  at  once  on  the  invitation  of 
the  prince,  who  came  to  meet  him,  three 
miles  from  Liege,  with  the  queen  his  wife, 
and  a  numerous  train  of  priests  and  nobles. 
It  is  related  that  Lothaire  accompanied  the 


pontiff  as  far  as  the  cathedral,  holding  in  one 
hand  a  rod  to  keep  off  the  people,  and  with 
the  other  leading  his  horse^^  After  the  cele- 
bration of  divine  service,  the  pope  went  to 
the  council  to  preside  over  its  session  •  but 
Lothaire,  who  had  intended  to  profit  by  the 
division  in  the  church  to  regain  the  right  of 
investiture,  wished  them  above  all  to  delibe- 
rate on  this  important  question,  and  urged  the 
holy  father  to  restore  to  the  crown  a  privilege 
which  had  been  wrested  from  the  emperor 
Henry,  by  the  necessity  of  the  circumstances. 

At  this  proposal  the  cardinals,  and  the  pon- 
tiff himself,  grew  pale,  fearful  lest  they  had 
fallen  into  greater  danger  at  Liege,  than  that 
which  they  had  so  fortunately  shumied  at 
Rome.  All  were  silent  and  bowed  their 
heads.  Saint  Bernard,  indignant  at  the  cow- 
ardice of  the  pope,  alone  .spoke ;  he  remon- 
strated with  the  king  of  Germany  on  the 
dangers  of  a  new  strife  between  the  altar  and 
the  throne,  and  forcibly  represented  to  him, 
that  he  would  commit  an  irremissible  crime 
by  reducing  the  churches,  and  compelling 
the  prelates  to  become  simoniacs.  Lothaire, 
moved  by  the  eloquence  of  the  monk,  de- 
sisted from  his  pretensions,  only  exacting  a 
promise  from  the  holy  father  to  crown  him  em- 
peror in  the  cathedral  at  Rome.  All  the  con- 
ventions having  been  agreed  on  and  signed,  the 
council  terminated  its  sessions,  and  Innocent 
returned  to  France  to  celebrate  the  festival 
of  Easter  at  St.  Denis,  as  he  had  engaged  to 
do.  Suger  went  in  procession  at  the  head 
of  the  community  to  receive  him,  and  on  Holy 
Thursday  the  pope  solemidy  officiated. 

Three  days  afterwards  Innocent  performed 
a  magnificent  ceremony  which  was  called  the 
largesses  of  the  presbytery.  We  find  the 
following  details  of  this  day  in  the  chronicles 
of  Suger:  "On  the  next  day  as  soon  as  the 
light  appeared,  the  pope  left  the  abbey  mys- 
teriously, and  went  to  St.  Denis  de  I'Estree 
with  his  suite.  The  cardinals  were  all  clad  in 
their  Roman  ornaments.  The  pope,  wearing 
a  tiara,  bordered  and  adorned  with  a  circlet 
of  gold,  enriched  with  precious  stones,  ad- 
vanced mounted  on  a  white  horse  covered  with 
scarlet  housings;  the  cardinals,  wearing  their 
violet  coloured  mantles,  followed  him,  two 
and  two,  mounted  on  horses  whose  reins  and 
trapping  were  of  glittering  Avhiteness;  then 
came  the  barons,  the  vas.sals  of  the  church  of 
St.  Denis,  and  the  Castellans,  who  marched 
on  foot  and  served  in  turn  as  squires  to  the 
pontiff.  Heralds  at  arms  preceded  them 
with  large  baskets  filled  with  pieces  of  gold 
and  silver,  which  they  scattered  freely  among 
the  crowtl  which  pressed  around  the  corteee. 
When  the  pope  was  near  St.  Denis,  the 
nobles,  the  principal  magistrates  of  Paris, 
and  even  the  rabbis  and  wealthiest  of  ihe 
Jews,  advanced  to  meet  him  to  do  him  ho- 
mage. Having  thus  passed  on,  he  reached 
the  great  church  through  streets  hung  with 
tapestry  and  strewed  with  flowers,  where 
gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones  glittered 
around.  Innocent  celebrated  a  solemn  mass, 
assisted  by  the  abbot,  gave  his  blessing  to 


416 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


the  people,  and  returned  to  the  monastery 
with  his  magnificent  train.  All  the  walls  of 
the  convent  were  adorned  with  rich  hangings, 
and  the  saloons  had  been  transformed  into 
refectories  to  receive  the  guests;  they  first 
ate  the  pascal  lamb,  half  reclining  in  the 
ancient  fashion:  the  festival  then  proceeded 
according  to  the  usage  of  ordinary  cere- 
monies." 

After  the  three  days  of  Easter,  the  pope 
came  to  Paris  to  thank  the  king,  and  to 
ask  permission  from  him  to  travel  through 
France.  This  permission  having  been  granted 
*^^^  to  him,  he  started  immediately  on  his  jour- 
ney. He  ransacked  pitilessly  the  churches 
and  monasteries,  under  the  pretext  that  they 
ought  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  court,  and 
his  avidity  threatened  to  ruin  the  southern 
provinces  entirely;  when,  fortunately  for  the 
people,  he  was  arrested  in  his  exactions  by 
the  death  of  Philip,  the  eldest  son  of  the  king, 
who  was  killed  bj'  a  fall  from  his  horse,  at 
the  age  of  fourteen.  The  monarch  wrote  to 
the  pontiff  to  retrace  his  steps  immediately, 
to  convene  a  general  council  at  Rheims,  and 
solemnly  consecrate  Louis,  his  second  son. 

Innocent  obeyed  the  prince*  and  fixed  the 
time  of  this  assembly  for  the  18th  of  Oc- 
tober in  the  same  year.  The  assembly  was 
composed  of  thirteen  metropolitans,  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-three  bishops,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  Fiench,  Englishj  German,  and  Spanish 
abbots,  clergy,  and  monks.  The  pope  first 
caused  his  own  election  to  be  approved  by  the 
council,  and  excommunicated  Anaclet ;  he 
then  decreed  seventeen  canons  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal discipline,  which  present  nothing  of  im- 
portance. At  the  second  session  Louis  en- 
tered the  assembly,  accompanied  by  his  rela- 
tive Ralph,  count  of  Vennandois,  and  several 
other  lords  of  his  kingdom  ;  he  explained  in 
a  few  words  the  sad  accident  which  had 
snatched  prince  Philip  from  him,  and  besought 
the  assembly  to  proceed  to  the  coronation  of 
his  other  son.  The  holy  father  replied  to  the 
prince,  exhorting  him  to  submit  himself  to 
the  immutable  will  of  the  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords,  after  which  he  gave  the  royal 
unction  to  Louis,  the  second  son  of  the  French 
monarch. 

At  the  end  of  the  ceremony,  the  archbishop 
of  ]\Iagdeburg  presented  to  the  pontiff  letters 
from  Lothaire,  in  which  that  prince  declared 
that  he  was  disposed  to  invade  Italy.  Hugh, 
the  metropolitan  of  Rouen,  also  proiluced 
letters  of  obedience  from  king  Henry  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  Spanish  embassadors  came  to  offer 
like  letters,  written  by  the  two  sovereigns  of 
the  Iberian  peninsula.  Innocent  received 
these  marks  of  submission  with  feigned  hu- 
mility, and  replied  to  the  embassadors  of  the 
different  sovereigns  that  he  was  preparing  to 
re-enter  Italy  to  obey  them. 

Before,  however,  crossing  the  Alp.s,  as  he 
well  knew  the  power  of  gold  over  the  Roman 
clergy,  he  determined  to  make  some  fresh 
visits  to  the  monasteries,  to  place  them  under 
contribution.  For  this  purpose  he  went  to 
Clairvaux,  -where  he  was  received  with  great 


respect  by  the  monks  who  came  to  meet  him 
poorly  clad,  and  carrying  a  wooden  cross. 
This  ostentation  of  poverty  discontented  In- 
nocent, and  his  deception  was  still  greater 
when  he  saw  the  church  without  any  orna- 
ments ;  the  saloons  of  the  convent,  the  refec- 
tories, the  dormitories,  destitute  of  furniture, 
and  when  they  told  him  that  gold  and  silver 
were  proscribed  in  that  retreat.  Black  bread, 
milk,  and  herbs,  were  served  up  to  the  cardi- 
nals and  the  train  of  the  pontifi',  whilst  some 
boiled  fish,  which  were  regarded  by  the  good 
fathers  as  a  very  choice  dish,  were  reserved 
for  the  holy  father.  Innocent  did  not  sojourn 
long  in  the  abbey;  and  on  the  same  day  he 
went  to  Cluny,  and  celebrated  the  festival  of 
the  purification  of  our  Lady.  On  the  next 
day,  he  confirmed  the  privileges  of  this  mo- 
nastery, particularl}'  the  immunity  of  the 
place  which  guaranteed  it  against  the  vio- 
lences of  the  lords.  He  also  granted  to  Saint 
Bernard,  for  the  abbey  of  the  Citeaux,  and  in 
consideration  of  the  services  which  the  abbot 
had  rendered  him,  a  new  charter  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms: — "We  prohibit  all  Christians, 
under  penally  of  anathema,  whatever  their 
rank,  from  exacting,  or  even  receiving  from 
you  and  your  brethren,  dimes  for  the  lands 
which  you  cultivate  with  your  own  hands, 
nor  dimes  for  your  beasts,  declaring  your  con- 
gregation entirely  freed  from  such  servitude." 

Before  quitting  France,  Innocent  imposed 
on  all  the  clergy  a  kind  of  tribute,  under  the 
name  of  cueillelte.  for  the  pious  work  of  the 
conquest  of  the  apostolic  throne.  At  last  the 
holy  father  entered  Lombardy  by  the  moun- 
tains of  Genoa,  and  came  to  Placenza,  where 
he  convened  in  council  the  prelates  of  that 
province,  whilst  waiting  the  arrival  of  the 
troops  of  king  Lothaire;  the  assembly  con- 
firmed the  election  of  Innocent,  and  the  pre- 
lates took  the  oath  of  fidehty  and  obedience 
to  him.  As  soon  as  the  pope  was  apprised 
that  Lothaire  had  entered  Italy,  he  pursued 
his  route,  entered  Tuscany,  and  established 
himself  at  Pisa.  By  his  exertions,  the  in- 
habitants of  this  city  concluded  a  peace  with 
the  Genoese,  and  swore  to  submit  to  his  de- 
cision in  regard  to  the  difficulties  which  had 
caused  the  war.  Saint  Bernard,  \\ho  had 
followed  the  pontiff  in  his  new  journey,  was 
the  mediator  of  this  treaty.  He  negotiated 
the  peace  with  great  skill,  and  determined 
Innocent  to  put  an  end  for  the  future  to  any 
return  of  the  difficulty,  by  erecting  the  city 
of  Genoa  into  a  metropolis,  as  was  the  city 
of  Pisa,  and  to  give  the  pallium  to  the  bishop 
Syrius,  with  three  prelates  of  the  island  of 
Corsica  as  his  suftVagans. 

Lothaire  joined  the  pontiff  at  Pisa,  accom- 
panied by  only  two  thousand  horsemen.  Not- 
withstanding the  weakness  of  this  army,  they 
both  decided  to  march  on  Rome,  the  one  being 
impatient  to  seat  himself  in  the  chair  of  the 
apostle,  the  other  to  be  crowned  emperor. 
After  a  march  of  two  days  they  encamped 
beneath  the  walls  of  the  holy  city,  near  to  the 
church  of  St.  Agnes,  whither  Thebald,  the 
prefect,  and  some  nobles,  came  to  receive 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


417 


them.  Anaclet,  fearing  treason,  retired  with 
his  partizans  into  the  iortified  houses  of  Rome, 
and  abandoned  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  to 
his  competitor,  who  immediately  installed 
himself  there.  On  the  next  day,  Innocent  pro- 
ceeded to  the  consecration  of  the  emperor 
Lothaire,  and  the  empress  Richiliia,  his  wife; 
but  he  was  constrained  to  perform  this  august 
ceremony  within  the  church  of  the  Saviour, 
because  the  anti-pope  remained  master  of  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  greater  part  of 
the  cpiarters  of  Rome. 

Before  receiving  the  crown,  Lothaire  swore, 
as  u.sual,  to  preserve  safe  the  life  and  limbs 
of  the  sovereign  pontiff  and  his  successors,  to 
defend  the  Holy  See,  to  maintain  the  pope  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  regalia  of  St.  Peter,  and 
to  use  all  his  power  to  re-establish  him  in  the 
provinces  which  had  risen  against  him.  In- 
nocent, on  his  side,  engaged  not  to  excommu- 
nicate the  prince,  and  to  surrender  to  him  the 
usufruct  of  the  domains  of  the  countess  Ma- 
tilda, for  himself,  his  daughter,  and  his  son- 
in-law,  Henry,  duke  of  Bavaria.  This  deed 
is  dated  on  the  8th  of  June,  1133. 

An.aclet  remained  for  some  months  con- 
fined in  his  towers,  from  whence  they  hurled 
darts  and  stones  at  the  people  of  the  emperor, 
without  permitting  their  own  to  come  to  an 
engagement;  he  obstinately  declined  any  con- 
ference with  the  prince,  and  would  not  listen 
to  any  proposition,  tending  to  cause  him  to 
abandon  his  dignity.  As  Lothaire  had  not 
sufficient  force  to  reduce  the  castle  of  San 
Angelo,  and  the  other  fortresses  of  the  anti- 
pope,  nor  to  engage  King  Roger,  who  was  ad- 
vancing with  a  numerous  army,  to  deliver 
Anaclet,  he  was  obliged  to  return  towards 
Germany  and  abandon  the  holy  father.  The 
latter  not  being  longer  in  safety  in  the  holy 
city,  after  the  departure  of  the  prince,  was 
obliged  to  return  to  Pisa,  where  he  assembled 
a  new  council.  His  competitor,  Anaclet,  was 
anathematized  for  the  fourth  time,  as  were  all 
his  defenders,  especially  Roger,  king  of  Sicily, 
whose  kiniidom  was  declared  to  be  under  in- 
terdict. The  pope  also  excommunicated  tlie 
Milanese,  to  punish  them  for  having  followed 
the  party  of  Anaclet,  and  for  having  declared 
in  favour  of  Conrad,  the  usurper  of  the  crown 
of  Italy.  Such  is  the  ju-stice  of  princes  !  Lo- 
thaire had  pardoned  his  rebellious  subject  and 
received  him  to  his  friendship;  whilst  the  de- 
struction of  the  unfortunate  city,  which  had 
been  led  into  rebellion,  hail  been  sworn.  The 
Milanese  having  no  other  resource  to  save 
their  city  and  their  lives,  than  to  submit  to 
Pope  Innocent,  declared  themselves  subjects 
of  St.  Peter;  they  wrote  to  Saint  Bernard 
to  beseech  him  to  become  the  mediator  be- 
tween them  and  the  pontilf,  and  entreated 
him  to  come  to  Milan  to  take  off  the  anathema 
pronounced  aixainst  the  city. 

The  holy  abbot,  in  his  reply,  congratulated 
them  on  their  return  to  the  unity  of  the  church, 
and  the  desire  which  they  evinced  to  restore 
peace  to  their  province;  he  excu.sed  liimself 
for  not  being  able  to  go  immediately  to  them, 
and  assured  them  he  would  come  as  soon  as 

Vol.  I.  3  C 


possible.  In  fact,  when  all  the  proceedings 
of  the  council  of  Pisa  had  been  expedited 
into  different  kingdoms  of  the  East  and  West, 
Saint  Bernartl  we^it  to  Milan,  accompanied  by 
Guy,  bishop  of  Pisa,  and  ]\lalhew  the  prelate 
of  Albano,  to  give  to  the  inhabitants  absolu- 
tion from  the  anathema  they  had  uicurred. 
This  ceremony  was  celebrated  with  great 
solemnity,  and  all  the  people  took  the  oath  of 
obedience  and  fidelity  to  the  .sovereign  pontiff. 
During  the  following  year,  (1135),  Lothaire 
returned  into  Italy  at  the  instigation  of  Inno- 
cent, to  confer  with  him  on  the  means  to  be 
employed  to  extirpate  the  party  of  Anaclet, 
and  especially  to  detach  King  Roger  from  his 
alliance  with  the  anti-pope.  They  consulted 
on  this  important  matter  with  Saint  Bernard, 
who  was  the  pillar  of  the  church,  and  who 
possessed  the  art  of  causing  strange  paradoxes 
to  be  admitted  as  incontestable  truths.  The 
latter  engaged  to  write  a  circular  letter  to  the 
schismatics,  and  to  bring  over  the  largx-sl  part 
of  the  partizans  of  Anaclet  to  the  holy  father. 
All  these  intrigues  met  with  no  great  success, 
but  it  was  the  ab.solute  want  of  money  which 
led  to  the  ruin  of  the  anti-pope.  His  court 
became  deserted  :  his  festivals  were  no  longer 
resplendent  as  in  the  first  days  of  his  power: 
his  servants  badly  clothed,  appeared  enfeebled 
by  forced  abstinences,  and  the  sad  state  of 
his  dwelling  announced  his  approaching  fall. 

Innocent,  informed  by  his  spies  of  the  pen- 
ury of  his  enemy,  resolved  to  march  a  second 
time  on  Rome,  and  was  preceded  by  the  son- 
in-law  of  the  emperor,  who  commanded  three 
thousand  horsemen.  On  his  way,  the  pope 
carried  by  assault  the  cities  of  Albano  and 
Beneventum,  seized  even  on  tlie  famous  mo- 
nastery of  Monte  Cassino,  and  obliged  the 
ecclesiastics,  lords,  monks,  and  people  of  that 
province,  to  take  the  oath  of  obedience  to  him. 

Whilst  the  pontiff  was  conquering  Campa- 
nia, the  emperor  vvas  chasing  Roger  from 
Apulia  and  Calabria.  Innocent  rejoined  him 
with  his  army  in  the  city  of  Bari,  where  the 
embassadors  of  John  Comnenus,  emperor  of 
the  East,  who  had  been  sent  to  the  camp  of 
Lothaire,  to  congratulate  him  on  his  victory 
over  the  king  of  Sicily,  waited  for  him.  Un- 
fortunately for  the  holy  father,  th(;re  was 
among  them  an  audacious  monk,  who  pub- 
licly censured  the  conduct  of  Innocent,  and 
cast  di.scredit  on  his  court.  In  his  preach- 
ing he  maintained,  that  the  pope  was  a 
Pagan  EmpiMor,  and  not  a  Christian  bishop, 
and  affumed  that  the  Roman  clergy  was 
heretical. 

Bernard  endeavoured,  uselessly,  to  .strive 
with  the  monk  :  the  latter  turned  on  the  holy 
abbot  himself,  anil  demanded  from  him  for 
what  motive  he  liad  abandoned  his  con- 
vent, instead  of  consecrating  himself  Milely  to 
prayer,  and  a  renunciation  of  the  world,  to 
live  in  solitude  as  he  had  vowed:  he  re- 
proached him  for  living  in  camps,  in  the  midst 
of  combats  and  disorders  ;  he  accu.-^ed  him  of 
prevarication,  adultery,  and  .sodomy.  "  What 
then,  fal.se  monk."  said  he,  "  darest  thou  de- 
fend this  pope,  M-hosc  hands,  armed  with  the 


418 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


sword,  are  red  each  day  with  the  bJood  of 
his  brethren"?  and,  instead  of  anathematising 
such  a  wretch  who  wishes  to  usurp  the  Holy 
See,  thou  art  the  first  to  rise  up  to  shield  his 
infamies  by  that  sacrilegious  falsehood  .  .  ." 
Several  historians  affirm,  that  the  emperor, 
alarmed  by  the  declamations  of  the  Greek 
monk,  had  resolved  to  abandon  the  side  of 
the  pontiff  to  embrace  that  of  his  competitor, 
but  he  was  suddenly  seized  by  an  unknown 
malady,  which  carried  him  off  in  two  days ; 
he  died  in  a  cottage  near  the  city  of  Trent, 
on  the  night  of  the  3d  and  4th  of  December, 
1137. 

When  this  was  known,  Roger  re-assembled 
in  haste  a  new  army,  invaded  Apulia  a  second 
lime,  carried  fire  and  blood  every  where,  sack- 
ed the  cities,  pillaged  the  churches,  and  put  the 
inhabitants  of  Capua  to  the  edge  of  the  sword. 
He  then  marched  on  Beneventum,  which  sub- 
mitted and  recognised  the  anti-pope  anew. 
But  Anaclet  had  not  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
his  triumph  ;  for  whilst  his  protector  was  ad- 
vancing on  Rome  by  forced  marches,  he  died 
of  poison.  He  was  secretly  interred  by  his 
friends,  who  feared  lest  Innx)cent  should  pur- 
sue his  vengeance  on  the  dead  body  of  his 
victim. 

Arnulph  represents  the  anti-pope  as  an  in- 
famous man,  who  was  soiled  by  the  greatest 
crimes;  he  accuses  him  of  all  kinds  of  ex- 
cesses and  debaucheries,  and  even  of  incest 
with  his  sister,  the  wife  of  Roger.  After  his 
death,  the  schismatics,  by  the  orders  of  the 
king  of  Sicily,  chose  the  cardinal  Gregory  as 
sovereign  pontiff;  but  they  soon  renounced 
their  schism  to  avoid  the  fate  of  the  unfortu- 
nate Anaclet,  and  made  their  submission  to 
Innocent,  who  received  them  graciously,  and 
loaded  them  with  presents.  The  new  anti- 
pope,  abandoned  on  all  sides,  in  his  turn  left 
the  camp  of  Roger  during  the  night,  and  came 
to  seek  Saint  Bernard  to  beseech  him  to  ob- 
tain his  pardon;  the  abbot  conducted  him 
immediately  to  the  palace  of  Innocent,  who 
pardoned  the  past  and  re-instated  him  in  his 
old  dignity. 

Thus  terminated  the  schism  on  the  29th  of 
May,  1138  ;  the  strife  between  the  popes  had 
lasted  eight  years;  it  had  filled  Italy  with 
blood,  ruined  France,  and  carried  off  from 
Germany  the  elite  of  its  people.  Innocent 
was  at  last  victorious  over  his  enemies  and 
absolute  master  in  Rome. 

His  first  care  was  to  convene  a  general  coun- 
cil, at  which  more  than  a  thousand  bishops  were 
present.  In  this  assembly  Rome  was  declared 
to  be  the  capital  of  the  world,  and  the  pontiff' 
the  supreme  dispen.ser  of  ecclesiastical  digni- 
ties. The  canons  of  the  council  of  Rheims 
were  confirmed,  and  particularly  the  one 
against  tournaments;  the  ordinations  made 
by  the  anti-pope  Anaclet,  were  declared  null, 
and  the  pope  terminated  the  session  by  a  ter- 
rible sentence  of  excommunication  against 
King  Roger  and  all  his  partizans. 

After  the  termination  of  the  synod.  Inno- 
cent assembled  some  troops  and  marched 
against  his  enemy,  whom  he  met  at  the  foot 


of  Monte  Cassmo.  Both  parties  sent  deputies 
to  propose  a  treaty  of  alliance,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  effusion  of  blood,  but  as  the  nego- 
tiations were  long  drawn  out,  the  son  of  the 
king,  at  the  head  of  a  thousand  horse,  made  a 
skilful  counter-march,  took  the  army  of  the 
pope  in  flank  and  made  him  prisoner. 

Roger  treated  the  holy  father  with  the 
greatest  respect,  and  proposed  to  him  peace 
in  exchange  for  his  liberty;  the  latter  not 
daring  to  refuse  any  thing  to  his  conqueror, 
invested  him  by  the  standard  with  the  king- 
dom of  Sicily,  gave  Apulia  to  his  eldest  .son, 
and  the  principality  of  Capua  to  the  younger. 
The  two  princes  took  the  oath  of  fidelit}'  and 
obedience  to  him  on  their  knees,  as  was  the 
custom.  Innocent  then  received  permission  to 
go  to  Beneventum,  where  he  was  received  as  if 
he  had  been  St.  Peter  himself;  he  at  length  re- 
entered Rome  on  the  6th  of  September,  1139. 

It  is  believed  that  it  was  during  this  year 
that  Leo  Stypiot,  the  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, condemned  in  a  council  the  heretical 
work  Chrysomalus,  at  the  entreaty  of  John 
Comnenus,  who  wished  by  this  step  to  re- 
store the  unity  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
churches.  But  the  Greeks  persisted  none  the 
less  in  their  hatred  to  the  Latins,  and  the 
emperor  found  himself,  notwithstanding  his 
opposition  to  it,  dragged  into  a  Mar  with  the 
Christians  of  the  West. 

Several  historians  place  at  this  time  the 
new  interdict,  which  was  lanched  against  the 
kingdom  of  France,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
election  of  Peter  of  Chartres,  archbishop  of 
Bourges,  who  was  consecrated  by  the  pope 
without  waiting  for  the  consent  of  Louis  the 
Young.  The  king,  irritated  at  the  audacious 
prelate,  sent  troops  into  Berry,  ravaged  the 
province,  destroyed  the  cities,  and  compelled 
Peter  of  Chartres  to  take  refuge  with  Thebald, 
count  of  Champagne.  The  intrepid  archbi- 
shop, in  his  turn,  raised  troops,  placed  him- 
self at  their  head,  gave  battle  to  the  army  of 
the  king  and  re-conquered  his  metropolis. 
Louis  the  Young  threatened  to  invade  Berry 
a  second  time  with  new  armies ;  Peter  of 
Chartres  wrote  to  Rome,  and  claimed  the  aid 
of  the  Vatican.  Louis  was  deposed  and  ex- 
communicated by  the  authority  of  St.  Peter, 
and  the  kingdom  of  France  placed  under  in- 
terdict. In  that  age,  the  consequences  of  an 
anathema  were  terrible  to  kings,  and  Louis 
ha.stened  to  recognise  the  archbishop  of  Bour- 
ges, that  the  holy  father  should  take  off  the 
sentence  of  excommunication. 

In  Italy,  Arnold  of  Brescia,  a  disciple  of 
Abelard,  commenced  preaching  on  the  effemi- 
nate lives  of  the  priests  and  the  disorders  of 
the  monks.  This  bold  man,  the  precursor  of 
reform,  spoke  strongly  against  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal debauchees;  he  reproached  them  with 
their  sordid  avarice,  their  unrestrained  love 
of  grandeur,  their  hypocrisy,  and  their  lubri- 
city; at  last,  by  his  eloquence,  he  raised  a 
powerful  party  against  the  clergy.  The  holy 
father  endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to  annihilate 
him  with  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican;  but  his 
doctrines  liad  touched  men's  minds,  and  they 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


419 


spread  through  all  the  cities  with  incredible 
rapidity.  Rome  especially,  divided  between 
the  two  parties  of  the  Guelphs  andGhibeliiies, 
embraced  with  ardour  the  doctrines  of  the  ex- 
communicated; the  citizens  rose  against  the 
Eope,  assembled  in  the  capitol  and  re-esta- 
lished  the  ancient  institution  of  the  senate, 
which  had  been  abolished  for  some  centuries. 


Innocent  was  so  chagr.ned  at  not  having 
been  able  to  arrest  the  effects  of  a  revolution 
which  struck  so  severe  a  blow  against  the 
pontifical  authority,  that  he  was  attacked  by 
a  dangerous  sickness,  to  which  he  succumbed 
on  the  24lh  of  September,  1143.  He  was 
interred  in  the  church  of  St.  John  of  the 
Lateran. 


CELESTINE  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVEN- 
TIETH POPE. 

[A.  D.  1144.] 

Election  of  Celestine — Letter  of  the  pope  to  Peter,  abbot  of  Cluny — Reply  of  the  monk — Death 
of  Celestine  after  a  pontificate  of  five  months. 


On  the  very  day  of  the  death  of  Innocent, 
the  Guelphs,  the  partizans  of  the  popes,  and 
the  Ghibelines,  the  supporters  of  the  emperor, 
disputed  for  the  right  of  choosing  a  new  pon- 
tiff; but  during  their  discussions,  the  people 
and  principal  magistrates  of  Rome  elevated 
Guy  of  Castel  to  the  pontifical  throne,  and 
proclaimed  him  by  the  name  of  Celestine  the 
Second. 

As  soon  as  he  was  installed  on  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter,  the  new  pope  addressed  a  letter 
to  Peter,  abbot  of  Cluny,  with  whom  he  was 
on  terms  of  friendship  ;  he  informed  him  that 
his  election  had  taken  place  in  the  church  of 
St.  John  the  Lateran,  amidst  the  acclamations 
of  the  clergy  and  people;  and  that  he  had 
only  accepted  the  chief  dignity  in  the  church 
to  reform  the  disorders  of  the  Italian  eccle- 
siastics and  monks.  Peter,  in  his  reply,  en- 
courages the  holy  father  to  repress  with  se- 
verity the  licentiousness  of  the  priests,  and 
bestows  great  eulogiums  on  Arnold  of  Brescia ; 
he  finishes  his  letter  by  announcing  to  the 
pontiff  that  he  will  undertake  the  journey  to 
Rome  to  renew  their  former  friendship.  But 
he  could  not  realize  this  plan,  for  the  pope 
Celestine  died  on  the  9th  of  March,  1144, 
after  a  reign  of  five  months  and  a  half;  he 
was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  John  of  the 
Lateran. 

Some  months  before  the  death  of  Celestine. 


the  patriarch  Michael  Oxitus  renewed  in  the 
east  the  persecution  again.st  the  Bagomiles, 
who  had  been  already  proceeded  against, 
during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Alexis  Com- 
nenus.  Their  doctrine  taught  that  the  oldest 
son  of  God,  named  Sataiiael,  having  revolted 
against  his  father,  had  drawn  very  many 
angels  into  rebellion;  that  having  been  exiled 
to  the  earth  for  this  crime,  he  had  created  all 
things  visible,  and  deceived  Moses  by  giving 
him  the  old  law ;  that  God  the  Father  had 
afterw^ards  engendered  a  second  son  called 
Jesus  Christ,  who  came  to  destroy  the  power 
of  Satanael,  and  to  shut  him  up  in  the  abysses 
of  hell,  taking  from  his  name  the  angelic  syl- 
lable, so  that  he  was  now  called  Satanas. 
According  to  the  Bagomiles,  the  incarnation 
of  the  Word,  his  life  upon  earth,  his  predic- 
tions, his  passover,  his  death,  his  resurrection, 
were  but  deceitful  appearances,  and  they 
regarded  it  as  a  folly  to  make  them  religious 
dogmas. 

Michael  found  that  the  most  expeditious 
mode  of  arresting  the  progress  of  the  heresy, 
was  to  hand  over  the  monk  Niphon,  the  head 
of  the  doctrine,  to  punishment.  By  his  orders 
they  tore  from  the  poor  monk,  one  by  one,  all 
the  hairs  of  a  magnificent  beard,  which  fell 
even  to  his  sandals;  they  put  him  to  torture, 
plucked  out  his  eyes,  and  then  made  him 
mount  the  scaffold. 


420 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


LUCIUS  THE  SECOND,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1144.] 

Election  of  Lucius  the  Second — His  history  before  his  pontificate — Truce  with  King  Roger — 
Differences  hetiveen  the  archbishop  of  Tours  and  the  bishop  of  Dot — The  primacy  q/  Toledo — 
Consequence  of  a  revolt  of  the  Romans  against  the  papacy — The  citizens  seize  on  the  revenues 
of  the  city — Letters  from  the  pope  and  the  seditious  to  the  Emperor  Conrad — He  listens 
favourably  to  the  envoys  of  the  pontiff — Lucius  places  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and 
besieges  the  Roman  senators  in  the  capitol — He  is  slain  by  a  stone  in  the  melee. 


On  the  day  succeeding  the  death  of  Ce- 
lestine,  the  cardinals  and  nobles  of  the  Guelph 
faction,  having  secretly  assembled  in  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  chose,  without  the 
participation  of  the  clergy  and  people,  Gerard, 
a  cardinal  priest  of  the  order  of  the  holy  cross, 
as  sovereign  pontiff,  and  consecrated  him  by 
the  name  of  Lucius  the  Second. 

This  pontiff  was  from  Bologna,  and  had 
been  destined  to  the  ecclesiastical  state  from 
his  infancy.  Honorius  had.  brought  him  to 
Rome,  on  the  recommendation  of  one  of  his 
relatives,  and  made  him  a  cardinal  and  libra- 
rian of  the  church.  Gerard  afterwards  re- 
constructed the  church  of  his  order,  aug- 
mented its  revenues  by  extortions,  and  founded 
there  a  community  of  regular  canons.  Inno- 
cent the  Second,  who  knew  his  skill,  created 
him  chancellor  after  the  death  of  Aimeri ;  he 
afterwards  made  him  chamberlain,  and  con- 
fided to  him  the  guardianship  of  the  treasury 
of  St.  Peter. 

Instead  of  seeking  by  prudent  conduct  to 
cause  his  fraudulent  election  to  be  forgotten, 
he  showed  himself  to  be  proud,  avaricious,  vin- 
dictive, and  sought  to  re-establish  the  pontifi- 
cal despotism  in  Rome.  Before,  however,  en- 
tering upon  an  open  contest  with  the  people, 
he  judged  it  prudent  to  assure  himself  of  the 
protection  of  the  emperor,  and  the  other 
princes  of  Italy.  He  first  concluded  a  truce 
with  Roger,  king  of  Sicily,  whom  he  induced, 
by  the  payment  of  an  enormous  tribute,  to 
lend  him  the  aid  of  the  royal  troops  to  subju- 
gate the  Romans  to  his  odious  tyranny ;  he 
then  sent  embassadors  to  the  kings  of  France, 
England  and  Germany,  to  implore  their  aid. 

Whilst  his  legates  were  on  their  way  to  the 
different  courts  of  Europe,  the  holy  father  ap- 
peared to  be  entirely  occupied  in  restoring 
harmony  between  the  prelates  of  Gaul  and 
Spain.  He  terminated  the  differences  which 
had  existed  since  the  pontificate  of  Urban  the 
Second,  between  the  Sees  of  Tours  and  Dol, 
in  relation  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishoprics 
of  Brittany,  which  Hugh,  the  metropolitan  of 
Tours,  had  always  claimed,  by  virtue  of  the 
ordinance  of  Pope  Urban,  without  being  able 
to  obtain  it.  Innocent  the  Second  had  given, 
some  time  before,  to  Geoffrey  the  prelate  of 
Chartres,  his  legate,  full  powers  to  settle  it : 
but  the  death  of  the  pontiff  having  prevented 
the  matter  from  being  definitely  arranged,  the 
bishop  of  Dol  obtained  a  new  reference  to  the 


Holy  See,  to  have  a  definite  judgment  pro- 
nounced. Lucius  published  the  following 
decree  on  this  subject :  "  We  have  examined 
in  council  the  title  of  the  metropolitan  of 
Tours,  and  particularly  the  bull  of  our  pre- 
decessor Urban ;  and  after  having  advised 
with  our  bishops,  cardinals,  abbots  and  lords, 
we  have  invested,  by  the  episcopal  baton,  the 
archbishop  Hugh,  with  the  right  of  absolute 
jurisdiction  over  all  the  prelates  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Brittany.  We,  however,  declare  thai 
our  brother  Geoffrey,  chief  of  the  clergy  of 
Do],  shall,  so  long  as  God  shall  spare  his  life, 
govern  his  diocese,  without  being  responsible 
to  any  other  authority  than  that  of  the  Holy 
See  -J  and  we  send  him  the  pallium  in  recom- 
pense for  the  obedience  he  has  always  shown. 
Done  at  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  on  the  13lh 
of  May,  1144." 

Lucius  rendered  a  second  judgment  in  fa- 
vour of  the  metropolitan  Raymond  of  Toledo, 
to  whom  he  accorded  the  primacy  over  all 
Spain,  and  the  churches  which  had  lost  their 
prelates  in  consequence  of  the  invasion  of  the 
Saracens.  In  the  same  session  he  received 
from  the  archbishop  the  deed  by  which  Al- 
phonso,  Duke  of  Portugal,  agreed  to  pay  to 
the  court  of  Rome  an  annual  tribute  of  four 
pounds  weight  of  gold,  in  exchange  for  the 
title  of  king. 

But,  if  foreigners  appeared  submissive  to  the 
Holy  See,  such  was  not  the  case  with  the  Ro- 
mans, who  showed  themselves  each  day  more 
hostile  to  the  papacy.  At  last  the  preaching 
of  Arnold  of  Brescia  excited  their  spirit.  A 
new  revolution  broke  out ;  the  people  assem- 
bled in  arms,  declaring  themselves  to  be  in- 
dependent of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pontiffs, 
and  appointed  a  patrician  to  govern  Rome. 
This  eminent  dignity  was  bestowed  on  Jour- 
dain,  the  son  of  Peter  de  Leo.  All  the  citi- 
zens took  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  him,  as  if  he 
had  been  absolute  sovereign,  and  in  the  same 
manner  that  their  ancestors  had  done  to  Char- 
lemagne and  Otho  the  Great.  The  senate 
then  went  in  a  body  to  the  palace  of  the  La- 
teran, and  reclaimed  from  Lucius  all  the  re- 
gal rights  on  which  the  popes  had  seized;  and 
declared  to  him,  that  in  future  he  must  con- 
tent himself  for  his  support  with  the  offerings 
of  the  faithful,  as  the  gospel  commanded,  and 
the  bishops  of  Rome  had  practised  for  more 
than  six  centuries.  Jourdain  also  seized  the 
revenues  of  the  city,  appointed  officers  to  re- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


421 


place  the  creatures  of  the  pope,  and  adminis- 
tered justice  in  the  name  of  the  citizens. 

The  holy  father  and  his  cardinals  wished  to 
oppose  these  dangerous  innovations.  As  they 
were  destitute  of  force,  they  were  constrained 
to  yield  to  the  wishes  of  the  people.  Lucius 
sent  new  legates  to  the  emperor  Conrad,  with 
letters  filled  with  flatteries  and  falsehoods,  in 
order  to  induce  that  prince  to  come  to  the  aid 
of  the  Roman  church.  The  senate,  on  their 
side,  informed  of  the  secret  measures  of  the 
pope,  sent  embassadors  to  the  court  of  Ger- 
many, with  letters  written  by  the  principal 
Ghibelines.  "We  are  desirous,"  said  the 
senators  to  the  prince,  "  to  re-establish  the 
Roman  empire,  as  in  the  days  of  Constantine 
and  Justinian,  that  it  may  be  worthy  to  have 
you  for  its  supreme  chief.  We  have  taken 
by  force  the  fortified  houses  and  towers  of  the 
lords  who  refuse  to  recognise  your  authority. 
Some  have  been  razed  :  the  most  important 
are  still  standing,  and  ready  to  receive  your 
troops.  We  beseech  you  to  establish  your 
residence  in  our  city,  because  you  will  be  able 
to  rule  with  an  absolute  authority  over  all 
Italy;  and  you  will  be  able  to  chastise  the  in- 
solence of  the  priests,  who  have  so  often  turn- 
ed your  kingdom  upside  down.  Finally,  we 
consider  it  our  duty  to  inform  you,  that  Lucius 
has  made  a  treaty  with  Roger,  king  of  Sicily ; 
that  he  has  given  to  him  the  baton  and  the 
pastoral  ring,  the  dalmatics,  the  tiara,  and  the 
sandals ;  and  the  right  to  be  no  longer  depen- 
dent on  the  Holy  See  in  ecclesiastical  afTairs." 

Conrad  the  Devout  refused  to  admit  the 
deputies  of  the  Romans  into  his  presence,  and 
gave  no  reply  to  the  letter  they  had  sent  him. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  received  the  legates  of 
the  pope  with  great  honour  ;  among  whom 
were  Guy  of  Pisa,  the  cardinal-chancellor,  the 
most  consummate  statesman  of  the  age.  Guy 
obtained  from  the  emperor  an  assurance  of 
his  protection,  and  permission  to  levy  a  nu- 
merous army  for  the  defence  of  the  church. 

But  their  minds  were  in  such  a  state  of  e.v- 
asperation  at  Rome,  that  the  pope,  excited  by 


the  Guelphs,  did  not  even  wait  the  return  of 
his  envoys.  He  ha.stily  assembled  some 
troops,  placed  himself  at  their  head,  and  went  to 
attack  the  senate  in  the  capitol.  It  is  related, 
that  Lucius,  axe  in  hand,  himself  struck  the 
gates  of  that  edifice  to  break  them,  and  that 
they  were  already  shaking  beneath  his  blows, 
when  he  fell,  struck  by  a  stone  in  the  fore- 
head. He  died  on  the  next  day,  the  3d  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1145,  after  a  pontificate  of  about  a  year. 

During  his  pontificate,  appeared  a  very  re- 
markable work,  by  Peter  of  Cluny,  the  cele- 
brated frientl  of  Celestine  the  Second.  It  was 
divided  iirto  two  parts  :  the  first  was  a  refuta- 
tion of  the  errors  of  Mohammed  ;  the  second 
was  composed  of  the  statutes  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  convents  of  his  order,  whose  dis- 
cipline was  very  much  relaxed,  if  we  are  to 
judge  by  the  statutes  themselves.  The  fol- 
lowing are  some  of  them  : 

"  The  monks  of  Cluny  are  prohibited  from 
eating  water-fowl  and  wild  ducks  on  Fridays, 
under  the  plea  that  these  birds  are  aquatic. 
They  are  prohibited,  after  the  evening  repast, 
from  using  hypocras,  that  is,  wine  mixed  with 
sugar,  honey,  and  spices.  They  are  prohibited 
from  making  more  than  three  repasts  a  day; 
from  wearing  ornaments  and  precious  stufis ; 
from  having  more  than  two  domestics ;  and 
from  remaining  in  the  parlors  with  young 
women  during  the  hours  of  night.  They  are 
prohibited  from  playing  for  gold,  raising  mon- 
keys, and  retiring  to  the  cells  with  the  novices 
under  the  pretext  of  instructing  them  to  pray. 
They  are  prohibited  from  receiving  young 
monks,  without  the  special  authority  of  the 
abbot,  because  it  might  fill  the  abbey  with 
vagabonds  and  infamous  debauchees. 

"The  abbots  should  endeavour  to  re-establish 
manual  labour,  as  soon  as  possible  ;  because 
it  is  deplorable  to  see  to  what  extent  idleness 
prevails  in  the  cloisters.  These  residences, 
which  the  pious  Saint  Benedict  reared  to  mo- 
ralise Christian  society,  have  abandoned  the 
holy  mission  of  their  founder,  and  become  the 
dwelling  of  corruption  and  infamy. ..." 


EUGENIUS  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1145.] 

Election  of  Eugenins — Arnold  of  Brescia  amin  rcturiis  to  Rome — He  induces  the  Romans  to 
revolt  in  the  name  of  liberty — The  pope  escapes  from  the  holy  city — He  then  takes  refus^e  at 
Vilerba — Deputation  from  the  bishops  of  Armenia — Second  crusaile — The  pope  returns  to 
Rome — lie  escapes  a<iain  and  takes  refuse  in  France — Combat  between  the  officers  of  the  pope 
and  the  canons  of  St.  Gcnevirre — III  success  of  the  crusade — Council  of  Paris  against  Gilbert 
of  Porea — Condemnation  of  Eon  dc  V  Etoile — The  king  of  Castile  accuses  the  pope  of  having 
sold  the  title  of  king  of  Portugal  to  Ilenriipicz  Atphonso — Journey  of  Eugenius  to  the  abbey 
of  Clairvaux — Treaty  between  the  emperor  and  the  pope — New  dissension  between  the  two 
sovereigns — Jourdain  of  Ursini  is  soit  into  Germany  as  legate — Origin  of  archbishoprics  in 
Ireland — Death  of  Eugenius. 

After  the  tragical  end  of  Lucius  the  the  new  revolution.  But  the  cardinals  had  al- 
Second.  the  patrician  Jourdain,  the  senate  and  ready  secretly  assembled  in  the  convent  of 
the  people,  met  to  choose  a  pope  favourable  to  ,  St.  Ca;sar,  and  proclaimed  the  abbot,  Peter 

36 


422 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Bernard,  sovereign  pontiif,  by  the  name  of 
Eugenius  the  Third.  This  monlc,  born  at 
Pisa,  had  been  at  tirst  vidame  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  that  city;  he  then  took  the  monas- 
tic habit  at  Clairvanx,  miiier  the  direction  of 
Saint  Bernard.  Afterwanls,  Atenulj)h,  abbot 
of  Farsa  in  Italy,  having  asked  from  the 
saint  for  some  monks  to  found  a  community 
of  the  order  of  the  Citeaux,  Bernard  of  Pisa 
was  sent  to  him,  with  several  French  mofiks. 
Pope  Innocent  brought  them  to  Rome  and 
gave  them  the  church  and  abbey  of  Saint 
Athanasius. 

Bernard  had  been  for  several  years  the 
abbot  of  his  convent,  when  they  came  after 
him  to  conduct  him  to  the  palace  of  the  Late- 
ran.  The  cardinals  and  bishops,  desirous  of 
accomplishing  the  ceremony  of  the  conse- 
cration, had  already  made  all  their  prepara- 
tions in  the  church  of  the  apostle,  when  a 
deputation  from  the  senate  came  to  summon 
them  to  break  off  an  election  which  had  been 
made  without  their  consent,  and  to  choose,  in 
conjunction  with  them,  a  pope  who  would 
take  an  oath  to  obey  the  laws,  and  maintain 
the  new  constitution.  The  cardinals  asked 
for  time  until  the  next  day  t(T  give  their  reply, 
but  during  the  night  they  escaped  from  Rome 
with  the  pontiff,  and  took  refuge  in  the  for- 
tress of  Monticello. 

On  the  next  day,  Eugenius  was  conducted 
by  them  to  the  monastery  of  Farsa,  where  he 
was  consecrated  on  the  following  Sunday,  the 
28lh  of  February,  1145.  After  the  ceremony, 
he  returned  to  the  holy  city,  determined  to 
strive  against  the  partizans  of  popular  liberty, 
and  to  employ  force  to  subjugate  the  Romans 
to  the  yoke  of  the  Holy  See ;  but  he  found, 
that  during  his  absence  a  redoubtable  adver- 
sary had  introduced  himself  into  the  place.  It 
was  the  famous  Arnold  of  Brescia,  who  had 
come  to  Rome  a  second  time,  to  defend  the 
interests  of  the  people. 

This  intrepid  reformer  preached  in  the 
streets,  in  the  public  places,  and  exhorted 
the  citizens  in  the  name  of  the  ancient  re- 
public, to  reconquer  the  liberties  which  had 
rendered- their  fathers  the  masters  of  the 
world.  He  adjured  the  people  to  break  the 
debasing  yoke  of  popes  and  priests;  he  loudly 
announced  that  the  time  was  come  in  which 
ecclesiastics  and  monks  should  really  re- 
nounce the  world  to  be  engaged  in  the  things 
of  God,  and  that  if  they  refused  to  follow  the 
precepts  of  the  gospel  they  should  be  con- 
strained to  do  so.  His  eloquent  discourses 
animated  their  minds;  the  Romans  ran  to 
arms,  attacked  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  and 
were  on  the  very  point  of  forcing  the  pon- 
tifical residence,  when  they  learned  that  Eu- 
genius had  escaped  beyond  the  walls  by  a 
secret  outlet,  and  had  reached  Viterba  in  the 
disguise  of  a  pilgrim.  The  populace  then 
turned  their  rage  towards  the  supporters  of 
the  tyranny;  the  palaces  of  the  cardinals, 
bishops  and  nobles,  who  had  declared  in 
favour  of  absolutism,  were  pillaged,  burned, 
and  sacked.  The  crowd  then  went,  armed 
with  lances  and  clubs,  to  the  church  of  St. 


Peter;  the  offerings  of  pilgrims,  which  were 
destined  for  the  pope,  were  distributed  to  the 
poor,  and  the  priests,  who  wished  to  resist  this 
act  of  justice,  pitilessly  massacred. 

Calm  succeeded  this  first  outbreak ;  a  new 
oath  of  fidelity  was  taken  to  the  patrician  by 
the  senate  and  the  magistrates;  all  with  one 
accord,  decided  that  they  would  repel  by  force 
princes  or  kings  who  should  again  pretend 
to  subjugate  them  to  an  infamous  theo- 
cracy, which,  for  eleven  centuries  and  a  half 
had  soiled  Rome  by  its  incests  and  assassina- 
tions. 

Whilst  the  people,  by  a  return  of  energy, 
were  re-establishing  their  old  freedom,  Eu- 
genius was  holding  his  court  with  his  cardinals 
at  Viterba,  and  receiving  an  embassy  from  the 
patriarch  of  Armenia.  The  clergy  of  that 
country  sent  to  consult  the  Holy  See,  in  regard 
to  several  points  of  ecclesiastical  discipline, 
and  as  to  several  ceremonials  in  their  ritual, 
which  diff"ered  from  those  of  the  Greek  church. 
The  pope  received  the  deputies  with  great 
honours;  he  even  celebrated  a  solemn  mass 
at  their  desire,  and  caused  them  to  be  placed 
in  the  sanctuary,  that  they  might  observe  all 
the  details  in  the  performance  of  divine  ser- 
vice. A  legend  relates  that  God  exhibited  his 
power  on  this  occasion,  and  permitted  one  of 
the  embassadors  to  see,  at  the  moment  of 
the  elevation  of  the  host,  a  luminous  aureole 
behind  the  head  of  the  pontiff,  and  two 
doves  at  his  side  —  an  inconteslible  proof, 
adds  the  pious  legendary,  of  the  infallibility 
of  the  Holy  See  and  the  hohness  of  Euge- 
nius !  ! 

Otho,  prelate  of  Frisingen,  who  relates  the 
same  fact,  was  then  at  Viterba,  and  pretends 
that  he  spoke  to  the  ecclestiastic  for  whom 
God  had  accomplished  this  miracle.  In  his 
work  he  gives  an  account  of  the  interviews 
he  had  on  this  subject  with  Hugh,  bishop  of 
Gabale,  in  Syria,  one  of  those  who  had  laboured 
the  hardest  to  reduce  Antioch  to  the  See  of 
Rome ;  he  also  repeats  the  complaint  of  the 
prelate  against  his  patriarch  and  the  mother 
of  the  prince  of  Antioch,  who  refused  a  dime 
of  the  spoils  taken  from  the  Saracens. 

Hugh  infoi-med  the  Holy  See  of  the  pleasant 
news,  that  a  Nestorian  prince,  called  priest 
John,  celebrated  for  his  bravery  and  his  vic- 
tories over  the  Persians,  was  coming  to  the 
aid  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem.  The  pious 
bishop  shed  floods  of  tears  whilst  relating  the 
miseries  of  the  Christians  of  the  East,  and  of 
the  cruelties  which  the  infidel  practised  against 
them ;  he  besought  the  pope  to  promise  him 
to  cross  the  Alps,  to  implore  the  assistance  of 
the  kings  of  Germany  and  France.  But  it  was 
not  necessary  to  excite  the  fanaticism  of  the 
French  for  the  Holy  Land  ;  king  Louis  had 
already  held  a  general  assembly  of  the  clergy 
and  nobility  of  his  kingdom,  and  declared  that 
he  desired  to  undertake  a  crusade  in  person, 
to  blot  out  from  the  eyes  of  God,  the  massacre 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Vitry,  in  Pertois,  and 
the  horrid  cruelty  he  had  shown  in  burning 
alive  the  unfortunate  persons  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  church  of  that  city. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


423 


Eugenius  received  the  deputies  of  the  king 
with  preat  honours,  and  sent  them  back  laden 
with  presents  for  their  master;  he  gave  thern 
also  a  bull  for  the  French  nation,  by  which 
the  holy  father  commanded  the  people,  in  the 
name  of  the  apostle,  to  take  up  arms  in  de- 
fence of  the  church,  and  follow  their  lords  in 
the  holy  enterprise  of  the  crusades.  He  ac- 
corded plenary  indulgences  for  all  past  and 
future  crimes,  to  those  who  should  obey  his 
orders ;  he  placed  their  wives,  children,  and 
property  under  the  protection  of  the  Holy  See, 
and  gave  them  permission  to  mortgage  their 
fiefs  to  the  churches,  to  raise  the  money  ne- 
cessary for  their  journey.  At  the  same  time 
he  addressed  an  apostolic  brief  to  Saint  Ber- 
nard, ordering  him  to  preach  the  crusade  in 
France  and  Germany,  and  to  engage  the  peo- 
ple, kings,  and  lords,  to  take  the  cross  for  the 
remission  of  their  sins.  The  eloquence  of  the 
abbot  brought  out  one  huntlred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand fanatics,  who  sold  their  property  to  go  to 
Asia,  to  perish  by  famine,  pestilence,  or  the 
sword  of  the  Mussulmen. 

Hainaut  relates,  that  the  words  of  Saint  Ber- 
nard were  heard  as  orders  from  Heaven.  "  It 
appears,"  added  he,  ''as  if  this  extraordinary 
man  had  received  from  God,  power  to  govern 
the  mind;  he  was  seen  to  sally  from  his  de- 
sert to  appear  in  courts  without  mission,  with- 
out title.  The  simple  monk  of  Clairvaux 
was  more  powerful  with  the  king  than  the 
abbot  Suger,  the  first  minister  of  France, 
and  he  preserved  over  pope  Eugenius,  who 
had  been  his  disciple,  an  incomprehensible 
ascendency.  Saint  Bernard  was  not,  how- 
ever, as  skilful  a  politician  as  he  was  a  great 
orator  ....-' 

Whilst  the  crusaders  were  rising  at  the 
voice  of  Bernard,  the  pope  was  dreaming  of 
annihilating  the  followers  of  Arnold  of  Brescia  : 
for  this  purpose  he  levied  numerous  troops, 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Tibnrtines,  the  de- 
clared enemies  of  Rome,  and  went  in  person 
to  besiege  the  apostolical  city.  The  unfor- 
tunate uihabitants,  soon  reduced  to  the  last 
extremity,  were  constrained  to  imjjjore  the 
clemency  of  the  holy  father,  and  engaged  to 
abolLsh  the  patriciate,  to  re-establish  a  prefect 
of  his  choice,  and  to  recognise  that  the  sena- 
tors only  held  their  authority  from  the  pontiff. 
Not  content  with  having  rednced  them  be- 
neath his  sway,  Eugenius  exacted  that  the 
Eeople  should  come  to  meet  him,  carrying 
ranches,  and  that  the  senators  should  pros- 
trate themselves  at  his  feet  and  kiss  his  .san- 
dals. He  ttien  made  his  «Mitrance  by  the  gate 
of  St.  Peter;  but  as  he  feared  some  attempt 
at  assassination,  he  shut  himself  up  in  the 
caslle  of  St.  Angelo. 

His  sojourn  in  the  holy  city  was  not  of  lonp 
duration  ;  the  faction  of  Arnold  having  re- 
gained its  strength,  obliged  him  once  more  to 
leave  Rome,  and  even  quit  Italy. 

Whilst  the  pope  was  Hying  disuraci^fully, 
and  cotnini)f  to  seek  an  asylum  in  France, 
Louis  the  Seventh  was  assembling  a  parlia- 
ment in  Bursrundy,  to  have  Ralph  of  Verman- 
dois,  his  brother-iu-law,  and  the  abbot  Suger, 


reco2;nised  as  the  regents  of  the  kingdom  in 
his  absence.  On  this  occasion  Saint  Bernard 
delivered  a  very  remarkable  discourse  to  ob- 
tain mercy  for  the  Jews  of  France  and  Bava- 
ria, whose  general  massacre  had  been  resolved 
upon,  in  order  to  draw  down  the  blessing  of 
God  on  the  Christians.  Then  the  king,  his 
wife  Eleonora,  and  a  great  number  of  lords 
and  nobles,  received  the  cross  at  the  hands 
of  the  abbot  of  Clairvaux. 

This  crusade  resulted  deplorably,  especially 
for  the  emperor  Conrad,  and  the  army  which 
he  led  into  the  holy  land.  Notwithstanding 
the  prophecies  of  Saint  Bernard,  who  had  an- 
nounced victories  and  conquests  to  the  cru- 
saders, almost  all  peri.shed  on  the  way,  and 
those  who  returned  from  Palestine  found  their 
property  seized  by  the  clergy. 

"This  war,"  says  the  historian  Fra  Paolo, 
"was  only  advantageous  to  the  jiope,  who 
employed  the  troops  which  went  to  Jeru.'^alcm 
in  the  conquest  of  provinces  adjoining  the 
Roman  church.  Besides,  the  large  sums  of 
money  which  were  wrested  from  the  super- 
stition of  the  faithful,  and  chiefly  from  -women 
and  other  persons  who  could  not  go  to  combat 
in  the  holy  land,  were  not  scrupulously  em- 
ployed in  the  crusade  ;  the  pope,  the  bishops, 
and  the  princes,  adjudging  the  greater  part  to 
themselves." 

Before  the  departure  of  the  Christians  for 
Syria,  Euijenius  held  a  general  council  at 
Treves,  where  the  works  of  Saint  Hildegarde 
were  examined.  All  the  fathers  of  the  council 
were  astonished  at  the  wisdom  exhibited  in 
the  writings  of  this  young  nun.  and  address- 
ed a  letter  to  her  to  urge  her  to  publish  all 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  revealed  to  her  in  its 
divine  inspirations.  In  the  same  assembl)', 
Henry,  abbot  of  Fulda,  having  been  convicted 
of  having  abandoned  the  care  of  his  church 
to  secular  persons,  in  order  to  abandon  him- 
self to  mundane  pleasures,  was  deposetl  and 
anathematized.  After  the  termination  of  the 
synod,  the  holy  father  went  to  Paris,  where 
he  was  receivetl  with  great  honour  by  Louis 
and  bishop  Thibald  ;  both  went  to  meet  him, 
and  conducted  him  to  the  church  of  Notre 
Dame,  where  he  celebrated  divine  service, 
and  blessed  the  standard  which  was  to  be 
borne  in  Palestine. 

Euirenins  also  celebrated  a  solemn  mass  in 
the  church  of  St.  Genevieve,  in  presence  of 
the  kins:  and  his  court.  Durin<:  the  ceremony 
a  very  strange  event  took  place;  the  ollicers 
of  the  church  had  laitl  upon  the  steps  of  the 
altar  a  maixnilicent  cloth  of  silk,  bordered 
with  gold  ami  silver,  which  excited  the  covet- 
ousness  of  the  holy  father.  After  the  first 
prayer,  he  prostrated  himself  on  the  carpet, 
which,  according'  to  the  custom  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  was  taking  possession  of  it :  he  then 
went  to  the  sacristy  to  clothe  himself  in  the 
pontifical  ornaments.  The  Italian  priests  im- 
mediately approached  the  altar,  and  seized  on 
the  carpet  which  had  been  used  by  the  pope; 
the  canons  perceiving  the  intentions  of  these 
ecclesiastical  strangers,  precipitated  them- 
selves upon  them  to  wrest  it  from  their  hands; 


424 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


the  latter  resisted,  a  struggle  took  place  be- 
tween the  French  and  the  Romans,  and  they 
beat  each  other  with  candles  and  candelabras ; 
at  length  the  canons  succeeded  in  rescuing 
their  magnificent  carpet,  but  all  in  strips.  The 
officers  of  the  pope,  beaten  and  humiliated, 
took  refuge  in  the  sacristy,  and  showed  to  the 
holy  father  iheir  torn  garments  and  bloody 
faces.  Eugenius  re-entered  the  church,  and 
imperiously  demanded  justice  for  the  insult 
to  his  officers.  The  bigot  king  decided  that  the 
canons  should  be  driven  from  St.  Genevieve, 
and  that  their  church,  with  its  dependen- 
cies, should  be  given  to  the  black  monks,  that 
is,  to  the  monks  of  Cluny.  Louis  confided 
the  execution  of  this  order  to  the  abbot  Suger, 
and  made  preparations  for  his  departure  to 
the  Holy  Land. 

The  emperor  Conrad  had  already  set  out 
for  Palestine  with  a  formidable  army  of  se- 
venty thousand  men.  The  king  of  France 
commanded  several  bodies,  which  amounted 
to  more  than  eighty  thousand  men ;  he  was 
also  followed  by  a  guard  of  honour,  which 
served  as  an  escort  for  the  queen,  his  wife. 
After  a  march  of  three  months,  the  two  princes 
arrived  at  Conslantinople,  \^here  they  found 
immense  magazines  of  provisions  prepared 
for  them  by  the  care  of  Manuel  Comnenus, 
and  all  things  necessary  to  transport  them  into 
Asia.  But  they  found  a  great  change  as  soon 
as  they  had  crossed  the  Hellespont ;  the  wary 
Comnenus  was  desirous  of  the  aid  of  the 
crusaders,  but  his  policy  prevented  him  from 
rendering  them  too  powerful,  and  he  laboured 
to  disorganize  their  armies ;  now  by  delaying 
to  send  piovisions,  now  by  poisoning  the  flour 
with  gypsum  and  lime,  now  by  giving  them 
infidel  guides,  who  delivered  up  entire  bodies 
to  the  steel  of  the  Mussulmen.  The  army 
commanded  by  Conrad  was  almost  entirely 
exterminated,  and  he  himself  obliged  to  fly 
and  go  to  Ephesus  to  the  king  of  France.  The 
troops  of  Louis  soon  underwent  the  same  fate  ; 
they  were  cut  to  pieces  by  the  infidel,  and 
the  two  princes  disgracefully  escaped,  aban- 
doning their  soldiers  in  distant  countries.  Con- 
rad returned  to  Constantinople,  from  whence 
he  went  to  Germany.  Louis  disembarked  in 
Calabria,  and  returned  to  France. 

Such  was  the  result  of  this  expedition  which 
had  been  announced  by  prophecies  and  mira- 
cles. Saint  Bernard  lost  much  of  his  consi- 
deration, and  was  accused  by  the  people  of 
imposture  and  knavery.  "This great  saint," 
says  Maimburg,  "replied  that  his  predictions 
would  have  been  realised,  if  the  abominable 
sins  of  the  Christians  had  not  excited  the 
•wrath  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  hindered  the  eflect 
of  his  promises.  He  made  it  appear  that  the 
crusaders  had  been  soiled  by  abominations 
more  frightful  than  those  of  the  children  of 
Israel.  These  facts  are  true,  but  with  like 
reasoning,"  addslNlaimburg,  "it  would  be  easy 
for  all  impostors  to  explain  their  false  prophe- 
cies which  did  not  come  to  pass." 

Whilst  the  armies  of  the  crusaders  were 
wetting  with  their  blood  the  sands  of  Pale.s- 
tine,  the  holy  father  was  holding  ecclesiastical 


assemblies  in  France  to  judge  the  heresies  of 
Gilbert  de  la  Porea,  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  the  day.  The  accused  appeared  be- 
fore a  council  of  French  bishops,  anjong  \\  hom 
was  Bernard,  who  had  been  appointed  the 
prosecutor  by  virtue  of  his  office.  Bayle  af- 
firms, that  the  holy  abbot  had  himself  solicit- 
ed the  employment,  not  from  zeal  for  religion, 
but  from  a  base  motive  of  jealousy  of  the  re- 
formers of  that  age.  Two  doctors  of  theology 
were  produced  against  Gilbert :  Adam  du 
Petit-Pont,  a  canon  of  the  church  of  Paris,  and 
Hugh  of  Champ-Fleury,  the  chancellor  of  the 
king.  Both  afiirmed  that  they  had  heard  the 
accused  ofl'er  propositions  contrary  to  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  church;  for  example:  "that 
the  divine  essence  was  not  God  himself;  that 
the  properties  of  the  persons  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  were  not  the  persons  themselves j 
finally,  that  the  divine  nature  coukl  not  be- 
come incarnate,  and  that  the  person  of  the 
Son  had  alone  been  made  human."  Gilbert 
denied  formally  having  ever  said  that  the  di- 
vinity was  not  God;  and  he  produced  in  testi- 
mony of  the  truth  of  his  assertions,  two  of  his 
disciples — Ralph,  bishop  of  Evreux,  who  af- 
terwards became  the  metropolitan  of  Rouen, 
and  the  doctor  Ives  de  Chartres.  Eugenius 
found  it  impossible  to  render  a  judgment  on 
account  of  the  diversity  of  the  depositions, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  refer  the  decision  of 
this  important  matter  to  the  general  council 
which  had  been  convened  at  Rheims  for  the 
following  year.  In  the  mean  time,  he  sent 
Alberic.  bishop  of  Ostia,  as  his  legate  into  the 
countship  of  Toulouse,  with  orders  to  pursue 
the  monk  Henry,  a  disciple  of  Peter  de  Biuys, 
a  heretic  who  had  been  burned  some  time 
before  at  St.  Gilles  by  order  of  the  pope. 

This  intrepid  monk  continued  to  teach  the 
precepts  of  his  master  without  being  alarmed 
by  dread  of  the  scaffold.  He  preached  openly 
against  the  pontiff,  urging  the  faithful  to  with- 
draw from  obedience  to  him,  and  to  restrain 
his  authority  witliin  the  limits  of  the  diocese 
of  Rome.  Eugenius,  fearful  of  the  conse- 
quences of  these  pernicious  doctrines,  which 
threatened  his  temporal  power  and  his  spirit- 
ual infallibility,  authorised  the  legate  Alberic 
to  employ  all  the  resources  which  he  had  at 
his  disposal  to  annihilate  the  heretics  to  the 
last  man.  He  ordered  him  to  use  sword,  fire, 
and  poison  ;  to  pursue  and  follow  them  every 
where  like  wild  beasts;  and  to  give  to  this 
mission  a  character  of  solemnity,  he  sent 
Geoffrey  of  Chartres,  and  St.  Bernard  to  ac- 
company his  legate. 

Among  the  cities  infected  by  the  heresy  of 
Peter  de  Bruys,  Alby  was  especially  distin- 
guished for  its  hatred  of  the  pontifical  tyranny 
which  gave  to  all  this  sect  the  denomination 
of  Albigenses;  thus  it  was  towards  this  city 
that  the  legate  of  the  pontiff  and  his  associ- 
ates directed  their  steps.  They  entered  Alby 
towards  the  end  of  the  month  of  June.  The 
people,  who  had  been  informed  of  the  object 
of  their  journey,  came  to  meet  them  with 
tambours,  flutes,  and  kitchen  utensils,  and  ac- 
companied them  even  to  the  bishop's  resi- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


425 


dence  in  the  midst  of  shouts  and  ihe  discord- 
ant noise  of  their  instruments.  The  legates, 
furious  at  this  reception,  resolved  to  take  ven- 
geance for  it.  On  the  following  day  they 
caused  those  who  had  been  pointed  out  by 
the  priests  of  the  country  to  be  arrested,  and 
compelled  them,  by  frightful  tortures,  to  de- 
nounce the  other  heretics,  and  abjure  their 
belief. 

Notwithstanding  the  severity  which  they 
displayetl  in  their  punishments,  the  legates 
could  oidy  obtain  a  small  number  of  conver- 
sions ;  and  as  the  exasperation  of  the  people 
continued  to  increase,  they  were  obliged  to 
leave  the  south  of  France  without  having 
finished  their  mission.  St.  Bernard  returned 
with  his  colleagues  to  Rheims.  whither  had 
already  come  more  than  twelve  hundred  pre- 
lates from  all  parts  of  France,  to  assist  at  the 
council  convened  by  the  holy  father.  They 
were  first  engaged  with  the  heretic  Eon  de 
I'Etoile,  a  Breton  gentleman,  who  was  grossly 
ignorant,  and  whose  mind  was  wandering. 
This  poor  insensate  believed  himself  to  be  the 
Son  of  God,  on  account  of  the  resemblance  of 
his  name  with  the  word  Eum.  by  virtue  of 
these  words:  "Per  eum  qui  venturus  est;" 
and.  in  his  folly,  committed  extravagancies 
which  the  crowd  took  for  miracles.  He  had 
been  soon  surrounded  by  a  large  number  of 
disciples,  who  had  defended  him  against  the 
attempts  to  arrest  him  made  by  several  lords; 
the  archbishop  of  Rheims  had  at  last  arrested 
him,  by  drawing  him  hito  a  snare,  under  the 
pretext  that  he  was  a  convert  to  his  doctrhie. 
The  pope  himself  interrogated  him ;  and 
though  he  could  only  obtain  replies  which 
were  so  many  proofs  of  his  madness,  he  con- 
demned him  to  be  burned  alive.  This  sen- 
tence was,  however,  moderated  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  the  archbishop  of  Rheims,  who  obtain- 
ed permission  that  the  unfortunate  man,  who 
was  confided  to  his  keeping,  should  be  con- 
fined in  a  cloister  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  and 
submitted  to  a  rigorous  fast.  The  abbot  Suger, 
who  was  charged  with  the  execution  of  the 
order,  sent  him  to  a  convent  of  his  order,  and 
the  fasting  clause  was  so  barbarously  ob- 
served, that  the  unfortunate  Eon  died  of  fa- 
mine in  his  dungeon  after  three  months  of 
agony.  His  disciples  were  all  delivered  over 
to  the  executioner,  and  burned  alive  in  expia- 
tion of  their  folly. 

The  council  then  passed  on  to  other  mat- 
ters; they  decreed  several  canons  to  arrest 
the  debauchery  of  the  priests,  monks,  and 
nuns;  they  reformed  some  abuses  of  simony, 
ami  finally  examined  the  heresy  of  Gilbert  de 
la  Porea.  A  commission,  composed  of  the 
bisho])s  Geoffrey  of  Leroux,  Milan,  Jocelyn, 
and  Suger,  to  whom  St.  Bernard  and  several 
cardinals  were  joined,  were  charged  to  write 
out  a  report  of  it  before  the  pontiff,  and  to  in- 
terrogate the  accused. 

At  the  first  session,  Gilbert  brought  in  a 
great  number  of  the  works  of  the  fathers,  in 
order  to  read  entire  passages  which  his  ad- 
versaries only  cited  in  detachetl  extracts,  so 
as  to  force  the  sense  of  the  propositions.    The 

Vol.  I.  3D 


holy  father,  fatigued  with  listening  to  these 
long  dissertations,  apostrophised  him  sharply, 
and  ordered  him  to  saybrielly  whether  he  be- 
lieved the  divine  essence  was  God.  '-No," 
replied  Gilbert.  "We  then  hold  liim  for 
an  heretic,"  exclaimed  St.  Bernard.  "  Let  his 
avowal  be  written  down."  Henry  of  Pisa, 
who  tilled  the  post  of  secretary  of  the  council, 
was  about  to  obey  this  order,  when  Gilbert 
turned  towards  Bernard,  and  said,  regarding 
him  with  indignation,  "Write  also,  monk  of 
Clairvaux,  that  the  divinity  is  God."  The 
abbot,  unmoved,  continued  his  address  to 
Henry :  "  Secretary,  leave  your  pen  and  pa- 
per, and  write  with  iron  and  the  diamond, 
that  the  divine  essence,  its  form,  goodness, 
wisdom,  power,  all  in  fine,  is  really  God." 
This  bold  proposition  scandalized  the  cardi- 
nals, and  produced  a  long  discussion.  At 
length  St.  Bernard,  conquered  by  the  argu- 
ments of  the  Roman  prelates,  and  particularly 
by  the  dialectics  of  Henry,  termniated  the 
discussion  by  saying,  "Well,  if  the  form  of 
God  is  not  the  divmity,  it  is  more  than  it, 
since  it  derives  its  essence  from  itself." — 
The  cardinals  immediately  broke  up  the  sit- 
ting, declaring  that  they  were  sufficiently  in- 
formed on  the  matter,  and  that  they  would 
retire  to  deliberate  before  pronouncing  judg- 
ment. They  then  left  the  hall,  and  the  pope 
adjourned  the  council  for  three  days. 

Saint  Bernard,  who  foresaw  a  check,  in- 
trigued with  the  French  bishops,  and  on  the 
following  day  assembled  in  his  residence  ten 
metropolitans,  with  a  great  number  of  abbots, 
bishops,  and  doctors  of  the  Galilean  church,  in 
order  to  decide  with  them  as  to  what  it  was 
necessary  to  do  to  alarm  the  cardinals  and  con- 
strain them  to  condemn  the  doctrines  of  Gil- 
bert. It  was  agreed  among  them,  that  they 
should  send  the  cardinals  a  creed  at  the  end 
of  the  articles  consecrated  by  the  French  pre- 
lates, and  the  tenor  of  it  was  reduced  to  these 
strange  terms :  "  We  believe  that  the  simple 
nature  of  the  divinity  is  God,  and  that  God  is 
the  divinity;  we  also  believe  that  Goil  is  wise 
by  wisdom,  which  is  himself;  that  he  is  great 
by  greatness,  which  is  himself;  that  he  is  good 
by  goodness,  which  is  himself,  etc.  .  .  .  Wtien 
we  speak  of  three  divine  persons,  we  say  that 
they  are  one  God  and  one  divine  substance; 
on  the  other  hand,  when  we  speak  of  the  di- 
vine substance,  we  say  it  is  in  three  persons, 

and  thus  of  the  rest We  affirm  that 

God  alone  is  eternal,  and  that  there  exists 
nothing  else,  whatever  may  be  its  denomina- 
tion, that  can  be  eternal  without  being  God. 
....  Finally,  we  firmly  believe  that  the  di- 
vinity itself,  or  the  divine  nature,  is  incarnate 
in  Christ." 

Three  deputies,  Hugh  of  Auxerre,  Milon  of 
Terouanne,  and  the  abbot  Suger,  were  instruct- 
ed to  present  this  creed  to  the  pope,  and  when 
they  had  been  admitted  to  his  presence  they 
made  this  harangue:  "We  have  permitted 
from  respect  to  you,  most  holy  father,  dis- 
courses which  we  ought  not  lo  hear,  when  we 
brought  the  tribute  of  our  intelligence  to  the 
decision  which  was  to  be  taken  on  the  heresy 
36* 


426 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


of  Gilbert.  But  since  you  have  preserved  for 
yourself  and  cardinals  the  right  of  pronounc- 
ing on  this  question,  we  bring  you  our  profes- 
sion of  faith,  that  you  may  compare  it  with 
that  of  the  heretic,  so  that  you  may  not  judge 
without  hearing  both  parties.  There  exists, 
however,  a  ditference  between  the  conduct 
of  the  accused  and  ours  ;  Gilbert  has  declared 
that  he  was  ready  to  correct  in  his  profession 
of  faith  that  which  was  not  in  conformity  with 
your  sentiments;  we,  on  the  other  hand,  pro- 
test to  you,  that  we  will  persevere  for  ever  in 
the  creed  which  we  deposit  in  writing  at  your 
feet."' 

Eugenius,  desiring  to  avoid  a  scandal,  re- 
plied to  the  delegates,  that  the  Roman  church 
partook  of  the  belief  of  the  Gallican ;  that  it 
condemned  like  it  the  doctrines  of  Gilbert  de 
la  Porea,  and  that  the  interest  manifested  by 
the  cardinals  was  only  for  the  person  of  that 
bishop,  who  was  commendable  for  his  merit. 
On  the  day  appointed  the  council  re-assembled 
in  the  palace  called  Tau,  on  account  of  its 
form  representing  the  letter  T;  Gilbert  was 
interrogated  by  the  pope  himself  upon  dif- 
ferent points  oi  his  doctrine.  At  each  incrimi- 
nated article  the  accused  *  replied  :  ''Holy 
father,  if  you  have  any  other  opinion  on  this 
proposition,  I  submit  to  your  wisdom;  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  you  speak  or  write  in  its 
favour,  I  will  do  as  you."  On  this,  the  assem- 
bly declared  that  it  could  not  find  one  so  do- 
cile as  a  schismatic,  and  contented  itself  with 
lacerating  the  writings  accused  of  heresy. 
They  prohibited  their  being  read,  but  they 
pronounced  no  censure  against  the  author. 

In  the  same  council  Raymond,  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  came  in  the  name  of  Alphonso  the 
Eighth,  the  sovereign  of  Castile,  to  accuse 
pope  Eugenius  of  having  sold  to  Alphonso 
Henriquez,  the  count  of  Portugal,  the  title  of 
king,  for  an  annual  payment  of  four  pounds 
weight  of  gold ;  he  also  complained  of  the 
metiopolitan  of  Braga,  who  had  insolently  re- 
fused to  recognise  the  primacy  of  Toledo, 
since  the  countship  of  Portugal  had  been 
erected  into  a  kingdom.  "Thus."  added  he, 
'•for  a  little  gold  has  your  pope  of  Satan  de- 
stroyed the  political  and  ecclesiastical  hierar- 
chy of  Spain,  and  our  misfortunes  call  down 
the  vengeance  of  God  upon  his  head." 

Eugenius  rose,  pale  and  trembling  with 
rage,  to  reply  to  him;  but  a  single  glance 
around  the  assembly  showed  him  that  the 
conduct  of  his  adversary  met  the  approval  of 
the  fathers.  He  then  restrained  himself,  and 
putting  on  an  hypocritical  air,  said  to  the  arch- 
bishop, ''Your  master  is  illy  informed;  we 
have  never  wished  to  diminish  the  greatness 
of  his  authority,  nor  attack  the  rights  of  his 
crown ;  on  the  contrary,  we  desire  to  favour 
his  kingdom  by  granting  to  him  the  same  in- 
dulgence as  to  the  crusaders  of  the  East,  if  he 
wishes  to  combat  the  infidels  of  Spain.  We 
are  equally  desirous  that  Toledo  should  re- 
main the  seat  of  the  primate,  and  we  suspend 
from  his  episcopal  functions  the  archbishop 
of  Braga,  who  has  refused  to  submit  to  his 
superior,  the  primate  Raymond.    Finally,  as  a 


mark  of  our  affection,  we  will  send  to  king 
Alphonso,  by  the  hands  of  the  bishop  of  Sego- 
via, the  golden  rose  which  the  pontic's  are  ac- 
customed to  bless  on  the  fourth  Sunday  in 
Lent  of  each  year." 

After  the  termination  of  the  council  of 
Rheims,  the  Pope  went  to  Clairvaux.  where 
he  ostentatiously  displayed  his  humility  and 
his  macerations;  he  wore  constantly  next  his 
skin  his  woollen  tunic  and  never  put  off  the 
cowl ;  his  bed  was  covered  with  rich  stuffs 
which  allowed  the  mattress  made  of  beaten 
straw  and  rough  horse  hair  to  be  seen.  He 
also  wished  to  assist  at  a  general  chapter  of 
abbots  as  a  simple  monk,  and  not  as  president 
or  pontiff. 

During  his  absence  from  Italy,  the  Romans 
had  been  conquered  by  the  emperor.  After 
their  submission  he  hastened  to  leave  France, 
and  made  his  solemn  entry  into  Rome  in  1149. 
The  priests  and  monks  alone  came  to  meet 
him  ;  the  people  refused  to  join  in  the  accla- 
mations. Without  troubling  himself  about  the 
hatred  of  the  Romans,  he  determined  to  affirm 
the  sway  of  the  Holy  See  over  Italy  and  the 
people  who  were  recently  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity. He  sent  into  Denmark  and  Norway, 
Nicholas,  bishop  of  Albano,  with  the  rank  of 
legate,  to  establish  an  archbishopric;  but  as 
the  Goths  and  Swedes  could  not  agree,  either 
as  to  the  city  which  was  to  be  chosen  as  the 
metropolis,  nor  the  prelate  whom  they  wished 
to  elevate  to  the  new  see,  the  one  demanding 
the  archbishop  of  Bremen,  the  others  him  of 
Upsal,  Nicholas  was  obliged  to  return  with- 
out having  settled  any  thing.  The  legate, 
however,  established  the  archbishop  of  Lun- 
den  as  provisional  primate  of  Sweden,  and 
g-ave  him  authority  over  all  the  churches  of 
Norway,  until  they  should  have  designated  a 
metropolitan. 

Conrad  the  Third  died  in  Germany  during 
the  following  year,  leaving  his  crown  to  his 
nephew,  Frederick  the  First,  surnamed  Bar- 
barossa.  As  soon  as  this  prince  was  mounted 
on  the  imperial  throne,  he  sent  as  delegates 
to  the  pontifical  court,  Hilin,  the  metropolitan 
of  Treves,  and  Everard,  the  prelate  of  Bam- 
burg,  to  inform  the  pope  of  his  advent  to  the 
empire,  and  to  propose  to  him  a  treaty  of  al- 
liance. Eugenius  received  the  embassadors 
of  the  monarch  favourably  ;  he  appointed  seven 
cardinals  and  Brunon,  the  abbot  of  Cavalla,  to 
confer  with  the  embassadors  of  Frederick. 
The  bases  of  the  treaty  were  that  the  sove- 
reign should  grant  neither  truce  nor  treat}'  to 
the  citizens  of  Rome,  nor  Roger,  king  of  Sicily, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Holy  See;  that  he 
should  promise  to  push  the  war  against  them 
until  they  had  submitted  to  the  pope,  them- 
selves, their  persons,  vassals,  and  domains; and 
that,  finally,  he  would  engage  by  oath  to  de- 
fend him  against  all  his  enemies,  and  to  recover 
for  him  the  domains  which  the  church  had  lost. 

His  holiness  promised,  on  his  side,  to  give 
the  imperial  crown  to  Frederick,  whenever 
he  should  come  to  the  holy  city  to  receive  it ; 
he  engaged  to  aid  him  with  all  his  power 
to  maintain  obedience  among  his  people,  to 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


427 


employ  ecclesiastical  censures  against  his 
enemies,  and,  finally,  to  hinder  the  Greek 
emperor  from  making  any  conquests  in  Italy- 
This  protocol  is  dated  on  the  23d  of  March, 
1152. 

But  the  treaty  had  scarcely  been  signed, 
when  the  old  quarrel  between  the  empire  and 
the  priesthood  broke  out  more  violently  than 
ever,  on  the  occasion  of  the  investiture  of  the 
archbishopric  of  Magdeburg,  \vho?e  titulary 
was  about  to  die.  Two  parties  disputed  for 
this  rich  metropolitan  church ;  one  wished  to 
appoint  the  treasurer  of  the  chapter  of  the 
cathedral  as  archbishop,  the  other  presented 
the  prevost,  as  being  alone  worthy  to  occupy 
the  Episcopal  See.  As  the  two  factions, 
equally  powerful,  were  unwilling  either  of 
them  to  yield,  and  threatened  the  city  with 
the  greatest  disorders,  the  emperor  deter- 
mmed  to  appoint  a  metropolitan  himself,  to 
put  an  end  to  the  interminable  disputes  of  the 
clergy,  and  chose  Guisman,  bishop  of  Ceits, 
to  occupy  the  archbishopric. 

Frederick  was  doubtless  in  the  right  in  so 
acting;  for  the  court  of  Germany,  in  the  treaty 
between  Pascal  and  Henry  the  Fifth,  had  re- 
served to  itself  the  power,  in  a  case  of  schism 
in  the  nomination  of  bishops,  to  choose  him 
who  appeared  most  worthy  of  the  episcopate, 
after  having  advised  with  the  lords  of  the  em- 
pire. Bui  the  ambitious  Gerard,  the  prevost 
of  Magdeburg,  seeing  all  his  hopes  cast  down 
by  this  promotion,  cried  out  scandal ;  threat- 
ened the  prince  with  ecclesiastical  thunders, 
and  went  immediately  to  Rome  to  have  the 
election  of  Guisman,  whom  he  regarded  as 
an  intruder  into  his  archbishopric,  annulled. 
Eugenius  took  the  side  of  Gerard,  and  wrote 
to  the  emperor,  that  he  must  immediately 
drive  his  protege  away  from  Magdeburg,  if 
he  did  not  wish  to  incur  the  excommunication 
of  the  Holy  See. 

In  vain  did  eight  of  the  principal  prelates 
of  Germany  address  letters  to  the  pontiff  in 
favour  of  ihe  new  metropolitan.  Eugenius  was 
inflexible  ;  he  even  replied  to  them  severely, 
for  having  dared  to  defend  a  prince,  who 
treated  the  canons  of  the  church  with  con- 
tempt ;  he  blamed  them  for  what  he  called 
their  cowardly  condescendence  to  the  wishes 
of  the  powers  of  the  earth;  and,  finally,  en- 
joined on  them  to  constrain  King  Frederick,  by 
enerijetic  representation,  to  leave  the  church 
of  Magdeburg  free  to  choose  its  pastor  :  "  for," 
added  he,  '•'  even  we  ourselves  would  not  dare 
to  do  any  thing  contrary  to  the  law  of  God 
and  the  holy  canons  of  the  church."  Father 
Maimburg  thus  interprets  this  last  thought : 
'•  We  must  conclude  from  these  last  words, 
that  the  pope  could  not  permit  any  thing  con- 
trary to  the  service  of  God,  because  he  recog- 
nised himself  as  inferior  to  God.  And  also 
that  he  could  not  change  the  canons  and  de- 
crees of  general  councils,  because  he  recog- 
nised his  authority  as  submissive  to  that  of 
these  councils..  An  opinion  very  different 
from  that  of  a  great  number  of  popes,  who 
pretend  to  be  infallible  and  above  the  entire 
aniverse." 


Notwithstanding  the  censures  of  the  church, 
Frederick,  persuaded  that  he  had  not  exceed- 
ed his  lawful  rights,  maintained  the  election 
of  the  archbishop  of  IVlagdeburg.  The  pope 
then  sent  prelates  into  Germany,  commission- 
ed to  depose  Guisman,  but  the  emperor  inter- 
fered, and  drove  them  out  of  his  kingdom, 
as  Conrad,  duke  of  Franconia,  had  already 
done  Jourdain  des  Ursini. 

On  this  subject,  and  to  let  it  be  seen  what 
kind  of  persons  were  tlie  representatives  of 
the  popes,  we  will  cite  the  letter  which  St. 
Bernard  himself  wrote  to  Eugenius  about  his 
legate: — ''Your  Jourdain  des  Ursini,  most 
holy  father,  has  committed  shameful  actions 
everywhere.  He  has  stolen  the  sacred  ves- 
sels from  the  churches;  he  has  conferred  the 
ecclesiastical  degree  on  young  lads,  whose 
beauty  informs  us  by  what  act  of  complai- 
sance they  have  merited  them  ;  he  has  enter- 
ed the  holy  dwellings  of  nuns,  where  he  has 
brought  his  infamies  to  their  height.  It  is 
for  you,  most  holy  father,  to  judge  what  is  to 
be  done  with  such  an  ecclesiastic.  For  my- 
self, I  have  done  as  my  conscience  dictated ; 
and,  I  will  add,  with  my  ordinary  freedom, 
that  it  were  well  if  your  palace  were  purged 
of  all  the  abominations  which  it  contains.  It 
was  my  first  intention  not  to  lay  my  com- 
plaints before  you  ;  but  the  prior  of  the  con- 
vent of  Mont  Dicu  has  pressed  me  to  write, 
and  know  that  I  have  said  less  than  the  pub- 
lic. .  .  ."  This  letter  of  St.  Bernard's  pro- 
duced no  sensation  at  the  pontifical  court; 
besides,  Eugenius  was  too  much  occupied  in 
establishing  his  sway  over  foreign  churches, 
to  think  of  undertaking  the  least  reform  in  his 
own  court. 

Another  of  his  legates.  John  Paperon,  start- 
ed for  Ireland  about  the  year  1151 ;  but,  the 
king  of  England  having  refused  to  grant  him 
a  safe-conduct,  he  was  forced  to  return  to 
Rome  to  confer  with  the  pope.  By  the  ad- 
vice of  the  cardinals,  it  was  decideil,  that 
he  should  repair  to  Ireland,  btit  by  passing 
through  Scotland,  which  was  then  govern- 
ed by  King  David,  who  was  devoted  to  the 
Holy  See.  This  second  journey  resulted  more 
favourably  than  the  first.  He  arrived  safely 
in  Ireland,  and  held  a  council  in  the  new 
monastery  of  Mellifont,  of  the  order  of  the 
Citeaux,  where  he  convened  the  bishops,  ab- 
bots, kings,  dukes,  and  all  the  lords  of  the 
island.  The  assembly  decreed  the  erection 
of  archiepiscopal  sees  at  Dublin,  Tuam,  Ar- 
magh, anil  Cassel.  The  legate  then  distri- 
buted to  the  new  metropolitans  the  palliums 
which  he  had  brought  from  Rome ;  he  re- 
duced the  Irish  priests  to  the  law  of  celibacy, 
which  they  had  not  practised  before ;  and 
reformed  a  great  number  of  abuses  and  old 
superstitious  practices.  But  he  was  unable 
to  render  an  account  of  the  success  of  his  mis- 
sion to  Eugenius.  who  died  before  his  return 
to  Rome,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1 153.  The  body 
of  the  pontiff  was  carried  in  great  solemnity, 
and  deposited  in  the  church  of  the  Apostle, 
where  it  performed  several  miracles. 

It  was  during  this  reign,  that  the  monk  Gra- 


428 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


tian  published  his  collection  of  apocryphal 
canons  and  false  decretals,  which  commenced 
with  the  pontificate  of  St.  Clement,  and  finish- 
ed with  Pope  Siricus :  that  is,  up  to  the  year 
398.  Not  only  did  Eugenius  sanction,  with 
all  his  authority,  this  lying  compilation,  which 
placed  the  pontifical  See  above  all  the  thrones 
of  the  earth,  but  even  instituted  the  grades  of 
bachelor  and  licentiate  in  the  canon  law,  for 
young  priests  who  made  the  maxims  of  his 
book  their  especial  study. 

About  a  month  after  the  death  of  Eugenius, 
the  celebrated  St.  Bernard  rendered  his  soul 
to  God  in  the  abbey  of  Clairvaux.  His  body, 
clothed  in  its  sacerdotal  ornaments,  was  borne 
by  the  monks  into  the  chapel  of  the  Virgin, 
in  the  presence  of  an  immense  concourse  of 
the  nobility  and  people  of  the  neighbouring 
country.     For  two  days  it  was  exposed  to  the 


veneration  of  the  faithful,  who  came  to  apply 
bread,  pieces  of  money,  and  linen,  to  make 
relics  of  them,  and  use  them  in  the  cure  of 
sickness.  On  the  second  day,  the  crowd  was 
not  content  with  applying  the  relics  to  the  dead 
body ;  they  commenced  disrobing  ihe  saint 
of  parts  of  his  clothing;  they  then  cut  off  his 
hair ;  and,  finally,  the  profanation  was  carried 
to  such  a  point,  that  the  body,  entirely  naked, 
and  placed  upon  the  altar  of  the  Virgin,  be- 
came an  object  of  scandal  and  horror. 

During  his  lifetime,  Bernard  was  one  of  the 
most  ardent  props  of  pontifical  despotism,  and 
the  most  implacable  enemy  of  the  heretics. 
This  fervent  apostle  of  the  crusades  infected 
Europe  with  his  black  monks,  and  founded, 
himself,  three  hundred  and  seventy-two  mon- 
asteries. Thus  the  church  has  canonised 
him. 


anastasius  the  fourth,  the  one  hundred  and 
'seventy-third  pope. 

[A.  D.  1153.] 

Election  of  Anastasius — William,  the  metropolitan  of  York,  is  reinstated  in  his  see — Quarrel  be- 
tween the  church  and  the  empire— Privileges  granted  to  the  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jeru- 
salem— Death  of  Anastasius. 


After  the  obsequies  of  Eugenius  had  been 
performed,  the  cardinals  assembled  in  the 
church  of  St.  John,  of  the  Lateran,  to  give 
him  a  successor;  and  chose  Conrad,  bishop 
of  Sabine,  a  Roman  by  birth,  who  was  pro- 
claimed pope,  by  the  name  of  Anastasius  the 
Fourth.  The  new  pontiff  was  a  venerable 
old  man,  who  was  especially  distinguished 
for  great  regularity  of  morals,  and  great  expe- 
rience in  the  usages  of  the  court  of  Rome. 
As  soon  as  the  news  of  his  election  was 
known  in  England,  a  metropolitan  of  York, 
named  William,  who  had  been  unjustly  de- 
posed by  Eugenius  in  the  council  of  Rheims, 
hastened  to  Rome,  to  demand  the  revision  of 
the  sentence  pronounced  against  him.  Anas- 
tasius, after  having  examined  the  grounds  of 
the  judgment  against  him,  discovered  that  his 
predecessor  had  been  guilty  of  great  iniquity 
in  condemning  an  innocent  man.  He  revoked 
the  sentence  of  deposition,  reinstated  William 
in  all  his  dignities,  and  even  granted  the  pal- 
lium to  him. 

The  holy  father  was  then  engaged  in  ar- 
resting the  deplorable  effects  of  the  war  which 
his  predecessor  had  imprudently  excited  be- 
tween the  altar  and  the  throne,  and  which 
threatened  to  be  more  terrible  than  any  which 
had  occurred  under  the  preceding  reigns.  For 
this  purpose,  the  cardinal  Gerard  was  sent  to 
the  court  of  the  emperor,  to  put  an  end  to  all 
differences  between  the  Holy  See  and  that 
prince,  without,  however,  sacrificing  the  in- 
terests of  the  church.     Unfortunately;   the 


embassador  did  not  conform  to  the  orders  of 
the  pontiff,  but  had  the  impudence  to  speak 
to  the  sovereign,  at  a  pubhc  audience,  with 
such  arrogance,  that  he  was  driven  from  the 
royal  presence.  This  affront  exasperated 
the  legate,  and  produced  so  violent  a  fit  of 
anger,  that  he  was  strangled  by  an  efi'usion 
of  blood,  before  they  could  give  him  any 
assistance. 

Frederick  was  desirous,  however,  of  show- 
ing to  the  pontiff,  that  he  knew  how  to  render 
justice  to  his  good  intentions,  and  to  distin- 
guish him  from  his  envoys.  He  sent  the 
archbishop  of  Magdeburg  to  him  to  give  him 
an  account  of  his  election,  and  to  submit 
himself  to  his  judgment.  Anastasius  received 
Guisman  with  distinction,  and  after  having 
heard  his  explanations,  he  confirmed  him  in 
his  archiepiscopal  dignity,  and  even  granted 
him  the  pallium.  This  conduct  of  the  pope 
scandalised  the  greater  part  of  the  fanatical 
clergy,  and  if  we  can  believe  Otho  of  Fri- 
singen,  the  priests  dared  accuse  the  holy 
father  of  criminal  condescendence  towards 
the  emperor. 

According  to  several  historians,  Anastasius 
published,  during  the  following  year,  that  re- 
markable bull  concerning  the  Knights  of  the 
Hospital  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  the  same 
who  afterwards  took  the  name  of  the  Knights 
of  Rhodes  and  Malta  and  whose  foundation 
goes  back  to  the  year  1113,  as  is  indicated  by 
a  decree  of  Pascal  the  Second,  addre.ssed  to 
Gerard,  the  lirst  grand  master  of  the  order. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


429 


Anastasiua  in  his  bull,  which  is  mo?t  explicit, 
confirmed  the  grand  master  Raymond,  in  his 
right  ot"  exemption  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  ;  he  added — 

"As  all  your  property  is  designed  for  the 
support  of  pilgrims  ami  the  poor,  we  prohibit 
laymen  and  ecclesiastics  of  any  rank,  from 
exacting  tithes  therefrom.  We  interdict  all 
bishops  from  publishing  suspensions  or  anathe- 
mas in  the  churches  placed  under  your  au- 
thority, and  even  when  an  interdict  is  obliged 
to  be  fulminated  in  a  country  in  which  you 
are  located,  divine  service  shall  still  be  cele- 
brated in  your  churches,  only  with  closed 
doors,  and  without  ringing  the  bells.  That 
you  may  be  able  always  to  celebrate  mass, 
we  permit  you  to  receive  into  your  temples, 
priests  and  clergy  of  all  nations,  after  having 
first  informed  yourselves  of  the  correctness 
of  their  morals,  and  the  regularity  of  their 
ordination.  If  the  prelates  to  whom  they  are 
subjected,  refuse  to  grant  them  to  you,  I  au- 
thorize you,  by  virtue  of  the  power  which 
has  been  delegated  to  the  Holy  See,  to  take 
them  by  force,  and  from  the  moment  they 


shall  have  entered  your  temples,  they  shall 
be  subject  to  your  chapter  and  the  pope  alone. 
We  also  permit  you  to  receive  into  your  hos- 
pitals, laymen  to  serve  the  poor.  We  prohibit 
the  laymen,  that  is  the  knights  who  shall  be 
received  into  your  company,  from  returning 
to  the  world,  after  having  taken  the  habit  and 
the  cross.  We  prohibit  them  also  from  going 
into  another  order  under  the  pretence  of  lead- 
ing a  more  austere  life.  You  will  cause  your 
altars  and  oratories  to  be  dedicated  by  the 
diocesan  bishops,  if  he  will  do  it  gratuitously  j 
but  if  not,  you  will  select  another  prelate. 
Finally,  we  confirm  you  in  all  the  domains 
and  lordships,  which  your  order  possesses  in 
Asia  or  in  Europe,  or  which  it  may  in  future 
acquire." 

History  is  silent  on  the  other  actions  of  this 
pope.  It  is  probable  that  he  followed  the 
counsels  of  wisdom  and  moderation,  as  he  did 
at  the  commencement  of  his  reign.  He  held 
the  Holy  See  for  fourteen  months  and  some 
days,  and  died  on  the  2d  of  December,  1154, 
regarded  as  the  best  pontiff  who  had  governed 
the  church  for  several  centuries. 


ADRIAN  THE  FOURTH,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
FOURTH   POPE. 

[A.  D.  1154.] 

Singular  history  of  Adrian  before  his  pontificate — His  election — Troubles  at  Rome — The  empe- 
ror ffoes  into  Italy — Arnold  of  Brescia  is  arrested — 'Interview  between  the  pope  and  Frederick 
Barbarossa — Deputation  of  Romans — Coronation  of  Frederick  Barbarossa — Violent  sedition  at 
Rome — Adi'ian  quits  the  holy  city,  and  the  emperor  ^oes  to  Germany — Excommvnication  of 
the  king  of  Sicily — Complaints  of  the  people  against  the  Knights  Hospitallers  of  Jerusalem — 
Peace  is  concluded  between  the  pope  and  the  king  of  Sicily — Adrian  gives  the  crown  of  Ireland 
to  the  king  of  England — Quarrel  between  the  emperor  and  the  pope — Death  of  Adrian. 


"  Divine  Providence  appears  to  have  been 
careful  to  have  drawn  Adrian  from  the  dust, 
to  seal  him  on  the  throne  of  St.  Peter,  and  to 
place  him  above  the  princes  of  his  people." 
Such  is  the  exordium  of  Maimburg  in  his  his- 
tory of  Adrian  the  Fourth.  The  holy  father 
was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  the  son  of  a 
village  clerk,  named  Nicholas  Breakspeare, 
who  was  so  poor,  that,  having  no  means  of 
living  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  he  had  been 
obliged  to  serve  as  a  domestic  in  the  kitchen 
of  the  convent  of  St.  Albans.  The  young  Ni- 
cholas, abandoned  by  his  father,  lived  by  alms 
until  he  had  attained  the  age  of  manhood  ;  he 
then  crossed  the  sea,  and  went  to  France  to 
mend  his  fortune.  He  stopped  by  chance  at 
St.  Ruffus,  near  Avignon,  a  chapter  of  regular 
canons.  The  poor  Englishman  interested  the 
superior ;  and  as  he  was  of  an  agreeable  ex- 
terior, wise  iii  his  discourse,  and  of  a  mild 
and  modest  character,  he  insinuated  himself, 
little  by  little,  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
canons,  and  finishetl  by  obtaining  the  habit 
of  the  order.  For  several  years  Nicholas  ex- 
hibited a  scrupulous  regularity  in  his  duties, 


and  applied  himself  to  study  with  great  apti- 
tude. His  progress  in  science  and  oratorical 
art  acquired  for  him  such  a  reputation,  that 
after  the  death  of  the  abbot,  William  the 
Second,  he  was  chosen  to  succeed  him  in  the 
government  of  the  chapter,  and  the  direction 
of  all  the  cloisters  of  the  order.  As  he  was 
truly  a  good  man,  he  was  desirous  of  under- 
taking the  reform  of  the  canons,  whose  dis- 
cipline was  very  much  relaxed.  They  then 
leagued  against  him,  and  revolted  against 
his  authority,  and  even  dared  to  accuse  him, 
before  Pope  Eugenius,  of  infamous  crimes,  in 
order  to  procure  his  deposition  and  excommu- 
nication. 

But  the  holy  father  was  so  touched  by  the 
wisdom  and  moderation  which  Nicholas  ex- 
hibited in  his  defence,  that  he  took  his  part, 
and  drove  the  canons  from  his  presence,  say- 
ing to  them: — '•  I  now  know  the  shameful 
cause  of  your  calumnies.  Go,  false  monks, 
choose  an  abbot  who  tolerates  your  disorders  j 
this  one  shall  remain  with  me."  They  re- 
tired in  confusion,  though  inwardly  satisfied 
with   the  decision  of  the  pontiff.     Nicholas 


430 


HISTORY   OF  THE    POPES. 


was  then  elevated  to  the  bishopric  of  Albano, 
and  sent,  with  the  title  of  legate,  into  Norway, 
to  instruct  that  barbarous  people  in  evangelical 
truth.  He  had  only  returned  into  Italy  eight 
days,  when  Anastasius  the  Fourth  died.  On 
the  day  succeeding  his  funeral  ceremonies, 
the  cardinals  assembled  in  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  and  proclaimed  Nicholas  sovereign 
pontiff  by  the  name  of  Adrian  the  Fourth. 
This  election  filled  the  king  of  England  with 
joy,  who  was  flattered  at  seeing  on  the  apos- 
tolic throne,  a  pope  who  was  born  his  subject. 
He  addressed  to  him  a  letter  of  congratula- 
tion, in  which  he  exhorted  him  to  fill  the 
church  with  worthy  ministers,  and  to  procure 
aid  for  the  Christians  of  the  Holy  Land. 

The  partizans  of  religious  reforms,  who  had 
concurred  in  the  election  of  Adrian,  hoped 
tliat  the  pope,  out  of  gratitude,  would  restore 
to  the  Roman  people  the  rights  of  which 
they  had  been  despoiled  during  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Eugenius.  The  members  of  the  sen- 
ate consequently  presented  themselves  before 
him,  to  ask  that  the  members  of  the  assembly 
should  be  charged  with  the  government  of  the 
state,  as  during  the  primitive  republic.  But 
they  soon  discovered  how  much  sovereign 
power  can  change  men.  Adrian,  become 
pope,  forgot  that  he  owed  his  tiara  to  the  peo- 
ple, refused  this  just  demand,  and  drove  away 
the  senators;  after  which  he  retired  to  the  Va- 
tican, whose  high  walls,  garnished  with  sol- 
diers, placed  him  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
rage  of  the  people. 

Arnold  of  Brescia,  immediately  recommenced 
his  eloquent  preaching,  and  Rome  was  in  full 
revolt;  no  excess  was,  however,  committed 
by  the  insurgents,  except  again.st  Gerard,  a 
cardinal  priest,  who  was  discovered  to  be  a 
spy  of  the  holy  father.  He  was  met  in  the 
street  by  a  party  of  rebels,  who  beat  him  with 
the  fiat  side  of  their  swords,  and  left  him  for 
dead  on  the  spot;  he,  however,  recovered 
from  his  wounds. 

Adrian,  alarmed  by  a  revolt  which  threat- 
ened to  become  general,  resolved  to  strike 
their  superstitious  minds  by  a  blow  of  autho- 
rity. He  lanched  a  bull  of  excommunication 
against  the  holy  city  itself,  and  caused  divine 
service  and  the  sacraments  to  be  every  where 
intermitted.  Then,  as  he  had  foreseen,  su- 
perstition conquered  hatred,  and  the  Romans 
came  to  beseech  him  to  pardon  them,  plede- 
ing  themselves  on  the  gospels  to  drive  Arnold 
of  Brescia,  and  his  followers,  from  the  city  and 
territories.  The  pontifT  received  their  oath, 
and  promised  to  raise  the  interdict  as  soon  as 
they  had  fulfilled  their  promises.  The  un- 
fortunate Arnold  of  Brescia  was  sacrificed,  and 
compelled  to  quit  the  city  at  the  moment 
when  the  holy  father  sallied  forth  in  triumph, 
from  the  city  Leonine,  to  go  to  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran,  where  he  solemnly  celebrated 
divine  service. 

Whilst  the  Romans  were  driving  away  and 
taking  back  their  pontiffs,  Frederick  Barba- 
rossa  was  laying  siege  to  the  Italian  cities, 
which  refused  to  recognise  his  authority.  He 
had  already  received  the  iron  crown  at  Pavia, 


and  was  preparing  to  push  on  to  the  holy  city 
to  be  crowned  emperor,  where  Adrian,  in- 
formed of  his  plans,  and  fearing  lest  his  jour- 
ney had  a  hostile  end,  sent  three  cardinals  to 
confer  with  him  regarding  his  coronation,  and 
his  intentions  towards  the  Holy  See.  The 
embassadors  went  to  St.  Quiricus  in  Tuscany, 
where  they  found  Fiederick ;  he,  from  con- 
siderations of  policj',  received  them  with  great 
honours,  promised  entire  submission  to  the 
Holy  See,  and  even  had  the  meanness  to  sur- 
render Arnold  of  Brescia,  who  had  taken 
refuge  under  his  protection.  This  courageous 
apostle  of  liberty  was  immediately  loaded 
with  chains  and  .sent  to  Rome,  where  the  car- 
dinals condemned  him  to  be  burned  alive. 
The  sentence  was  carried  into  execution  on 
the  very  day  of  the  condemnation,  and  the 
executioner  cast  his  ashes  into  the  Tiber. 
Thus  died  he  who  wished  to  free  the  people 
from  disgraceful  pontifical  slavery. 

Frederick,  who  well  knew  the  policy  of  the 
holy  father,  and  dreaded  some  perfidy  in  the 
pope,  was  in  no  hurry  to  ratify  the  treaty 
which  had  been  submitted  to  him,  and  wished 
to  await  the  return  of  Arnold  and  Anselm, 
the  metropolitans  of  Cologne  and  Ravenna, 
who  had  been  sent  as  embassadors  to  the 
sovereign  pontifT.  The  latter,  who  also  dis- 
trusted Frederick,  refused  to  give  a  definite 
answer,  until  the  return  of  his  embassadors 
who  were  at  St.  Quiricus.  During  this  negotia- 
tion, which  was  long  protracted,  the  holy 
father  remained  retired  in  an  impenetrable 
fortress,  called  Citta  di  Castello. 

At  last  the  deputies,  shuffled  from  place  to 
place,  met  on  the  road,  and  by  common  con- 
sent decided  to  go  together  to  the  king,  who 
had  advanced  as  far  as  Viterba  with  his  army. 
Frederick  listened  to  their  propositions  in  re- 
gard to  the  treaty,  and  promised  to  give  the 
pope  all  the  sureties  he  asked.  The  cardinals 
immediately  brought  in  the  relics,  the  cross, 
and  the  Bible,  and  a  knight  swore  in  the  name 
of  the  emperor  to  preserve  the  pontiff  Adrian, 
and  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  sacred  college, 
safe  in  their  lives,  members,  liberty,  honours, 
and  property.  The  legates  then  returned  to 
the  holy  father,  who  determined  to  go  to  the 
camp  of  Frederick.  He  was  received  by  the 
German  lords,  and  a  multitude  of  clergy  and 
laymen,  who  accompanied  him  with  great 
pomp  as  far  as  the  tent  of  their  sovereign  ; 
but  the  bishops  and  cardinals  of  his  suite  having 
perceived  that  the  prince  had  refused  to  hold 
the  stirrup  of  the  pope,  retired  at  once  from 
the  cortege,  and  retook  their  way  to  Cita  di 
Castello. 

Adrian  at  first  appeared  embarrassed  by 
their  departure ;  he,  however,  descended 
from  his  horse,  and  placed  himself  on  the 
sofa  which  was  prepared  for  him.  The  em- 
peror then  prostrated  himself  at  his  feet :  and 
after  having  kissed  his  sandal,  rose  to  receive 
the  kiss  of  peace  ;  hut  the  pontiff  repulsed  him 
with  his  hand.  "You  have  rendered  yourself 
unworthy  of  this  favour.  Prince,  by  refusing  to 
fill  an  office  by  which  all  orthodox  sovereigns 
have    regarded     themselves    as    honoured." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


431 


In  vain  did  Frederick  observe  that  no  ec- 
clesiastical canon  obliged  him  to  conform 
to  ridiculous  practices.  Achian  was  unwilling 
to  listen  to  any  explanation,  and  two  days 
passed  in  useless  conferences.  At  last  the 
king,  on  the  third  day,  consented,  by  the  ad- 
vice of  his  lords,  to  perform  the  duties  of 
squire  to  the  holy  father;  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  whole  army,  held  his  stirrup  for  a 
stone's  cast,  to  obtain  from  the  pontiff  the  kiss 
of  peace. 

On  their  side,  the  Romans,  who,  after  the 
departure  of  the  pope,  had  undertaken  anew 
to  obtain  their  liberty,  dreading  the  pontifical 
vengeance,  hastened  to  send  an  embassy  to 
the  prince  to  place  themselves  under  his  pro- 
tection. The  deputies  addressed  him  as  fol- 
lows: ''We  come,  great  prince,  in  the  name 
of  the  senate  and  Roman  people,  to  offer  you 
the  imperial  crown,  and  to  beseech  you  to 
free  us  from  the  disgraceful  yoke  of  priests. 
We  have  already  made  you  our  fellow  citizen 
and  our  prince;  in  return,  however,  you  owe 
us  the  confirmation  of  our  ancient  customs, 
and  of  the  laws  which  your  predecessors  have 
granted  us.  You  should  re-establish  the 
senate  and  the  order  of  knights,  and  you 
should  defend  us  from  every  insult,  even  to 
the  shedding  of  blood;  and  for  all  this  we 
ask  from  you  guarantees  by  letter  and  oath." 
.  .  .  They  were  about  to  continue,  but  Frede- 
rick, astonished  at  the  commencement  of  this 
address,  interrupted  them  by  a  motion  of  his 
hand,  and  taking  up  the  word  said,  "Rome  is 
no  longer  what  it  has  been  ;  its  power  is  an- 
nihilated ;  it  was  first  subjugated  by  the 
Greeks,  then  by  the  Franks,  and  now,  height 
of  humiliation  !  it  is  governed  by  a  priest; 
I  do  not  desire  to  be  either  your  fellow  citizen 
or  your  prince ;  my  predecessors,  Charles  and 
Otho,  conquered  Italy  and  Rome  by  their 
valour;  like  them,  I  am  your  master  by  the 
right  of  the  sword,  the  only  one  which  esta- 
blishes the  legitimate  possession  of  princes; 
and  no  power  under  heaven  can  release  you 
from  my  authority." 

After  this  discourse,  the  courtiers  of  the 
proud  monarch  insolently  demanded  from  the 
embassadors,  if  they  had  any  thing  to  reply 
in  relation  to  the  great  truths  which  the  em- 
peror had  so  well  expressed.  They  kept 
silence,  and  returned  to  Rome. 

As  soon  as  the  pope  was  informed  of  the 
departure  of  the  Roman.s,  he  sought  out  the 
prince,  and  having  mildly  reproached  him  for 
the  vivacity  of  his  language  in  regard  to  him- 
self, said  to  him,  "You  have  done  all  the  bet- 
ter in  driving  away  these  deputies,  since  you 
are  ignorant  of  the  perfidy  of  the  senators. 
They  hate  equally  popes  and  kings,  and  if 
they  came  to  you  it  was  to  betray  me ;  and 
now  they  have  returned  to  Rome  to  deceive 
you.  Prevent  this  then  by  sending  your  troops 
at  once  beneath  the  walls  of  the  city  Leonine, 
and  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  that  my  officers 
may  surrender  them  to  you,  whilst  there  is 
yet  time." 

The  emperor  followed  this  advice,  and  sent 
a  thousand  knights,  under  the  command  of 


cardinal  Octavian  ;  the  city  and  church  were 
immediately  occupied  by  the  Germans,  and 
on  the  ne.xt  day,  the  pope,  accompanied  by 
his  cardinals,  went  to  the  city  Leonine  to  wait 
for  the  king,  who  followed  him  at  the  head 
of  a  numerous  escort.  The  prince  made  his 
entry  in  robes  of  ceremony,  and  presented 
himself  at  the  church  of  St.  Martin  of  Tours, 
where  he  first  took  the  oath  of  obedience  to 
the  pontiff.  They  both  then  went  to  the 
church  of  St.  Peter. 

Frederick  approached  the  confessional  of 
the  apostle,  and  knelt  before  the  prince  of  the 
cardinal  bishops,  who  recited  the  first  prayer  : 
two  other  prelates  pronounced  the  second 
prayer,  and  a  third  administered  to  him  the 
sacred  unction;  he  then  received  the  sword, 
sceptre,  and  imperial  crown  from  tne  hands 
of  the  pontiff.  After  the  ceremony,  he  re- 
turned to  his  camp  with  the  same  train,  and 
in  the  same  manner,  as  he  had  come ;  but  he 
had  scarcely  quitted  Rome,  when  the  citizens 
rushed  on  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  and  mas- 
sacred all  the  priests  they  could  seize,  in  re- 
venge of  the  infamous  treason  of  the  pontiff. 
Some  squires  of  the  prince  who  had  remained 
in  Rome  experienced  the  same  fate,  and  the 
insurgents  even  wished  to  besiege  the  ponti- 
fical palace.  The  emperor  arrested  the  exe- 
cution of  this  plan  by  marching  all  his  troops 
on  Rome ;  the  people  fought  bravely  until 
night,  and  repulsed  the  Germans.  On  the 
next  day  the  strife  recommenced  with  new 
rage;  at  last,  overcome  by  numbers,  the  citi- 
zens were  compelled  to  yield  and  submit. 

As  the  heat  was  e.xcessive,  and  the  plains 
were  parched  by  the  sun,  forage  began  to 
fail,  and  the  emperor  was  constrained  to  quit 
the  environs  of  Rome  with  his  cavalry  ;  the 
holy  father  accompanied  him  to  his  new 
quarters  at  Ponte-Lucano,  near  to  Tibur  or 
Tivoli,  where  he  celebrated  the  festival  of  the 
apostle  Peter.  During  divine  service  Adrian 
granted  absolution  to  all  the  German  soldiers 
who  had  combated  in  his  cause  against  the 
Romans,  and  granted  them  the  same  indul- 
gence as  if  they  had  made  war  in  the  Holy 
Land  against  the  enemies  of  God. 

It  is  a  political  axiom,  that  it  is  difficult  for 
a  good  understanding  to  exist  between  two 
tyrants  who  claim  the  same  rights.  Thus  a 
simple  accident  divided  the  pontiff  and  the 
emperor.  When  they  were  entering  Tibur, 
the  consuls  of  the  city  came  to  present  the 
keys  to  Frederick,  declaring  that  they  sub- 
mitted to  his  authority  and  not  to  that  of  the 
pontiff;  in  this  the  prince  acquiesced.  But 
Adrian  and  his  cardinals  immediately  pro- 
tested against  what  they  called  the  felony 
of  Tibur,  maintaining  that  this  city  pertained 
to  the  Roman  church  and  had  no  right  to 
choose  for  itself  a  master.  This  opposition 
irritated  the  emperor,  who  replied,  that  he 
should  regard  the  acquisition  of  the  city  as 
just  and  etjuilable  until  he  should  have  con- 
ferred with  the  lords  of  his  court.  These  en- 
deavoured to  appease  him,  and  to  show  hira, 
that  by  exhibiting  at  this  moment  hostility  to 
the  pope,  he  might  excite  against  himself  the 


432 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


prince  of  Capua,  the  duke  of  Apulia  and  even 
tiie  king  of  Sicily.  Frederick  then  restored 
the  keys  to  the  holy  father,  and  confirmed 
him  by  an  authentic  deed  in  possession  of 
this  city,  with,  however,  this  clause,  •'  Saving 
the  imperial  right."  He,  however,  took  oc- 
casion to  leave  the  pontilf,  and  Adrian  found 
himself  compelled  to  return  to  Rome. 

William,  surnamed  the  Bad,  had  mounted 
the  throne  of  Sicily  and  sent  embassadors  to 
the  aposiolic  court  to  demand  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  his  king- 
dom. But  the  pontiff,  who  claimed  several 
important  cities  for  his  see,  refused  to  satisfy 
the  just  demands  of  the  prince.  The  latter, 
indignant  at  the  bad  faith  of  the  pope,  took 
up  arms,  attacked  the  territories  of  the  Roman 
church,  blockaded  Beneventum,  and  seized 
several  palaces  of  Campania.  Adrian,  on  his 
side,  lost  no  time;  he  lanched  the  thunders 
of  the  Vatican  against  William,  declared  his 
states  under  interdict,  and  invoked  the  wrath 
of  God  on  the  head  of  the  guilty  one ;  he  then 
collected  troops,  entered  Campania,  and  re- 
duced the  whole  country  as  far  as  Beneventum. 
Whilst  he  was  besieging  this  city  he  received 
a  letter  from  Manuel  Comnenus,  ofTering  him 
aid  in  men  and  money  to  achieve  the  con- 
quest of  the  Peninsula,  if  he  would  surren- 
der to  him  three  maritime  cities  of  Apulia. 
William,  informed  of  this  negotiation  by  his 
spies,  endeavoured  to  avert  the  storm  by  treat- 
ing, himself,  with  the  holy  father.  He  proposed 
to  him  in  exchange  for  the  investiture  of  Sicily, 
to  grant  freedom  to  all  the  churches  of  his 
kingdom,  to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  and  obe- 
dience to  him,  to  grant  him  three  places  in 
full  sovereignty,  to  furnish  troops  to  reduce 
the  Romans,  and  finally,  to  pay  large  sums 
as  an  indemnity  for  the  war. 

Adrian,  in  the  pride  of  triumph,  into.xicated 
by  a  new  victory  which  had  rendered  him 
master  of  Beneventum,  rejected  the  offers  of 
the  prince  and  replied  that  he  would  not  stop 
until  he  had  driven  his  troops  into  the  sea. 
Taking  counsel  from  his  desperate  position 
alone,  William  advanced  into  Campania  with 
hastily  levied  bands,  reconquered  the  cities 
he  had  lost,  and  in  his  turn  laid  siege  to  Bene- 
ventum, in  which  the  pontiff  was.  The  siege 
was  urged  with  such  vigour,  that  Adrian,  hav- 
ing no  hopes  of  being  succoured  in  time,  was 
obliged  to  capitulate  and  conclude  a  very  dif- 
ferent treaty  from  that  which  had  been  pro- 
posed to  him,  and  in  which  it  was  agreed  that 
the  prince  should  preserve  the  inve.stiture  of 
the  kingdom  of  Sicily  without  indemnity  or 
condition.  After  the'  bull  was  signed,  Wil- 
liam was  admitted  to  prostrate  himself  at  the 
feet  of  Adrian,  to  do  him  liege  homage  and 
receive  the  kiss  of  peace. 

During  the  same  year  (1156)  Foucher.  pa- 
triarch of  Jerusalem,  sent  letters  to  the  pope, 
complaining  of  the  knights  hospitallers,  and 
of  the  abuses  which  they  made  of  their  pri- 
vileges by  receiving  into  their  churches  Chris- 
tians who  had  been  e.xcommunicated  by  the 
bishops,  and  by  causing  the  priests  of  their 
order   to   administer   the   viaticum,   extreme 


unction,  and  ecclesiastical  sepulture.  In  his 
letter,  Foucher  accused  them  of  not  observing 
the  interdicts  lanched  against  cities,  of  ringing 
the  bells  of  their  churches  in  contempt  of  the 
canons,  of  celebrating  service  publicly  and  in 
a  loud  voice,  and  in  receiving  the  offerings 
of  the  people  to  the  prejudice  of  the  mother 
churches.  He  finally  besought  the  holy  father 
to  prohibit  them  from  proceeding  to  the  con- 
secration or  deposition  of  their  priests  without 
the  participation  of  the  prelates,  and  to  order 
them  to  pay  him  a  tithe  on  their  lands  and 
revenues.  He  further  accused  them  of  hav- 
ing made  him  undergo  humiliation,  by  erect- 
ing a  magnificent  hospital  opposite  the  church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  which,  from  the  rich- 
ness of  its  architecture,  eclipsed  his  metropoli- 
tan church;  he  complained  that  they  rung 
their  bells  with  all  their  might  whenever  he 
rose  to  preach,  and  added,  that  having  dared 
to  reproach  them  for  their  conduct,  he  had 
been  assailed  by  the  knights  even  in  the  pa- 
triarchal palace,  and  that  darts  had  been 
hurled  at  him  even  at  the  very  altar  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  The  hospitallers  had,  in  fact, 
rendered  themselves  so  redoubtable  that  no 
one  dared  resist  them  in  the  kingdom  of  Pales- 
tine, not  even  the  bishops  and  patriarch,  be- 
cause they  were  entirely  independent  by  vir- 
tue of  the  bull  granted  them  by  Anastasius 
the  Fourth. 

Foucher,  worn  out  by  the  continual  perse- 
cutions of  which  himself  and  his  clergy  were 
the  objects,  determined  to  go  to  Rome  to  for- 
tify his  demands.  He  consequently  embarked 
with  two  Metropolitans,  and  came  as  far  as 
Otranto ;  when  they  arrived  in  that  city,  they 
learned  that  all  Apulia  was  invaded  by  the 
troops  of  the  king  of  Sicily,  the  Greeks,  and 
the  allies  of  the  pontiff;  fearful  of  falling  into 
the  hands  of  these  undisciplined  bands,  they 
returned  by  .sea  as  far  as  the  March  of  An- 
cona,  and  tought  to  find  the  holy  father  by 
land. 

But  Adrian  M^as  already  advised  of  the 
coming  of  the  patriarch  by  the  hospitallers^ 
who  had  gained  him  to  their  side,  and  when 
the  oriental  prelates  presented  themselves  at 
Ferrentina,  they  found  an  inflexible  judge 
who  refused  to  give  them  the  slightest  satis- 
faction ;  they  were  then  compelled  to  retrace 
their  steps  in  sadness  to  Jerusalem. 

John  of  Salisbury,  a  celebrated  historian, 
the  compatriot  and  intimate  friend  of  the  pope, 
was  so  shocked  by  this  denial  of  justice,  that 
he  addressed  violent  sarcasms  to  him,  which 
have  been  preserved  in  his  writings.  "  Do  you 
know  what  is  the  opinion  of  wise  men  about 
the  Roman  church  V'  wrote  this  bold  prelate, 
'•  It  is  not  favourable  to  you,  holy  father,  they 
affirm  that  your  church  instead  of  being  the 
mother  of  the  faithful,  is  the  stepmother; 
they  say  that  it  only  contains  scribes  and 
pharisees,  w  ho  carry  the  burthen  of  their  ini- 
quities upon  their  shoulders:  they  say  that 
the  priests,  instead  of  serving  as  models  to  the 
flock,  accumulate  precious  furniture  in  their 
palaces,  and  load  their  tables  with  gold  and 
silver ;  they  say  that  their  avarice  is  extreme, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


433 


and  that  they  do  nothing  for  the  poor  but  by 
way  of  ostentation.  They  accuse  jour  clergy 
of  committing  exactions  througli  all  Christen- 
dom— of  encouraging  collisions  between  the 
people  and  princes,  to  enrich  themselves  in  the 
midst  of  the  general  confusion.  Even  you,  holy 
father,  have  become  an  object  of  hatred  ; 
the  faithful  maintain  that  you  build  superb 
palaces  at  their  expense,  and  allow  the  tem- 
ples of  Christ  to  go  to  ruins;  they  say  that 
you  are  covered  with  ornaments  of  gold  and 
purple,  whilst  the  poor,  covered  with  rags,  die 
with  hunger  on  the  steps  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran.  For  myself,  I  declare  that  I  prac- 
tice what  you  teach,  and  am  careful  how  I 
imitate  what  you  do.  All  the  world  apjjlauds 
and  flatters  you ;  they  call  you  father  and 
sovereign  But  if  you  are  a  father,  why  do 
you  not  listen  to  your  children,  when  they 

E resent  themselves  before  you  with  empty 
ands,  and  figures  gaunt  with  famine?  If 
you  are  a  sovereign,  why  do  you  oppress  the 
people  who  give  to  kings  the  very  robes 
that  cover  them '?  a  true  Christian  does  not 
so  conduct  himself,  and  I  must  inform  you 
that  you  are  out  of  the  evangelical  way.'' 

Adrian,  in  his  rej)ly,  avowed  to  the  prior 
bishop,  tliat  he  found  only  misery  and  turpitude 
in  the  Holy  See,  and  that  he  would  rather,  for 
the  safety  of  his  soul,  live  still  by  alms  in 
England  than  wear  the  tiara. 

John  of  Salisbury  then  went  to  the  holy 
city,  to  solicit  the  investiture  of  Ireland  for 
the  king  of  England.  The  pope  yielded  to 
his  solicitations,  and  published  the  bull  in 
favour  of  Henry.  It  is  as  follows:  '■  Prince,  no 
one  doubts,  and  you  yourself  admit,  that  Ire- 
land, as  well  as  all  islands  which  have  re- 
ceived the  faith  of  Christ,  belong  to  the  Holy 
See,  and  that  the  popes  can  dispose  of  them 
as  they  see  right.  As  you  have  engaged  to 
cause  this  people  to  submit  to  the  religious 
and  political  laws  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
to  constrain  them  to  pay  to  our  see  a  penny 
a  year  for  each  house,  we  authorise  you  to 
subjugate  them  by  all  possible  means;  but 
always  with  the  express  condition,  that  you 
preserve  the  rights  of  the  Holy  See." 

As  a  token  of  investiture,  the  pope  joined 
to  this  bull  a  ring  of  yold.  set  with  an  emerald, 
and  a  deed  by  which  he  freed  the  king  from 
the  solemn  oalh  he  hail  taken,  to  preserve  to 
his  brothers  their  appanages,  on  which  he  had 
already  infamously  seized. 

On  the  following  year,  occurred  a  violent 
quarri'l  on  account  of  the  arrest  of  Esquel, 
archbishop  of  Luuden.  This  prelate,  on  his  re- 
turn trom  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  where  he  had 
madi!  magnificent  presents  to  the  holy  father, 
had  been  attacked  in  the  territory  of  the  em- 
pire by  highway  robbers,  who  had  notoidy  en- 
tirely despoiled  him,  but  even  retaineil  him  as 
a  prisoner,  to  wrest  a  large  ransom  from  liim. 

Adrian  being  informed  of  this  sacrilegious 
arrest,  wrote  to  the  emperor  to  complain  of 
the  negligence  of  the  court  of  Germany,  in 
hunting  up  and  punishin?  the  guilty.  "  Seve- 
ral requests  have  already  been  addressed  to 
you,  prince,"  he  said  to  him,  "  to  recall  to 

Vol.  I.  3  E 


your  justice  that  an  unheard  of  crime  has  been 
committed  in  your  kingdom,  and  we  are  as- 
tonished that  you  have  not  yet  pursued  the 
authors  of  this  attempt.  You  know,  however, 
that  our  venerable  brother  Esquel  of  Lunden, 
has  been  robbed  by  wretches  who  still  retain 
him  in  bonds;  and  you  are  silent,  instead  of 
employing  the  authority  and  the  sword  which 
you  have  received  from  God  to  punish  the 
guilty.  Who  are  these  wretches  who  merit 
such  indulgence  at  your  hands  1  must  we 
believe  the  calumny  which  accuses  you  of 
protecting  them"?  must  we  recall  to  your  re- 
collection, that  we  have  not  conferred  on  you 
the  dignity  of  emperor  to  authorise  crime  ? 
Hasten  then  to  obey  our  orders,  since  you 
have  promised  us  a  tilial  obedience." 

This  letter  having  been  translated  literally 
into  German  by  Rinaldus,  the  imperial  chan- 
cellor, to  the  lords  who  were  assembled  in 
council,  they,  indignant  at  the  insolence  of  the 
pontilf,  exclaimed,  that  it  was  disgraceful  to 
sutler  a  priest  to  pretend  that  the  emperors 
of  Germany  held  the  empire  and  the  king- 
dom of  Italy  only  by  permission  of  the  pope. 
They  protested  against  this  tendency  of  the 
Holy  See  to  transmit  to  posterity  falsehood  for 
truth,  and  which  it  enforced  by  enregistering 
it  in  history,  not  only  by  its  writings,  but  even 
by  its  decretals  and  monuments.  In  fact,  in 
a  saloon  of  the  palace  of  the  Lateran,  Lothaire 
had  been  represented  receiving  the  crown  on 
his  knees,  from  the  hands  of  the  pontiff  Pascal 
the  First ;  and  above  the  picture  this  legend 
was  written  : — "The  king  stopped  at  the  sil- 
ver door,  after  having  sworn  to  preserve  the 
rights  of  the  church  ;  he  was  then  admitted 
into  the  temple,  and  acknowledged  himself 
to  be  the  vassal  of  the  pope,  who  conferred  on 
him  the  supreme  crown." 

Frederick  severely  reproached  the  legates 
who  had  dared  to  bring  him  the  letter  of  Ad- 
rian. One  of  them  boKlly  replied  to  him  : — 
''  Prince,  from  whom,  then,  do  you  believe 
you  hold  the  empire,  if  not  from  the  pope  1 " 
At  these  words  the  Germans  sprang  from  their 
seats;  and  Otho,  the  imperial  .sworil-bearer, 
rose  precipitately  and  threw  himself  upon  the 
legate  to  kill  him.  Frederick  had  barely  time 
to  seize  his  arm.  He  thus  saved  the  life  of  the 
envoy  of  the  pontiff,  and  contented  himself 
with  driving  him  from  the  council-chamber, 
enjoining  on  him  to  leave  Germany  at  once. 

Frederick  then  published  a  manifesto 
against  the  Holy  See.  in  which  the  holy  father 
was  accused  of  altering  the  union  between 
the  empire  and  the  priesthood.  "  The  legates 
of  this  sacrileirious  pope,"  added  the  prince, 
"  the  cardinals  Roland  anil  Bernard,  were  the 
bearers  of  several  blank  letters,  to  be  used, 
according  to  circumstances,  either  to  despoil 
the  churches  of  Germany,  or  to  excommuni- 
cate ami  depose  us,  as  if  we  were  a  bishop  in 
subjection  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  See. 
But  we  foresaw  their  designs,  and  ior  the 
safety  of  our  people  and  ourselves  have  driven 
them  away  in  disgrace.  For,  as  we  hold  the 
empire  from  God  alone,  who  has  subjected 
I  nations  to  the  sword  of  force,  as  the  apostle 
37 


434 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Peter  himself  said,  'honour  Ca3sar,'  we  de- 
clare that  clergy  and  laity,  of  every  rank,  who 
shall  maintain  that  our  crown  is' a  dependency 
on  the  court  of  Rome,  shall  be  immediately 
punished ;  for  we  have  decided  to  expose  our 
throne  and  our  life  in  the  maintenance  of  our 
dignity." 

Weil  determined  to  punish  the  pope  and 
cardinals,  Frederick  assembled  his  troops  at 
Augsburg,  and  was  preceded  into  Germany 
by  the  chancellor  Rinaldus  and  by  Otho,  count 
palatine  of  Bavaria,  commissioned  to  cause 
the  imperial  authority  to  be  recognised  in  all 
the  cities.  Adrian,  alarmed  by  the  success 
of  the  lieutenants  of  the  emperor,  and  fearing 
the  effects  of  his  vengeance,  decided  to  send 
an  embassy  to  him  to  treat  of  peace.  Two 
cardinals,  Hans  and  Hyacinthus,  were  select- 
ed for  this  difficult  negotiation.  Before  their 
departure,  the  legates  demanded  of  the  com- 
missioners of  the  emperor,  whom  they  found 
at  Modena,  a  safe-conduct  into  Germany, 
which  was  readily  granted  them.  But,  not- 
withstanding, two  counts  palatine  attacked 
their  escort  in  the  passes  of  the  Alps,  made 
them  prisoners,  and  placed  them  in  irons.  In 
vain  did  they  exhibit  the  safe-conduct  of  the 
imperial  commissioners :  their  captors  re- 
fused to  set  them  at  liberty ;  and  they  were 
obliged,  in  order  to  obtain  permission  to  con- 
tinue their  route,  to  bring  the  brother  of  Hya- 
cinthus from  Rome,  who  remained  as  a  hos- 
tage for  them  until  their  ransom  was  entirely 
paid. 

At  last,  after  many  fatigues  and  dangers, 
they  arrived  at  the  camp  at  Augsburg.  Having 
been  admitted,  on  the  following  day,  to  the 
presence  of  Frederick,  they  prostrated  them- 
selves at  his  feet,  saluting  him  in  the  name 
of  the  pope  and  the  sacred  college,  as  empe- 
ror of  Rome  and  of  the  world .  They  besought 
him  to  grant  a  full  pardon  to  the  pontiff  for 
all  that  had  passed ;  and  presented  him  a 
letter,  retracting  the  one  which  had  excited 
his  anger.  Frederick,  satisfied  with  this  act 
of  submission  by  the  Holy  See,  declared,  that 
he  restored  his  friendship  to  the  pontiff  and 
clergy  of  Rome  ;  and  gave  to  the  embassadors 
the  kiss  of  peace.  He  also  made  them  mag- 
nificent presents  and  sent  them  back  into 
Italy.  But  this  quarrel  had  scarcely  termi- 
nated, when  there  broke  out  another,  still 
more  violent,  between  the  emperor  and  the 
pope,  on  account  of  the  duke  of  Poland,  who 
nad  refused  to  do  liege  homage  on  his  knees 
to  Frederick,  and  had  placed  himself  under 
the  protection  of  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  emperor  Barbarossa  was  now  undoubt- 
edly the  most  powerful  monarch  in  Europe. 
Of  his  own  authority  he  had  given  the  royal 
crown  of  Bavaria  to  Ladislaus,  and  the  in- 
vestiture of  Poland  to  the  king  of  Denmark; 
Hungary  was  a  tributary  of  the  empire,  and 
England  itself  sent  embassadors,  carrying  rich 
presents  to  this  prince,  to  obtain  his  alliance. 
Finally,  all  Germany  was  under  the  absolute 
Bway  of  Frederick,  and  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  his  immense  estates,  no  enemy 
dared  to  rise  against  the  sovereign.     Milan 


alone  had  sought  to  reclaim  its  freedom,  and 
a  numerous  army  had  immediately  invaded 
Italy ;  the  country  had  been  devastated,  the 
people  murdered,  and  all  returned  to  their 
duty.  Adrian,  jealous  of  his  exercising  for 
himself  and  his  own  advantage  a  despotism 
which  he  regarded  as  an  attribute  of  the  Holy 
See.  had  eagerly  seized  on  the  occasion  which 
Boleslaus  furnished  him  to  censure  the  em- 
peror. He  wrote  a  respectful  and  energetic 
letter  to  Frederick,  to  recall  to  his  memory 
the  solemn  oath  which  he  had  sworn,  before 
the  confessional  of  St.  Peter,  to  protect  all  the 
allies  of  the  church.  A  priest  only  was  com- 
missioned to  carry  this  missive  to  the  court  of 
Augsburg )  but  the  prince  received  the  re- 
monstrances of  the  holy  father  very  badly, 
and  sent  him  the  following  letter,  in  the  for- 
mulary used  by  the  emperors  in  the  fnst  ages 
of  the  church,  placing  his  own  name  before 
that  of  the  pope:  "Art  thou  ignorant,  then, 
bishop  of  Rome,  that  thou  boldest  all  thou  pos- 
sessest  from  the  liberality  of  princes'?  Open 
history,  and  thou  wilt  fully  convince  thyself 
of  this  truth.  Therefore,  why  should  we  be 
prohibited  from  exacting  homage  from  him 
who  holds  his  royalty  from  us  ?  Is  it  because 
thou  hast  decided  that  this  ceremony  was 
useless?  Render  then  to  God  that  which 
is  God's,  and  to  Caesar  that  which  is  Caesar's. 
Thou  complainest  that  our  churches  and  cities 
are  closed  against  thy  cardinals;  but  would  it 
be  better,  false  bi.shop,  that  we  should  open 
our  coffers  to  thy  pillagers,  to  permit  them  to 
carry  off  our  silver  and  gold  ?  Are  we  then 
so  very  culpable,  because  we  wish  to  place  a 
bridle  on  thy  insatiable  avarice?  When  thy 
priests  shall  come  to  preach  the  holy  maxims 
of  the  church,  we  will  no  longer  interdict  their 
entering  our  dwellings  !  Go  to  !  we  know  too 
well  the  infamous  morals  of  thy  clergy,  and 
we  know  that  the  demon  of  pride  and  avarice 
has  seized  for  ever  on  the  throne  of  the  apos- 
tle  " 

This  letter  was  given  to  officers  who  were 
to  carry  it  to  Rome,  and  who  were  to  avail 
themselves  of  their  mission  to  confer  with  the 
citizens  as  to  the  best  means  of  seizing  on  the 
principal  fortresses  of  the  city ;  but  this  pro- 
ject was  suspended  by  the  death  of  Adrian, 
which  took  place  on  the  1st  of  September, 
1159,  in  the  city  of  Anaginna.  His  remains 
were  transported  to  Rome,  and  deposited  in 
the  church  of  St.  Peter.  Conrad  of  Ursperg 
relates  a  very  singular  story  about  the  death 
of  the  pontiff;  he  affirms,  that  on  the  day  on 
which  he  wrote  the  bull  of  excommunication 
against  Frederick  Barbarossa,  he  drank  a 
cup  of  water  from  a  fountain  in  which  there 
was  accidentally  an  insect,  which  fastened 
on  his  throat,  and  ate  the  oesophagus,  not- 
withstanding all  the  aid  of  the  most  skilful 
physicians.  Other  historians  attribute  his 
death  to  a  quinsy. 

During  a  reign  of  about  five  years,  Adrian 
was  occupied  in  increasing  the  domains  and 
treasures  of  Saint  Peter,  and  his  avarice  was 
so  sordid,  that  he  constantly  refused  to  send 
the  least  aid  to  his  relatives  at  Canterbury, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


435 


preferring  that  thoy  should  hve  by  alms  and 
the  charity  of  the  parish  priest,  rather  than  see 
his  purse  diminish. 

To  nulge  of  the  spirit  of  reform  during  the 
second  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  analyse  two  works  which  John  of 
Salisbury  published  during  the  pontificate  of 
Adrian.  In  the  first,  called  Polycraticus,  he 
treats  of  the  amusements  of  the  courtiers,  and 
the  vestiges  of  the  philosophers  ;  he  condemns 
play,  the  chase,  music,  and  the  dance,  which 
were  the  sole  occupations  of  the  lords  ;  he 
blames  the  customs  of  courts  in  maintaining 
troops  of  buffoons,  magicians,  and  astrologers; 
and,  finally,  expresses  very  singular  itleas.  for 
a  priest,  on  the  subject  of  regicide.  "Not 
only,"  says  the  learned  prelate,  '"'is  it  permit- 
ted to  put  a  king  to  death,  but  it  is  even  just, 
even  meritorious,  to  strike  down  a  tyrant  :  for 
he  who  oppresses  by  the  right  of  the  sword, 
should  perish  by  the  sword.     God,  in  the  Holy 


Scriptures,  commands  the  death  of  oppressors 
of  the  people,  and  the  prophets  have  cited 
Jael  and  the  beautiful  Judith.''  His  book  ter- 
minates with  maxims  which  recall  to  our 
minds  those  of  Gregory  the  Seventh.  He 
says,  "that  kings  are  subject  to  the  church; 
that  they  receive  from  it  the  power  to  punish, 
as  the  executioner  receives  from  justice  the 
right  to  torture  men,  and  that  thus  they  are 
the  instruments  of  the  priesthood,  since  they 
exercise  functions  which  would  soil  the  hands 
of  the  priest."' 

In  his  second  work,  entitled  Metalogicus, 
he  treats  of  wholesome  dialectics  and  true 
eloquence;  he  enumerates  the  great  men  who 
were  his  contemporaries,  and  criticises  the 
rhetoricians  and  sophists  with  profound  sa- 
gacity ;  he  even  attacks  Aristotle,  and  points 
out  the  errors  of  that  philosopher,  whilst  still 
showing  himself  to  be  an  admirer  of  his 
writings. 


ALEXANDER  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
FIFTH  POPE. 

VICTOR  THE  FOURTH,  ANTI-POPE. 

[A.  D.  1159.] 

Election  of  Alexanda-  the  Third — Schism  in  the  Roman  church — Election  of  Victor — The  anti- 
pope  persecutes  his  competitor — Letters  for  Alexander — Letters  for  Octavian — Deputation  from 
the  emperor  to  Alexander — Condnct  of  the  pope  to  the  embassadors — The  anti-pope  is  favoured 
by  the  emperor — Consequences  of  the  schism — Alexander  takes  refuge  in  France — He  excom- 
municates the  emperor — Conferences  of  St.  Jean  de  Laune — Honours  rendered  to  the  pope  by 
the  Icings  of  France  and  England — Death  of  Victor — Election  of  the  anti-pope,  Pascal  the 
Third — Return  of  the  pontiff  to  Rome — Second  flight  of  Alexander — Embassy  from  Eng- 
land— Assassination  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury — Absolution  of  the  king  of  England — 
The  emperor  is  crowned  bif  the  anti-pope — cowardice  of  Frederick  Barharossa — He  consents 
to  he  trampled  under  feet  61/  the  pontiff" — Peace  betu'cen  the  altar  and  the  throne — Submission 
of  the  anti-pope  Calixtus — History  of  the  anti-pope  Lando — Cou)icil  of  the  Latcran — Cru- 
sade against  the  Albigenses — Persecution  of  the  JValdenscs — Death  of  Alexander  the  Third. 


Aftkr  the  death  of  Adrian,  the  bishops  and  ' 
cardinals  assembled    in   the   church   of    St. 
Peter,  to  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  pope. 
But  a  division  having  broken  out  in  the  con- 
clave, they  were  obliged   to  separate,  after 
having  discussed    it  for  three  days,  without 
cominii  to  any  conclusion.     One  party  wished 
to  chf);)se  Roland,  the  cardinal  chancellor  of 
the   Roman  church,   because    he   openly  fa- 
voured William  the  Bad  ag;iinstthe  emperor; 
another  party  wished   to  name  the  cardinal , 
Octavian  l)ope,  because  he  supported  the  other  ! 
side.     At  length  both  parties,  wishing  to  put  \ 
an  end  to  the  strugirle  between  the  two  rivals, 
assembled  a  seconil  time,  in  the  church  of  St.  1 
Peter.     At  the  commencement  of  the  sitlinU;  j 
the  partizans  of  Roland,  exclaiming  with  one  ' 
voice,  "  Roland  is  poiuiff!    Roland  is  pontilT!"'  1 
clothed  him  with  the  purple  cape,  and  pro- 
claimed him  by  the  name  of  Alexander  the 
Third.    This  scandalous  proceeding  exaspe- ; 


rated  Octavian  ;  in  his  rage,  he  fell  upon  his 
competitor,  struck  him  a  violent  blow  on  his 
face,  which  drew  blood,  tore  the  cape  from  his 
shoulders.and  would  without  doubt  have  finish- 
ed him  on  the  spot,  but  for  the  intervention 
of  a  senator,  who  cast  himself  between  them. 
AVhen  the  tumult  was  quieted,  the  party  of 
Octavian  exclaimed  in  their  turn,  "Octavian 
is  pope!  Octavian  is  pope!"  His  chaplain 
immediately  presented  lo  him  the  cape  which 
he  hail  brought  with  him,  and  his  haste  lo 
put  it  on  was  so  great,  that  he  placed  the 
capouch,  which  should  have  gone  behind,  be- 
fore, which  excited  the  mirth  of  all  the  assist- 
ants. But,  without  being  stopped  by  this,  he 
opened  tht;  doors  of  the  church,  his  partizans 
entered  sword  in  hand,  and  he  was  enthroned 
by  the  name  of  Victor  the  Fourth.  His  com- 
petitor, and  the  cardinals  of  the  opposite  party, 
promptly  escaped  from  the  church,  and  took 
refuge  in  the  fortress  of  Saint  Peter,  which 


436 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES, 


was  that  same  night  invested  by  the  troops 
of  the  anti-pope,  who  made  them  all  prisoners. 

Alexander  was  closely  guarded  for  nine 
days  in  the  castle  of  San  Angelo  ;  he  was  then 
transferred  to  a  prison  beyond  the  Tiber;  but 
all  the  city  being  excited  by  the  bad  treat- 
ment to  which  he  was  subjected,  Hector  Fran- 
gipani  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  citi- 
zens, and  freed  him  and  the  cardinals  of  his 
suite.  They  traversed  Rome  amid  exclama- 
tions of  joy  and  the  ringing  of  bells,  escorted 
by  their  liberators,  who  accompanied  them 
as  far  as  Sacra  Nympha,  four  leagues  from 
the  holy  city,  where  the  pope  was  consecrated 
with  the  usual  forms  by  the  bishop  of  Ostia, 
assisted  by  five  other  bishops,  and  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  cardinals,  abbots,  priests,  dea- 
cons, chanters,  and  seminarists  of  the  Roman 
church.  They  placed  on  his  head  the  tiara 
or  mitre,  which  was  round,  and  pointed  in 
form  of  a  cone,  surmounted  by  two  crowns ; 
the  assistants  were  then  admitted  to  take  the 
oath  of  fidelity  and  obedience  to  him. 

Octavian,  on  his  side,  had  attached  a  great 
number  of  bishops,  cardinals,  and  priests  to 
his  party,  and  had  been  consecrated  by  the 
bishops  of  Tusculum,  Mehu,  and  Ferentina. 

During  all  these  discussions,  the  emperor, 
not  losing  sight  of  his  projects,  continued  to 
push  his  conquests  in  Lombardy;  but  whilst 
he  was  engaged  at  the  siege  of  Cremau,  he 
received  an  embassy  from  the  holy  father, 
and  an  order  to  suspend  his  expedition,  if  he 
did  not  wish  to  incur  the  censures  of  the 
church.  Frederick  not  having  made  any 
reply,  the  pontiff  proceeded  at  once  to  his 
excommunication  in  the  city  of  Terracina, 
where  he  was  at  the  time,  and  by  the  light  of 
candles,  and  the  tolling  of  bells,  all  the  doors 
of  the  cathedral  being  opened,  he  solemnly 
anathematised  the  emperor  and  the  anti-pope. 

Frederick  replied  to  the  excommunication 
of  the  pontiff  by  the  following  circular  letter, 
addressed  to  all  the  bishops  and  abbots  of 
Italy:  "We  inform  you,  lords  bishops,  that, 
after  having  advised  with  a  great  number  of 
prelates,  doctors,  and  pious  persons,  we  have 
determined,  in  accordance  with  the  decretals 
of  popes,  and  the  canons  of  councils,  that  it 
was  our  duty,  whenever  a  schism  occurred  in 
the  Roman  church,  to  call  the  two  competi- 
tors who  had  been  chosen  pontiffs,  into  our 
presence,  and  to  decide  upon  their  pretensions, 
in  accordance  with  the  judgment  of  orthodox 
ecclesiastics.  In  consequence  of  this,  we 
have  ordered  the  cardinals  Roland  and  Octa- 
vian, both  chosen  popes,  to  appear  before  us 
at  Pavia ;  and  we  prohibit  you  from  taking 
the  part  of  either,  until  the  council  we  are 
about  to  hold  has  decided  between  them." 

Two  envoys  were  sent  to  carry  the  citation 
to  pope  Alexander,  at  the  city  of  Anagni, 
whither  he  had  retired.  This  step  alarmed 
the  cardinals  of  his  court ;  after  mature  de- 
liberation, however,  they  resumed  courage, 
and  resolved  not  to  abandon  the  pontiff,  who 
had  received  their  oaths  of  fidelity,  and  made 
the  following  reply  to  the  envoys  of  Bar- 
barossa.     "  We  recognise  in  the  emperor  the 


avowed  defender  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
we  desire  to  honour  him  as  the  greatest  of 
earthly  princes,  unless  indeed  he  shall  pre- 
tend to  elevate  himself  above  the  king  of 
kings.  We  are,  therefore,  surprised  that  he 
has  dared  to  convene  a  council  without  our  au- 
thority, and  to  order  the  holy  father  into  his  pre- 
sence, when  he  should  know  that  the  power 
of  the  popes  is  superior  to  that  of  princes. 
Teach  him,  that  the  church  derives  from  Jesus 
Christ  the  power  to  judge  all  causes,  without 
being  herself  submitted  to  the  judgment  of 
any  one ;  tell  him  we  cannot  describe  our 
astonishment  at  this  privilege  being  attacked 
by  the  very  sovereign  who  ought  to  defend  it. 
Besides,  canonical  tradition,  and  the  authority 
of  the  fathers,  do  not  permit  us  to  submit  to 
his  jurisdiction,  and  we  should  be  guilty  be- 
fore God,  if,  through  ignorance  or  weakness, 
we  were  to  reduce  the  church  to  servitude. 
Our  reply  is,  that  we  prefer  undergoing  every 
peril,  rather  than  submit  to  such  an  encroach- 
ment." The  two  commissioners  of  Frede- 
rick immediately  left  Anagni  and  went  to 
Segni,  to  the  anti-pope,  who  evinced  excellent 
dispositions  towards  the  prince.  Victor  the 
Fourth  was  consequently  recognised  as  the 
lawful  successor  of  St.  Peter  in  the  kingdom 
of  Germany. 

Sliortly  afterwards  took  place  the  council 
of  Pavia,  which  had  been  convened  by  the 
emperor.  A  great  number  of  bishops,  abbots, 
and  priests  from  Germany  and  Lombardy 
were  present  at  this  synod,  which  was  ren- 
dered still  more  imposing  by  the  presence  of 
the  embassadors  of  the  kings  of  France  and 
England,  as  well  as  by  that  of  the  deputies 
of  other  Christian  princes.  Frederick  opened 
its  sessions  in  the  following  speech — '•  Illus- 
trious lords,  we  know  that  in  our  capacity  as 
emperor,  we  have  the  right  to  preside  over 
councils,  especially  when  the  church  is  in 
danger;  nevertheless,  from  respect  to  this 
great  assembly,  in  which  we  recognise  the 
right  of  judging  ourselves,  we  surrender  to  it 
the  decision  of  the  quarrels  which  distract 
Christendom."  He  then  retired,  in  order  to 
give  the  fathers  entire  freedom  in  their  de- 
liberations. 

For  five  days  the  question  was  agitated, 
which  of  the  two  popes  should  be  recognised 
as  the  lawful  successor  of  St.  Peter  ;  at  length, 
on  the  sixth,  this  piece  of  information,  which 
was  strangely  wide  from  the  truth,  was  pro- 
duced. "  The  lord  Octavian  was  solemnly 
clothed  with  the  cape,  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  on  the  demand  of  the  clergy  and  the 
people ;  he  was  elevated  to  the  pontifical 
chair  in  the  presence  of  the  chancellor  Ro- 
land, without  any  one  opposing  his  election ; 
after  which  the  cardinals  and  other  ecclesias- 
tics sang  the  Te  Deum,  and  gave  to  the  new 
pope  the  name  of  Victor.  When  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  consecration  and  the  pierced  chair 
had  terminated,  the  clergy  and  principal  citi- 
zens of  Rome  came  in  crowds  to  kiss  his  feet, 
and  a  secretary  having  mounted  the  tribune, 
e.xclaimed,  according  to  custom;  'Hear,  ye 
Romans :  our  father,  the  pontiff  Adrian,  has 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


437 


been  dead  for  four  days,  and  now  the  lord 
cardinal  Octavian  has  been  chosen  to  succeed 
him;  he  is  clothed  with  the  purple,  and  en- 
throned by  the  name  of  Victor  the  Fourth; 
do  you  approve  of  him  V  All  replied  in  a 
loud  voice,  and  three  different  times,  'we 
do.'  The  pope  was  then  conducted  to  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  with  banderoles  and 
other  marks  of  his  dignity,  in  the  midst  of 
universal  acclamations,  and  the  chapter  of  St. 
Peter,  as  well  the  chiefs  of  the  clergy  of 
Rome,  took  the  oath  of  obedience  to  him." 

After  the  reading  of  this,  they  heard  vrit- 
nesses,  who  affirmed  by  oath  the  correctness 
of  all  the  facts  related  in  the  writing;  the 
council  pronounced  a  judgment  in  favour  of 
Octavian,  and  fulminated  a  decree  of  deposi- 
tion against  Roland.  On  the  following  day, 
the  anti-pope  was  conducted  in  procession 
from  the  church  of  the  Saviour  to  the  cathe- 
dral church,  where  Frederick  waited  to  hold 
his  stirrup,  whilst  he  dismounted  from  his 
horse  ;  he  led  him  by  the  hand  up  to  the  altar 
and  kissed  his  feet.  Candles  were  then  dis- 
tributed to  all  the  assistants,  and  by  their 
light,  and  to  the  ringing  of  bells,  Victor  the 
Fourth  pronounced  an  anathema  ag-ainst  the 
schismatic  Roland. 

The  envoys  of  France  and  England  alone 
refused  to  recognise  him  as  pontiff,  until  they 
had  referred  the  matter  to  their  sovereigns. 
Notwithstanding  this  opposition,  Frederick 
caused  the  decretals  of  the  synod  of  Pavia  to 
be  published  in  all  Christian  courts,  and  or- 
dered the  bishops  of  the  empire  to  obey  pope 
Victor,  under  penalty  of  perpetual  banish- 
ment ;  some  prelates  were  self-condemned  to 
exile,  to  avoid  becoming  schismatics,  but  the 
much  larger  number  submitted  to  the  wishes 
of  the  prince. 

Alexander,  exasperated  against  Frederick, 
excommunicated  him  a  second  time  on  holy 
Thursday,  of  the  year  1160.  Following  the 
example  of  Gregory  the  Seventh,  he  declared 
all  the  subjects  of  the  ernpire  entirely  freed 
from  their  oaths  of  fidelity ;  he  also  reiterated 
the  anathema  fulminated  against  Victor  and 
his  partizans,  and  sent  legates  to  publish  these 
bulls  in  all  Christian  kingdoms.  By  his  in- 
trigues he  gained  to  his  side  Abbot  of  Alms, 
of  the  convent  of  Citeaux,  St.  Peter  of  Tar- 
entaise,  a  monk  of  the  same  order,  several 
French  bishops,  more  than  seven  hundred 
abbots,  and  an  incredible  number  of  monks. 
His  two  legates,  Anselmo  and  Geoffroj-,  by 
means  of  gold,  presents,  or  promises,  also  de- 
termined all  the  Carthusian  friars  to  embrace 
the  cause  of  Alo.vander. 

Victor  convened  a  council  at  Lodi  to  resist 
this   formidable    opposition,   at   which    were 

1)resent  the  emperor,  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  the 
ords  of  their  courts,  and  a  great  number  of 
bishops  and  priests.  Thoy  at  first  read  lett(^rs 
sent  by  the  kings  of  Denmark.  Norway,  and 
Hungary,  by  several  metropolitans  and  foreign 
bishops,  recognising  Victor  as  the  sole  and 
lawful  chief  of  the  church ;  they  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  deposition  of  the  archbishop  of 
Milan,  who  had  declared  for  Alexander,  and  | 


maintained  a  siege  against  the  troops  of  the 
emperor.  The  bishops  of  Placenza  and  of 
Brescia,  with  the  consuls  of  those  two  cities, 
were  also  excommunicated  ;  and  finally  they 
deposed  the  prelate  of  Bologna,  and  suspend- 
ed him  of  Padua. 

After  the  termination  of  the  synod,  Frede- 
rick relumed  to  his  camp,  and  urged  the  siege 
of  Milan  with  such  vigour,  that  the  unfortu- 
nate inhabitants,  finding  themselves  a  prey  to 
the  most  horrible  famine,  were  obliged  to  sur- 
render at  discretion.  The  consuls  present- 
ed themselves  before  the  conquerors,  having 
naked  swords  suspended  from  their  neck.<5, 
and  crosses  in  their  hands,  asking  for  mercy  I 
The  prince  spared  their  lives,  but  he  razed 
the  city  without  sparing  the  churches,  and 
cast  salt  into  a  trench  which  he  caused  to  be 
traced  out,  as  a  mark  that  he  condemned  the 
land  to  an  eternal  curse. 

Whilst  the  anti-pope  was  holding  his  s}Tiod 
at  Lodi,  Alexander  was  pushing  his  way  into 
Rome,  to  endeavour  to  instal  himself  there ; 
but  the  family  of  Octavian  was  so  powerful 
that  he  was  compelled  to  leave  it  on  the  same 
day  he  entered  it,  to  return  into  Campania, 
under  the  protection  of  the  king  of  Sicily. 
The  soldiers  of  Frederick  soon  pursued  him, 
even  into  this  retreat,  and  constrained  him  to 
seek  another  place  of  refuge.  He  then  re- 
collected that  his  predecessors,  in  their  re- 
verses, had  always  found  in  France  imbecile 
kings  disposed  to  employ  the  gold  and  blood 
of  the  people  to  replace  them  on  the  throne; 
he  embarked  at  Terracina  with  his  train,  and 
sailed  for  Provence. 

Montpelier  was  the  first  city  which  the 
holy  father  visited ;  he  entered  it  in  the  im- 
posing apparel  of  a  victor,  mounted  on  a  white 
horse  surrounded  by  his  cardinals.  A  Saracen 
embassador  came  to  receive  him,  at  the  head 
of  a  brilliant  escort  of  Moorish  soldiers,  bear- 
ing the  crescent  and  singing  the  praises  of 
Mohammed  ;  the  Mussulman  humbly  pros- 
trated himself  at  the  feet  of  the  pontiff,  offered 
him  magnificent  presents,  and  adored  him  as 
the  God  of  the  Christians.  He  then  addres.sed 
him  in  Arabic — the  holy  father  replied  benevo- 
lently to  him,  and  placed  him  on  his  right 
hand  during  the  ceremonial. 

As  soon  as  king  Louis  was  apprised  that 
Alexander  was  at  Montpelier,  he  sent  Thibalt, 
abbot  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  and  a  clerk  of 
his  chapel  as  deputies  to  him;  but  as  these 
embassadors  carried  no  money  for  him,  he 
received  them  with  insulting  disdain  and  even 
threatened  to  drive  them  from  his  presence 
if  they  should  dare  lo  reappear  with  empty 
hands.  They  returned  to  the  mc)narch  and 
rendered  an  account  to  him  of  what  had 
passed  at  Montpelier;  Louis,  enraged  at  the 
pontiff,  immediately  wrote  to Manasses,  bishop 
of  Orleans,  to  learn  from  the  emperor  the 
e.xaet  circumstances  attending  the  election  of 
Octavian  and  Roland  the  chancellor,  as  he 
repented  having  too  easily  recognised  the 
pretensions  of  Alexander. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  of  June,  1162,  the 
pope  left  Montpelier,  after  having  anaihema- 
37* 


438 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES. 


tised  his  competitor  a  tliiixl  time,  and  went  to 
Clermont  in  Auvergne,  with  the  intention  of 
excommunicating  him  a  Ibuith  time.  But 
Frederick  Barbaiossa,  being  desirous  of  driv- 
ing" him  from  France,  had  addressed  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  Hubert  of  Champ-Fleury,  bishop 
of  SoissouS;  and  chancellor  of  the  kingdom. 
"  We  have  been  apprised,  dlustrious  prelate, 
that  the  ecclesiastic  Roland,  to  whom  our 
servants  have  left  no  place  of  retreat  in  Italy, 
has  escaped  with  some  partizans,  and  taken 
refuge  in  the  states  of  your  master;  be  care- 
ful, most  venerable  prelate,  that  this  unworthy 
schismatic  does  not  de.spoil  your  provinces, 
for  he  is  overwhelmed  with  debt,  and  will  seek 
to  extort  money  from  your  people  to  pay  his 
creditors.  We  pray  you  then,  as  a  matter  of 
interest  to  your  prince,  to  drive  away  this 
anti-pope  and  his  cardinals,  who  are  our  mor- 
tal enemies,  and  who  may  excite  between 
Louis  and  ourselves  an  enmity  fatal  to  our 
subjects." 

Whilst  this  message  was  on  its  way  to  the 
court  of  France,  Henry,  count  of  Champagne, 
was  advising  the  emperor  of  the  new  inten- 
tions of  Louis.  Frederick  then  sent  an  em- 
bassador to  propose  to  the  k'ng  a  meeting  of 
an  equal  number  of  French  and  German 
prelates,  who  should  be  instructed  to  decide 
on  the  validity  of  the  elections  of  Ale.xander 
and  Victor.  This  offer  was  accepted,  and 
the  small  city  of  St.  Jean  de  Laune  in  Bur- 
gundy, which  was  situated  on  the  borders 
of  Germany  and  France,  was  selected  as 
the  place  of  conference  ;  the  count  of  Cham- 
pagne, the  son-ill-law  of  the  king,  and  the 
friend  of  the  emperor,  was  charged  by  the 
two  monarchs  to  propose  the  principal  ques- 
tions which  were  to  be  submitted  to  the  pre- 
lates, and  he  acquitted  himself  so  well  of  his 
mission,  that  he  determined  the  king  to  take 
the  side  of  the  anti-pope. 

The  following  considerations  prevailed  with 
the  court  of  France  :  "Illustrious  prince,"  he 
wrote  to  Louis,  '•  it  is  indispensable  for  the  in- 
terests of  your  crown  that  the  decisions  of  the 
assembly  which  you  have  convened  should  be 
irrevocable ;  consequently  the  emperor  pledges 
himself  if  the  election  of  Roland  is  decided  to 
be  canonical,  to  place  himself  at  his  feet.  If 
that  of  Octavian  is  alone  recognised  as  regu- 
lar, I  have  engaged  in  your  name  to  recognise 
him  immediately  as  the  lawful  chief  of  the 
church.  We  have  still  further  determined  to 
appeal  to  the  two  competitors  to  meet,  and  he 
who  shall  refuse  to  present  himself  at  the 
conference,  shall  for  that  act  alone,  be  judged 
to  be  unworthy  of  the  pontificate,  and  shall 
be  deposed.  As  a  guarantee  for  my  promise, 
I  have  sworn  on  the  host,  that  if  you,  after  so 
solemn  a  proof,  refuse  to  confirm  the  judgment 
of  the  fathers,  I  will  at  once  pay  obeisance  to 
the  emperor :  that  is,  I  will  do  him  homage 
for  all  the  fiefs  I  hold  from  your  crown." 

Before  breaking  entirely  with  the  pope, 
Louis  at  the  entreaty  of  some  bishops,  went 
to  Souvigny,  a  priory  of  Chiiiy,  to  induce  him 
to  accompany  him  to  the  conference  at  Saint 
Jean  de  Laune ;  but  Alexander  obstinately  re- 


fused to  appear  before  the  emperor,  or  even 
to  go  as  far  as  Vergy,  which  was  an  impreg- 
nable castle.  The  king,  irritated  at  his  re- 
sistance, left  him  abruptly,  saying  to  him — "  It 
is  very  strange,  holy  father,  that  you  who  ap- 
pear confident  of  the  justice  of  your  cause, 
make  such  resistance  to  the  judgment  of  a 
council."  The  pontiff  immediately  retired  to 
the  monastery  of  Bourg  Dieu,  near  to  Cha- 
teauroux  in  Berry,  and  the  king  was  obliged 
to  renounce  going  alone  to  Saint  Jean  de 
Laune,  trusting  to  commissioners  to  procure 
a  delay.  The  emperor  arrived  at  Dole  on  the 
day  appointed  with  Octavian.  Both,  without 
loss  of  time,  advanced  as  far  as  the  middle  of 
the  bridge  of  Saint  Jean,  and  as  no  one 
appeared,  they  left  a  declaration  of  appeal 
attached  by  a  dagger  to  the  parapet  of  the 
bridge  and  returned  to  their  camp. 

On  the  next  day,  the  representatives  of 
Louis  arrived  at  Saint  Jean,  to  ask  for  a  delay 
from  the  representatives  of  Frederick ;  on 
their  refusal  to  grant  one,  the  cardinals  sent 
by  Ale.vander  to  assist  at  this  interview  re- 
turned to  Vezelay.  delighted  that  the  nego- 
tiations had  been  broken  off.  But  the  count 
of  Champagne,  who  was  truly  attached  to 
both  monarchs,  and  who  foresaw  the  disa- 
greeable con.sequences  of  such  a  measure, 
immediately  started  for  the  camp  of  Frede- 
rick to  re-establish  concord  between  him  and 
his  father-in-law.  He  represented  to  the 
former,  how  silly  it  was  that  a  pope  should 
be  a  cause  of  war  between  two  such  powerful 
sovereigns,  especially  when  a  delay  of  a  few 
days  might  bring  about  a  favourable  solution. 
Frederick  finally  permitted  himself  to  be 
gained  by  his  eloquence,  and  consented  to 
wait  for  three  weeks  for  the  arrival  of  the 
king  of  France  at  Saint  Jean  de  Laune. 

Satisfied  with  his  success,  the  count  imme- 
diately hastened  to  Louis,  at  Dijon;  he  told 
him  that  he  could  no  longer  avoid  going  him- 
self to  the  emperor,  since  he  (the  king)  had 
not  fulfilled  his  promises;  but  that,  by  urgent 
entreaty,  he  had  obtained  from  Frederick  a 
delay  of  three  weeks,  on  the  express  condi- 
tion that  the  sovereign  of  France  should  go  to 
Saint  Jean  de  Laune.  taking  Pope  Alexander 
with  him,  and  that  he  should  submit  to  the 
judgment  decreed  by  the  fathers,  under  pe- 
nalty of  becoming  a  prisoner  of  the  empe- 
ror's at  Besan^on.  These  conditions  were 
extremely  rigorous,  but  the  king  could  not 
refuse  them,  seeing  himself  on  the  point  of 
losing  one  of  the  great  feudatories  of  his 
crown ;  he  accepted  them  unreservedly,  and 
gave  as  hostages  to  guarantee  his  word,  the 
duke  of  Burgundy  and  the  counts  of  Nevers 
and  Flanders. 

Two  days  afterwards  Louis  set  out,  and 
sent  to  inform  the  emperor  that  he  was  coming 
to  confer  with  him  on  some  preliminary  points. 
Frederick,  who  was  already  discontented  at 
the  first  breach  of  liis  word  by  the  king,  did 
not  answer  his  letter,  and  sent  Arnold,  his 
chancellor,  with  full  powers.  Louis  at  first 
made  some  difficulty  about  entering  into  a 
conference  with  the  commissioner  of  the  em- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


439 


peror ;  he  ihen  consented  to  it,  provided  the  ' 
conventions  should  be  reciprocal,  and  obliga- 
tory on  both  sovereigns,  as  hail  been  originally 
arranged  by  the  count  of  Champagne. 

Arnold  refused  to  take  upon  himself  the 
responsibility  of  compromising  the  interests 
of  the  empire  J  declaring  that  his  powers 
were  suflicient  to  accept  the  promises  of  the 
king  of  France,  but  not  to  make  them  in  the 
name  of  his  master.  Loui-s,  delighted  at  find- 
ing an  opportunity  of  disengaging  his  pledge, 
without  losing  his  vassal,  the  count  of  Cham- 
pagne, addressed  the  German  and  French 
lords,  and  said  to  them. — "  You  see,  lords,  that 
the  emperor  is  not  here,  notwithstanding  his 

f promise  to  come;  you  are  also  witnesses  that 
\is  commissioners  desire  to  change  the  con- 
ditions of  the  treaty.  I  am  thus  freed  from 
my  engagements :"  and  immediately,  without 
waiting  for  a  reply,  he  mounted  his  horse  and 
started  ofT  on  a  gallop.  All  hopes  of  an  ar- 
rangement were  now  at  an  end.  but  the  wary 
Victor  availed  himself  of  the  negotiation  of 
the  count  of  Champagne  with  the  emperor  to 
increase  the  preponderance  of  his  faction, 
and  he  wrote  to  Rome  that  the  king  of  France 
had  finally  declared  in  his  favour,  and  repu- 
diated his  competitor  Roland,  who  had  re- 
fused to  appear  at  the  conference  at  Saint 
Jean  de  Laune. 

In  fact.  Alexander  having  been  appri.sed  of 
the  bad  success  of  the  negotiations,  and  fear- 
ing the  anger  of  the  king  of  France,  had 
quhted  Cluny  to  take  refuge  in  Aquitaine,  a 
province  which  was  dependent  on  the  king 
of  England,  who  had  already  recognised  him 
as  pope.  Henry  on  hearing  of  his  arrival  in 
his  states,  went  as  far  as  the  monastery  of 
Bourg  Dieu  to  receive  him;  he  prostrated 
himself  humbly  at  his  feet,  kissed  his  san- 
dals, and  though  the  holy  father  urged  him  to 
take  it,  refused  the  seat  which  had  been  pre- 
pared for  him  by  his  side,  and  seated  him- 
self on  the  earth.  After  three  days  of  secret 
conferences,  the  English  monarch  took  his 
leave  of  the  pontiff,  promising  him  to  deter- 
mine the  king  of  Frr.nce  to  submit  to  him ; 
which  happened.  At  the  close  of  the  nego- 
tiations, the  pope  obtained  permission  to  go 
to  Couc)-sur-Loire,  to  receive  the  homage  of 
Louis  and  Henry.  The  two  princes  gave  him 
a  magnificent  reception  ;  they  conducted  him 
as  far  as  the  palace,  walking  on  foot,  and 
holding  on  each  side  the  reins  of  his  horse, 
two  kings  thus  serving  as  squires,  which 
had  never  before  happened  to  any  of  his 
predecessors. 

In  th<;  beginning  of  the  following  Lent,  the 
pope  held  a  council  at  Tour.s,  at  wliicli  almost 
all  the  bishops  of  France  and  England  were 
present.  Arnold,  bi.sho])  of  Lissieux,  was 
charged  to  deliver  an  address,  or  kind  of  ser- 
mon, which  Alexander  had  composed,  to  ex- 
hort the  assembly  vigoron.sly  to  oppose  the 
schismatics,  and  restore  unity  to  the  chnrch. 
The  follow  ing  is  one  of  the  passages  of  this 
long  homily:  ''Rome,  my  brethren,  shouKl 
rule  all  the  kings  of  the  earth;  and  notwith- 
standing all  their  efforts  to  divide  and  subju- 


gate it.  it  will  remain  one,  and  will  reject  its 
enemies  from  its  bosom.  Unity  will  not  be 
broken,  because  several  popes  .shall  be  ajv 
pointed;  on  the  contrary,  those  who  have  de- 
sired to  weaken  it  by  dividing  it,  will  find 
themselves  stricken  by  the  sword  of  the  Spirit. 
Rome  will  come  forth  glorious  and  triumphant 
from  all  these  struggles;  and  we  shall  soon 
see  its  oppressors,  beaten  down  at  its  feet,  re- 
cognise it  as  (he  mistress  of  the  world.  The 
emperor,  that  man  whose  wrath  is  as  terrible 
as  thunder,  and  whose  arm  is  more  dread- 
ful than  whole  legions,  Frederick  Barbarossa 
himself,  will  bow  his  forehead  in  the  dust, 
exclaiming;  'Rome,  thou  conquercst!  Thy 
power  exceeds  that  of  Cajsar,  for  it  comes  from 
God.'  Then  the  bold  champions  who  have 
combated  and  suffered  to  assure  victory  to 
the  church,  will  be  recompensed  ;  then  those 
who  have  cowardly  abandonetl  the  field  of 
battle,  will  be  blighted  and  condemned.  Let 
us  strive,  my  brethren,  with  perseverance  and 
vigour;  let  us  boldly  expose  our  wealth,  our 
libeity,  even  our  lives,  in  this  thrice  holy 
war." 

The  synod  made  several  canons,  and  re- 
newed the  oath  of  obedience  to  the  pontiff,  as 
well  as  the  anathema  against  the  anti-pope 
and  the  emperor.  After  that,  the  embas- 
sadors of  the  kings  of  France  and  England 
proposed  to  the  pope  to  designate  ihe  city  he 
would  prefer  for  his  residence.  He  selected 
the  metropolitan  city  of  Sens,  which  was  situ- 
ated in  a  fertile  and  pleasant  country;  he  re- 
mained there  almost  two  years,  holding  a 
mimic  court,  and  sending  his  bulls  through  all 
kingdoms,  as  if  he  had  been  in  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran. 

At  length,  the  anti-pope  Victor  died  at 
Lucca,  on  the  22d  of  April.  1164.  Petrus 
Blesensis  says,  in  his  history,  that  Octavian 
was  solely  occupied  during  his  life  in  increas- 
ing his  wealth,  "in  which,"  adds  the  histo- 
rian, "he  did  well;  for  with  golil  he  was 
enabled  to  purchase  the  consciences  of  priests, 
prelates,  princes,  and  kings,  who  permitted 
him  traii(|uilly  to  govern  the  churches  of 
Italy."  Victor  the  Fourth  was  vain  and  proud, 
and  caused  himself  to  be  adored  as  an  idol. 
He  had  a  great  aversion  for  the  poor  and  beg- 
gars, and  took  a  certain  pleasure  in  mortifying 
tli(!  afilicted.  After  his  death,  the  canons  of 
the  cathedral  of  Lucca,  and  those  of  Saint 
Erigdian  refused  to  inter  him  in  their  churches, 
declaring  that  they  would  rather  abandon  them 
than  receive  the  body  of  a  damned  person. 
They  buried  him  in  a  monastery,  situated 
without  the  city,  where  it  was  afterwards 
pretended  that  he  performed  many  miracles. 
The  funeral  ceremonies  being  terminated,  his 
partizans  met  and  cho.se,  as  his  successor,  the 
cardinal  Guy  of  Crema,  who  was  proclaimed 
sovereign  pontiff  by  the  name  of  Pascal  the 
Third.  This  election  was  confirmed  in  Ger- 
many by  the  emperor,  who  sent  Henry,  bishop 
of  Liege,  to  Lucca  to  consecrate  the  new 
pope. 

But  in  the  meanwhile,  affairs  changed ;  on 
the  one  side  the  partizans  of  Alexander  spread 


440 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


gold  through  Rome,  subsidised  all  the  bandits 
of  the  city,  and  prepared  a  revolution  in  favour 
of  the  pontiff;  on  the  other,  the  emperor,  by 
his  exactions  and  cruehies,  excited  against 
himself  a  powerful  league  through  all  the 
Lombard  cities,  which,  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  century,  had  little  by  little  con- 
stituted themselves  into  small  independent 
republics,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Venice. 

Alexander,  seeing  a  powerful  party  rise 
up  ill  opposition  to  Frederick,  determined  to 
return  to  the  holy  city,  where  his  party  waited 
to  decree  to  him  the  honours  of  a  triumph; 
but  as  he  was  unwilling  to  return  to  Italy 
without  leaving  behind  him  a  remembrance 
of  his  journey  through  France,  he  imposed  a 
collection  on  the  churches,  obtained  loans  from 
all  the  monasteries,  and  finally  embarked  with 
the  spoils  of  a  people  who  had  accorded  to 
him  so  generous  an  hospitality. 

After  a  passage  of  fifteen  days,  the  holy 
father  disembarked  at  Messina,  in  the  states 
of  the  king  of  Sicily,  who  had  already  recog- 
nised him  as  his  lord.  William  treated  him 
as  the  successor  of  Saint  Peter,  sent  him  to 
Palermo  with  rich  presents,  and  armed  a  red 
galley,  magnificently  adoriied,  which  he  de- 
stined for  him,  and  four  others  less  sumptuous, 
which  were  to  transport  the  cardinals,  bishops, 
and  lords  of  his  .suite.  Alexander  arrived  at 
Ostia  with  his  retinue,  where  he  was  joined 
by  a  multitude  of  nobles,  senators,  clergymen, 
and  citizens,  bearing  branches  of  olives.  He 
mounted  the  Tiber,  escorted  in  triumph  by 
the  holy  standard  bearers,  with  their  ensigns 
displayed,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of 
squires,  secretaries,  advocates  and  judges, 
"who  followed  the  progress  of  his  vessel,  on 
either  bank  of  the  river  ;  the  schools,  even  the 
Jews,  bearing,  as  w-as  their  custom,  the  book 
of  the  law  under  their  arms,  followed  this  im- 
mense procession.  On  arriving  at  Rome,  the 
pope  descended  from  his  vessel,  and  went 
towards  the  pontifical  residence,  conducted  by 
many  young  girls,  who  sang  sacred  hymns  in 
his  honour ;  between  each  verse  he  was  sa- 
luted by  the  thundering  acclamations  of  the 
crowd ;  a,t  last  he  entered  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  and  seated  himself  on  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter;  the  day  closed  with  a  splendid 
banquet,  at  which  the  principal  members  of 
the  nobility,  magistracy,  and  clergy  assisted. 

On  the  following  day,  the  pontiff  wrote  to 
the  princes  of  his  party,  to  advise  them  of  his 
happy  installation,  with  the  exception  of  Hen- 
ry of  England,  his  relations  with  that  prince 
having  been  entirely  broken  off.  This  king 
was  too  skilful  a  politician  to  allow  his  king- 
dom to  be  subjected  to  the  aristocracy  of  the 
lords  and  the  government  of  priests.  He 
had  at  first  made  war  with  the  nobles,  dis- 
mantled their  castles,  sacked  their  domains, 
and  rendered  them  powerless  to  renew  their 
seditions;  that  done,  he  had  directed  all  his 
efforts  against  the  priests,  and  particularly 
against  Thomas  Becket,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, the  most  elevated  ecclesiastic  in  dignity 
in  the  kingdom,  who  endeavoured  to  increase 
the  authority  of  the  clergy  at  the  expense  of  the 


crown.  Henry,  discontented  with  this  priest, 
had  caused  him  to  be  arrested  in  his  metro- 
polis, and  had  constrained  him  to  swear  to  the 
constitution  of  Clarendon,  in  which  the  nobility 
and  the  church  admitted  that  they  held  their 
privileges  from  the  king. 

Becket  had  no  sooner,  however,  recovered 
his  liberty,  than  he  retiacted  his  oath  and 
took  refuge  with  the  pope.  Alexander  inter- 
fered in  the  quarrel,  threatening  to  lanch  an 
anathema  against  the  prince,  and  place  the 
kingdom  of  England  under  interdict,  if  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  not  immediately 
re-instated  in  his  see,  and  if  the  king  wished 
to  exact  an  oath  from  him,  contrary  to  religious 
freedom.  Henry,  fearful  of  .some  rising  among 
his  people,  in  consequence  of  the  superstitious 
ideas  of  the  period  in  regard  to  excommuni- 
cations, submitted  to  the  orders  of  the  pon- 
tiff, and  permitted  Becket  to  re-appear  at  his 
court.  The  latter,  proud  of  having  triumphed 
over  his  king,  placed  no  bounds  to  his  auda- 
city. He  openly  persecuted  those  who  had 
declared  against  him  ;  anathematising  some, 
and  deposing  others,  by  virtue  of  the  illimit- 
able power  he  had  received  from  the  pope. 
He  even  attacked  in  preference  the  favourites 
of  the  sovereign,  and  refused  to  obey  him  in 
the  most  indifferent  affairs,  under  pretext 
that  he  was  prohibited  from  touching  the  pri- 
vileges of  the  church. 

At  last  the  king,  fatigued  by  this  constant 
strife,  suffered  complaints  to  escape  him,  and 
exclaimed,  '■'•  How  unfortunate  I  am  in  not 
having  a  friend  who  dares  avenge  me  for  the 
insults  of  a  miserable  priest."  These  words, 
pronounced  with  bitterness,  made  an  impres- 
sion on  four  young  lords,  who  concerted  among 
themselves  to  deliver  the  prince  from  his 
enemy.  For  this  purpose  they  went  secretly 
to  Canterbury ;  and,  at  the  moment  when  the 
archbishop  was  leaving  his  palace  to  go  to 
church,  they  suddenly  attacked  him,  and 
pierced  him  with  nine  blows  of  their  daggers. 
This  murder  spread  general  grief  among  the 
clergy  of  Great  Britain  ;  all  the  churches  were 
hung  in  black  ;  Thomas  Becket  was  declared 
a  martyr;  a  magnificent  tomb  was  reared  to 
his  memory;  and  he  was  canonised  by  the 
name  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury. 

Henry,  alarmed  at  this  manifestation,  feign- 
ed to  be  much  grieved  by  the  death  of  the 
metropolitan.  He  immediately  sent  deputies 
to  Italy  to  plead  his  cause  with  the  holy 
father,  and  to  prevent  any  anathema  from 
behig  fulminated  against  Great  Britain .  But  the 
pope  had  been  already  apprised  of  it  by  Gallic 
prelates  and  by  Walter  Flaman,  who  had  gone 
to  Rome  to  demand  justice  for  the  assassina- 
tion of  the  archbishop.  Alexander  refused  to 
permit  the  English  envoys  to  enter  the  holy 
city.  He  manifested  an  extreme  aftliction  for 
the  unfortunate  Thomas,  and  loudly  reproach- 
ed himself  before  the  cardinals  for  not  having 
sustained  with  sufficient  vigour  the  cause  of 
the  church,  for  which  Thomas  had  merited 
the  palm  of  martyrdom.  Arnolph,  one  of  the 
embassadors  of  the  prince,  fearful  lest  the 
pope   should  immediately  pronounce  a  sen- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


441 


tence  of  excommunication  against  Henry,  re- 
solved to  go  to  Tusculum,  where  Alexander 
was.  Not  only  did  the  pontilt"  refuse  to  re- 
ceive him,  but  the  cardinals  scarcely  deigned 
to  speak  to  him. 

At  last,  by  urgency  and  presents,  he  ob- 
tained an  audience  of  the  holy  father.  As 
soon  as  he  had  pronounced  the  name  of  the 
king  of  England,  all  the  ecclesiastics  exclaim- 
ed :  "  Stop  !  stop  !"  as  if  Alexander  could  not 
hear  it  without  horror.  This  first  interview 
was  without  any  result ;  but  in  the  evening, 
having  hail  the  nappy  inspiration  to  bribe  car- 
dinals and  chamberlains,  he  obtained  a  pri- 
vate audience.  Arnolph  gave  to  him  a  faith- 
ful recital  of  what  had  occurred  at  Canterbury. 
He  recalled  the  benefits  which  the  king  had 
heaped  on  Becket.  and  the  injuries  with  which 
the  latter  had  repaid  the  kindness  of  the  mon- 
arch. The  pope  listened  very  attentively  to 
the  embassador,  and  put  him  olT  until  Holy 
Thursday,  a  day  consecrated  to  excommuni- 
cations, without  apprising  him  at  all  of  his 
intentions. 

At  last  the  terrible  day  arrived.  Arnolph 
had,  in  the  mean  time,  skilfully  gained  some 
members  of  the  sacred  college  by  gold,  who 
informed  him  that  he,  the  holy  father,  would 
in  the  presence  of  his  clergy,  on  that  very  eve- 
ning, pronounce  the  anathema  against  Henry 
and  all  his  states.  Arnolph,  without  losing 
any  time,  at  once  despatched  the  following 
protest:  "We  are  instructed  by  the  king,  our 
master,  to  swear  in  your  presence,  mo.st  holy 
father,  that  he  will  defer  entirely  to  your  or- 
ders for  the  punishment  which  you  shall  judge 
necessary  to  inflict  on  the  guilty,  and  we  pro- 
test his  innocence." 

The  cardinals  decided  that  after  such  an 
absolute  mark  of  submission,  they  could  not 
excommunicate  the  king.  Orders  were  im- 
mediately given  to  introduce  the  metropolitan 
of  York  and  the  bishops  of  Salisbury  and  Lon- 
don, who  were  without  the  walls  of  the  city, 
and  they  made  them  swear  on  the  Bible  that 
such  were  the  intentions  of  the  monarch. 
After  this,  Alexander  pronounced  a  general 
anathema  against  the  murderers  of  the  martyr 
St.  Thomas  Becket,  and  against  all  who  had 
given  them  counsel,  aid,  assistance,  or  con- 
sent, or  who  had  procured  an  asylum  and 
succour  for  them.  He  confirmed  the  sen- 
tence of  interdict  which  the  archbishop  of 
Sens  had  fulminated  against  the  territories  of 
England  on  the  continent ;  he  anathematised 
all  the  bishops  of  the  kingdom,  and  suspend- 
ed them  from  the  exercise  of  their  episcopal 
functions  until  the  guilty  were  punished;  and 
announced  that  he  would  ."^end  legates  to  see 
that  thi'se  decrees  were  fully  executed.  The 
embassadors,  however,  before  quitting  Rome, 
prevailed  on  him  to  raise  the  excommunica- 
tion pronounced  against  the  English  clergy 
in  a  month,  if  his  nuncios  had  not,  by  that 
time,  passed  the  Alps. 

Henry,  apprised  of  the  hostile  intentions  of 
Alexander,  and  fearful  of  treason,  hastened  to 
go  to  England,  and  closely  watched  the  ports 
and  shores  of  the  island  to  arrest  all  strangers 

Vol.  I  3  F 


who  were  the  bearers  of  the  interdict.  He 
then  assembled  troops  at  Portsmouth,  and 
went  to  Ireland  with  a  fleet  of  four  hundred 
sail  to  lake  possession  of  the  country  before 
the  arrival  of  the  legate,  and  went  to  Water- 
ford,  where  the  kings  of  Cork,  Limerick,  Ul- 
ster, and  JNIida,  with  all  the  lords  of  Ireland, 
who  had  come  to  do  homage  to  him.  The 
king  of  Connaught,  who  regarded  himself  as 
an  independent  sovereign,  was  alone  absent 
from  the  meeting,  declaring,  through  his  em- 
bassador, that  he  would  not  take  an  oath  of 
obedience  and  fidelity  to  Henry. 

Alter  some  useless  conferences,  Henry  de- 
termined to  subdue  him  by  force  of  arms.  He 
pursued  him,  drove  liim  from  all  his  towns,  and 
would  have  certainly  destroyed  him  in  a  final 
battle,  when  he  was  informed  of  the  arrival  of 
the  legates  in  Normandy.  At  once,  and  as  if 
from  the  effect  of  a  thunderbolt,  all  his  energy 
left  him ;  he  became  feeble  and  trembling 
before  the  censures  of  the  Vatican,  quitted 
his  army,  and  embarked  for  NoiTnandy  to 
obtain  his  pardon  from  the  envoys  of  the  holy 
father.  The  latter  at  first  refused  to  receive 
him :  then  they  permitted  themselves  to  be 
softened  by  his  supplications,  and  especially 
by  his  presents.  They  however  exacted,  that 
before  being  admitted  to  their  presence  he 
should  make  a  public  confession  of  all  his 
sins  in  the  form  of  an  apology.  Henry  was 
base  enough  to  assent  to  it,  and  pronounced 
the  following  words  upon  the  Bible : 

"  I  neither  meditated  nor  ordered  the  death 
of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  ;  and  when  I  was 
informed  of  the  crime,  I  was  more  profoundly 
afflicted  than  if  I  had  lost  my  own  son.  I  how- 
ever avow  that  I  was  the  involuntary  cause  of 
the  murder  from  the  hatred  which  I  felt  to- 
wards that  holy  martyr.  Therefore,  being  de- 
sirous of  repenting  my  fault,  I  engage  to  send 
to  Jerusalem  two  hundred  knights,  who  shall 
serve  for  a  year  at  my  expense ;  and,  if  the  pope 
exacts  it,  I  will  myself  take  the  cross,  and  make 
the  journey  to  Palestine.  I  stop  for  ever  the 
unlawful  customs  which  I  have  introduced 
against  the  churches,  and  will  hereafter  permit 
my  prelates  to  carry  their  appeals  to  the  court 
of  Rome.  I  will  restore  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Canterbury  all  the  lands  and  other  proper- 
ties which  were  dependent  on  it  before  the 
disgrace  of  Thomas  Becket,  and  will  pardon 
the  defenders  of  that  prelate.  I  will  submit 
myself  to  such  fasts,  alms,  and  other  penal 
works,  as  the  pope  shall  impose  upon  me  ; 
and  I  will  go  with  naked  feet  to  the  tomb  of 
the  martyr,  to  receive  flagellation  from  the 
hands  of  the  monks.  Finally  I  swear  to  sub- 
mit always  to  the  Roman  church." 

The  loirates  made  the  son  of  Henry  take  the 
same  oath,  who  pledged  himself  to  fulfil  the 
promises  of  his  father,  if  the  latter  perjured 
nimself.  They  then  presented  to  the  sovereign 
his  deed  of  submission,  to  which  he  affixed 
the  royal  seal.  This  afl^air  having  been  termi- 
nated, they  proceeded  to  the  nomination  of  an 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  king  was 
admitted  to  the  communion. 

Since  his  return  to  the  holy  city,  Alexander 


442 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


had  enjoyed  the  supreme  authority  in  full 
security;  but  at  the  end  of  the  year  1166  the 
emperor  determined  to  re-enter  Italy  to  drive 
away  the  pontiff  and  estabhsh  the  anti-pope 
in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  For  this  purpose 
he  instructed  the  metropolitans  Rinaldus  and 
Christian,  his  generals,  to  ravage  Lombardy 
and  advance  on  Rome  with  their  divisions, 
whilst  he  himself  besieged  Ancona.  This 
invasion  alarmed  the  court  of  the  holy  father, 
and  their  fear  was  the  greater,  as  the  Ger- 
mans, having  rendered  themselves  masters  of 
the  neighbouring  cities,  kept  the  field  and 
gained  ground.  In  Rome  even,  parties  began 
to  move,  and  a  great  number  of  nobles,  ma- 
gistrates, and  citizens,  gained  by  the  gold  of 
the  enemy,  traversed  the  streets  of  the  city 
uttering  seditious  cries.  Alexander,  on  his 
side,  sought  to  strengthen  his  party  by  lavish- 
ing his  treasures  on  the  Roman  clergy;  but 
those  corrupt  and  hypocritical  priests  profited 
by  the  circumstances  to  increase  their  wealth, 
and  received  presents  from  the  pontiff  and 
the  prince  whilst  betraying  both. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles  Jourdain,  the 
son  of  Robert,  prince  of  Capua,  came  to  Rome 
as  embassador  from  Manuei  Comnenus,  to 
offer  to  Pope  Alexander  the  aid  of  the  Greek 
emperor  against  the  king  of  Germany.  He 
pledged  himself  in  the  name  of  Comnenus,  to 
re-establish  the  unity  between  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches  as  it  had  subsisted  in  the  best 
ages  of  Christianity,  so  that  the  Greeks  and 
Latins  should  in  future  form  but  one  people, 
submitted  to  one  religious  chief.  He  only 
asked  in  exchange  for  his  protection,  that  the 
pontiff  should  consent  lo  restore  to  him  the 
imperial  crown,  which  had  been  snatched  from 
him  by  the  emperor  of  Germany.  Although 
it  might  appear  difficult  for  that  prince  to  col- 
lect an  army  to  aid  the  Holy  See,  still  Alex- 
ander, by  the  advice  of  his  cardinals,  sent  the 
bishop  of  Ostia.  and  the  cardinals  of  St.  John 
and  St.  Paul  as  deputies  to  Manuel,  to  open 
serious  negotiations.  On  the  other  hand,  Fre- 
derick Barbarossa  found  himself  arrested  in 
his  march  by  the  troops  of  the  confederated 
republics,  who  had  assembled  on  the  old  ter- 
ritory of  Milan  to  protect  the  citizens  of  that 
city,  who  were  reconstructing  their  ramparts. 
The  holy  father  ai  last,  very  fortunately,  re- 
ceived considerable  sums  which  William  the 
Bad  had  bequeathed  to  him.  This  money, 
distributed  among  the  nobles  and  the  priests, 
caused  the  balance  to  bend  in  his  favour;  an 
army  of  at  lea.st  forty  thousand  men  was  im- 
mediately organised,  the  neighbouring  cities 
were  retaken  from  his  enemies,  and  an  attack 
was  pushed  even  as  far  as  Tnsculum,  which 
had  declared  for  the  emperor. 

Christian,  who  commanded  the  place  for 
the  emperor,  endeavoured,  in  vain,  to  defend 
the  city  with  his  division,  composed  of  Fle- 
mings and  Braban^ons ;  his  soldiers  were 
hurled  down,  and  the  papal  army  was  already 
planting  its  flag  on  the  ramparts  when  the 
archbishop  Rinaldus  arrived  at  the  head  of  a 

Eowerful  body  of  cavalry.     The  intrepid  pre- 
ite  charged  the  enemy,  trampled  them  under 


feet  in  the  great  plain,  made  a  dreadful  mas- 
sacre of  them,  and  entirely  freed  Tusculum. 
On  the  news  of  this  victory,  the  emperor  quit- 
ted the  city  of  Ancona,  on  which  he  had 
seized,  hastened  his  march,  and  came  to  en- 
camp before  Rome  with  all  his  army.  Three 
assaults  were  sufficient  to  render  him  master 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  city,  and  of  the  castle 
of  San  Angelo.  As  he  could  not  storm  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  he  set  it  on  fire  and 
forced  all  its  defenders  to  surrender. 

The  pope  had  at  first  maintained  himself 
in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran  ;  then  fearing  lest 
his  place  of  retreat  should  be  forced,  he  had 
taken  refuge  in  the  fortified  castles  of  the 
Frangipani;  from  whence  he  kindled  the  fire 
of  revolt,  by  distributing  among  the  people 
fresh  sums,  which  William  the  Good,  the  new 
king  of  Sicily,  had  sent  him.  Rome  was  de- 
fended by  a  fanatical  multitude,  who  obsti- 
nately disputed  every  house,  every  street, 
every  place  which  Frederick  attacked.  At 
last  the  prince  being  convinced  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  seizing  the  person  of  the  pope  by 
force,  determined  to  enter  into  negotiations 
with  the  clergy  and  magistrates.  He  told 
them  that  if  Roland  would  consent  to  renounce 
the  pontificate,  without  prejudice  to  his  epis- 
copal ordination,  he  would  engage  that  Pascal 
would  do  the  same,  and  that  then  they  might 
all  proceed  together  to  the  election  of  a  new 
pope.  On  these  conditions  the  prince  pro- 
mised to  the  church  a  durable  peace,  to  restore 
to  the  Romans  all  the  prisoners  and  all  the 
booty  he  had  made,  and,  finally,  in  future  not 
to  interpose  his  authority  in  the  election  of 
the  pontifis. 

These  proposals  appeared  very  wise  to  the 
citizens  who  were  tired  of  the  war,  and  they 
replied  to  the  envoys  of  the  prince  that  they 
would  accept  them,  and  compel  Alexander  to 
ratify  the  engagements.  But  the  impractica- 
ble pontiff  refused  to  hear  any  proposals, 
uttered  horrid  blasphemies,  and  swore  he 
would  never  renounce  the  pontifical  throne ; 
his  obstinacy  detached  all  his  partizans  from 
his  cause,  and  he  was  obliged  to  quh  Rome 
secretly  in  the  garb  of  a  pilgrim  to  avoid  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  his  enemies.  He  went 
to  Terracina,  thence  lo  Gaeta  and  finally  to 
Beneventum. 

Pascal,  after  the  fhght  of  his  competitor, 
celebrated  a  solemn  mass  at  Saint  Peter's,  and 
consecrated  the  emperor  and  the  empress 
Beatrice,  his  wife,  placing  on  their  foreheads 
crowns  of  gold,  adorned  with  precious  stones. 
The  Romans  also  consented  to  take  the  oath 
of  fidelity  and  obedience  to  Frederick,  and  to 
recognise  Pascal  as  the  lawful  pontiff,  on  con- 
dition that  the  prince  would  ratify  the  first  pro- 
posals which  he  had  made  to  them.  All  things 
were  agreed  to  on  both  sides,  and  the  emperor 
sent  commissioners  from  the  other  side  of  the 
Tiber  to  receive  the  oath  of  the  Romans. 

This  day,  however,  became  the  prelude  to 
a  succession  of  terrible  reverses  for  the  Ger- 
mans ;  the  historian  Acerbo  Morena,  who  re- 
lates the  details  of  this  afl"air,  was  himself 
one  of  the  deputies.   "  We  were  in  the  month 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


443 


of  Aagiist,"  says  he,  ''  at  a  period  of  the  great- 
est heat;  scarcely  had  we  crossed  the  river 
when  a  dreadful  storm  suddenly  occurred,  the 
hail  fell  in  torrents,  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  the 
country  was  changed  into  a  immense  lake, 
and  two  hours  afterwards  the  sun  re-appeared 
beneath  a  heaven  of  fire.  These  sudden 
transitions  of  temperature  struck  all  the 
army  as  if  supernaturally  ;  an  epidemic  broke 
out  in  the  camp,  and  on  the  following  day. 
when  we  returned  from  Eome,  the  mortality 
was  so  frightful  that  we  could  no  longer 
bury  the  dead  who  fell  beneath  the  scourge. 
In  less  than  a  month,  this  epidemic  carried 
off  one  half  of  the  German  troops,  and  forced 
Frederick  to  remove  from  Rome.  Alexander 
immediately  left  Beneventum  and  returned 
to  the  holy  city,  publishing  every  where  that 
the  hand  of  Cod  had  .struck  the  sacrilegious 
prince.  At  his  call  the  people  of  Lombardy 
rose  in  mass  and  fell  on  the  Germans — the 
Milanese  especially  showed  themselves  most 
bitter  in  this  war  of  e.xtermination.  Frederick, 
reduced  to  the  last  extremities,  and  having  no 
longer  but  a  very  small  number  of  troops,  saw 
himself  hemmed  in  in  Italy  without  hope  of 
escape  ;  he  then  determined  to  dissimulate, 
and  demanded  a  truce  in  order  to  negotiate 
with  Alexander;  but  pending  the  conference 
he  sent  his  relative,  the  Count  tie  Murienne, 
secretly,  who  obtained  a  passage  for  him 
through  the  territory  of  the  marquis  of  Mont 
Serrat.  Under  favour  of  a  disguise,  the  em- 
peror left  his  camp  in  the  month  of  March, 
1168,  traversed  the  country  of  Burgundy,  and 
arrived  safely  in  Germany,  where  he  made 
new  preparations  to  return  to  Italy  with  a 
formidable  army." 

Pascal  the  Third  had  still  remained  in  Rome, 
where  he  courageously  maintained  himself  in 
the  church  of  St.  Peter;  but  in  the  month  of 
September  of  that  year,  in  consequence  of  an 
excess  at  table,  he  was  attacked  by  a  disease 
which  carried  him  off  in  a  few  days.  His 
party  chose  as  his  successor,  John,  abbot  of 
Strum,  bishop  of  Albano,  whose  morals  were 
worse  than  his,  and  who  was  enthroned  by 
the  name  of  Calixtus  the  Third  ;  notwithstand- 
ing the  approval  of  his  election  by  Frederick, 
the  new  pope  was  unable  to  maintain  himself 
in  Rome,  but  was  obliged  to  wander  about 
among  the  cities  of  Italy. 

Alexander  continued  proudly  to  occupy  the 
palace  of  the  Lateran,  antl  was  engaged  in 
repairing  the  loss  of  his  treasures,  "a  thing 
which  he  understood  marvellously  well"'  say 
the  chronicles.  Falcand  relates  a  very  singu- 
lar anecilote  on  this  subject ;  he  s;iysGauthier, 
the  chaplain  and  preceptor  of  ihe  king  of 
Sicily,  !iad  been  promoted  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Palermo,  without  the  consent  of  the  clergy 
of  that  church,  who  rejec'ed  his  election  as 
simoiiiacal  and  sacrilegious.  Complaints  had 
been  made  to  Rome  of  this  appointment,  and 
the  queen  herself,  who  wished  to  give  this  im- 
portant see  to  the  chancellor  Stephen,  one  of  her 
lover.s,  had  urged  the  pope  to  annul  the  elec- 
tion ;  Alexander  replied  through  the  cardinal 
of  Gacta,  his  legate,  that  the  princess  had  but 


to  count  down  a  thousand  ounces  of  gold  and 
he  would  at  once  annul  the  nomination  of 
Gauthier.  In  the  mean  time,  the  latter  having 
been  informed  by  the  pope  of  the  efforts 
against  him,  hastened  to  send  to  Rome  an  ec- 
clesiastic of  Palermo  and  two  lords,  who 
handed  over  to  the  holy  father,  from  the 
archbishop,  two  thousand  ounces  of  gold. 
Alexander,  who  had  already  accepted  the 
thousand  ounces  from  the  queen  to  depose 
Gauthier,  then  received  from  the  prelate  this 
sum,  which  was  double  the  first,  to  maintain 
him  in  his  see,  antl  he  insolently  replied  to 
the  princess,  that  the  archbishop  of  Palermo 
had  produced  arguments  of  great  weight 
against  her,  and  that  he  awaited  her  reply. 
The  queen  was  unwilling  to  continue  this 
strife,  and  renounced  the  hope  of  seeing  her 
favourite  on  the  see  of  Palermo." 

History  has  preserved  a  letter  of  Alexander, 
addressed  to  the  sultan  of  Iconium.  "We 
have  been  apprised  by  your  letters,  and  by 
the  relation  of  the  faithful,  who  have  visited 
your  kingdom,"  wrote  the  holy  father,  '•  that 
you  are  desirous  of  being  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith,  and  that  you  have  already  re- 
ceived the  pentateuch  of  Moses,  the  prophe- 
cies of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  the  epi.stles  of 
Saint  Paul,  and  the  gospels  of  Saint  John  and 
Saint  Matthew.  We  send  you,  in  order  to 
complete  your  instruction  in  our  religion,  a 
complete  exposition  of  its  dogmas,  morality, 
and  worship,  and  we  charge  our  delegates  to 
explain  them  to  you."  VV^e  are  ignorant  of 
the  result  of  this  mission. 

Albert,  archbishop  of  Saltzburg,  had  for  a 
long  time  declared  in  favour  of  Pope  Alexan- 
der, notwithstanding  the  attempts  of  the  em- 
peror to  bring  him  over  to  his  party.  Frede- 
rick at  length,  weary  of  his  obstinacy,  deter- 
mined to  take  energetic  measures,  and  caused 
him  to  be  solemnly  deposed  by  the  diet  at 
Ratisbon.  The  metropolitan  immediately  sent 
Erchempold,  his  chaplain,  a  canon  of  Reicher- 
perg,  to  the  court  of  Rome,  to  complain  of  the 
prince  and  the  prelates  of  Germany.  Alex- 
ander annulled  the  decision  of  the  diet,  ana- 
thematised the  intruder  in  the  see  of  Saltz- 
burg, and  declared  Albert  to  be  the  sole  legi- 
timate prelate  of  that  city. 

About  the  same  period,  a  singular  quarrel 
took  place  in  England  between  an  abbot  of 
Malmsbury,  and  the  bishop  of  Salisbury,  his 
diocesan,  in  regard  to  the  abbatial  benediction, 
which  the  prelate  wished  to  sell  at  too  h'gh 
a  price.  The  monk  wishing  to  buy  it  for  less, 
went  to  Wales,  and  was  blessed  by  the  bishop 
of  Llandafi',  who  was  more  accommodating. 
A  complaint  was  immetliately  made  against 
the  monk  to  the  archbishop  ol  Canterbury,  by 
his  diocesan,  who  condemned  him  to  pay  his 
diocesan  for  a  second  blessing.  Whil.-^t,  how- 
ever, rendering  this  sentence,  the  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  said,  "Abbots  are  very  cow- 
ardly, or  very  miserable,  since  for  an  ounce 
of  gold  a  year  they  can  annihilate  the  power 
of  the  bishops,  and  obtain  an  entire  inde- 
pentlence  from  the  pope."  In  fact,  simony 
was  carried  so  far  at  the  court  of  Rome,  that 


444 


HISTORY    OF   THE   POPES. 


the  French  monks,  and  especially  the  regular 
abbots,  obtained  for  money  all  kinds  of  ima- 
ginable dispensations,  and  even  purchased 
the  right  of  dissipating  the  wealth  of  their 
monasteries  in  shameful  debaucheries. 

Since  the  rout  of  Frederick,  Alexander  had 
consolidated  his  power;  he  governed  his 
church  without  the  anti-pope  dreaming  of 
disturbing  him,  and  most  of  the  Lombard 
cities  recognised  his  authority.  A  single  city 
had  been  able  to  repulse  the  attacks  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Holy  See ;  it  was  Alexandria, 
which  was  recently  built  by  the  Milanese  in 
honour  of  the  pope.  The  Germans  experienced 
from  it  the  shame  of  a  defeat,  and  Alexandria 
had  come  out  of  the  strife  victorious.  The 
holy  father,  from  gratitude,  erected  it  mto  a 
bishopric. 

Frederick  wnshed  to  take  revenge,  and  after 
having  repaired  the  losses  he  had  suffered, 
entered  Italy,  for  the  fifth  time,  at  the  head  of 
a  numerous  army.  He  pushed  into  the  Mi- 
lanese, ravaged  that  province,  and  put  all  to 
fire  and  sword.  The  confederated  states  as- 
sembled their  troops  with  equal  rapidity, 
marched  to  meet  him,  and  engaged  him  in  a 
furious  battle,  in  which  the  'Germans  were  cut 
to  pieces.  The  emperor  himself  had  his 
horse  slain  under  him,  and  barely  escaped 
from  the  strife.  This  last  victory  was  fatal 
to  the  empire,  and  exalted  the  pride  of  the 
Roman  church  to  the  highest  point. 

Heis  says  that  the  emperor  was  overwhelm- 
ed by  this  new  check.  "Having  been  ac- 
customed to  conquer  and  reign  in  the  midst 
of  laurels,"  adds  the  German  historian, 
"  Frederick,  whose  character  was  indomit- 
able, saw  himself,  by  a  single  blow,  compelled 
to  bend  before  necessity,  and  to  abandon  a 
party  which  he  had  sustained  for  sixteen 
years  against  all  Christendom.  But  what  still 
added  to  his  humiliation,  was  seeing  most  of 
the  princes  of  Germany  separate  themselves 
from  his  cause  to  embrace  the  interests  of 
the  sovereign  pontiff.  The  powerful  duke  of 
Saxony  and  Bavaria,  urged  on  by  Alexander, 
who  engaged  him  to  invade  Germany  to  con- 
quer it;  showed  himself  one  of  his  most 
ardent  foes.  Frederick,  who  knew  all  the 
plans  of  his  adversaries,  saw  well  that  his 
ruin  was  imminent ;  not  only  were  his  armies 
destroyed,  but  even  prince  Henry,  his  oldest 
son,  who  commanded  his  fleet  against  the 
Venetians,  had  been  conquered  by  the  gene- 
rals of  the  republic ;  all  his  vessels  had  been 
taken,  and  he  himself  made  prisoner." 

Frederick,  however,  waited  until  his  gene- 
rals had  obtained  some  advantages,  in  order 
to  commence  negotiations  with  the  Holy  See ; 
and  chose  as  his  embassadors,  the  metropo- 
litans of  Mayence  and  Magdeburg,  and  the  bi- 
shop of  Worms,  to  whom  he  gave  full  powers 
to  conclude  a  definite  peace  between  the 
church  and  the  empire.  They  went  to  Anagni, 
the  residence  of  the  pope,  where  they  were 
received  with  great  demonstrations  of  joy. 
''  We  have  waited  for  a  long  time  for  you,  my 
brethren,"  said  Alexander  to  them  on  their 
entrance,  "and  we  feel  a  sweet  satisfaction  at 


your  arrival ;  for  we  could  hear  no  more  agree- 
able news  in  this  world,  than  that  of  peace 
between  the  altar  and  the  throne.  If  the  in- 
tentions of  your  sovereign  are  sincere,  we  will 
recognise  him  as  the  greatest  of  the  princes 
of  the  earth.  But  that  our  union  be  durable, 
he  must  also  grant  peace  to  our  allies,  and 
especially  to  the  king  of  Sicily,  the  Lombards, 
and  the  emperor  of  Constantinople." 

Whilst  the  Gennan  embassadors  were  treat- 
ing with  the  pontiff,  Frederick  continued  the 
war  against  the  confederate  cities;  he  even 
gained  a  great  victory,  which  induced  him  to 
hope  he  might  re-establish  his  atlairs  by  force 
of  arms,  and  he  determined  to  suspend  at 
once  the  negotiations  which  had  taken  place 
between  his  envoys  and  the  holy  father. 
These  prelates,  who  had  been  already  gained 
over  by  Alexander,  represented  to  him  that 
this  rupture  would  excite  general  discontent 
against  him,  and  as  he  rephed  that  his  reso- 
lution could  not  be  shaken,  they  declared 
that  nothing  was  left  for  them,  but  to  retire 
to  their  dioceses,  from  whence  they  would 
assist  him  with  their  counsels,  as  they  had 
sworn  to  do ;  but  that  his  power  extending 
only  over  temporal  things,  they  were  deter- 
mined, for  the  salvation  of  their  souls,  to  re- 
cognise Pope  Alexander  as  the  true  chief  of 
the  church.  Frederick,  who  feared  the  con- 
sequences of  such  a  determination,  then  ap- 
peared to  yield  to  their  urgency,  and  said  to 
them,  "That  it  was  but  right  for  a  king  to 
conform  to  the  sentiments  of  his  ministers, 
and  the  princes  of  the  empire."  In  fact,  on 
the  next  day  he  went  to  Venice  to  conclude  a 
definite  peace  with  the  pontiff,  and  especially 
to  obtain  the  liberation  of  his  son. 

Fortunatus  Ulmus  relates,  in  the  following 
terms,  the  humiliating  ceremony  to  which 
this  prince  was  obliged  to  submit.  "When 
the  emperor  arrived  in  the  presence  of  the 
pope,"  says  the  historian,  "he  laid  aside  his 
imperial  mantle,  and  knelt  on  both  knees  with 
his  breast  to  the  earth  ;  Alexander  advanced 
and  placed  his  foot  on  his  neck,  whilst  the  car- 
dinals thundered  forth  in  loud  tones,  'Thou 
shalt  tread  upon  the  cockatrice,  and  crush 
the  lion  and  the  dragon.'  Frederick  exclaim- 
ed ;  '  Pontiff,  this  prediction  was  made  of  St. 
Peter  and  not  of  thee  I'  'Thou  liest,'  replied 
Ale.xander;  'it  is  written  of  the  apostle  and 
of  me ;'  and  bearing  all  the  weight  of  his  body 
on  the  neck  of  the  prince,  he  compelled  him 
to  silence ;  he  then  permitted  him  to  rise  and 
gave  him  his  blessing,  after  which  the  whole 
assembly  thundered  forth  the  Te  Deum." 

Peace  was  concluded  and  signed  on  the 
same  evening.  On  the  next  day,  Alexander 
celebrated  a  solemn  mass  at  St.  Mark'.=.  when 
Frederick,  with  a  rod  in  his  hand,  performed 
the  duties  of  a  beadle,  preceding  the  holy 
father,  and  causing  the  laity  to  stand  aside. 
He  remained  without  in  the  choir,  with  the 
German  prelates  and  clergy,  who  chanted  the 
service.  The  pope  mounted  the  pulpit  on 
the  left  side  of  the  altar,  and  delivered  a  ser- 
mon on  the  concord  which  had  been  esta- 
blished  between   the  two  powers^  touching 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


445 


with  pride  on  the  predominance  of  the  sword 
of  St.  Peter  over  that  of  Cicsar.  After  the 
sermon,  the  emperor  came  with  all  his  train 
to  prostrate  himself  before  the  pope,  and  to 
kiss  his  feet ;  anil,  fnially,  when  the  mass  was 
finished,  the  holy  father  mounted  his  horse  to 
return  to  his  palace,  and  Frederick  conducted 
him  on  foot,  holding  his  horse  by  the  bridle. 

Sly  days  afterwards,  peace  was  solemnly 
sworn  to  in  the  great  hall  of  the  doge's  palace. 
The  pope  presided  over  the  assembly  ;  he 
was  placed  on  a  throne  above  the  bishops  and 
cardinals  with  the  prince  on  his  right  hand. 
He  pronounced  a  long  discourse,  in  which  he 
testified  the  joy  he  felt  at  the  conversion  of 
the  emperor,  antl  declared  that  he  received 
him  with  open  arms  into  the  bosom  of  the 
church,  as  his  dear  son.  Frederick  in  turn 
rose  from  his  seat,  laid  off  his  imperial  man- 
tle, and  loudly  declared  that  he  admitted  he 
had  been  deceived  by  perfidious  counsellors, 
and  accused  himself  of  having  persecuted  the 
church  whilst  he  thought  he  was  defending 
it;  he  thanked  God  for  having  drawn  him 
from  this  error,  and  swore  that  he  abandoned 
the  schism;  that  he  recognised  Alexander  as 
the  lawful  head  of  the  church,  and  that  he 
granted  peace  to  the  king  of  Sicily  and  the 
people  of  Lombardy. 

The  holy  Gospels,  the  relics,  and  a  piece 
of  the  true  cross,  were  brought  in,  and  by 
orders  of  the  emperor,  Henry,  count  of  Dieppe, 
sware  by  the  soul  of  Frederick  Barbarossa, 
that  he  woulil  always  maintain  peace  with 
the  church,  that  he  would  grant  a  truce  of 
fifteen  years  to  the  king  of  Sicily,  and  another 
of  six  years  to  the  cities  of  Lombardy.  Twelve 
princes  of  the  empire  took  the  same  oath.  On 
their  side,  the  embassadors  of  Sicily  and  the 
deputies  of  the  Lombards,  swore  faithfully  to 
observe  the  conditions  of  the  treaty.  The 
holy  father  then  granted  absolution  to  the 
emperor,  and  entirely  freed  hira  from  the 
anathema. 

In  the  acts  which  relate  these  proceedings 
it  is  remarkable  that  Frederick  was  only  ab- 
solved from  the  e.xcommunication  which  he 
had  incurred  as  a  schismatic,  and  that  no  men- 
tion is  made  of  his  reinstatement  as  if  havhig 
been  deposed  by  the  Holy  See. 

After  the  oath  had  been  taken,  the  German 
lords  came  each  in  their  turn  to  abjure  the 
heresy  at  the  feet  of  the  pope  and  receive  ab- 
solution. Alexander  then  ainiounced  that  he 
would  hold  a  council  in  the  church  of  St. 
Mark's  on  the  Sunday  of  the  following  week. 
The  GeiTTian  and  Lombard  prelates,  the  car- 
dinals, emperor  and  doge,  with  the  Sicilian 
embassadors,  composed  this  magnificent  as- 
sembly. The  session  was  commenced  with 
the  prayers  from  the  litany  and  a  discourse 
from  the  holy  father.  After  this  all  the  as- 
sistants received  lighted  candles,  and  the  pon- 
tiff lanched  a  terrible  excommunication  Irom 
the  pulpit  against  those  who,  in  future,  should 
dare  to  trouble  the  peace  which  had  been 
sworn  to.  The  candles  were  then  all  extin- 
guished, and  the  assistants  sprang  to  their  feet 
exclaiming,  "Amen." 


Such  was  the  termination  of  this  bloody 
quarrel,  brought  on  by  the  insatiable  ambition 
of  an  emperor,  and  maintained  by  the  indomi- 
table pride  of  a  pope.  The  people,  the  pas- 
sive instruments  of  tyranny,  found  the  chains 
of  slavery  still  heavier. 

Before  leaving  Venice  the  prince  and  the 
pontiff  appointed  three  commissioners  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  restitution  of  the  territories  of  the 
church  which  the  emperor  had  conquered. 
Frederick  at  last  bade  farewell  to  Alexander 
and  returned  to  Cesena ;  the  pope  embarked 
with  his  train  on  the  Venetian  galleys  for  Le- 
panto ;  from  thence  he  went  to  Troja,  thence 
to  Beneventum,  and  finally,  to  Anagni,  which 
he  entered  on  the  14th  of  December,  1176, 
after  an  absence  of  a  year. 

The  anti-pope  Calixtus,  having  heard  of  the 
abjuration  of  the  emperor,  went  to  the  holy 
father  with  some  ecclesiastics,  and  in  the 
presence  of  cardinals  and  bishops  he  abjured 
the  schism,  took  the  oath  of  fidelity,  and  im- 
plored his  pardon.  Alexander  did  not  re- 
proach him,  but  declared,  on  the  contrary,  that 
the  Roman  church  received  him  with  joy  and 
rendered  to  him  good  for  evil;  he  afterwards 
treated  him  with  much  distinction  and  fre- 
quently admitted  him  to  his  table. 

The  .schism  was  not,  however,  entirely  ex- 
tinguished; and  some  obstinate  persons  who 
refused  to  recognise  the  holy  father,  chose  in 
the  room  of  Calixtus,  Landositino,  of  the  fami- 
ly of  the  Frangipani,  and  proclaimed  hira  by 
the  name  of  Innocent  the  Third.  A  Roman 
knight,  a  brother  of  Octavian,  took  him  under 
his  protection  and  gave  him  the  castle  of  Pa- 
lombra,  an  impregnable  fortress  which  he  had 
near  Rome.  But,  faithful  to  his  policy  of  cor- 
ruption, the  pontiff  ofiered  the  knight  a  large 
sum  for  his  castle  and  all  it  contained  ;  the 
unworthy  lord  accepted  the  oiler,  and  sold 
the  fortress.  Landositino  was  plunged  into 
the  dungeons  of  Cava,  subjected  to  frightful 
tortures,  and  finally  strangled.  Thus  was 
entirely  terminatetl  the  schism  which  had  for 
twenty  years  desolated  Italy,  France,  and  Ger- 
many. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  disorders  caused  by 
the  wars,  grievous  abuses  had  been  introduced 
into  the  church;  the  pope,  under  the  pretext 
of  putting  an  end  to  them,  convened  a  general 
council  at  Rome,  for  tlie  first  Sunday  of  Lent, 
in  the  year  1179.  In  his  letter  of  convocation, 
Alexander  informed  the  prelates  of  Italy  that 
their  presence  at  the  svnod  was  obligatory, 
which  did  not  render  them  more  punctual; 
for  all  knew  that  councils  were  only  a  mode 
employed  by  the  pope  to  levy  imposts  on 
bishops  and  abbots,  who  preferred  to  purchase 
with  golil  the  right  of  not  abandoning  their 
habits  of  sloth  and  debauchery.  On  the  ap- 
pointed day,  the  assembly,  though  not  very 
numerous,  assembled  in  the  church  of  the 
Lateran  ;  the  pope  was  placed  on  a  platform 
with  the  cardinals,  prefects,  senators,  and  con- 
suls of  Rome. 

Several  canons  were  made  to  prevent  schisms 
in  the  election  of  popes ;  they  decided  that  a 
vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  of  the  sa- 
38 


446 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


cred  college  was  indispensable  to  render  the 
promotion  regular;  and  that  an  ecclesiastic 
not  having  obtained  them,  who  should,  how^- 
ever,  assume  the  title  of  pope,  should  be  de- 
prived of  sacred  orders  and  be  excommuni- 
cated until  his  death,  as  well  as  all  those  who 
should  have  recognised  him.  It  was  then 
engaged  about  the  alienations  of  ecclesiastical 
property;  it  declared  those  prelates  suspend- 
ed from  sacred  orders  and  episcopal  dignity 
who  obliged  their  suffragans  and  their  dio- 
cesans to  pledge  the  revenues  of  the  churches 
to  give  them  fetes,  or  to  treat  them  magnifi- 
cently, when  they  made  their  pastoral  inspec- 
tion. In  fact,  many  of  the  bishops  traversed 
their  dioceses  several  times  a  year  with  all 
their  household,  and  caused  the  priests  and 
monks  to  lodge  them,  in  order  to  husband  their 
revenues. 

Among  the  difFerelit  canons  made  by  the 
council  of  the  Lateran,  the  last  is  unquestion- 
ably the  most  remarkable,  since  it  is  the  de- 
cree which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  terrible 
inquisition.  It  runs  thus:  ''The  church,  as 
the  holy  Leo  saith,  whilst  it  rejects  bloody 
executions  from  its  code  of  "morals,  does  not 
admit  them  in  practice,  because  the  fear  of 
corporal  punishments  sometimes  causes  sin- 
ners to  recur  to  spiritual  remedies.  Thus  the 
heretics  who  are  called  Catharins,  Patarins,  or 
Publicans  are  so  strongly  fortified  in  Gascony. 
among  the  Albigenses,  and  in  the  territory  of 
Toulouse,  that  they  no  longer  conceal  them- 
selves, but  openly  teach  their  errors;  it  is  on 
that  account  we  anathematise  them  as  well  as 
those  who  grant  them  an  asylum  or  protec- 
tion ;  and  if  they  die  in  their  sin,  we  prohibit 
oblations  being  made  for  them,  or  sepulture 
being  granted  to  them.  As  for  the  Braban^ons, 
Arraa'oneses,  Navarese,  Basques,  Cotterels, 
Triabechins,  who  respect  neither  churches  nor 
monasteries,  who  spare  neither  widow  nor 
orphan,  nor  age  nor  sex,  and  who  pillage  plains 
and  cities,  we  also  order  those  who  shall  re- 
ceive, protect  or  lodge  them,  to  be  denounced 
and  excommunicated  in  all  the  churches  at 
the  solemn  feasts ;  nor  do  we  permit  them  to 
be  absolved,  until  after  they  shall  have  taken 
up  arms  against  these  abominable  Albigen- 
ses. We  also  declare,  the  faithful  who  are 
bound  to  them  by  any  treaties,  to  be  entirely 
freed  from  their  oaths;  and  we  enjoin  on  them 
for  the  remission  of  their  sins,  to  be  wanting 
in  faith  to  these  execrable  heretics,  to  confis- 
cate their  goods,  reduce  them  to  slavery,  and 
put  to  death  all  who  are  unwilling  to  be  con- 
verted. We  grant  to  all  Christians  who  shall 
take  up  arms  against  the  Catharins,  the  same 
indulgences  as  to  the  faithful  who  take  the 
cross  for  the  holy  sepulchre." 

This  infamous  decree,  and  the  furious 
preachings  of  the  legates  of  the  Holy  See, 
excited  so  well  the  superstitious  zeal  of  the 
kings  of  England  and  France,  that  these  two 
monarchs  resolved  to  go  in  person  to  convert 
the  heretics  or  exterminate  them.  The  ad- 
vice, however,  of  some  lords,  prevented  these 
tyrants  from  directing  this  sacrilegious  cru- 
sade in  person  :  and  they  confided  the  execu- 


tion of  it  to  bishops,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Roman  legate,  Peter  Chrysogonus. 

In  his  history  of  the  Vaudois,  Periin  relates 
the  origin  of  this  heres}^,  and  of  the  terrible 
consequences  which  it  produced  in  the  south 
of  France.  "In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1160, 
the  penalty  of  death  was  pronounced  against 
those  who  did  not  believe  in  the  literal  inter- 
pretation of  the  sacramental  words  pronounced 
by  the  priest  over  the  eucharist :  that  is,  that 
Christ  was  really  in  the  host,  in  the  form  of 
bread  with  the  tenseness  and  whiteness  of 
that  substance,  yet  preserving  the  primitive 
grossness  and  form  of  his  body,  when  it  was 
placed  on  the  cross ;  it  was  also  ordered, 
under  the  same  penalty,  to  adore  the  host,  to 
tapestry  the  streets  on  the  days  of  procession, 
to  go  on  the  knees  before  it,  to  call  it  God,  and 
to  strike  the  breast. 

"  Peter  Valdo,  a  citizen  of  Lyons,  courage- 
ously opposed  these  new  superstitions;  he 
spoke  against  the  clergy  and  the  abominations 
which  had  crept  into  the  bosom  of  the  Roman 
church,  saying  that  the  pope  had  abandoned 
the  Christian  faith,  that  the  holy  city  was  the 
prostitute  Babylon,  the  sterile  fig-tree  which 
God  had  cursed,  and  that  they  must  no  longer 
obey  the  pope,  nor  believe  him  infallible  ;  that 
the  monkish  race  was  a  putrified  and  pesti- 
lential body ;  and  that  their  vows  were  the 
fatal  marks  of  the  beast  of  the  Apocalypse. 
He,  finally,  unmasked  the  knaveries  of  the 
priests,  showing  that  purgatory,  masses,  the 
dedication  of  churches,  the  veneration  of 
saints,  the  commemoration  of  the  dead,  were 
but  the  inventions  of  the  clergy  to  e,xtort 
money  from  the  simple.  Valdo  assembled  a 
numerous  audience  at  all  his  harangues,  as  he 
was  held  in  great  esteem  in  the  country  on 
account  of  his  learning  and  sincere  piety ;  it 
was  also  known  that  he  generously  expended 
in  alms  the  great  wealth  which  he  had  re- 
ceived from  his  patrimony.  He  taught  that 
the  materia]  bread  was  for  the  nourishment 
of  the  body,  but  that  the  soul  must  be  nou- 
rished by  humility  and  charity,  which  were 
the  sole  and  true  precepts  of  evangelical  ^mo- 
rality. He  preached  still  more  by  example 
than  words,  and  led  an  irreproachable  life, 
imitating  the  apostles,  reading  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures unceasingly,  and  searching  in  them  for 
the  true  means  of  safety. 

"A  merit  so  remarkable,  a  courage  so  sub- 
lime, could  not  fail  to  make  the  priests  his 
enemies ;  and  he  who  showed  himself  the 
most  desirous  of  his  destruction,  was  the  me- 
tropolitan of  Lyons,  who  was  called  John  des 
Belles  Maisons.  This  prelate,  exasperated  at 
Valdo  for  having  dared  to  instruct  the  people 
and  blame  the  vices  of  the  popes  and  clergy, 
sent  him  an  order  to  stop  teaching,  under  pe- 
nalty of  being  excommunicated  and  burned 
as  an  heretic.  The  philosopher  replied  to  the 
archbishop,  that  he  did  not  fear  punishment, 
and  that  he  should  continue  to  preach  against 
the  abominable  corruption  of  the  priests,  since 
he  would  rather  obey  his  conscience  and  his 
God,  than  a  prelate  who  was  an  atheist  and 
an  abominable  sodomite.     This  energetic  re- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


417 


ply  increased  the  rage  of  John,  who  at  once 
sent  guards  to  arrest  him  ;  but  the  people 
took  the  side  of  the  apostle,  and  drove  away 
the  minions  of  the  archbishop.  Valdo  re- 
mained three  years  in  Lyons,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  his  friends  j  but  Pope  Alexander, 
the  third  of  that  name,  who  was  very  cruel, 
though  he  affecteil  not  to  appear  so,  having 
been  informed  that  a  great  number  of  the 
Lyonese  doubted  his  sovereign  authority,  and 
fearful  lest  this  rebelHon  against  his  authority 
should  be  propagated  in  France,  anathema- 
tised Valdo  and  ail  his  adherents,  and  ordered 
John  des  Belles  Maisons  to  persecute  them  to 
their  complete  extermination.  The  reformers 
were  then  tracked  like  wild  beasts,  given  up 
to  the  most  frightful  punishments,  or  com- 
pelled to  quit  Lyons.  They  spread  in  bands 
through  the  south  of  France,  under  the  name 
of  Vaudois,  derived  from  Valdo,  their  chief; 
and  the  new  doctrines  soon  made  such  rapid 
progress  that  the  countship  of  Toulouse,  and 
all  the  people  of  the  southern  provinces,  de- 
clared against  the  pope  .  .  .  ." 

It  was  for  the  purpose  of  arresting  this 
religious  propagation  that  Alexander  fulmina- 
ted new  anathemas,  and  preached  a  crusade 
against  the  Vaudois.  At  his  call,  thousands 
of  fanatics  took  up  arms  and  marched  for 
Toulouse,  which  had  then  for  its  consul  a 
venerable  old  man  named  Peter  Durand,  who 
employed  his  great  wealth  in  succouring  the 
poor,  and  who  was  particularly  distinguished 
for  his  virtues  and  intelligence.  Regardless 
of  his  age  and  character,  the  legate,  John 
Chrysogonus,  seized  all  his  wealth  and  drove 
him  from  France,  prohibiting  him  from  re- 
turning until  he  had  served  the  poor  for  ten 
years  at  Jerusalem;  he  then  confiscated  the 
wealth  of  his  relatives,  and  of  those  who  had 
communicated  with  him ;  he  exiled  all  the 
opulent  citizens  because  they  were  suspected 
of  heresy,  and  put  several  to  the  torture  to  ob- 
tain denunciations. 

This  first  expedition  against  the  Vaudois 
appeared  to  be  terminated,  when  there  ar- 
rival another  legate  named  Henry,  a  former 
abbot  of  Clairvaux,  who  had  been  elevated 
to  the  cardinalate.  This  execrable  prelate  ad- 
vanced at  the  head  of  an  army  of  banditti, 
fortifietl  with  merciless  orders,  which  had  been 
sent  to  him  from  Rome.  Then  the  scaffolds 
were  erected,  the  instruments  of  torture  rent 
anew  the  victims  of  superstition  ;  then  reap- 
peared all  the  frightful  apparatus  which  the 
ministers  of  tyrants  carry  with  them.  Thou- 
Kuuisof  heretics,  old  men.  women,  and  children 
were  hung,  quartered,  broken  upon  the  wheel, 
or  burned  alive,  and  their  property  confiscated 
for  the  benefit  of  the  king  and  the  Holy  See. 


Whilst  Alexander  was  exterminating  the 
Vaudois  or  Albigenses,  for  refusing  to  recog- 
nise his  supreme  authority,  Scotland  had  re- 
volted on  account  of  the  promotion  of  the 
Doctor  John  to  the  bishopric  of  St.  Andrew's. 
King  William,  discontented  with  the  canons 
of  that  church  for  choosing  a  bishop  without 
his  permission,  refused  to  confirm  tlieir  can- 
didate, and  appointed  his  chaplain  Hugh  to 
govern  the  vacant  see.  John  complained  to 
the  court  of  Rome,  and  Alexander  imme- 
diately sent  Alexis,  a  sub-deacon  of  the  Ro- 
man church,  as  his  legate  to  Scotland,  who 
pronounced  an  interdict  against  the  bishopric 
of  St.  Andrew,  deposed  Hugh  as  an  intruder, 
and  re-instated  John  as  the  lawful  bishop  of 
the  diocese;  prohibiting  him,  however,  from 
taking  off  the  interdict  from  his  church  until 
the  king  had  consented  to  his  election. 

William  appeared  to  submit  to  force,  and 
approved  of  the  election  ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
excommunication  had  been  raised  he  ar- 
rested John,  and  sent  him  out  of  his  kingdom. 
Alexis  uttered  a  new  anathema,  which  was 
confirmed  by  the  pope  in  a  letter  to  the 
bishops  of  Scotland,  and  particularly  to  the 
clergy  of  St.  Andrew's.  Through  the  inspira- 
tion of  his  machiavelian  policy,  he  gave  the 
legation  of  Scotland  to  Roger,  the  metropoli- 
tan of  York,  who,  as  an  Englishman,  was  the 
natural  enemy  of  the  Scotch,  and  ordered 
him  to  excommunicate  William,  to  place  his 
kingdom  under  interdict,  and  to  depose  him 
if  he  persisted  in  not  leaving  John  in  free  pos- 
session of  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrew's.  Alex- 
ander commanded  the  prelate  to  return  to 
Scotland  and  not  to  abandon  his  see,  and  to 
merit,  if  necessary,  the  palm  of  martyrdom 
like  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury.  All  these 
steps  did  not  aid  the  cause  of  John ;  he  was 
a  second  time  driven  from  the  kingdom,  and 
prohibited,  under  penalty  of  death,  from  re- 
entering it.  It  is  true  that  the  prince  was 
immediately  excommunicated  and  Scotland 
placed  under  interdict. 

This  was  the  last  act  of  authority  exercised 
by  Alexander;  he  died  at  Citta  di  Castello, 
on  the  30th  of  August,  1181,  after  having  oc- 
cupied the  pontifical  chair  for  twenty-two 
years.  This  pope,  proud,  vindictive,  avari- 
cious, despotic,  and  cruel,  exhibited  a  cow- 
ardly hypocrisy  so  long  as  he  had  to  fear 
the  sword  of  the  emperor  Frederick  ;  but  as 
soon  as  he  saw  his  authoiity  affirmed,  he 
cast  aside  the  mask  and  revealed  himself 
as  imjjlacable  as  Gregory  the  Seventh,  and 
even  prouder  than  the  monk  Hildebrand. 
How  stranirel}'  blind  are  men  who  even  now 
prostrate  themselves  before  the  successors  of 
such  monsters. 


448 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


LUCIUS  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
SIXTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1182.] 

Elcclion  of  Lucius  the  Third — He  is  driven  out  of  Rome — He  makes  ivar  on  the  Romans  and 
re-enters  the  holy  city  at  the  head  of  an  army  —  He  begs  for  mercy  in  every  kingdom  of 
Europe  —  He  is  again  driven  from  Rome — tntervieiv  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor- 
Council  of  Verona  —  Infamous  decree  against  the  Vaudois  —  The  affairs  of  Scotland — New 
crusade  in  the  East  —  History  of  the  patriarchess  of  Jerusalem  —  Insolence  of  the  patriarch 
HeracUus — Death  of  Lucius. 


The  decrees  of  the  last  council  of  the  La- 
teral! had  definitely  devolved  the  elective 
power  on  the  cardinals.  The  clergy  and  peo- 
ple could  no  longer  interfere  in  the  elections 
by  a  negative  vote,  since  it  was  sufficient  for 
the  canonical  election  of  a  pope  to  have  united 
two  thirds  of  the  votes  of  the  electoral  college 
in  his  favour.  Thus  from  this  time  the  car- 
dinalship  became  the  first  and  most  important 
dignity  ni  the  church. 

In  their  haste  to  enjoy  their  new  preroga- 
tives, the  cardinals  did  not  even  wait  until  the 
funeral  rites  of  Alexander  were  terminated. 
On  the  day  succeeding  his  death,  they  secretly 
assembled  and  proclaimed  Ubaldo.  bishop  of 
Ostia,  sovereign  pontifi',  who  was  consecrated 
at  Veletri,  under  the  name  of  Lucius  the 
Third,  by  Theodin,  bishop  of  Porto,  and  the 
archpriest  of  Ostia.  The  new  pope,  born  in 
the  city  of  Lucca,  in  Tuscany,  was,  it  is  al- 
leged, very  ignorant,  and  possessed,  as  his  only 
merit,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  ceremonies 
of  the  church. 

See  why  this  unfit  prelate  obtained  the 
honours  of  the  pontificate.  The  cardinals 
having,  by  virtue  of  the  decree  which  con- 
ferred on  them  the  elective  power,  assembled 
to  choose  a  successor  to  Alexander,  pledged 
themselves  to  each  other  not  to  choose  a  pope 
from  without  the  college.  But  when  this  deter- 
mination was  agreed  upon,  it  produced  a  great 
difficulty ;  all  wished  to  be  popes,  and  no  one 
would  vote  for  any  other  than  himself.  Fin- 
ally, to  put  an  end  to  the  difficulty,  they  agreed 
to  choose  the  cardinal  Ubaldo,  as  being  the 
oldest,  and  consequently  as  likely  soon  to  give 
place  to  the  ambition  of  the  others.  Notwith- 
standing their  foresight,  Lucius  lived  four 
years. 

The  history  of  the  first  part  of  this  ponti- 
ficate is  barren,  and  offers  nothing  but  uncer- 
tainty ;  it  only  commences  to  be  interesting  to- 
wards the  year  1183.  Lucius  is  accused  of 
a  defect  which,  among  sovereigns,  is  a  mon- 
strous vice, — avarice.  On  the  very  day  of  his 
exaltation,  he  wished  to  reform  many  usages 
established  from  time  immemorial ;  for  ex- 
ample, the  custom  of  bestowing  largesses  on 
the  people,  at  the  periods  of  great  solemnities, 
and  the  distribution  of  clothing  and  food  on 
the  anniversaries  of  the  fete  of  the  popes,  or 
of  their  enthronement. 

The  Romans  fearing  lest  this  rapacious  old 


man  would  finish  by  hoarding  up  all  their 
wealth  in  the  vaults  of  the  palace  of  the 
Lateran,  revolted  against  him,  invaded  the 
pontifical  residence  with  arms,  pursued  him 
from  fortress  to  fortress,  and  compelled  him 
to  quit  Rome.  The  populace  then  spread 
themselves  through  the  country,  which  be- 
longed to  him,  pillaged  his  houses,  ravaged 
his  domains,  burned  his  palaces,  and  over 
their  smoking  ruins  all  swore  to  die  with  arms 
in  their  hands  rather  than  obey  the  infamous 
Lucius,  who  had  gone  to  beg  aid  from  the 
emperor  and  had  obtained  his  consent  that 
Christian,  the  metropolitan  of  Mayence,  should 
replace  him  on  the  Holy  See,  by  the  aid  of  a 
German  army.  This  prelate,  who  was  one  of 
the  most  skilful  generals  of  the  empire,  would 
have  doubtlessly  re-established  the  afi'airs  of 
the  pope,  if  death  had  not  arrested  him  on  his 
march.  After  the  loss  of  their  chief,  the  army 
dared  not  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  Italy,  stnd 
retreated  towards  Lombardy. 

Lucius  found  himself  a  second  time  de- 
prived of  all  assistance,  and  far  from  being 
in  a  condition  to  reduce  the  rebels,  he  per- 
ceived that  he  himself  would  soon  be  forced 
to  obey  them.  He  then  changed  his  tactics, 
and  not  being  able  to  conquer  the  people,  he 
resolved  to  corrupt  their  leaders.  As  he  had 
no  money,  he  sent  his  monks  to  all  the  courts 
of  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  it 
from  kings,  lords,  and  the  common  people. 
All  the  sums  which  he  thus  procured  were 
distributed  among  the  leaders  of  the  revolt, 
and  by  their  aid,  he  returned  in  triumph  to 
the  palace  of  the  Lateran.  Unfortunately  his 
success  was  not  of  long  duration  ;  the  Romans, 
irritated  at  his  wish  to  impose  an  extraordi- 
nary impost  on  the  city,  revolted  against  his 
fiscal  agents,  and  drove  them  away  with  the 
odious  pontiff". 

In  this  second  revolution  it  is  just  to  say, 
that  the  people  committed  horrible  excesses; 
churches  were  pillaged  and  burned,  nuns  vio- 
lated and  murdered  on  the  public  squares, 
priests  killed  by  stripes  and  mutilated  in  a 
shameful  manner,  and  finally,  historians  relate, 
that  after  sacking  a  convent,  they  tore  out  the 
eyes  of  all  the  monks,  covered  their  heads 
with  mitres  by  way  of  derision,  and  sent  them 
forth  in  a  procession,  bound  in  couples,  and 
led  by  a  lay  brother,  to  whom  they  had  saved 
one  eye. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


449 


Wlien  Lucius  was  informed  of  the  cruelties 
which  had  been  inflicted  on  his  clergy,  he 
broke  out  iato  a  transport  of  bitter  anger.  He 
fulminated  the  most  terrible  anathemas  against 
the  Romans,  and  immediately  retired  to  Ve- 
rona to  hasten  the  succours  which  the  empe- 
ror was  about  to  send  him.  Frederick  joined 
him  there,  and  renewed  to  him  the  oalh  of 
fidelity  and  obedience  which  he  had  taken  to 
Pope  Alexander,  under  the  condition  that  he 
would  giant  to  him  an  investiture  of  the 
estates  of  the  Countess  Matilda. 

A  council  was  immediately  convened  ;  and 
Lucius  officially  instructed  the  fathers  to  re- 
solve the  difficulties  which  had  formerly 
arisen  between  the  Holy  See  ami  the  empe- 
ror. But,  in  the  secret  instructions,  he  ordered 
them  to  dally  over  the  matters  in  relation  to 
the  heritage  of  the  Countess  Matilda,  and 
principally  to  occupy  themselves  with  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Romans,  and  with  the  mea- 
sures to  be  taken  to  reduce  them.  The  synod 
at  the  same  lime  rendered  a  decree  against 
the  heretics  of  Italy  and  France,  which  in- 
cluded the  principal  dispositions  of  the  coun- 
cil of  the  Lateran,  with  an  addition  of  cruel 
measures,  in  order  to  arrive  more  promptly 
at  the  extermination  of  people  who  refused 
to  submit  to  the  court  of  Rome.  "  Ecclesias- 
tical justice  could  not  show  too  much  rigour," 
said  Lucius,  in  this  bull,  '-in  annihilating  the 
heresies  which  now  multiply  in  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  provinces.  Already  has  Rome 
braved  the  thunders  of  the  Holy  See  ;  and  her 
intractable  people  have  dared,  from  hatred  of 
our  person,  to  lay  a  secrilegious  hand  upon 
our  priests.  But  the  day  of  vengeance  is  pre- 
paring; and,  until  we  can  return  to  those  Ro- 
mans the  evils  they  have  inflicted  on  us,  we 
excommunicate  all  heretics,  whatever  may 
be  their  appellation.  Among  others,  the  Ca- 
iharins,  the  Patarins.  those  who  falsely  call 
themselves  the  Humiliated,  or  the  Poor  of  Ly- 
ons, as  well  as  the  Passagins,  the  Josephins, 
the  Arnaudists ;  and,  finally,  all  those  wretches 
who  call  themselves  Vaudois,  or  enemies  of 
the  Holy  See.  We  strike  these  abominable 
.sectarians  with  a  perpetual  anathema  ;  we 
condenm  those  who  shall  give  them  shelter 
or  protection  to  the  same  penalties,  anil  who 
shall  call  themselves  Consoled,  Perfect  Be- 
lievers, or  by  any  other  superstitious  name. 

"  And  as  the  severity  of  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline is  sometimes  despised  and  powerless, 
we  order,  that  those  who  shall  be  convicted 
of  favouring  heretics,  if  they  are  clergy  or 
monks,  shall  be  despoiled  of  their  sacerdotal 
functions,  and  of  their  benefices,  and  shall 
be  abandoned  to  all  the  rigours  of  secular  jus- 
tice ;  if  laymen,  we  order  that  they  sutler  the 
most  horrid  tortures,  be  proved  by  fire  and 
sword,  torn  by  stripes,  and  burned  alive. 
We  add,  by  advice  of  the  bishops,  and  on  the 
remonstrances  of  the  emperor  and  the  lords, 
that  every  prelate  shall  visit,  several  times 
during  the  year,  either  in  person  or  by  his 
archdeacon,  all  the  cities  of  his  diocese,  and 
particularly  the  places  in  which  he  shall 
judge  that  the  heretics  hold  their  assemblies. 

Vol.  I.  3G 


They  shall  cause  the  inhabitants,  and  espe- 
cially the  old  men,  women,  and  children,  to 
be  seized.  They  shall  hiterrogBte  them  to 
know  if  there  are  any  Vaudois  in  their  country, 
or  people  who  hold  secret  assemblies,  and 
who  lead  a  life  diflering  from  that  of  the  faith- 
ful. Those  who  shall  hesitate  to  make  de- 
nunciations,  shall  be  immediately  put  to  the 
torture.  When  the  bishop  or  archdeacon 
shall  discover  the  guilty,  he  shall  cause  them 
to  be  arrested,  and  shall  exact  from  them  an 
abjuration  ;  or,  on  their  refusal,  shall  execute 
the  sentence  we  have  pronounced. 

"  We  order,  besides,  the  counts,  barons, 
rectors,  and  consuls  of  cities,  and  other  places, 
to  engage  by  oath,  in  accordance  with  the 
warning  of  the  bishops,  to  persecute  heretics 
and  their  accomplices,  when  they  shall  be  so 
required  to  do  by  the  church :  and  to  execute, 
with  all  their  power,  all  that  the  Holy  See  and 
the  empire  have  appointed  in  regard  to  the 
crimes  of  heresy  :  otherwise,  we  declare  ihem 
deprived  of  their  offices  and  dignities,  with- 
out the  power  ever  again  to  hold  any  employ- 
ment; and,  moreover,  they  shall  be  excom- 
municated for  ever,  and  their  property  placed 
under  interdict. 

"The  cities  which  shall  resist  our  orders, 
or  which,  having  been  warned  by  the  bishops, 
shall  neglect  to  pursue  the  heretics,  shall  be 
excluded  from  all  commerce  with  other  cities, 
and  shall  lose  their  rank  and  privileges.  The 
citizens  shall  be  excommunicated,  noted  with 
perpetual  infamy,  and  as  such  declared  unfit 
to  fill  any  public  or  ecclesiastical  function. 
All  the  faithful  shall  have  the  right  to  kill 
them,  seize  their  goods,  and  reduce  them  to 
slavery." 

After  the  reading  of  this  infamous  decree, 
the  council  heard  the  explanations  of  the 
Scotch  bishops,  John  and  Hugh,  the  same 
who  had  contended  for  the  .see  of  St.  An- 
drew's. The  pope  and  cardinals  decided 
that  neither  had  any  right  to  the  see,  as 
both  had  been  irregulaily  chosen  and  con- 
secrated, and  ordered  them  to  resign  the  title 
of  bishop  into  the  hands  of  Lucius.  A  new 
struggle  then  took  place  between  the  two 
titularies,  to  obtain  the  protection  of  the  holy 
father.  John  offered  Lucius  five  hundred 
pennies  of  gold,  provided  he  would  favour 
his  interests ;  Hugh  gave  him  two  thousand 
to  declare  lor  him  against  his  rival.  The 
pope  took  the  money  of  the  two  competitors, 
and  in  order  to  reconcile  them,  he  gave  to 
Hugh  the  see  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  to  John  the 
see  of  Dunkeld,  with  the  benefices  of  which 
King  William  had  deprived  him.  When  the 
two  prelates  returned  to  Scotland,  they  wi.<hed 
to  enter  into  the  possession  of  their  respective 
churches,  but  the  king  having  refused  to  re- 
store to  John  the  benefices  which  had  been 
granted  to  him  by  Lucius,  the  war  commenced 
between  the  two  rivals  for  the  see  of  St.  An- 
drew's, and  the  kingdom  was  again  troubled 
by  this  ridiculous  quarrel. 

In  the  east  the  affairs  of  the  Christians  were 
in  a  deplorable  state.  More  than  a  million  of 
men  had  been  buried  in  the  sands  of  Pales- 
38* 


450 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


tine,  and  the  price  of  so  many  sacrifices  was 
the  miserable  conquest  of  Jerusalem.  On 
one  hand,  dissolution  of  morals,  incapacity  of 
leaders,  and  a  want  of  soldiery,  left  the  Holy 
Land  without  defence.  On  the  other,  a  horri- 
ble leprosy  and  continual  sickness  rendered 
Baldwin  the  Fourth  incapable  of  defending 
his  new  subjects  against  the  enterprises  of  the 
infidels.  In  this  e.xtremity,  the  prince  deter- 
mined to  send  a  deputation  into  Italy  to  the 
pope,  and  to  the  Christian  kings,  to  lay  before 
them  the  misfortunes  of  the  East.  He  chose 
as  the  chief  of  this  embassy,  the  infamous 
Heraclius,  the  metropolitan  of  Jerusalem,  the 
same  who  had  been  elevated  to  this  important 
see.  notwithstanding  the  active  opposition  of 
William,  archbishop  of  Tyre.  This  latter 
wished  to  profit  by  ihe  circumstance,  to  go 
himself  to  Rome,  and  to  renew  his  accusa- 
tions before  the  pope,  demanding  the  deposi- 
tion of  Heraclius.  But  the  sacred  college 
and  the  pope,  already  won  by  gold,  refused 
even  to  hear  the  illustrious  metropolitan.  He, 
indignant  at  such  cowardice,  threatened  Lu- 
cius to  proclaim  through  all  the  courts  of 
Christendom  the  traffic  which  he  was  carrying 
on  in  ecclesiastical  dignities^  All  was  use- 
less ;  the  rich  presents  of  Heraclius  caused 
the  balance  to  declare  in  his  favour,  and  he 
was  solemnly  recognised  by  the  holy  father. 

Besoldus  thus  speaks  of  the  morals  of  He- 
raclius : — '•  This  patriarch  became  enamoured 
of  the  wife  of  a  tavern-keeper  named  Pascha 
de  Riven,  of  the  city  of  Napolis  in  Palestine, 
twelve  leagues  from  Jerusalem.  He  frequently 
mounted  his  horse  and  came  to  see  his  mis- 
tress, who  accompanied  him  to  the  patri- 
archal palace  ;  after  some  days  of  debauchery, 
he  sent  her  back  laden  with  presents,  in  order 
that  her  journey  might  not  be  too  displeasing 
to  her  husband.  The  latter,  however,  worn  out 
by  the  pleasantries  of  his  neighbours,  became 
enraged  at  his  wife,  and  threatened  to  put  her 
to  death,  if  she  did  not  cease  her  intercourse 
with  the  patriarch.  The  beautiful  tavern- 
keeper  informed  Heraclius  of  it,  and  the  next 
day  the  husband  was  found  dead  in  his  bed. 
La  Pascha,  then  came  to  reside  at  Jerusalem 
in  a  rich  palace,  which  she  publicly  inhabi- 
ted with  the  metropolitan.  When  her  lover 
preached  at  the  cathedral,  she  went  there  in 
the  equipage  of  a  queen,  followed  by  a  crowd 
of  servants,  more  richly  equipped  than  those 
of  the  princess  Sybilla,  the  sister  of  the  king; 
and  if  strangers  asked  her  people  what  was 
the  name  of  this  lady  they  boldly  replied,  the 
patriarchess, 

Heraclius  had  several  children  whom  he 
carried  about  with  him  publicly,  to  the  temple 
and  the  court.  It  is  even  related  that  one 
day,  in  full  council,  in  presence  of  the  king, 
the  barons,  and  the  generals,  one  of  the  ser- 
vants of  La  Pascha  came  to  announce  to  him 
that  she  had  been  delivered  of  a  boy. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  name  of  this  un- 
worthy priest,  in  the  name  of  Arnold,  grand 
master  of  the  Templars,  and  in  that  of  Roger, 
grand  master  of  the  Hospitallers,  that  the 
metropolitan  of  Raveiuia  exposed  to  the  coun- 


cil of  Verona  the  sad  state  of  the  eastern 
church;  and  besought  Lucius  to  permit  the 
Christians  of  the  West  to  go  to  the  succour  of 
the  Holy  Land.  Tlie  pope  evinced  very  favour- 
able dispositions  towards  the  embassadors; 
unfortunately  it  was  not  so  with  the  kings; 
they  showed  very  little  enthusiasm,  and  re- 
plied to  the  court  of  Rome,  that  the  welfare 
of  their  kingdoms  would  prevent  them  from 
engaging  in  an  enterprise  so  perilous  and  so 
long  as  a  crusade  in  Palestine.  In  fact, 
almost  all  of  them  had  wars  to  maintain. 
Frederick  Barbarossa  was  engaged  in  re- 
establishing his  authority  over  Italy;  Wil- 
liam, king  of  Sicily,  was  repulsing  the  efforts 
at  invasion  of  Andronicus  Comnenus,  emperor 
of  Constantinople ;  Philip  the  Second,  king 
of  France,  was  engaged  in  war  with  the  great 
vassals  of  the  crown  ;  Henry  the  Second,  king 
of  England,  was  also  detained  in  his  kingdom 
by  the  incessant  revolts  of  his  French  pro- 
vinces, which  wished  to  detach  themselves 
from  his  authority. 

Heraclius,  seeing  the  bad  success  of  his 
negotiations,  wished  to  make  a  last  effort,  and 
went  himself  to  Paris,  where  he  was  received 
with  great  distinction  by  the  king  and  young 
lords  of  the  French  court.  All  testified  to  the 
patriarch  their  desire  to  go  to  Jerusalem  ;  but 
the  wise  portion  of  the  prelates  and  nobles 
assembled  in  council,  and  decided  that  the 
sovereign,  who  was  not  yet  twenty  years  old, 
could  not  direct  a  crusade,  and  should  remain 
in  his  kingdom.  Philip  then  promised  the 
eastern  embassadors  to  cause  the  holy  war  to 
be  preached  in  his  kingdom,  and  to  furnish 
from  his  own  purse  the  necessary  sums  for 
the  equipment  and  support  of  those  who 
should  take  up  arms. 

After  this  first  rebuff,  the  metropolitaa  went 
to  England,  persuaded  that  king  Henry  could 
not  refuse  to  undertake  the  defence  of  his 
relative,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  especially  as 
he  had  to  fulfil  his  promise  made  to  the  Holy 
See  of  going  to  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Land,  to 
expiate  the  murder  of  Thomas  Becket. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  patriarch,  Henry  con- 
voked the  lords  and  prelates  of  his  kingdom 
in  the  chy  of  London,  to  deliberate  on  the 
question  of  a  crusade.  The  council  decided 
unanimously  that  the  king  should  not  leave 
his  kingdom,  and  must  be  content  with  per- 
mitting his  subjects  to  take  the  cress.  Henry 
then  rose  and  said  to  the  patriarch:  "Since 
our  counsellors  have  decided  that  our  presence 
is  indispensable  for  the  safety  of  our  people, 
we  will  follow  their  decision,  because,  above 
all  other  things,  a  prince  owes  himself  to  his 
nation ;  we,  however,  promise  to  give  from 
our  treasury  fifty  thousand  marks  of  silver,  to 
succour  our  cousin,  the  king  of  Jerusalem." 

This  new  disappointment  exasperated  He- 
raclius. "  Prince,"  he  exclaimed,  '•  what  mat- 
ters your  munificence  to  us  ?  we  have  more 
gold  than  we  want ;  and  if  we  have  come  so 
far,  it  was  to  seek  for  a  man  capable  of  making 
war  on  the  infidel,  and  we  hoped  to  find  him 
here.  Since  our  anticipations  have  been  de- 
ceived by  him  who  ought  to  reahse  them, 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


451 


learn  in  your  turn,  prince,  that  if  you  have 
reigned  until  this  time  with  glory,  it  is  be- 
cause the  pope  reserved  you  for  his  defence  j 
but,  as  you  abandon  his  cause,  know  that  he 
also  will  abandon  you,  and  that  injustice  shall 
at  length  punish  your  ingratitude  and  your 
crimes.  Have  you  forgotten,  perjured  vassal, 
that  you  have  violated  the  fidelity  you  owe  to 
the  king  of  France,  your  sovereign?  Do  you 
no  longer  remember,  infamous  prince,  the  as- 
sassination of  the  holy  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury ?" 

At  these  bitter  reproaches,  made  before  all 
his  court,  Henry  changetl  colour,  and  his 
countenance  exhibited  the  expression  of  con- 


centrated rage;  but  Heraclius.  without  ap- 
pearing alarmed,  continued:  "Do  not  think 
I  fear  the  effects  of  the  fury  which  I  see  on 
your  face;  strike  me  as  you  struck  holy 
Thomas,  and  let  my  martyrdom  teach  the 
world  that  you  are  more  cruel,  and  more  im- 
pious than  the  Saracens."  Such  was  the  dread 
which  the  priests  of  that  period  inspired,  that 
the  king,  unable  longer  lo  restrain  himself, 
and  not  daring  to  avenge  himself,  quitted  the 
assembly. 

Pope  Lucius  died  at  Verona,  before  the  re- 
turn of  Heraclius  to  Italy,  on  the  24th  of  No- 
vember, 1185,  and  was  interred  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  that  city. 


URBAN  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
SEVENTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1185.] 

Election  of  Urban — The  emperor  Frederick  decrees  the  title  of  Camr  to  hix  son — Quarrel  be- 
tivecn  the  pope  and  the  emperor — Complaints  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  against  the  jjope — Letters 
of  the  German  bishops  to  the  holy  father — Urban  is  driven  from  Verona — Conquests  of  the 
Sultan  Saladin — Death  of  the  pope. 


After  the  death  of  Lucius,  the  Milanese 
Hubert  Crivelli,  cardinal  of  St.  Lawrence  and 
metropolitan  of  Milan,  was  proclaimed  pontiff 
by  the  sacred  college  by  the  name  of  Urban 
the  Third. 

Frederick  Barbarossa,  who  thought  to  as- 
sure to  himself  rule  over  Italy,  ])rotlted  by 
the  moment  of  respite,  which  the  death  of  the 
pope  and  the  care  of  a  new  election  gave  him, 
to  marry  his  son  Henry  to  Constance,  the  pos- 
thumous daughter  of  King  Roger  and  niece 
of  William  the  Second,  who  then  reigned  over 
the  states  of  Sicilv.  This  marriasre  was  cele- 
brated at  Milan,  on  the  27th  of  January.  1186. 
and  at  the  conclu.sion  of  the  ceremony,  the 
emperor  had  been  crowned  by  the  metropoli- 
tan of  Vieinie — Henry  by  the  patriarch  of 
Aquileia,  and  Constance  by  a  German  prelate. 
Frederick  then  solemnly  declared  his  son 
Ca;sar.  and  yielded  the  imperial  authority  to 
him. 

But  Urban,  who  in  the  interval  had  been 
chosen  pope,  immediately  exhibited  intentions 
hostile  to  the  emperor,  and  refused  to  confirm 
the  declaration  of  the  sovereign  and  the  mar- 
riage of  the  young  prince,  under  the  pretext 
that  this  union  threatened  to  weaken  the 
Roman  church.  He  reproached  Frederick 
with  his  usurpation  of  the  property  bequeath- 
ed by  the  countess  Matilda  to  St.  Peter;  he 
accused  him  of  robbing  the  heritages  of 
bishops  after  their  death,  and  of  obliiriii^  their 
successors  to  live  by  extortion;  and  he  finally 
threatened  him  with  excommunication  if  he 
did  not  restore  to  the  monasteries  of  men  and 
women  the  wealth  of  which  he  had  deprived 
them  by  falsely  accusing  them  of  employing 
it  in  debauchery.  All  these  imputations,  how- 


soever founded,  were  but  pretexts  to  justify 
the  conduct  of  the  pope;  the  true  motive  of 
his  opposition  arose  from  a  sentiment  of  cupi- 
dity. Urban  coveted  for  the  Holy  See  the  in- 
heritance of  King  William,  who  was  childless 
and  appeared  lo  be  threatened  by  a  speedy 
death. 

Henry  was  still  in  Lombardy,  at  the  time 
of  the  declaration  of  the  holy  father:  he  im- 
mediately retraced  his  steps,  resolved  to  take 
vengeance  on  the  court  of  Rome.  He  first 
attacked  a  bishop  whom  he  met  on  his  way, 
and  imperiously  demanded  from  him.  from 
whom  he  had  received  his  investiture  :  on  his 
reply  that  he  had  been  ordained  by  Urban, 
because  he  possessed  neither  regalia,  offices, 
nor  a  royal  court,  the  young  prince  became 
excited  against  him  and  ordered  him  to  be 
beaten  by  his  people.  He  treated  still  more 
cruelly  a  legate  who  was  carrying  considera- 
I  ble  sums  to  Rome ;  he  seized  the  money  by 
force,  and  in  order  to  punish  the  ecclesiastic 
for  the  resistance  he  made,  ordered  his  nose 
to  be  cut  off. 

Urban  immediately  cited  the  emperor  and 
his  son  to  Rome  to  be  judged  by  a  council, 
threatening  them  with  a  terrible  excommuni- 
cation if  they  refused  to  obey  his  orders.  The 
,  two  princes  not  only  treated  the  threats  of 
]  Urban  wilhcontempt,  but  even  redoubled  their 
severity  towards  \hc  prelates  who  sustained 
the  side  of  the  pontiff ;  they  blocf<ed  up  the 
passages  of  the  Alps  and  the  neighbouring 
countries,  to  prevent  ecclesiastics  from  pass- 
ing from  Italy  into  Germany,  and  to  arrest 
the  Germans  who  wi.shed  to  go  to  the  court 
of  Rome:  they  then  convened  all  the  prelates 
and  lords  of  the  kingdom  at  Geilenhusen. 


452 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


Frederick  opened  the  sitting  by  the  follow- 
ing speech :  "  Lords  and  bishops,  you  know 
in  what  manner  we  have  been  attacked  by 
the  Holy  See,  without  having  failed  in  the 
respect  and  obedience  we  had  promised  it. 
The  ambitious  pontiff  however,  who  now 
governs  the  church,  wishes  to  ruin  the  privi- 
leges of  our  empire  in  order  to  snatch  the 
crown  with  more  ease  from  the  brows  of  our 
successors.  He  maintains,  that  no  layman, 
■whatever  be  his  dignity,  should  take  the  tithes 
which  the  people  pay  to  those  who  serve  the 
altar;  that  it  is  unjust  that  kings  should  claim 
the  right  of  advowson  over  lands  or  vassals 
of  the  church,  and  that  prelates  alone  should 
freely  enjoy  them.  All  these  exactions  are 
contrary  to  the  usages  of  the  empire,  and  we 
do  not  believe  we  can  change  our  ancient 
customs  to  obey  a  priest ;  still,  to  show  how 
desirous  we  are  of  peace  with  the  pope,  we 
will  conform  to  the  decisions  which  tliis  as- 
sembly shall  make." 

Then  Conrad,  metropolitan  of  Mayence, 
rose  and  replied  to  the  prince,  "  this  is  a 
grave  affair,  my  lord,  and  it  is  not  possible 
lightly  to  resolve  it.  We  will  first  write  to 
the  pontiff  to  exhoit  liim  to  pSace  and  to  ren- 
der you  justice."  All  the  fathers  acceded  to 
this  proposal,  and  a  synodical  letter  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  holy  father. 

In  this  writing,  the  bishops  of  Germany 


exhibited  their  profound  affliction  at  the  dis- 
cord which  had  broken  out  between  the  altar 
and  the  throne;  they  reproached  the  pontiff 
with  the  abuse  which  he  made  of  his  autho- 
rity in  wishing  to  annihilate  the  imperial 
power  by  depriving  it  of  its  privileges,  and  of 
encroaching  daily  upon  its  prerogatives. 

Notwithstanding  the  lively  discontent  which 
Urban  exhibited  at  the  letter  of  the  prelates 
of  Germany,  he  remained  none  the  less  firm 
in  his  resolve  to  excommunicate  the  emperor, 
and  he  cited  him  to  appear  at  Verona  to  be 
judged  and  anathematised.  This  new  step 
of  the  holy  father  was  unsuccessful;  the  in- 
habitants of  Verona,  alarmed  at  the  conse- 
quences which  might  result  to  them  from  the 
enmity  of  Frederick,  drove  the  pope  from 
their  city,  and  obliged  him  to  take  refuge  in 
Venice.  In  this  city  Urban  regained  all  the 
advantages  of  his  position  ;  he  even  formed  a 
league  against  the  emperor,  and  organised  an 
army  destined  for  the  succour  of  the  Holy  Land. 
But  at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  com- 
mencing to  embark  his  troops,  he  learned  that 
the  sultan  Saladin,  after  having  defeated  the 
Christian  army  and  made  Guy  of  Lusignan  pris- 
oner on  the  day  of  Tiberiade,  had  seized  the 
city  of  Jerusalem,  and  subjugated  all  the  king- 
dom. Urban  was  so  chagrined  that  he  fell 
sick  and  died  three  days  afterward,  on  the 
19th  of  October,  1187. 


GREGORY  THE  EIGHTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
EIGHTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1187.] 

Election  of  Gregory — Consternation  of  Christians  at  the  news  of  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem — 
The  pope  negotiates  a  peace  beticeen  the  Genoese  and  the  Pisans — His  death. 


Albert,  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  order  of 
St.  Lawrence  and  chancellor  of  the  Roman 
church,  succeeded  Urban  the  Third,  by  a  can- 
onical election.  He  was  enthroned  by  the 
name  of  Gregory  the  Eighth,  and  consecrated 
on  the  following  Sunday. 

Bene  ven  tum  was  the  country  of  the  new  pope, 
who,  by  the  testimony  of  historians,  was  learn- 
ed, eloquent,  and  of  pure  and  austere  morals. 
Like  his  predecessor,  he  was  much  distressed 
by  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  ;  so  that,  as  soon 
as  he  was  seated  on  the  pontifical  throne,  he 
sent  his  monks  through  all  Christendom,  to 
preach  new  crusades  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
animating the  zeal  of  the  faithful  for  the  de- 
liverance of  the  Holy  Land.  By  his  orders, 
the  missionaries  promised  plenary  indulgences 
to  those  who  should  undertake  the  journey  to 
Palestine,  or  furnish  money  for  the  wants  of 
the  crusaders. 

With  Gregory  the  Eighth,  as  with  his  pre- 
decessors, religion  was  not  the  only  motive 
which  determined  him  to  aid  the  Christians 
of  the  East  against  the  infidel.     The  hope  of 


re-establishing  in  Asia  the  authority  of  the 
Holy  See,  and  of  weakening  the  Greek  church, 
acted  most  powerfully  on  the  minds  of  these 
popes.'  Besides,  this  was  the  policy  which 
had  been  steadily  pursued  at  Rome  since  the 
reign  of  Gregory  the  Great. 

A  contemporary  author,  Roger  Hoveden, 
relates,  that  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  pro- 
duced so  terrible  an  effect  on  all  mind.s,  that 
the  Roman  cardinals  pledged  themselves  in 
writing  to  renounce  their  concubines,  not 
to  ride  on  horseback,  and  not  to  follow  the 
chase  as  long  as  the  Holy  Land  remained  in 
the  powerof  the  infidel.  Several  even  engaged 
to  take  the  cross  and  to  go  at  the  head  of  the 
pilgrims  into  Syria.  But,  adds  he,  this  increase 
of  devotion  only  lasted  a  few  days,  and  all 
soon  resumed  their  ordinary  way  of  living. 

Gregory  was  diverted  from  his  grief  by  a 
difficult  negotiation,  which  he  undertook  in 
order  to  reconcile  the  Pisans  and  Genoese, 
two  rival  and  very  powerful  cities.  His  in- 
tention was  to  unite  the  forces  of  these  two 
republics,  for  the  purpose  of  pushing  the  war 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


453 


in  Palestine.  Already  had  his  overlures  been 
favourably  listened  to  by  the  Pisans;  he  had 
even  decided  them  to  join  all  their  land  and 
sea  forces  to  those  of  the  crusaders;,  already 
had  the  Genoese  sent  embassadors  to  him  to 
treat  of  peace  with  the  inhabitants  of  Pisa, 


>  when,  most  fortunately  for  them,  he  was  at- 
tacked by  a  violent  fever  which  retarded  the 
j  disasters  of  a  new  crusade.  He  died  after  a 
!  sickness  of  some  days,  on  the  16th  of  Decem- 
j  ber,  1187,  having  filled  the  Holy  See  for  two 
I  months. 


CLEMENT  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY- 
NINTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1188.] 

Election  of  Clement — Treaty  between  the  pope  and  the  Romans — Clement  pursues  the  plans  of  his 
predecessors  in  regard  to  the  Holy  Land — Fanaticism  of  the  Croises  oj  France,  England,  and 
Germany — Rules  for  the  new  crusade — Saladin^s  dime — Termination  of  the  Scottish  schism — 
Privilege  granted  to  the  kin^  of  Scotland — Quarrel  between  the  pope  and  the  king  of  France — 
Death  of  Clement  the  Third. 


Paul,  or  Paulinus,  cardinal  bishop  of  Pales- 
trina,  and  a  Roman  by  birth,  was  chosen  to 
succeed  Gregory  the  Eighth,  by  the  name 
of  Clement  the  Third.  The  ceremony  of  his 
consecration  took  place  at  Pisa,  some  days 
after  the  death  of  his  predecessor.  He  was 
scarcely  seated  on  the  throne  of  St.  Peter, 
when  his  first  care  w-as  to  put  an  end  to  the 
quarrel  between  the  people  of  Rome  and  the 
Holy  See.  For  this  purpose,  he  sent  deputies 
to  the  senate  antl  the  prefect,  to  make  arrange- 
ments in  regard  to  the  city  of  Tusculum, 
which  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  discord,  and 
of  which  the  popes  claimed  possession,  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  city.  His  embassadors  dis- 
played great  skill  in  the  negotiation ;  they 
showed  to  the  Romans  the  loss  they  would 
sustain  if  the  popes  were  obliged  to  choose 
another  city  for  their  residence ;  they  be- 
sought them  not,  themselves,  to  bring  about 
the  destruction  of  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
Christian  world,  by  refusing  to  receive  the 
pontiff  as  their  father,  and  unconditionally. 
The  Romans  did  not  fall  into  the  snare  which 
was  laid  for  them,  knowing  too  well  that  the 
presence  of  the  pontiff  produced  discords 
and  disasters  among  them.  They  however 
replied,  that,  in  order  to  obtain  peace,  they 
would    receive   Clement  within    their  wall.s, 

f)rovided  he  would  aid  thom  to  repair  the 
osses  suffered  in  their  wars  with  the  Holy 
See  on  account  of  Tusculum. 

The  pontiff,  firiding  it  impossible  to  deceive 
the  Roman.s,  finally  acceded  to  their  just  de- 
mands, and  signed  the  treaty  which  was  im- 
posed on  him. 

All  things  being  arranged  on  both  sides, 
Clement  made  his  dispositions  to  return  to  the 
pontifical  city.  Before,  however,  removing 
from  Pisa,  he  did  not  lose  sight  of  his  project 
of  a  crusade  ;  he  assembled  the  cili/ens  in 
the  great  church,  delivered  a  long  exhortation 
to  them  to  determine  them  to  undertake  the 
journey  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  even  gave  the 
standard  of  St.  Peter  to  Hnbald,  the  metro- 
politan of  that  diocese,  whh  the  title  of  legate  ; 


after  this  he  took  the  road  to  Rome,  into 
which  he  made  a  triumphal  entry. 

As  soon  as  the  holy  father  had  regulated 
the  administration  of  the  church,  he  sent  the 
cardinal  Henry,  bishop  of  Albano,  with  Wil- 
liam of  Tyre,  in  the  capacity  of  legates  to 
France,  to  put  an  end  to  the  quarrels  between 
kings  Henry  and  Philip,  and  to  determine 
these  two  princes  to  unite  their  armies  to 
march  to  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem.  This 
embassy  was  entirely  successful.  Henry  and 
Philip  were  reconciled.  They  received  the 
cross  from  the  hands  of  the  legates,  and 
pledged  themselves  to  go  to  Palestine.  A 
great  number  of  the  lords  of  both  nations 
following  their  example,  took  the  cross.  The 
French  adopted  a  red  cross,  the  English  a 
green  one. 

Whilst  the  metropolitan  of  Tyre  was  fanati- 
cising  the  people  of  France,  the  other  legate, 
Henry  of  Albano,  had  separated  from  his  col- 
league, and  had  gone  to  Germany  for  the  same 
purpose.  Thus,  on  the  very  day  on  which 
King  Philip  assembled  his  parliament  at 
Paris  to  demantl  subsidies  for  the  succour  of 
Jerusalem,  Frederick  held  a  solemn  diet  at 
Mayence,  in  order  to  publish  the  crusade. 
The  emperor  took  the  cross  with  his  son 
Frederick,  the  duke  of  Suabia,  and  sixty-eight 
of  the  most  powerful  lords  of  his  empire.  The 
rendezvous  for  their  departure  was  fixed  at 
Ratisbon,  on  the  day  of  the  festival  of  St. 
George,  in  the  following  year;  but  in  order  to 
prevent  the  disorders  which  the  movements 
of  such  large  bodies  of  troops  produced,  by 
the  conjunction  of  all  the  vagabonds  who  fol- 
low armies,  under  the  name  of  sutlers,  valets, 
and  others,  all  who  could  not  go  to  the  ex- 
pense of  three  marks  of  silver  were  prohi- 
bited, underpenalty  of  excommunication,  from 
joining  the  crusaders. 

Henry  of  England  levied  in  his  kingdom  an 
e.vtraordinary  impost  of  one  tenth  ol  the  reve- 
nues and  moveables  of  all  his  subjects,  ex- 
cepting only  arms,  horses,  the  dress  of  the 
officers,  as  well  as  the  books,  garments,  and 


454 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


benefices  of  ihe  clergy.  This  impost,  known 
by  the  name  of  Saladin's  dime,  was  collected 
ill  each  parish  by  a  monk,  nominated  by  the 
bishop,  and  assisted  by  a  sergeant  of  the 
king,  and  a  templar  or  hospitaller.  The  king 
of  England  made,  besiiies,  tlifferent  ordinances 
for  the  discipline  of  his  army — pro.scribingdice 
and  other  games  of  chance,  interdicting  to 
his  knights  furs  of  ermine,  martin,  and  sable, 
scarlet  clothing,  and  ornamented  dresses.  He 
also  prohibited  the  oificers  from  blaspheming, 
from  having  more  than  two  kinds  of  meat 
served  at  table,  and  from  introducing  women 
into  the  camp,  with  the  exception  of  some  old 
and  homely  sutlers.  He  authorised  the  cru- 
saders who  had  before  pledged  their  property, 
to  exact  from  their  creditors  one  year's  reve- 
nues, without  this  new  debt  bearing  interest 
during  the  expedition;  finally,  he  permitted 
his  subjects,  even  the  ecclesiastics,  to  mort- 
gage their  estates  for  three  years,  and  re- 
served for  those  who  died  during  the  journey 
the  right  of  disposing  of  the  money  which 
they  carried  with  them,  in  favour  of  their  do- 
mestics, or  for  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Land. 

Philip  Augustus  levied  a^so  the  Saladin 
dime  in  his  kingdom,  and  made  ordinances 
similar  to  those  of  king  Henry. 

Whilst  France,  England,  and  Germany  were 
thus  preparing  for  a  war  in  Palestine,  the  pope 
was  engaged  in  extinguishing  the  schism  which 
separated  Scotland  from  the  Holy  See.  For 
this  purpose  he  wrote  to  king  William  and 
the  clergy  of  that  kingdom:  "We  inform 
you,  my  lord,  that  Hugh  not  having  presented 
himself  at  the  court  of  Rome,  as  he  was  or- 
dered by  Urban  the  Third,  we  have  declared 
him  deprived  of  the  bishopric  of  St.  Andrew's, 
and  have  suspended  him  from  all  ecclesiasti- 
cal functions,  freeing  his  vassals  from  the  oath 
of  fitlelily  and  obedience.  We  also  order,  in 
conformity  with  the  holy  canons,  which  pro- 
hibit churches  from  being  left  without  pastors, 
that  the  chapter  of  St.  Andrew  shall  imme- 
diately assemble  to  choose  a  worthy  priest ; 
and  we  recommend  to  it  bishop  John,  whose 
merit  we  -know.  We  exhort  you,  our  dear 
son,  to  give  your  aid  to  this  prelate.  ..." 
William,  after  having  taken  cognizance  of 
these  letters,  was  reconciled  to  the  bishop 
John  ;  he  surrendered  to  him  the  see  of  Dun- 
keld,  with  its  revenues,  on  comlition  that  he 
would  renounce  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrew  in 
fa.vour  of  Hugh.  This  determination  of  the 
king  smoothed  all  difficulties;  John  was  in- 
stalled in  his  bishopric,  and  Hagh  went  to 
Rome  to  be  reinstated  in  his  see.  He  received 
absolution  from  the  pope,  and  died  on  his  re- 
turn. 

William,  desiring  to  guarantee  his  kingdom 
for  the  future  from  the  censures  of  English 
metropolitans,  sent  deputies  to  Italy,  instruct- 
ed to  negotiate  with  Clement  for  a  bull  which 
should  declare  the  church  of  Scotland  sub- 
ject to  that  of  Rome,  and  independent  of  that 
of  England.  The  brief  rendered  on  this  oc- 
casion terminated  with  the  following  clause  : 
"From  henceforth  the  church  of  Scotland 
shall  be  immediately  freed  from  its  depend- 


ency on  the  Holy  See.  and  no  pope,  or  legate 
'a  latere.'  shall  be  permitted  to  lanch  or 
publish,  interdict  or  excommunication  upoi; 
this  kingdom.  No  one,  for  the  future,  shall 
be  able  to  exercise  the  functions  of  a  legate, 
unless  he  is  a  Scotchman,  or  taken  from  the 
body  of  the  Roman  church;  and  differences 
which  shall  break  out  in  regard  to  benefices 
situated  in  Scotland,  shall  not  be  brought  be- 
fore any  foreign  tribunal,  except  that  of  Rome, 
and  by  way  of  appeal." 

This  dispute  of  the  Scotch  and  English  vvaa 
scarcely  settled,  when  a  terrible  war  broke 
out  between  Henry  the  Second  and  Philip,  on 
account  of  the  sister  of  the  latter,  whom  Rich- 
ard, the  son  of  the  king  of  England,  wished 
to  espouse  in  despite  of  his  father.  At  first 
the  young  prince  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  body  of  French  troops  and  made  war  on 
his  father,  who,  fearing  the  ambition  of  his 
son,  obstinately  refused  to  consent  to  this  mar- 
riage. Philip  then,  finding  the  war  protracted, 
took  arms  on  the  side  of  Richard ;  and  the  two 
people,  French  and  English,  murdered  each 
other  for  a  quarrel  of  their  tyrants.  As  all 
the  money  of  the  Saladin  dime  was  swallowed 
up  in  these  interminable  disputes,  the  holy 
father,  fearful  of  seeing  his  hopes  of  the  cru- 
sades vanish,  sent  a  new  legate,  John  of 
Anagni,  who  obtained  an  agreement  from  the 
princes  to  meet  at  Ferte  Bernard,  to  confer 
upon  a  mode  of  terminating  the  war. 

In  this  interview,  Philip  exhibited  an  in- 
conceivable pride ;  he  imperiously  demanded 
the  accompli-shment  of  the  marriage  arrested 
between  his  sister  Alice  and  Richard,  count 
of  Poictiers ;  demanding,  besides,  that  the 
prince  should  do  homage  to  him  for  his  estates, 
and  that  his  brother  John  should  assume  the 
cross.  Henry  of  England  offered  to  espouse 
Alice  to  the  younger  of  his  sons:  but  Philip 
rejected  this  proposal  with  insolence,  and  con- 
ducted himself  in  outrageous  language;  when 
the  legate  interposing  between  the  two  mo- 
narchs.  threatened  Philip  to  excommunicate 
him,  and  to  place  his  kingdom  under  interdict, 
if  he  refused  the  conditions  offered  by  the 
king  of  England. 

Philip  then  protested  against  the  decree  of 
the  legate,  maintaining  that  it  did  not  pertain 
to  the  Roman  church  to  censure  a  kingdom, 
when  the  prince  was  repressing  his  rebellious 
vassals,  and  avenging  the  injuries  done  his 
crown;  and  soon  the  war  recommenced  more 
furiously  than  ever.  Henry  the  Second  hav- 
ing died  at  Chinon  soon  after,  his  son  Richard 
succeeded  him  and  restored  peace  to  the  two 
nations. 

The  two  kings  were  then  able  to  accomplish 
the  vow  they  had  made  to  conquer  the  Holy 
Land ;  they  embarked  together  towards  the 
end  of  the  year  1190,  and  sailed  for  Syria, 
where  Frederick  Barbarossa  had  already  ar- 
rived at  the  head  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  men.  This  unfortunate  emperor  was 
drowned  in  crossing  the  river  Salef,  orCydnus. 
Henry  the  Sixth,  his  son  and  successor,  im- 
mediately quitted  the  army  of  the  crusaders, 
and  came  to  Italy,  to  receive  the  crown  from 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


455 


the  hands  of  the  pope,  and  to  claim  at  the 
same  time  the  succession  of  William  the  Good, 
king  of  Sicily,  who  died  without  children.  On 
his  route,  he  learned  that  Clement  the  Third, 
attacked  by  a  severe  malady,  had  rendered 


his  last  siph  on  the  28th  of  March,  1191.— 
This  pontiff.  i,Mfted  with  great  political  skill, 
had  re-established  during  his  reign  the  supre- 
macy of  the  altar  over  the  throne  and  had  paved 
the  way  for  his  successors  to  rule  all  Europe. 


CELESTIN  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTIETH 

POPE. 

[A.  D.  1191.] 

Election  of  Celestin  —  His  consecration  is  deferred — Coronation  of  the  emperor  Henry  the 
Sixth — Exhumation  of  the  dcwl  body  of  Tancred — Frightful  punishment  of  Count  Jourdain 
— Return  of  King  Philip  to  France  —  Troubles  in  England  —  Complaint  against  the  bishop 
of  Ely — The  Norinans  refuse  to  receive  the  legates  of  the  pope — The  king  of  England  made 
prisoner  bij  the  duke  of  Austria — New  crusade — Quarrel  between  the  courts  of  Rome  and 
France  —  Death  of  the  emperor — Sordid  avarice  of  the  pope  and  cardinals — Philip  repudi- 
ates Ingcrburge — Death  of  Celestin. 

compact  which  united  two  implacable  tyrants. 
Celestin  sacrificing  the  unfortunate  inhabitants 
of  Tusculum  to  the  interests  of  his  ambition, 
destroyed  their  city  to  its  foundation,  and 
drove  away  its  citizens.  Henry,  on  his  side, 
abandoned  himself  to  all  the  in.^pirations  of 
his  ferocious  character.  He  passed  over  in:o 
Apulia,  to  punish  it  for  having  named  another 
as  king  of  Sicily,  to  the  prejudice  of  his  pre- 
tended rights;  he  caused  the  dead  body  of 
Tancred,  whom  he  regarded  as  an  usurper,  to 
be  e.xhumed,  and  following  the  example  of 
the  infamous  pontiff  Stephen  towards  Formo- 
sus.  he  caused  his  head  to  be  cut  ofT  by  the 
executioner  !  His  revenge  was  not  arrested  by 
a  sacrilege.  The  young  William,  the  son  of 
Tancred,  was  condemned  to  have  his  eyes 
burned  out  by  a  hot  iron,  and  this  unfortunate 
youth  had  his  natural  jjarts  torn  ofi'  in  his  pre- 
sence. Finally,  this  monster,  this  unchained 
tiger,  wishing  to  stifle  the  spirit  of  rebellion 
by  frightening  his  enemies,  invented  an  atro- 
cious punishment,  which,  until  his  time,  no 
tyrant  had  yet  conceived.  A  Count  Jourdain, 
one  of  the  Norman  counts,  took  up  amns  to 
dispute  with  him  a  fief  which  belonged  to  his 
family:  Henry  having  .seized  him  by  trea- 
chery, condemned  hmi.  in  derision,  to  die  upon 
a  burning  throne.  The  count  was  bound  by 
chains  on  a  bed  of  heated  iron,  and  crowned 
with  a  diadem  of  burning  silver,  which  \\as 
fastened  on  his  head  !  ! 

!      Whilst  the  empiMor  Henry  was  ravaging 
Calabria,   Apulia,    and   Sicily,    the   kings  of 
France  and   England  were  leading  their  ar- 
mies  on    the   shores   of  Syria.     These   two 
princes,  who  before  the  death  of  Henry  the 
Second  appeared  to  be  united  in  an  indissolu- 
ble friendship,  soon  became  im])Iacable  ene- 
mies.    This  division  was  caused  on  the  part 
of  Philip  by  his  opposition  to  the  mas.«acre 
of  the  inhabitants  of  INIessina,  whom  the  Eng- 
:  lish  army  wished  to  put  to  the  sword  ;  on  the 
I  part  of  Richard  by  his  refu-sal  to  ratify  his  en- 
,  gagement  contracted  with  Alice,  of  France, 


Two  days  after  the  death  of  Clement,  car-  ' 
dinal  Hyacinth  was  chosen  sovereign  pontiff. 
He  was  a  Roman  by  birth,  and  was  eighty-five 
years  olil  when  he  reached  the  papacy.  He 
was  enthroned  by  the  name  of  Celestin  the 
Third:  but,  before  being  ordained,  the  sa- 
cred college  decided  that  a  treaty  of  peace 
should  be  preliminarily  made  with  Henry  the 
Sixth,  and  that  he  should  oblige  the  prince  to 
make  a  composition  with  the  Romans,  for  the 
restitution  of  Tusculum. 

Celestin  having  given  his  adhesion  to  this 
measure,  a  deputation  was  .sent  to  the  king  of 
Germany,  to  claim  the  restoration  of  Tuscu- 
lum and  of  the  other  fortresses  near  Rome, 
promising,  tlial  on  this  condition  the  pope 
would  crown  Henry  emperor  of  Italy.  The 
king  consented  to  this  arrangement,  and  the 
emba.ssadors  returned  with  this  reply  :  "  You 
perceive,  holy  father,  that  I  occupy  your  es- 
tates with  my  army  ;  I  can  ravage  your  faims, 
your  vineyards,  and  your  olive  plantations; 
do  not  then  put  off  my  consecration ;  since, 
instead  of  injuring  you,  I  pledge  myself  to 
do  honour  to  your  city,  obey  your  holiness, 
and  pay  you  a  tribute" 

Celestin  replietl  to  the  king,  that  he  accept- 
ed his  proposals  of  alliance,  and  immediately 
made  prejiarations  to  proceed  to  his  ordination, 
fixing  on  Easter  Monday  for  the  consecration 
of  the  emixM'orand  the  empress  Constance,  his 
wife.  The  following  was  the  ceremony : — 
The  holy  father  was  seated  on  his  throne, 
with  the  imperial  crown  deposited  at  his  feet ; 
Henry  approached  the  ai)o.stolic  chair,  and 
kneeled  to  receive  the  diadem ;  the  pope, 
without  rising,  placed  it  on  the  brows  of  the 
monarch  ;  he  then  knocked  it  off  with  his  foot, 
wishing  to  figure  by  this  action  that  the  Holy 
See  was  the  sole  dispenser  of  thrones,  and 
could  at  its  pleasure  make  or  unmake  em- 
perors. Henry  having  bowed  his  head  in  sign 
of  assent,  the  cardinals  lifted  up  the  crown 
and  placed  it  anew  upon  his  head. 

Thus  was  accomplished  the   sacrilegious 


456 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


and  by  his  marriage  with  Berengaria,  the 
daughter  of  the  king  of  Navarre. 

On  their  arrival  in  the  Holy  Land,  the  princes 
no  longer  dissimnlated  the  feelings  of  hatred 
which  actuated  them,  and  their  discord  took 
the  character  of  open  hostility.  Philip  had 
declared  for  the  marquis  of  Montserrat,  and 
had  recognised  him  as  king  of  Jerusalem,  to 
the  detriment  of  Lusignan.  Richard  imme- 
diately took  the  part  of  Lusignan,  against  the 
king  of  France,  and  Leopold,  duke  or  marquis 
of  Austria,  who,  in  the  absence  of  the  emperor 
of  Germany  had  remained  in  command  of  his 
troops,  and  had  joined  Philip  to  avenge  him- 
self for  an  insult  of  the  English  monarch. 
These  divisions  soon  disorganized  the  Chris- 
tian army,  and  caused  them  to  lose  sight  of 
the  objects  of  the  crusade. 

Phillip,  attacked  by  a  sickness  which  caused 
his  nails  and  hair  to  fall  off.  was  forced  to  aban- 
don his  troops  and  return  to  Europe.  He  em- 
barketl  for  Otranto  where  he  arrived  on  the 
10th  of  October,  1191  ;  from  thence  he  went 
to  Rome,  where  he  was  received  with  honour 
by  Pope  Celestin,  who  released  him  from  his 
vow,  bestowing  on  him  the  emblems  of  a  pil- 
grim, the  palm  branch  and  the  cross.  The 
prince  then  took  leave  of  the  holy  father  and 
continued  his  route  to  Paris,  where  he  arrived 
during  the  Christmas  festivities. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  Philip,  Duke 
Leopold  followed  his  example,  and  returned 
to  Germany.  Richard  alone  remained  in  Syria, 
and  performed  prodigies  of  valour  ;  but  his 
courage  was  only  of  assistance  to  his  glory, 
for  his  absence  caused  him  even  to  lose  the 
kingdom  of  England,  rent  by  the  factions  of 
the  earl  of  Morlay  and  of  Geoffrey,  metropoli- 
tan of  York.  These  two  lords,  availing  them- 
selves of  the  absence  of  the  king,  formed  a 
powerful  party  against  William,  bishop  of  Ely, 
chancellor  of  the  kingdom  and  legate  of  the 
Holy  See,  and,  in  this  capacity,  invested  with 
the  supreme  power.  They  constrained  him 
to  quit  Great  Britain  and  take  refuge  in  Nor- 
mandy. His  enemies  even  pushed  their  bold- 
ness so  far  as  to  send  embassadors  to  the  Holy 
See  to  complain  of  him,  and  to  have  their  re- 
bellion sanctioned.  Notwithstanding  the  ac- 
cusations brought  against  William,  Celestin 
refused  to  condemn  him ;  he  drove  his  de- 
tractors from  Rome  and  sent  this  reply  to  the 
English  prelates: 

"  King  Richard  being  absent  on  the  service 
of  God,  we  are  compelled  to  take  his  kingdom 
under  our  protection.  Having  been  apprised 
that  John,  earl  of  Morlay,  and  some  other 
disturbers  have  risen  against  his  authorit)',  and 
have  even  driven  from  England  our  venerable 
brother,  William,  bishop  of  Ely,  we  order  you 
to  assemble  and  excommunicate  all  the  guilty, 
to  the  sound  of  the  bells  and  with  lighted  can- 
dles; we  also  interdict  divine  service  in  all 
the  estates  of  these  criminals,  until  they  shall 
come  to  Rome  to  implore  our  pity." 

An  express  was  also  sent  into  the  East  to 
Richard,  to  inform  him  of  the  troubles  which 
were  desolating  his  kingdom.  The  prhice 
hastened  to  conclude  a  truce  of  three  years 


with  Saladin,  and  embarked  on  his  return 
to  Europe.  Unfortunately  he  encountered  a 
tempest  in  the  Adriatic,  and  stranded  on  the 
shores  of  Venice.  This  misfortune,  which  re- 
tarded his  arrival  in  his  kingdom,  detennined 
him  to  take  the  land  route  and  traverse  the 
provinces  of  the  duke  of  Austria  in  the  dis- 
guise of  a  trader.  During  his  journey  he  was 
denounced  by  a  priest  and  arrested  by  his 
enemy  the  duke,  who  kept  him  as  a  prisoner 
at  Vienna,  and  then  sent  him  to  the  emperor. 
Henry  the  Sixth.  Richard  finally  obtained 
his  liberty  by  paying  a  ransom  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  marks  of  silver,  and  con- 
tinued on  his  journey.  But  his  brother,  John 
Lackland,  assisted  by  the  king  of  France,  had 
already  seized  on  the  crown  of  England,  and 
Richard  of  the  Lion  Heart  was  obliged  to  re- 
conquer his  states. 

During  the  following  year,  died  the  Sultan 
of  Egypt  and  Syria,  the  celebrated  Saladin, 
whose  sword  had  been  so  redoubtable  to  the 
Christians.  This  illustrious  conquerer  left 
several  sons,  heirs  of  his  power,  but  not  of  his 
courage  and  talents.  His  death  revived  the 
ambition  of  the  Holy  See.  Celestin  then  con- 
ceived the  hope  of  reconquering  the  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem,  and  caused  a  new  crusade  to  be 
preached  in  France  and  Germany.  Cardinal 
Gregory,  the  legate  of  the  pope  in  Germany, 
convened  a  general  diet  at  Worms,  and  spoke 
with  so  much  eloquence  in  favour  of  the  holy 
sepulchre,  that  a  great  number  of  prelates, 
lords,  and  magistrates  determined  to  take  the 
cross;  the  emperor  himself  wished  to  com- 
mand the  expedition  in  person,  and  would 
have  done  it  if  wise  counsels  had  not  diverted 
him  from  it. 

Some  time  after,  Henry  at  length  received 
the  chastisement  due  his  crimes.  He  died, 
poisoned  by  his  wife  Constance  and  a  lord  of 
his  court,  the  paramour  of  that  princess.  This 
tragical  end  excited  no  regret,  so  much  hatred 
had  this  monster  raised  against  himself  by  his 
cruelties  and  exactions.  Celestin  who  had 
excommunicated  him  on  account  of  the  cap- 
tivity of  Richard,  prohibited  his  dead  body 
from  being  interred  ;  and  only  departed  from 
his  severity,  on  condition  that  his  successor 
should  restore  to  the  Holy  See  the  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  marks  of  silver  which 
the  king  of  England  had  paid.  He  had  even 
the  audacity  to  demand  for  the  coronation  of 
the  son  of  Henry  a  thousand  marks  of  silver 
for  each  of  his  cardinals,  and  moreover  com- 
pelled the  empress  Constance  to  swear  upon 
the  consecrated  host,  that  the  young  prince 
was  really  of  the  blood  of  the  emperor,  and 
not  the  fruit  of  her  adulteries. 

At  this  same  period,  Philip  Augustus  es- 
poused Ingerburge,  the  daughter  of  Valdemar 
the  First,  and  sister  of  Canute  the  Sixth, 
king  of  Denmark.  All  writers  of  the  time 
agree  in  describing  this  princess  to  have  been 
as  beautiful  as  virtuous.  According  to  Mezerai, 
she  had  a  secret  defect  which  rendered  her 
unfit  for  marriage.  Immediately,  from  the 
very  first  night  of  his  marriage,  Philip  sepa- 
rated  from    her,   and    demanded   from  his 


HISTORY  OF   THE  POPES. 


457 


bishops  a  sentence  of  separation.  The  judg- 
ment was  pronounced  by  the  metropolitan  of 
Rheims,  the  legate  of  the  pope,  and  by  some 
prelates  who  were  moved  to  join  in  the  di- 
vorce, under  a  pretext  of  relationship  in  the 
sixth  degree.  This  unfortunate  princess  was 
confined  in  the  convent  of  Soissons,  and  her 
husband  left  her  in  such  destitution,  that  she 
was  reduced  to  sell  her  household  vessels, 
and  even  her  clothing  for  her  subsistence. 
The  king  of  Denmark  complained  to  the  Holy 
See  against  his  son-in-law,  and  obtained  an 
annulment  of  the  sentence  of  separation.  Ce- 
lestin  even  ordered  the  king  to  take  Inger- 
burge  back  again,  and  to  treat  her  as  Queen 
of  France  :  prohibiting  him,  under  penalty  of 
excommunication,  from  contractinga  new  alli- 
ance. Plxilip,  without  disquieting  himself 
about  the  threats  of  the  pontiff,  married  the 
daughter  of  the  duke  of  Bohemia. 

Notwithstanding  this  opposition  to  his  or- 
ders, Celestin  did  not  lanch  an  anathema 
against  the  king,  perhaps  because  he  had 
abandoned  the  cause  of  the  princess — perhaps 


t  because,  worn  down  by  years  and  infirmities, 
he  thought  of  nothing  but  dying.  Towards 
the  festival  of  Christmas  (1197)  he  assembled 
the  cardinals,  and  besought  them  to  choose 
John  of  St.  Paul,  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  order 
of  St.  Prisque,  in  whose  favour  he  oflered  to 
abdicate.  But  as  all  the  cardinals  coveted  the 
apostolical  chair  for  themselves,  they  refused 
to  accede  to  the  wishes  of  Celestin,  under  the 
pretext,  that  it  was  irregular,  and  contrary  to 
the  canons,  for  a  jwntiff  to  lay  down  the  tiara. 
Some  days  afterA\ards,  on  the  8th  of  January, 
1198,  the  holy  father  died  at  the  age  of  nine- 
ty-three years,  having  governed  the  church 
for  six  years  and  nine  months. 

During  the  twelfth  century,  we  have  seen 
the  popes  arrogate  to  themselves  the  right  of 
disposing  of  the  imperial  crown,  and  deposing 
princes.  It  was  from  this  time  that  the  power 
of  the  Holy  See  could  be  regarded  as  really 
constituted )  and  it  chiefly  owed  its  new  influ- 
ence to  the  organi;:ation  of  the  college  of  car- 
dinals, which  found  itself  charged  with  the 
election  of  the  chiefs  of  the  church. 


THE    THIRTEENTH   CENTURY. 


INNOCENT  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTY- 
FIRST  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1198.J 

Reflections  of  the  historian  Mathciv  Paris  on  the  church  in  the  thirteenth  century — Cardinal  Lo- 
thaire  chosen  pope  by  the  name  of  Innocent  the  Third — His  history  before  his  election — 
Commencement  of  his  pontificate — Treaty  between  the  pope  and  the  queen  of  Sicily — Innocent 
preaches  a  new  crusade — He  places  France  under  interdict — Pretensions  of  the  pope  in  regard 
to  the  elections  of  emperors  of  the  tcest — Innocent  erects  himself  into  an  arbiter  of  peace  and 
war  betu-een  all  powers — Foundation  of  the  Latin  empire  of  Constantinople  and  temporary 
reunion  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches — Coronation  of  the  king  of  Arragon — Coronation 
of  the  emperor  Otho — Massacre  of  the  tinfortunatc  Albigenses — St.  Dominick  orders  the  burn- 
ing of  Bezicrs — The  pope  bestows  England  on  the  king  of  France — The  king  of  England 
declares  himself  a  vassal  of  the  pope — Council  of  Lateran — Curious  adventure  of  St.  Francis 
of  Assise — The  English  and  French  refuse  to  obey  the  pope — Death  of  Innocent  the  Third — 
Reflections  on  his  character. 


A  MONK  of  St.  Alban's  named  Mathew 
Paris,  who  wrote  the  cotemporaneous  history 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  thus  speaks  of  the 
church:  "The  httle  faith  which  still  existed 
under  the  last  popes,  and  wliich  was  but  a 
spark  of  the  divine  fire,  was  extinguished 
during  this  century — all  belief  is  ainiiliilated  ; 
simony  is  no  longer  a  crime ;  usury  is  no  lon- 
ger disgraceful,  and  greedy  priests  can  devour 
without  sin  the  substance  of  the  people  and 
the  lords.  Evangelical  c^iarity  has  now  taken 
its  flight  towards  the  heavens;  ecclesiastical 
liberty  has  disappeared,  religion  is  dead,  and 
the  holy  city  has  become  an  infamous  prosti- 
tute, whose  shamclessness  surpasses  that  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  Every  country  is 
abandoned  to  the  rapacity  of  monks  in  rags, 
ignorant  and  unlettered,  who  fall  nix)n  the 

Vol.  I.  3  H 


provinces  armed  with  Roman  bulls,  and  with 
effrontery  adjudge  to  themselves  all  the  reve- 
nues granted  by  our  ancestors  for  the  subsist- 
ence of  the  poor  and  the  exercise  of  hospitality. 
Those  who  resist  this  dilapidation  of  the 
public  money,  or  who  refuse  a  part  of  their 
demand  to  the  envoys  of  the  pope,  are  im- 
mediately stricken  with  the  thunders  of  ana- 
thema. 

''Thus the  pontifl"3  not  only  e.xercise an  odi- 
ous tyranny,  which  is  still  the  more  insup- 
portable, as  their   agents,  like   true   harpies 

■  armed  with  iron  talons,  not  oidy  snatch  even 
the  last  rags  which  cover  the  fa'ilhful  to  main- 
tain the  luxury  of  the  court  of  Rome,  but  even 
overthrow  the  traditions  of  the  first  ages  of 
the  church,  and  drive  away  from  the  domains 

iof  St.  Peter  the  citizens  who  directed  them  to 
39 


458 


HISTORY   OF    THE    POPES. 


replace  them  with  wretches,  called  Roman 
farmers,  who  leave  the  work,  of  the  fields  to 
pillage  the  inhabitants  of  the  provinces,  and 
who,  in  hopes  of  meriting  the  good  graces  of 
the  holy  father,  send  to  Rome  the  spoils  of  the 
unfortunate.  Thus  do  we  deplore  such  scan- 
dals, and  say,  in  the  grief  of  our  soul,  that  we 
would  rather  die  than  assist  at  this  sight  of 
horror  and  abomination." 

As  soon  as  the  burial  honours  were  rendered 
to  pope  Celestin  the  Third,  the  cardinals  se- 
cretly assembled  in  a  place  called  Septa  Solis, 
in  order  to  confer  with  more  freedom  upon 
the  election  of  a  newpontilT;  they  first  assist- 
ed at  the  mass  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  they  then 
saluted  one  another  and  gave  to  each  the  kiss 
of  peace.  After  this,  they  proceeded  to  an 
election  and  named  the  tellers.  On  the  fiist 
ballot,  the  votes  were  proclaimed,  in  a  loud 
voice,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  a  majority 
of  the  votes  were  given  to  the  cardinal  Lo- 
thaire  who  was  but  thirty-seven  years  old. 
His  age  was  discussed  at  length  and,  finally, 
they  agreed  to  choose  him  chief  of  the  church, 
and  at  the  tenth  ballot  he  had  two  thirds 
of  the  votes,  and  was  proclaimed  pope  by 
the  name  of  Innocent  the  Third.  The  elec- 
tion having  been  proclaimed,  the  clergy  and 
people  conducted  him,  with  acclamations  of 
praise,  to  the  church  of  Constantine,  and  from 
thence  to  the  palace  of  Lateran. 

Lothaire  was  the  son  of  Trasimond,  and,  ac- 
cording to  some  authors,  was  descended  from 
the  counts  of  Segni.  His  childhood  was  pass- 
ed in  Anagni,  his  native  city,  and  it  was  only 
when  he  had  attained  the  age  of  sixteen  that 
his  mother,  named  Clarina,  a  noble  Roman 
dame,  conducted  him  to  the  holy  city  and  en- 
trusted him  to  skilful  masters  to  finish  his  edu- 
cation. Having  become  a  man,  he  went  to  Paris 
to  hear  the  learned  dissertations  of  the  profes- 
sors of  the  University  of  that  capital ;  finally, 
he  returned  to  Bologna  to  enter  into  orders. 
At  length  Lothaire  was  named  canon  of  St. 
Peter's  at  Rome.  Gregory  the  Eighth  con- 
ferred on  him  the  subdeaconate,  and  Clement 
the  Third  made  him  a  cardinal  deacon  of  the 
order  of  St.  Sergius.  As  he  was  only  a  dea- 
con when  he  reached  the  papacy,  they  w^ere 
obliged  to  defer  his  consecration,  in  order  to 
confer  on  him  the  other  ecclesiastical  degrees. 

After  his  consecration,  he  received  the  oath 
of  fidelity  and  liege  homage  from  Peter,  pre- 
fect of  Rome,  who  bestowed  on  him  a  mantle 
as  the  investiture  of  his  charge,  a  right  which 
belonged  to  the  emperor.  This  proud  begin- 
ning was  followed  by  a  series  of  political  acts 
-which  presaged  his  future  plans  for  Italy.  He 
visited,  in  person,  the  dutchy  of  Spoleto,  Tus- 
cany, and  the  other  provinces  which  were 
formerly  dependent  on  the  Holy  See,  in  order 
to  bring  them  back  to  his  authority,  affecting 
all  the  time  not  to  be  engaged  in'  temporal 
affairs,  and  repeating,  unceasingly,  that  sen- 
tence of  scripture — '•'  Whoso  toucheth  pitch 
shall  defile  himself,"  he  loudly  declared  him- 
self an  enemy  to  the  venality  of  offices,  in 
order  to  render  himself  popular ;  and  even 
fixed  the  salary  of  the  officers  of  his  court. 


prohibiting  them  from  exacting  any  thing 
from  the  faithful.  He  abolished  the  office 
of  door-keeper  of  the  chamber  of  the  notaries, 
in  order  that  the  access  to  it  should  be  free ; 
and  caused  to  be  taken  away  from  the  palace 
of  the  Lateran,  as  unworthy  of  pontifical  ma- 
jesty, a  counter,  at  which  were  sold,  on 
account  of  the  pope,  vessels  of  plate,  and 
where  they  trafficked  in  ornaments  and  false 
stones.  He  set  in  action  the  sittings  of  the 
public  consistory,  whose  use  was  almost 
abolished.  Three  times  a  week  he  gave  a 
solemn  audience  to  all  the  faithful  who  had 
complaints  to  bring;  and  in  the  judgments  he 
pronounced  as  supreme  arbiter,  he  had  no 
regard  to  the  quality  of  persons  nor  their  for- 
tunes, but  only  to  the  justice  of  their  claims. 

As  he  anticipated,  his  reputation  for  im- 
partiality soon  drew  to  his  tribunal  appeals  in 
all  important  or  celebrated  cases;  for  it  must 
be  said,  that  this  great  ostentation  of  equity 
did  not  take  its  rise  only  in  a  love  for  justice, 
but  flowed  more  particularly  from  an  insati- 
able thirst  for  authority  and  despotism,  as 
appeared  in  the  case  of  Andreas,  son  of  Belas 
the  Third,  king  of  Hungary,  who  was  obliged 
to  go  to  the  Holy  Land  under  penalty  of  excom- 
munication, and  the  loss  of  the  inheritance  of 
his  father.  It  was  with  the  same  arrogance 
that  he  demanded  the  restitution  of  the  prison- 
ers whom  the  emperor  had  made  in  the  last 
war,  and,  in  particular,  that  the  metropolitan 
of  Salerno  should  be  set  at  liberty.  His  le- 
gates audaciously  signified  to  the  prince  that 
they  would  grant  him  twenty-four  hours  to 
restore  the  captives,  if  he  did  not  wish  his 
whole  kingdom  to  be  placed  under  interdict; 
at  the  same  time  they  sent  to  the  prelates  of 
Spires,  Strasburg,  and  Worms  different  bulls, 
which  ordered  these  bishops  to  aid  the  mea- 
sures of  the  Holy  See,  and  to  join  themselves 
to  the  abbot  of  Sutri,  and  to  St.  Anastasius. 
abbot  of  the  order  of  Citeaux,  who  were  com- 
missioned to  foment  the  troubles  in  Germany. 

Thus  Pope  Innocent,  faithful  to  the  maxim 
of  the  church,  that  the  hatred  of  the  priest 
should  be  eternal  and  implacable,  continued 
to  pursue  Barbarossa  in  the  per.son  of  his 
grandson  Frederick,  as  his  predecessors  had 
done  in  the  person  of  the  emperor  Henry. 
On  the  day  of  the  death  of  that  prince,  the 
the  young  Frederick  was  hurled  from  his 
throne  by  two  powerful  factions — the  one  led 
by  Philip,  his  uncle  and  tutor,  who  had 
caused  himself  to  be  chosen  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans, the  other  by  Otho,  duke  of  Sa.xony, 
who  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  empe- 
ror, under  the  pretext  that  his  competitor  was 
incapacitated  from  possessing  the  crown  be- 
cause he  was  excommunicated.  Then  Philip, 
who  was  deeply  interested  in  being  absolved 
from  the  anathema  pronounced  against  him, 
approached  the  holy  father,  and  by  means  of 
money,  obtained  his  absolution.  The  price 
of  this  felony,  besides  the  payment  of  large 
sums,  had  been  the  promise  of  setting  at 
liberty,  without  a  ransom,  the  archbishop  of 
Salerno  and  the  prelates  who  were  his  fel- 
low prisoners.    This  done,  the  bishops  of  Sutri 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


459 


proceeded  in  his  pontifical  habit,  with  the 
ceremony  of  the  coronation  of  Philip. 

Ten  years  of  civil  war  was  tlie  result  to 
Germany  of  the  astute  policy  of  the  court 
of  Rome.  The  pope  did  not  fail  to  profit  by 
these  deplorable  divisions,  to  recover,  by 
temporal  and  spiritual  arms,  Romaj;;iia,  the 
March  of  Ancona,  the  dutchy  of  Spoleto,  and 
the  patrimony  of  the  countess  Matilda.  After 
this  he  tiespoiied  the  .senate  and  prefects  of 
Rome  of  all  their  rights,  and  sought  to  render 
the  pontifical  see  independent  of  the  authority 
of  the  emperors. 

During  this  year  (1198)  the  empress  Con- 
stance, the  widow  of  Henry  the  Sixth,  died 
at  Palermo ;  appointing  Innocent  the  Third 
regent  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  and  leaving 
him  enormous  sums  to  assure  him  the  reim- 
bursement, in  advance,  of  all  the  expense 
he  would  be  obliged  to  be  at  in  defence  of 
the  estates  of  her  son.  This  regency  was  so 
profitable  to  the  holy  father,  that  after  exer- 
cising it  for  one  year,  Innocent  had  not  only 
repaired  the  losses  of  his  treasury,  but  had 
been  able  to  lay  by  enough  money  to  under- 
take an  active  war  against  the  neighbouring 
princes,  for  the  purpose  of  re-establishing  his 
authority  over  the  old  domains  of  the  church. 

The  pope,  content  with  his  actions  in  Italy, 
■wished  to  perform  the  same  beyond  it.  He 
published  new  crusades,  and  sent  his  legions 
of  monks  through  all  parts  of  Europe,  to  ex- 
cite the  fanaticism  of  the  nations.  As  usual, 
France  was  the  first  to  range  itself  beneath 
the  flag  of  Christ,  notwithstanding  the  active 
opposition  of  king  Pliilip,  who  was  excom- 
municated. Thanks  to  the  skill  of  Peter 
of  Capua,  the  legate  of  the  Holy  See,  the 
prince  was  constrained  to  obey  the  church 
and  make  peace  with  England,  in  order  to 
send  his  best  troops  into  the  Holy  Land.  A 
part  of  his  army  went  to  I\Iarseilles,  and  the 
rest  to  Venice,  for  the  purpose  of  passing  over 
into  Syria  more  expeditiously  ;  it,  however, 
turned  out  otherwise,  on  account  of  the  failure 
of  vessels  and  money.  Fortunately,  the  doge 
of  Venice  consented  to  place  the  galleys  of 
the  republic  at  the  service  of  the  crusaders, 
provided  they  would  aid  him  in  chastising 
the  pirates  of  the  Adriatic,  and  would  be- 
siege Zara,  a  maritime  city  belonging  to  the 
Venetians,  but  which  had  been  conquered 
by  the  Hungarians.  This  arrangement  was 
agreed  to;  and  without  farther  delay,  the 
French  invested  Zara  and  carried  it  by  storm, 
without  troubling  themselves  concerning  the 
prohibition  of  the  pope,  who  had  taken  it 
under  his  protection.  This  event  did  not 
make  much  noise,  and  the  conquerors  were 
excused  on  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money 
to  the  court  of  Rome,  to  raise  the  excom- 
munication they  had  incurred  by  making  war 
against  a  crusader. 

Innocent,  whose  only  object  was  the  ex- 
tension of  his  authority  over  foreigners,  en- 
deavoured to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the 
eastern  empire  ;  but  his  excessive  pride  caused 
him  to  repel  all  kinds  of  concessions  ;  furious, 
then,  at  not  having  been  able  to  subject  the 


Greeks  to  his  sway,  he  resolved  to  destroy  them 
by  inciting  the  Bulgarians  to  revolt,  and  de- 
taching from  the  empire  a  great  part  of  Sc-rvia, 
which  he  gave  to  Voulk.  the  governor  of  that 
province.  He  had  even  commanded  the  French 
to  march  against  Constantinople,  when  a  new 
rupture  took  place  between  the  courts  of  Rome 
and  France,  occasioned  by  the  second  marriage 
of  Philip  with  Agnes  of  Meranie.  The  pope, 
whose  policy  w-as  hostile  to  this  union,  ordered 
his  legate,  Peter  of  Capua,  to  place  the  king- 
dom under  interdict,  until  the  prince  had  re- 
taken his  first  wife  Ingerburge,  and  made  his 
submission  to  the  Holy  See.  At  the  same 
time  he  wrote  to  all  the  French  prelates,  de- 
claring himself  to  be  the  sovereign  dispenser 
of  churches,  and  that  they  must  observe  and  • 
execute  the  sentence  in  the  dioceses  of  their 
jurisdiction,  under  penalty  of  deposition,  and 
the  loss  of  their  benefices.  The  prelates  of 
France,  fearing  the  thunders  of  Rome,  obeyed 
the  orders  of  the  holy  father  with  such  rigour, 
that  all  the  churches  were  closed  for  eight 
months,  and  the  dead  remained  unburied. 
Finally,  as  such  a  state  of  things  could  not 
continue  without  serious  injury  to  the  royal 
lauthority,  Philip  solicited  pardon,  and  the  ex- 
communication was  raised,  on  condition  that 
he  would  take  back  his  wife  Ingerburge,  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  a  delay,  which  was  fixed 
at  six  months,  six  weeks,  six  days,  and  six 
hours. 

Germany  continued  exposed  to  the  horrors 
of  a  civil  war,  in  consequence  of  the  divisions 
excited  by  the  Holy  See.  The  empire  of  the 
West  had  three  emperors,  the  young  Frederick, 
Philip  of  Suabia,  and  Otho  of  Saxony,  who 
disputed  for  th(!  imperial  crown  with  arms. 
Innocent  had  at  first  declared  for  Philip;  he 
then  suffered  himself  to  be  gained  over  by 
the  presents  of  Otho  of  Saxony,  and  recognised 
him  as  emperor,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  young 
king  of  Sicily,  his  pupil,  alleging  as  a  pre- 
text for  such  strange  conduct,  that  Frederick 
would  be  too  formidable  to  the  Holy  See,  if 
he  united  on  his  head  the  crowns  of  Sicily 
and  Germany,  and  that  Philip  of  Suabia  was 
unworthy  of  the  crown,  having  invaded  the 
patrimony  of  St.  Peter  with  arms. 

The  pope  consequently  wrote  to  Otho  :  "  By 
the  authority  which  God  has  given  us  in  the 
person  of  St.  Peter,  we  declare  you  king,  and 
we  order  the  people  to  render  you,  in  this  ca- 
pacity, homage  and  obedience.  We,  however, 
shall  expect  you  to  subscribe  to  all  our  desires 
as  a  return  for  the  imperial  crown."  The 
legate  charged  with  the  publication  of  this 
bull  came  to  Cologne,  where  he  convened  in 
an  assembly  all  the  partizans  of  Otho;  in 
their  presence  he  declared  him  emperor  of 
Germany,  and  excommunicated  all  who  bore 
arms  ag-ainst  him,  and,  in  particular,  Philip  of 
Suabia  and  his  partizans. 

The  decree  of  the  holy  father  was  received 
by  the  people  of  Cologne  with  great  demon- 
strations of  joy  ;  but  it  was  not  so  in  the 
northern  provinces  of  Germany.  A  great  num- 
ber of  prelates  and  lords  refu.sed  to  confirm  the 
election  of  Otho,  and  sent  the  following  ener- 


460 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


getic  letter  to  the  pope :  ''  Holy  father,  we  can- 
not understand  your  conduct.  From  whence 
have  you  derived  examples  of  such  audacity? 
Who  are  the  popes,  your  predecessors,  who 
have  interfered  in  the  election  of  kings'?  Did 
not  Jesus  Christ  separate  the  temporal  from 
the  spiritual  power,  in  order  that  the  apostles 
and  their  successors  should  not  be  seated  on 
the  thrones  of  the  world  ?  .  .  .  " 

Innocent  replied  to  this  letter:  "You  are 
ignorant,  unskilful  priests,  and  rude  laymen, 
that  princes  derive  the  right  to  choose  empe- 
rors from  us.  Is  it  not  the  Holy  See  which 
granted  them  this  privilege,  when  it  took  from 
the  Greeks  the  empire  of  the  West,  in  order 
to  tranfer  it  to  the  Romans  in  the  person  of 
Charlemagne  ?  Do  you  think  the  popes  have 
not  reserved  the  right  of  examining  those  who 
are  chosen  emperors,  when  it  is  they  who 
bestow  the  crown  and  the  consecration'? 
Learn  then,  that  if  we  judge  him  whom  you 
have  nominated  as  sovereign,  unworthy  of 
the  throne,  we  are  exercising  our  right  in  re- 
fusing to  crown  him,  and  even  in  choosing 
another  prince  to  govern  the  people." 

Notwith.standing  this  manifestation  of  hos- 
tihty,  Philip  of  Suabia  continued  to  solicit  the 
aid  of  the  court  of  Rome  ;  but  every  thing,  en- 
treaties and  threats,  was  useless.  Innocent 
replied  to  the  embassadors  of  the  different 
powers,  who  had  interested  themselves  in 
favour  of  the  prince  of  Suabia,  these  words 
of  evangelical  charity,  "I  hate  this  family  of 
the  Barbarossas)  either  Philip  must  lose  his 
crown,  or  I  my  pontificate."  "In  fact,"  says 
the  abbot  of  Ursperg,  "  he  lighted  the  torch 
of  civil  war  in  unfortunate  Germany,  and  com- 
mitted such  deplorable  acts,  that  he  deserves 
to  be  regarded  as  the  most  execrable  of  the 
popes." 

Whilst  the  court  of  Rome  was  urging  on  the 
people  of  the  west  to  wars  of  extermination, 
the  crusaders  were  finishing  their  preparations 
for  departure.  Already  had  a  part  of  the 
troops  embarked,  and  were  only  waiting  a 
favourable  wind  to  set  sail  for  the  coasts  of 
Syria,  when  the  young  Alexis  Angelus  arrived 
at  Venice,  having  escaped  from  the  prisons 
of  Constantinople  to  claim  the  protection  of 
the  crusaders  against  his  uncle,  the  usurper 
Alexis.  They  consulted  the  pope  as  to  their 
course  in  such  an  occurrence,  which  promised 
a  powerful  aid  to  the  army  of  Palestine,  and 
might  bring  about  the  reunion  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches.  But  Innocent,  who  had 
shortly  before  been  gained  to  the  cause  of  the 
usurper  Alexis,  by  the  large  sums  which  had 
been  sent  to  him,  and  by  the  promise  of  re- 
cognising him  as  supreme  pontiff,  refused  to 
give  his  consent  to  an  expedition  which  was 
to  hurl  that  prince  from  his  throne.  He  even 
imperiously  ordered  the  crusaders  to  renounce 
every  enterprise  of  this  kind,  and  to  embark 
immediately  for  Palestine. 

It  was  not  difficult  for  the  French  and  Vene- 
tians to  discover  the  secret  motives  which 
actuated  the  pope  :  thus,  without  stopping  on 
account  of  the  menaces  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
the  confederated  fleets  changed  their  first  des- 


tination ;  the  crusaders  attacked  Constantino- 
ple, which  they  carried  by  assault,  and  rein- 
stated Isaac  Angelus  and  his  son  upon  the 
throne.  This  success  immediately  changed 
the  hostile  dispositions  of  the  holy  father,  and 
from  being  the  enemy  of  the  two  princes,  he 
became  their  devoted  friend  ;  he  declared  that 
the  crusaders  had  acted  for  the  greatest  good 
of  Christendom,  and  demanded  the  submis- 
sion of  the  Eastern  churches.  But  the  Greeks 
were  already  tired  of  the  Latin  yoke ;  they 
refused  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  pope,  and 
even  declared  war  on  the  crusaders.  The 
Venetians  and  French  then  returned  with 
their  fleets  beneath  the  walls  of  Constantino- 
ple, besieged  it  a  second  time,  and  took  it  on 
the  12th  of  April,  1204. 

From  that  period  until  1260,  that  is.  for  fifty- 
six  years,  the  Eastern  empire  was  subject  to 
the  sway  of  French  princes.  Baldwin,  the 
count  of  Flanders,  was  the  first  who  was 
chosen  emperor,  and  reduced  beneath  his 
authority  the  provinces  of  Europe,  which  were 
still  dependencies  of  the  crown.  All  the 
cities  of  Asia,  however,  as  well  as  their  terri- 
tories, remained  with  the  Greeks,  who  found- 
ed independent  kingdoms.  Michael  Theodore 
Lascaris  established  himself  at  Nice  in  Bithy- 
nia ;  Michael  Comnenus  reigned  over  a  part 
of  Epirus ;  David  governed  Heraclea,  Pontus, 
and  Paphlagonia,  and  his  brother  Alexis  in- 
stalled himself  in  the  city  of  Trebizond,  which 
continued  to  form  a  separate  empire  from  that 
of  Constantinople,  even  after  the  reunion  of 
the  other  states.  These  princes,  with  the 
exception  of  Theodore,  were  all  descendants 
of  the  family  of  the  Comneni. 

Baldwin  was  authorised  by  the  pope,  who 
had  gone  over  to  the  side  of  the  conqueror, 
to  preserve  his  conquests,  under  the  express 
condition  that  he  would  compel  the  churches 
to  recognise  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  and 
would  restore  all  the  domains  which  the  em- 
perors had  taken  from  the  Holy  See,  as  well 
as  the  right  of  supreme  jurisdiction,  and  the 
right  of  nomination  of  bishops.  But  the  Greeks 
obstinately  refused  to  resubmit  to  the  yoke 
of  the  Latin  church,  and  as  neither  punish- 
ment nor  tortures  could  overcome  their  deter- 
mination, Baldwin  was  forced  to  permit  the 
prelates  to  govern  their  dioceses  as  they  chose. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year,  Peter  the  Se- 
cond, king  of  Arragon,  came  to  Rome  to  be 
crowned  by  the  sovereign  pontiff.  He  took 
an  oath  in  the  confessional  of  St.  Peter  to  be 
submissive  to  the  pope,  both  himself  and  his 
people,  to  defend  the  liberty  and  immunities 
of  the  church  at  the  price  of  his  blood  ;  finally, 
he  deposited  on  the  master  altar  his  sceptre, 
his  crown,  and  a  deed,  by  which  he  bound 
himself  to  pay  each  year  a  considerable  rent 
to  the  Holy  See. 

Affairs  had  changed  in  Germany;  Philip 
of  Suabia,  after  six  years  of  strife,  had  finally 
gained  a  great  victory  over  Otho  of  Saxony; 
had  taken  the  city  of  Cologne  by  assault,  and 
had  in  consequence  compelled  his  competitor 
to  take  refuge  in  England,  with  his  uncle, 
King  John.  As  soon  as  the  pope  was  informed 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


461 


of  the  success  of  Pliilip,  he  abandoned  the 
party  of  Otho,  in  accordance  with  his  policy, 
declared  for  the  conqueror,  and  recognised 
him  as  emperor.  Otho,  seeing  no  hope  of 
again  raising  up  his  party,  determined  to  make 
his  submission,  and  even  demanded  Beatrice, 
the  dauL'hter  of  Philip,  in  marriage.  But 
Innocent  was  not  the  man  to  permit  his  ene- 
mies to  live  a  long  time ;  a  secret  plot  was 
formed  at  the  instigation  of  the  pope,  and  the 
unfortunate  Philip  of  Suabia  was  assassinated 
by  a  count  palatine,  named  Otho  de  Wilel- 
spach.  Otho  the  Saxon  at  the  same  time 
assembled  an  army,  which  he  led  to  Bologna, 
where  he  had  convened  an  assembly  of  all 
the  orders  of  the  empire,  to  decide  on  the 
measures  to  be  taken  in  this  circumstance. 
The  result  of  the  deliberations  was,  as  had 
been  arranged  in  advance  by  the  confidants 
of  the  prince,  to  send  embassadors  to  treat  with 
Innocent  on  the  conditions  of  his  consecration. 

The  patriarch  of  Aquileia  and  the  bishop 
of  Spires  went  promptly  to  the  pope,  who 
gave  them  the  formula  of  an  oath  which  Otho 
should  take  to  his  legates.  It  ran  as  follows: 
'■  Holy  father :  we  promise  to  render  you  the 
honour  and  obedience  which  our  predeces.sors 
have  rendered  to  you ;  we  promise  you  not 
to  interfere  in  the  elections  of  prelates,  nor  in 
appeals  to  the  Holy  See  in  ecclesiastical  afTairs. 
We  declare  the  ancient  abuses,  by  which  our 
predecessors  seized  upon  the  property  of  de- 
ceased ecclesiastics  or  vacant  churches,  abo- 
lished ;  and  we  promise  to  labour  efficaciously 
in  the  extermination  of  heresies.  Finally,  we 
will  leave  in  possession  of  the  Roman  church 
the  property  which  it  has  obtained  from  em- 
perors and  other  persons;  and  we  will  aid  it 
in  preserving  it,  and  even  in  recovering  that 
which  has  been  unjustly  retained  by  its  ene- 
mies." 

As  every  thing  had  been  arranged  in  ad- 
vance, it  was  soon  agreed  to ;  the  German 
army  received  orders  to  march,  and  the  prince 
encamped  before  Rome.  On  the  next  day 
Otho  was  consecrated  at  St.  Peter's,  after 
having  sworn  over  the  body  of  the  apostle  to 
be  the  defender  of  the  church  and  its  patri- 
mony. Unfortunately,  a  few  days  after  the 
ceremony,  a  fatal  collision  took  place  between 
the  Romans  and  the  German  soldiers;  all  ran 
to  arms,  and  it  was  computed  that  in  the 
affray  eleven  hundred  German  knights  lost 
their  lives. 

Otho  immediately  quitted  the  holy  city, 
very  much  discontented  with  his  reception, 
and  retired  towards  Bologna;  from  thence  he 
wrote  to  the  pope,  that  regarding  the  unfortu- 
nate events  which  had  occurred  at  Rrrme  as 
traitorous,  he  refused  to  restore  the  patrimony 
of  the  countess  Matilda  ;  he  even  threatened 
to  attack  the  territories  of  the  king  of  Sicilv, 
under  the  pretext  that  Apulia  belonged  to  the 
empire,  and  advised  him  that  he  would  retake 
several  provinces  which  were  formerly  de- 
pendencies of  his  crown,  and  on  which  the 
pope  had  seized  during  the  minority  of  the 
prince.  Furious  at  having  found  an  enemy 
more  deceitful  than  himself,  Innocent  lanched 


the  thunders  of  excommunication  against 
Otho,  declared  all  his  subjects  relieved  from 
their  oath  of  fidelity,  and  prohibited  them, 
under  pain  of  anathema,  from  recognising 
him  as  their  sovereign  ;  at  the  same  time  ho 
ordered  his  legate  to  excommunicate  the  po- 
desta  and  people  of  Bologna,  and  even  to 
threaten  them  with  closing  their  schools, 
which  were  the  source  of  the  city's  prosperity, 
if  they  again  opened  their  gates  to  his  ene- 
mies. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  wars  with  princes 
and  kings,  Innocent  did  not  lose  sight  of 
heresies.  He  had  already  sent  the  monks 
Rainier  and  Guy,  to  the  south  of  France,  with 
power  to  constrain  the  Vaudois  to  abjure,  and 
to  employ  for  this  purpose  the  sword,  water, 
and  fire,  as  these  good  monks  should  judge 
it  necessary  to  use  one  or  the  other,  or  all 
three  together,  for  the  greater  glory  of  God. 
"Thus,"  says  Perrin,  '-all Christendom  wasagi- 
tated  by  the  sight  of  unfortunate  men  hung  to 
gallows,  tortured  on  wooden  horses,  or  burned 
on  funeral  piles,  because  they  placed  their  trust 
in  God  alone  and  refused  to  believe  in  the 
vain  ceremonies  invented  by  men."  As  tire 
monks,  notwith.^tanding  their  utmost  endea- 
vours, failed  in  their  task,  and  did  not  progress 
sufficiently  in  their  work,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
pope  at  least,  three  new  legates  left  Rome 
commissioned  to  exterminate  all  heretics  to 
the  last  man  ;  that  is  to  say,  four  fifths  of  the 
southern  population.  These  three  monks 
who  were  invested  with  the  confidence  of 
the  holy  father,  were  called  Arnaud,  Pierre 
de  Castelnau,  and  Ralph,  worthy  monks  of 
the  order  of  the  Citeaux.  The  obstinacy  of 
the  Vaudois  was  such,  that  notwithstanding 
preachings  and  persecutions  the  sect  increased 
daily,  and  even  found  recruits  among  the 
great  lords  of  the  country ;  amongst  others, 
Raymond  the  Fourth,  count  of  Toulouse,  and 
Raymond  Roger,  count  of  Foix.  The  execu- 
tions then  became  more  difficult  for  the  mis- 
sionaries ;  the  executioners  refused  to  perform 
their  duty;  the  people  rose  and  in  a  moment 
of  effervescense  stoned  Pierre  de  Castelnau, 
who  was  the  most  cruel  of  the  three.  As 
soon  as  the  pope  was  informed  of  this  mur- 
der he  resolved  to  avenge  it  terribly,  so  that 
its  e.\ample  might  not  aflect  the  catholic  pro- 
vinces, and  he  caused  a  crusade  to  be  preached 
against  the  unfortunate  Vaudois.  The  count 
of  Toulou.se  and  his  subjects  were  excommu- 
nicated; plenary  indulgences  were  granted  to 
those  who  should  arm  against  the  heretics; 
and  the  palm  of  martyrdom  was  promised  to 
the  fanatics  who  should  perish  in  this  war. 

The  unfortunate  Raymond,  foreseeing  the 
disasters  which  were  to  fall  on  his  slates,  soon 
made  his  submission  to  the  legates  of  the  pope 
and  took  the  oath  of  obedience  and  fidelity  to 
the  Holy  See.  Nothing  could  appease  the 
wi-ath  of  Innocent  the  Third  ;  the  count  him- 
self was  obliged  to  take  the  cross  against  his 
own  subjects,  after  having  submitted  to  an  in- 
famous punishment. 

Perrin  in  his  history  of  the  Albigenses  thus 
relates  the  huraiUating  ceremonial  to  which  the 
39* 


462 


HISTORY   OF   THE    POPES. 


count  was  submitted:  "The  legate  caused 
Count  Raymond  to  be  stripped  of  all  his  cloth- 
ing on  the  threshold  of  the  church  of  St.  Gilles ; 
he  put  a  stole  around  his  neck  and  caused  him 
to  make  the  tour  of  the  grave  of  Pierre  de 
Castelnau  nine  times,  scourging  him  with 
rods  iu  the  presence  of  counts,  marquises, 
barons,  prelates,  and  a  great  concourse  of  peo- 
ple. And  as  Raymond  protested  against  this 
penance  which  was  inflicted  on  him  for  a  sin 
that  he  had  not  committed,  the  legate  imposed 
silence  on  him  by  saying  that  he  was  guilty. 
as  the  sin  had  been  committed  in  his  states. 
He  then  caused  him  to  swear  on  the  crucifix, 
the  gospel,  and  the  relics,  an  entire  submis- 
sion to  the  Holy  See,  and  named  him  chief  of 
the  crusade,  in  order  that  the  Vaudois  might 
see  that  they  were  lost,  since  their  friends 
and  protectors  combated  against  them." 

The  crusaders  could  not,  however,  penetrate 
into  the  interior  of  the  country  until  the  arri- 
val of  a  new  legate  named  Dominick,  and  the 
count  de  Montfort,  who  brought  with  him  an 
army  of  twenty-four  thousand  men.  Then 
only  did  the  operations  of  the  campaign  com- 
mence, and  they  laid  siege  tg  Beziers.  This 
flourishing  city  courageously  resisted  the  ef- 
forts of  the  fanatics  for  an  entire  month;  at 
length  a  horrible  famine  constrained  the  in- 
habitants to  make  proposals  of  surrender;  but 
as  these  infamous  persecutors  had  sworn  to 
exterminate  this  brave  population,  all  offers 
were  rejected.  In  vain  did  the  Count  de  Be- 
ziers and  the  venerable  prefect  of  the  city 
cast  themselves  at  the  feet  of  St.  Dominick, 
beseeching  him  to  spare  at  least  the  Catholics, 
who  formed  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Beziers — the  monk  was  inflexible,  and  replied, 
that  he  had  received  orders  from  the  pope  to 
burn  ihe  city  and  put  all  the  population  to  the 
sword ;  and  that,  moreover,  after  the  mas- 
sacre God  would  recognise  his  friends. 

The  siege  was  pushed  with  more  vigour 
than  before,  and,  in  a  last  assault,  the  city  fell 
into  the  power  of  the  crusaders.  Then  com- 
menced a  butchery  of  which  history  affords  no 
second  example.  The  frightful  Dominick, 
with  the  cross  in  one  hand  and  the  bull  of  the 
pope  in  the  other,  animated  the  combatants 
and  incited  them  to  carnage,  to  rape,  to  in- 
cendiarism !  ....  He  fulfilled  so  well  the  or- 
ders of  the  pope  that  sixty  thousand  dead 
bodies  of  both  sexes,  men,  women,  children, 
and  old  persons,  were  swallowed  up  beneath 
the  smoking  ruins  of  their  city,  reduced  to 

ashes ! Those  among  the  unfortunate 

whom  the  soldiers  spared  on  account  of  their 
youth,  or  their  beauty,  were  reserved  for  new 
scenes  of  horror.  Young  girls  and  young  boys 
were  led,  entirely  naked,  before  the  tomb  of 
Pierre  de  Castelnan — were  beaten  by  the 
monks  with  thongs  loaded  with  lead,  and  when 
their  bodies  were  entirely  covered  with  blood, 
were  abandoned  to  the  brutality  of  the  soldiers, 
then  murdered,  and  their  dead  bodies  horribly 
polluted ! 

All  these  atrocities  were  not  arrested  at  the 
single  city  of  Beziers.  The  executioners  having 
no  more  victims  at  hand,  pursued  their  march 


and  attacked  the  Count  de  Beziers,  who  had 
retired  to  Carcassonne,  well  resolved  to  defend 
that  place  to  the  last.  But  he  had  not  foreseen 
that  he  should  have  all  the  forces  of  the  crusa- 
ders upon  him,  and  he  was  soon  obliged  to 
propose  terms.  At  Carcassonne,  as  at  Beziers, 
Si.  Dominick  was  inflexible  :  he  replied,  that 
the  only  condition  he  could  offer  was,  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Carcassonne,  men,  women,  and 
children,  should  abandon  their  walls,  without 
clothing,  and  should  retire  to  a  neighbouring 
place  to  await  their  fate.  The  lord  of  Beziers, 
knowing  his  enemies,  refused  to  expose  his 
subjects  to  the  rage  of  these  tigers,  and  con- 
tinued his  defence  for  a  month  longer.  Treason 
finally  came  to  the  aid  of  the  crusaders.  Car- 
cassonne was  delivered  up  to  the  Count  de 
Montfort,  and  was  treated  with  the  same 
cruelty  as  Beziers.  Toulouse,  Alby,  Castle- 
naudary,  and  all  the  cities  of  the  south 
which  contained  Albigenses,  were  also  devas- 
tated by  this  army  of  assassins. 

Innocent  was  not  contented  with  exercising 
his  despotism  over  France,  Italy,  Geimany, 
and  Greece,  he  wished  to  extend  it  also  over 
England,  and  gave  the  archbishopric  of  Can- 
terbury to  one  of  his  cardinals,  Stephen  Lang- 
ton,  without  consulting  King  John,  who  had 
proposed  another  j)relate  to  him.  This  act  of 
authority  was  illy  received  by  the  king  of 
England,  who  wrote  the  following  energetic 
letter  to  him: — "Wherefore,  pope  of  Satan, 
hast  thou  rejected  the  election  of  the  bishop 
of  Norwich  ?  Is  it  because  thou  hast  sold  the 
metropolitan  see  of  Canterbury  to  a  prelate, 
who  is  only  known  to  us  from  his  intimate 
connection  with  our  enemies  of  France  ?  We 
declare  that  if  thou  dost  not  retract  thy  nom- 
ination, we  will  prevent  our  subjects  from 
going  to  Rome  to  make  their  offerings,  and 
will  take  from  thee  the  jurisdiction  of  our 
churches." 

Innocent  became  furious  on  reading  this 
letter,  and  Immediately  wrote  to  the  bishops 
of  London.  Ely,  and  Worcester  to  place  the 
kingdom  under  interdict,  unless  John  imme- 
diately confirmed  the  election  of  Stephen 
Langton.  They,  sold  to  the  interests  of  the 
court  of  Rome,  immediately  acquitted  them- 
selves of  their  mission;  they  sought  out  the 
king,  and  exhibited  to  him  the  terrible  orders 
they  had  received  from  Rome,  and  which 
they  would  be  forced  to  put  in  execution  if 
he  refused  to  obey  the  injunctions  of  the  Holy 
See. 

John,  indignant  at  the  insolence  of  the 
pope  and  the  hypocrisy  of  the  prelates,  drove 
them  from  his  presence,  threatening  them, 
that  if  they  should  have  the  audacity  to  lanch 
the  interdict,  he  would  banish  them  from 
England,  confiscate  their  property,  and  send 
them  to  Rome  to  be  maintained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  St.  Peter.  Such,  however,  Avas  the 
influence  of  the  popes  of  that  period,  that  no- 
thing could  intimidate  the  prelates;  the  bull 
of  Innocent  was  published  throughout  the 
kingdom,  and  divine  service  was  suspended. 
John  endeavoured,  in  vain,  to  reduce  the 
clergy  to  submission;    monks  preferred   to 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


463 


abarulon  their  convents,  and  bishops  to  lose 
churches  and  their  property,  rather  than  con- 
travene the  orders  ot  the  pope.  In  the  midst 
of  this  strife,  a  terrible  sentence  of  the  court 
of  Rome  ag;f  ravated  the  disorders ;  John  was 
declared  dispossessed  of  his  crown ;  the  nation 
freed  from  its  oaths  of  lidelity ;  all  Christians 
were  ordered  to  oppose  the  king  of  England; 
Philip  Augustus  was  designated  to  replace 
him,  and  a  crusade  was  preached  against 
Great  Britain. 

The  ambitious  Philip,  who  had  recently 
been  reconciled  with  Innocent,  immediately 
made  immense  preparations  and  threatened  a 
descent  on  Engliind.  In  this  extremity,  the 
unfortunate  king,  finding  himself  abandoned 
by  all  the  world,  determined  to  submit  to  the 
pope,  and  take  the  oath  which  Innocent  had 
pomted  out,  and  which  was  as  follows : — 
'•'We  promise  by  the  Christ  and  the  holy 
evangelists,  to  be  reconciled  with  Stephen 
Langton,  the  metropolitan  of  Canterbury,  and 
with  the  live  bishops,  William  of  London, 
Eustace  of  Ely.  Giles  of  Hertford.  Jocelyn  of 
Bath,  and  HiMbert  of  Lincoln,  as  well  as  with 
all  other  persons,  as  well  clerical  as  lay,  who 
have  opposed  us  by  the  orders  of  the  holy 
father;  we  will  restore  to  them  all  that  has 
been  taken  from  them,  and  we  will  liberally 
reconjpen.se  them  for  the  losses  which  we 
have  made  them  suffer.  We  swear  entire 
submission  to  the  Holy  See,  and  we  recognise 
in  it  alone  the  right  of  nominating  prelates,  and 
of  governing  the  churches  of  our  kingdom." 

But  this  oath  was  only  the  prelude  for  new 
e.vactioiis  of  the  court  of  Rome  ;  and  two  days 
after,  th(;  Roman  legate  remitted  a  deed  by 
which  John  declared,  that  for  the  expiation  of 
his  sins,  with  the  advice  of  his  barons,  and  of 
his  own  free  and  entire  will,  he  gave  to  pope 
Innocent  and  his  successors,  the  kingdoms  of 
England  and  Ireland,  with  all  their  rights  ;  that 
he  held  them  as  the  vassal  of  the  pontiff,  and 
in  that  capacity  did  him  liege  homage.  In  ad- 
dition to  all  this,  as  a  token  of  his  subjection, 
he  engaged  to  pay  a  thousand  marks  of  gold 
annually  to  the  court  of  Rome,  besides  Peter's 
pence.  He  bound,  by  the  same  deed,  all  his 
successors  to  maintain  this  donation,  under 
penalty  of  being  deprived  of  the  crown.  The 
English  lords,  according  to  IMalhew  Paris,  re- 
fused to  ratify  this  di.sgraceful  treaty  which 
.subjected  them  to  the  popes  ;  they  revolted 
against  the  king  and  reclaimed  their  fran- 
chises. 

John  ihus  still  found  himself  on  the  eve  of 
losing  his  crown,  by  having  taken  the  means 
which  he  believed  the  best  fitted  to  preserve 
it.  He  hastened  to  .send  deputies  to  Rome  to 
inform  the  holy  father  of  the  revolt  of  the 
English  baron.s,  and  to  ask  from  him  the  aid 
of  spiritual  censures,  in  onler  to  reduce  them 
to  their  duty.  Innocent  having  heard  the 
complaints  of  his  embassadors,  frowneil  and 
exclaimed,  "  What  !  do  these  Englisli  baronets 
wish  to  dethrone  a  king  who  is  under  the  j)ro- 
tection  of  our  See,  and  irive  to  another  the 
property  of  the  Roman  church.  By  St.  Peter, 
we  will  not  suffer  this  effort  to  go  unpunish- 


ed.'' He  immediately  called  a  scribe,  and 
dictated  this  sentence  to  him,  "We  cancel  all 
the  concessions  which  King  John  has  made  or 
shall  make  to  his  barons,  prohibiting  him  from 
having  any  regard  thereto,  under  penalty  of 
excommunication.  We  order  all  the  English 
and  Irish  lords  to  renounce  the  privileges 
which  they  have  extorted  from  their  king, 
and  we  order  them  to  come  to  Rome  to  lay 
their  demands  before  us,  in  order  that  justice 
may  be  done  them."  Neither  this  bull  of  the 
pope  nor  the  threats  of  the  bishops  could 
arrest  the  disorders;  and  the  barons  continued 
to  carry  on  the  war  to  obtain  new  franchises. 

In  the  same  year  (1215),  Innocent  held  a 
general  council  in  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
for  the  coronation  of  Frederick  the  Second, 
who  was  definitely  recognised  as  the  legiti- 
mate emperor,  under  the  condition  that  Sicily 
and  Germany  should  be  separated. 

The  counts  of  Toulouse  and  Foix,  also  ap- 
peared before  the  fathers,  demanding  justice 
against  the  infamous  Simon  de  Montfort,  who 
had  seized  upon  their  estates,  and  in  concert 
with  St.  Dominick,  was  continuing  his  massa- 
cres of  the  unfortunate  Albigenses.  Far  from 
showing  any  indignation  at  the  recital  of  the 
atrocities  committed  by  his  legate,  the  pope 
fiercely  replieil,  that  he  had  but  executed  his 
orders,  and  that  he  could  not  censure  orthodox 
Christians  from  exhibiting  too  much  zeal  in 
their  holy  mission.  He,  however,  appeared 
to  yieltl  to  the  urgency  of  these  two  lords,  and 
engaged  to  re-establish  them  in  their  domains 
— a  false  promise— .since  at  that  very  moment 
he  was  sending  secret  orders  to  Dominick  and 
Simon  de  IMontfort  to  redouble  their  severities 
towards  the  Albigenses. 

Ferrand  maintains  that  St.  Franqois  d'Assise 
came  also  to  the  council  of  the  Lateran,  to 
have  the  regulations  which  he  had  made  for 
governing  his  cnuveuts  approved.  The  his- 
tory of  this  visionary  is  so  remarkable  that 
we  translate  one  of  the  episodes  of  his  life, 
related  by  Ferrand,  '-'St.  FrauQois  d'Assise," 
says  the  chronicler,  '-at  the  commencement 
of  his  conversion,  cast  himself  into  a  ditch  full 
of  ice,  in  the  middle  of  winter,  to  conquer  the 
dt'monof  the  flesh,  and  preserve  from  the  fire 
of  pleasure  the  white  robe  of  his  chastity. 
This  pious  anchorite  preferred  to  suffer  great 
cokl  in  the  fiesh,  than  the  warmth  of  the  de- 
mon in  his  soul.  Tlius,one  day,  he  underwent 
great  temptation  at  the  sight  of  a  beautiful 
young  girl,  who  came  to  demand  his  blessing. 
FrauQois,  instead  of  listening  to  the  inspira- 
tions of  concupiscence,  suddenly  entered  his 
cell,  and  reappeared,  entirely  naked,  with  a 
discipline  of  iron,  striking  himself  redoubled 
blows,  to  the  great  edification  of  his  brethren 
and  the  villagers,  until  his  body  was  stream- 
ing with  blood.  He  then  rolled  in  the  snow  of 
the  garden,  crying  out  that  the  Holy  Si)iiit  had 
seizi'd  on  him  ;  in  fact  he  made  si-ven  enor- 
mous balls  with  the  snow,  tinged  with  his 
Mood,  and  his  .•soul  thus  spoke  to  his  body. — 
'  The  largest  and  handsomest  of  these  balls  is 
your  wife,  the  four  others  are  your  concubines, 
and  the  two  last  your  servants;  hasten  then 


464 


HISTORY   OF  THE   POPES, 


to  conduct  them  to  your  fireside,  for  they  are 
dying  of  cold.'  The  saint  having  pushed  them 
one  after  another  before  a  brazier,  they  soon 
disappeared  before  the  heat  of  the  fire,  and 
only  left  on  the  stones  a  large  place  soiled  by 
blood  and  water ;  the  soul  of  the  saint  thus 
continued  ;  'profit  by  this  example,  my  body, 
and  perceive  how  the  delights  of  the  flesh 
should  vanish  in  the  presence  of  the  spirit.'  " 

Bayle  also  relates,  very  gravely,  a  pleasant 
strife,  which  took  place  between  Dominick, 
the  leader  of  the  crusade  against  the  Albi- 
genses,  and  St.  Franqoisd' Assise.  ''These  two 
saints,"  says  he,  "  having  one  day  quarrelled, 
came  to  blows.  As  Francjois  was  the  weakest, 
he  escaped  from  the  arm  of  his  terrible  ad- 
versary and  concealed  himself  beneath  a  bed. 
Dominick  not  being  able  to  reach  him,  armed 
himself  with  a  spit  from  the  kitchen,  and  in- 
flicted on  him  five  terrible  blows ;  but  God, 
who  cherished  the  two  monks,  himself  direct- 
ed the  spit,  softened  the  blows,  and  preserved 
St.  Franqois  from  death  ;  he,  however,  retained 
from  this  fight  scars  like  the  five  wounds  of 
Jesus  Christ." 

D'Aubigne  has  been  more  severe  than  these 
legendaries  on  the  founder  o*f  the  order  of  the 
Franciscans.  "  If  any  bishop  or  cardinal,"  says 
the  historian,  "became  enamoured  of  his  page, 
he  need  not  fear  to  be  damned  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, he  would  deserve  to  be  canonized,  since 
he  would  follow  the  example  of  St.  Francois 
d'Asisse,  who  called  his  carnal  intercourse 
with  brother  Maceus  sacred  loves." 

Notwithstanding  his  fight  with  St.  Domi- 
nick, and  his  well-established  reputation  as  a 
sodomite,  Francois  d'Assise  was  received  with 
great  honours  at  the  pontifical  court,  and  left 
Rome  laden  with  presents;  and,  what  was 
still  more  extraordinary,  he  alone,  of  all  who 
had  assisted  at  the  synod,  was  not  obliged  to 
borrow  from  the  usurers  to  make  presents  to 
Innocent,  but  even  received  gifts  from  the 
sovereign  pontiff. 

Whilst  the  holy  father  was  trying  the 
strength  of  his  anathemas  against  those  who 
refused  to  recognise  his  absolute  authority, 
Philip  undertook  the  conquest  of  England, 
and  sent  his  son  Louis  into  that  kingdom, 


whither  a  powerful  party  called  him.  The 
young  prince  was  already  recognised  as  sove- 
reign of  Great  Britain  in  several  provinces, 
when  he  had  the  imprudence  to  inform  the 
Roman  legate  that  his  new  kingdom  would 
never  be  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter.  Inno- 
cent, informed  of  this,  immediately  ordered  a 
great  ceremonial  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter: 
he  mounted  the  tribune,  and  preached  on  these 
words  of  Ezekiel :  "Sword,  sword,  leave  thy 
scabbard,  and  sharpen  thyself  to  kill."  After 
the  sermon,  he  declared  Louis  deprived  of  the 
throne  of  England,  and  excommunicated  him 
and  his  adherents. 

Finally  came  the  decisive  hour  in  which 
tyrants,  like  other  men,  must  go  to  render  an 
account  to  God  of  their  good  and  evil  actions. 
This  fatal  day  came  to  Innocent ;  at  the  ter- 
mination of  a  debauch  at  the  table  he  was 
seized  with  a  violent  fever,  which  brought 
him  to  the  tomb  on  the  16th  of  July,  1216. 

Mathew  Paris,  in  his  history,  represents  Pope 
Innocent  as  the  proudest,  the  most  ambitious, 
and  the  most  avaricious  of  men  ;  affirming  that 
there  was  no  crime  which  he  was  not  capable 
of  committing  or  favouring  for  money.  This 
judgment  is  entirely  justified  by  the  life  of 
this  pope.  St.  Lutgarde,  a  nun  of  the  order 
of  the  Citeaux  in  Brabant,  relates  that,  in  a 
vision  which  she  had  after  the  death  of  Inno- 
cent, she  saw  the  holy  father  surrounded  by 
flames;  and  as  she  asked  him  why  he  was 
thus  tormented,  he  replied  that  it  was  chiefly 
for  three  crimes;  and  that  he  would  have 
been  infallibly  condemned  to  have  burned  for 
ever,  but  for  the  intercession  of  the  Mother 
of  God,  in  honour  of  whom  he  had  founded  a 
monastery — that  notwithstanding  even  this 
powerful  protection,  he  could  not  enter  hea- 
ven until  the  day  of  the  last  judgment — and, 
after  having  suifered  tortures  incomprehen- 
sible by  the  human  mind.  Thomas  of  Can- 
tinpre,  who  relates  this,  adds,  that  he  was 
informed  by  Lutgarde,  herself,  of  the  three 
causes  of  the  suiferings  of  the  holy  father ; 
but  that  they  were  so  horrible  he  could  not 
make  them  known  without  abandoning  the 
memory  of  Innocent  the  Third  to  the  execra- 
tion of  men. 


HONORIUS  THE  THIRD,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTY- 
SECOND  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1216.] 

History  of  Ilonorius  before  his  pontificate — His  election — Troubles  in  England — Death  of  the 
execrable  Simon  de  Montfort,  and  of  the  odious  St.  Dominick — Theodore  Comnenus,  king  of 
Epirus,  submits  to  the  pope — New  persecution  of  the  Albigenses — Apparition  of  the  Vaudois 
in  Lombardy — Letter  of  the  pope  to  Louis  the  Eighth — Coronation  of  Frederick  the  Second — 
Honorius  desires  to  send  that  prince  to  Palestine— Quarrels  on  this  subject  between  the  emperor 
and  the  pontiff — Death  of  Honorius. 

Cencio  Savelli,  a  Roman  by  birth,  had  superintendence  of  all  the  revenues  of  the 
been  chamberlain  during  the  pontificate  of  Holy  See,  had  created  for  him  numerous  par- 
Clement  the  Third.    This  post  giving  him  the   tizans.     He  himself  was  not  without  merit; 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES. 


465 


and  a  remarkable  work,  called  the  Book  of 
Rents  of  the  Roman  Church,  composed  from 
old  records,  was  attributed  to  him.  His  literary 
labours  had  aunmcuted  the  reputation  he  had 
already  acrpiired,  and  had  procured  for  him 
the  title  of  cardinal.  He  afterwards  com- 
posed a  complete  collection  of  ecclesiastical 
ceremonies,  which  is  known  by  the  title  of 
the  Roman  Order. 

After  the  death  of  Innocent,  the  cardinal 
Cencio  Savelli  was  chosen  to  succeed  him, 
and  took  the  name  of  Honorius  the  Third. 
A  faithful  imitator  of  the  policy  of  his  prede- 
cessor, like  him  he  wished  to  govern  at  once 
the  east  and  the  west.  On  the  very  day  of 
his  coronation  he  wrote  to  the  king  of  Jeru- 
salem, that  he  was  about  to  raise  the  people 
of  the  west  against  the  Saracens.  He  also 
addressed  letters  to  the  French  emperor, 
who  governed  Constantinople,  to  reanimate 
his  zeal  against  the  Greek  schismatics,  and 
the  Mussulmen.  The  same  instructions  were 
sent  to  the  Roman  legates  in  France,  Eng- 
land, and  Germany,  to  again  light  the  torches 
of  fanaticism,  by  preaching  a  new  crusade. 

As  the  war  of  usurpation  undertaken  by 
Louis  of  France,  for  the  crown  of  England, 
retarded  the  execution  of  his  plans,  Honorius 
resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the  disputes  by  de- 
claring in  favour  of  king  John  After  the 
death  of  that  prince,  he  took  his  son,  Henry 
the  Third,  under  his  protection,  recognis- 
ing him  as  the  only  lawful  sovereign.  In 
consequence  of  the  new  orders  of  the  pope, 
the  clergy  of  Great  Britain  every  Sunday 
regularly  excommunicated  the  young  Louis 
and  his  adherents,  throughout  the  whole  king- 
dom. Little  by  little,  the  English  de.serted 
his  cause,  and  as  he  received  no  assistance 
from  his  father,  he  was  finally  obliged  to  quit 
Great  Britain,  to  avoid  falling  into  the  power 
of  his  competitor,  and  to  urge  the  departure 
of  new  troops  which  he  was  levying  on  the 
continent.  But  during  his  absence,  the  legate 
of  the  pope  used  the  time  to  such  advantage 
as  to  fulminate  terrible  anathemas  airainst  the 
rebels,  and  pathetically  exhorted  the  English 
to  return  to  their  duty,  and  remain  faithful  to 
their  new  sovereign,  that  i.s,  the  Holy  See. 
They  distributed  so  skilfully,  gold,  thrcat.s, 
and  promises,  that  they  were  enabled  to 
organise  so  powerful  a  party,  that  on  his 
return  to  England,  though  accompanied  by 
a  powerful  army,  Louis  was  repulsed  from 
all  the  citie.s,  and  forced  to  re-embark  for 
France. 

Having  obtained  this  great  success,  Hono- 
rius could  direct  all  his  eflforts  to  the  end 
whicii  his  ambition  pro)iosed,  the  conquest 
of  Palestine  and  Asia.  For  this  purpose,  he 
sent  to  all  the  bishops  of  the  west  a  letter 
from  the  irrand  master  of  the  Templars,  an- 
nouncing that  tlie  Saracens  were  extremely 
weakened,  and  that  a  single  armv  would  be 
sufficient  to  exterminate  them.  At  thi^  same 
time,  he  ordered  public  prayers  at  Rome,  and 
went  in  procession  to  St.  IMaria  Majora's, 
with  his  clergy  and  people  walking  with 
naked  feet  and  carrying  before  him  the  heads 

Vol.  L  31 


of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  in  their  shrines. 
Similar  ceremonies  took  place  in  all  the  cities 
of  Christendom,  and  contributed  powerfully 
to  the  organization  of  the  numerous  troops 
of  crusaders  who  came  together  from  all 
quarter,s,  and  directed  their  steps  towards  the 
Holy  Land. 

The  king  of  Hungary  was  the  first  who 
marched  at  the  head  of  an  army;  he  was 
soon  followed  by  a  prodigious  number  of  un- 
disciplined bands,  which,  like  torrents  of  lava, 
left  but  ruin  and  desolation  on  their  passage. 
The  alarm  which  the  approach  of  the  cru- 
.saders  every  where  excited,  became  the  source 
of  enormous  profits  to  Honorius,  and  he  ex- 
tracted ransoms  from  cities  and  princes,  by 
threatening  to  cause  these  terrible  avalanches 
to  fall  on  them.  It  was  the  means  he  used 
against  Theodore  Comnenus,  the  king  of  Epi- 
rus,  to  compel  him  to  set  at  liberty  John 
Colonna,  one  of  his  legates,  who  had  been 
retained  a  prisoner  at  his  court.  Neither  en- 
treaties nor  threats  could  induce  the  Greek 
prince  to  send  back  the  embassador  of  the 
Holy  See;  Honorius  then  promised  indul- 
gences to  the  crusaders  who  should  go  to 
Epirus  to  avenge  the  injury  done  to  the 
Roman  church.  Theodore  Comnenus  imme- 
diately changed  his  resolve,  hastened  to  set 
the  legate  at  liberty,  and  even  furnished  him 
with  an  escort  to  accompany  him  as  far  as 
Constantinople. 

Though  the  pope  appeared  to  be  very  much 
occupied  with  the  new  crusade,  he  did  not, 
however,  lose  sight  of  the  heretics  of  the 
west,  and  by  his  orders,  St.  Dominick  and 
De  Alontfort  continued  their  massacres  in 
France,  and  covered  all  the  southern  pro- 
vinces with  funeral  piles  and  scaffolds.  The 
two  instruments  of  pontifical  despotism  at 
length  excited  such  a  hatred  in  the  generous 
population  of  the  south,  that  the  cities  of  Mar- 
seilles and  Avignon,  instead  of  marching 
against  the  heretics,  as  they  had  been  re- 
quired to  do  by  the  pope,  sent  re-inforce- 
ments  to  Toulouse,  which  was  a  second  time 
besieged  by  the  execrable  Simon  de  JNIont- 
fort.  God  did  not  permit  him  to  renew  in 
this  city  the  frightful  scenes  of  the  first  siege; 
ho  was  killed  beneath  the  walls  of  the  place 
whilst  he  was  preparing  the  gibbets  and  in- 
.struments  of  torture  which  he  designed  for 
the  inhabitants. 

Dominick  being  left  alone  to  continue  the 
massacres,  soon  showeil,  by  the  new  ardour 
which  he  brought  to  the  persecution,  that  ho 
had  promised  the  court  of  Rome  to  replace 
Simon,  and  alone  to  perform  the  task  of  two 
executioners.  Diflicult  as  it  was,  he  was  ful- 
filling his  promises,  when  death  struck  him 
in  his  turn,  and  gave  some  repose  to  the  Abi 
genses. 

This  double  loss  would  have  discouraged 
any  other  than  a  pope  ;  Honorius  thousfht  only 
of  replacing  his  legate;  and  as  it  appeared  to 
him  that  the  work  of  an  executioner  could 
not  be  performed  better  than  by  a  king,  he 
wrote  to  Louis  the  Eighth,  who  had  succeeded 
Philip  Augustus :  "  Very  dear  Son,  you  know 


466 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


that  Christian  princes  are  compelled  to  render 
an  account  to  God  of  their  defence  of  the 
church,  their  mother.  You  should  then  be 
deeply  afflicted  at  seeing  the  heretics  attack 
religion  in  the  provinces  of  the  Albigenses  ;  if 
it  is  your  duty  to  pursue  robbers  in  your  king- 
dom, you  should  the  more  purge  it  of  those 
who  wish  to  ravish  souls.  We  find  the  efforts 
we  have  made  against  the  heretics  have  be- 
come useless;  and  more  than  three  hundred 
thousand  crusaders  have  fallen  in  this  holy 
cause,  without  making  it  triumph.  Errors 
are  more  and  more  propagated ;  and  it  is 
feared  lest  they  may  soon  infect  your  king- 
dom, which,  until  this  time,  has  shown  itself, 
by  a  particular  blessing  of  God,  to  be  more 
strengthened  in  the  faith  than  other  king- 
doms. It  is  on  this  account,  that  in  the  name 
of  Christ  we  exhort  and  conjure  you,  Catho- 
lic prince  and  successor  of  Catholic  kings,  to 
offer  up  to  God  the  first  fruits  of  your  reign, 
by  exterminating  the  heretics  of  the  south. 
We  are  informed  that  Amaury,  the  new  count 
of  Toulouse,  and  son  of  the  glorious  Count  de 
Montfort,  has  offered  you  all  the  rights  which 
he  has  over  the  provinces  of*  the  Albigenses, 
and  consents  to  unite  these  lands  to  your  do- 
mains, in  exchange  for  your  protection.  We 
authorise  you  to  accept  his  proposals  for  your- 
self and  your  descendents,  that  they  may 
show  themselves  to  be  ardent  protectors  of 
orthodoxy,  in  the  south  of  France.  Finally, 
we  inform  you  that  Raymond,  the  son  of  the 
former  Count  of  Toulouse,  so  dreads  your 
power,  that  he  will  not  fail  to  submit  imme- 
diately to  the  church,  when  he  shall  kno\v 
that  you  are  marching  against  him.  Act  then 
as  religion  wishes !  Take  arms,  since  God 
and  your  interest  command  it !" 

In  conformity  with  the  orders  of  the  pope, 
Louis  levied  an  army,  and  joined  his  troops 
to  those  of  Amaury  de  Montfort,  to  crush  the 
unfortunate  Albigenses.  Raymond,  pursued 
by  his  enemies,  enclosed  in  his  states,  was  soon 
compelled  to  submit  to  the  Holy  See.  The 
heretics  finding  themselves  exposed,  defence- 
less, to  all- the  rage  of  their  persecutors,  aban- 
doned Fiance,  and  took  refuge  in  Lombardy, 
whither  sacerdotal  hatred  still  pursued  them  ; 
for  Honorius  wrote  to  the  bishop  of  Brescia, 
"  It  is  our  will,  that  the  towers  of  all  the  lords 
who  have  given  an  asylum  to  heretics,  be 
razed  to  the  earth,  without  being  able  to  be 
ever  rebuilt,  and  those  of  the  less  guilty  be 
dismantled  to  the  half  or  third  part,  accord- 
ing to  the  importance  of  the  crime." 

As  after  the  departure  of  the  king,  the  Albi- 
genses had  again  raised  their  heads,  the  pope 
wrote  to  Louis,  to  put  an  end  to  his  disputes 
with  the  king  of  England,  in  order  to  direct 
all  his  troops  upon  the  southern  provinces. 
"And  in  order,"  said  Honorius,  "that  my 
conduct  should  be  in  conformity  with  evan- 
gelical morality,  which  orders  popes  to  use 
their  power  to  put  an  end  to  useless  wars,  and 
to  direct  the  sword  against  the  enemies  of 
God.  You  know  that  it  was  said  to  the  high 
priest  Jeremy,  '  I  have  set  thee  over  the  peo- 
ple to  destroy  and  to  build  up.'    Thus  popes 


have  the  power  of  disposing  of  armies  and 
khigdoms,  and  of  raising  or  destroying  em- 
pires !  It  is  on  this  account,  that  we  order  you 
to  restore  to  the  English  prince  the  territories 
which  you  have  invaded,  to  cease  all  hostili- 
ties against  him.  and  to  employ  your  troops  in 
the  extermination  of  your  heretical  subjects.''" 

These  representations  acted  powerfully^  on 
the  superstitious  mind  of  Louis  the  Eighth; 
he  concluded  a  treaty  with  the  king  of  Eng- 
land, took  the  cross  from  the  hands  of  the 
Roman  legate,  and  went  towards  the  south  of 
France,  at  the  head  of  his  army.  Avignon 
was  the  first  city  which  fell  into  his  power; 
its  walls  were  thrown  down,  ditches  filled  up, 
and  all  its  courageous  population  put  to  the 
sword.  But  divine  justice  did  not  permit  this 
monster  to  continue  the  course  of  his  cruel- 
ties; he  fell  sick  and  died,  thirty  days  after 
the  capture  of  Avignon. 

Whilst  half  of  France,  in  obedience  to  the 
sacrilegious  orders  of  the  pope,  was  precipi- 
tating itself  upon  the  south,  Frederick  the 
Second  was  endeavouring  again  to  strengthen 
the  great  imperial  edifice,  so  much  shaken  by 
the  rough  attacks  which  proud  pontifi's,  during 
preceding  reigns,  had  made  on  it.  The  belter 
to  succeed  in  his  purposes,  he  feigned  to  be 
animated  by  a  great  zeal  for  the  crusades,  and 
was  among  the  first  to  enrol  himself  in  the 
sacred  militia;  he,  however,  retarded  his  de- 
parture under  new  pretexts,  now  alleging  im- 
portant affairs,  now  giving  it  as  a  reason  that 
he  could  not  quit  his  kingdom,  until  he  had 
been  crowned  emperor. 

Honorius  penetrated  his  secret  intentions, 
and  in  order  not  to  furnish  him  with  an  ex- 
cuse, he  decided  solemnly  to  consecrate  him 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  at  Rome.  Alter 
the  ceremon)\  Frederick  received  the  cross 
from  the  hands  of  cardinal  Hugolin,  bishop  of 
Ostia,  and  publicly  renewed  his  vow  to  go  to 
the  Holy  Land ;  as  he  however  still  deferred 
his  departure,  the  pope,  wearied  with  his  tar- 
diness, wrote  to  him : 

'■'•  Would  to  God,  prince,  that  you  would 
consider  with  what  impatience  you  are  waited 
for  by  the  eastern  church,  which  hopes  to  see 
you  abandon  all  other  cares  for  the  deliver- 
ance of  Jerusalem.  In  France,  England,  and 
even  in  Italy,  it  is  asked  why  you  defer  the 
execution  of  your  vow,  by  retarding  the  de- 
parture of  the  galleys  which  you  have  armed 
for  Syria,  and  where  they  would  be  of  so 
much  assistance  to  the  crusaders  in  the  de- 
fence of  Damietta.'"' 

Frederick  did  not  even  reply  to  this  letter, 
and  continued  to  occupy  himself  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  his  estates.  But  when  the 
loss  of  Damietta  was  known  at  Rome,  the 
anger  of  the  holy  father  broke  forth ;  he  ac- 
cused the  emperor  of  being  the  cause  of  the 
checks  which  the  Christians  had  experienced 
in  the  east,  and  threatened  to  excommunicate 
him,  if  he  did  not  go  immediately  with  his 
army  to  combat  the  infidel. 

So  much  insolence  exasperated  the  young 
prince.  He  came  to  an  open  rupture  with  the 
Holy  See,  seized  on  several  domains  which 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


467 


the  pope  had  usurped,  drove  from  the  king- 
dom of  Naples  and  Sicily  all  the  prelates 
whom  he  suspected,  and  named  others  in 
their  place  in  accordance  with  the  privileges 
of  the  ancient  monarchy  of  Sicily.  He  then 
wrote  to  the  court  of  Rome,  that  the  time  had 
come  to  restore  to  him  the  rights  of  w  hich 
Innocent  the  Third  had  despoiled  him.  and  also 
those  which  Honorius  luul  taken  away  at  the 
time  of  his  coronation^  threatening  in  case  of 
a  refusiil  to  march  on  Rome  and  ?ack  it. 

The  pope  discovering  that  he  had  been  too 
hasty,  and  not  daring  then  to  engage  in  a 
strife  which  could  only  be  fatal  to  him,  im- 
mediately retracted,  and  replied  to  the  prince 
with  hypocritical  mildness — "I  exhort  you, 
my  dear  son,  to  recall  to  your  recollection 
that  you  are  the  protector  of  the  Roman 
church ;  do  not  forget  what  you  owe  to  that 
good  mother,  and  take  pity- on  her  daughter 
the  church  of  the  East,  which  extends  towards 
you  her  arms  like  an  unfortunate  who  has  no 
longer  any  hope  but  in  you." 

Notwithstanding  this  apparent  mark  of 
submission,  the  holy  father  none  the  less  con- 
tinued the  organization  of  a  powerful  league 
against  the  emperor  of  Germany  and  Italy. 
Frederick,  who  was  informed  of  it,  immedi- 
ately convened  the  German  bishops  and  his 
nobUity,  in  the  city  of  Ferentina,  to  put  the 
pope  on  his  trial.  Honorius,  far  from  exhibit- 
ing fear,  went  to  this  assembly  accompanied 
by  John  of  Brienne,  king  of  Jerusalem,  and 
his  (laughter  Yolande,  by  the  commander  of 
the  templars,  the  grand  master  of  the  Teuto- 
nic knights,  and  several  other  great  persons 
from  various  countries.  The  adroit  pontiff 
knew  how  to  avail  himself  skiltully  of  the 
beauty  of  the  daughter  of  king  John  in  serv- 
ing his  purposes ;  he  brought  about  secret 
interviews  between  her  and  Frederick  ;  and 
when  the  young  prince,  smitten  by  the  charms 


of  the  beautiful  Yolanile,  expressed  a  wish  to 
marry  her,  the  pope  declared  to  the  two  lovers 
that  the  marriage  could  only  take  place  on 
condition  that  the  king  should  go  definitely 
into  Syria  to  reconquer  the  throne  of  his 
father-in-law.  Frederick  appeared  to  yield 
to  these  proposals,  in  order  to  clear  away  the 
obstacles  which  opposed  themselves  lo  las 
union,  and  occupied  himself  with  as.sembling 
his  forces  by  land  and  sea.  as  if  he  was  really 
going  to  transport  them  into  Palestine.  But 
as  soon  as  the  marriage  was  concluded,  liis 
ardour  for  the  crusade  relaxed,  and  he  de- 
manded further  delay. 

Honorius,  who  had  had  time  to  take  his 
measures,  refused  to  accede  lo  the  demands 
of  Frederick;  and  immediately  caused  all  the 
cities  of  Lombardy  to'  revolt.  The  emperor 
essayed  to  re-establish  order  in  his  kingdomj 
and  wished  to  levy  troops  in  the  dutchy  of 
Spoleto;  but  the  clergy  had  there  kindled  the 
fire  of  rebellion,  and  the  Spoletins  refused  to 
grant  the  troops  without  an  order  from  the 
pope,  whose  vassals  they  declared  themselves 
to  be.  This  universal  resistance  alarmed  the 
emperor.  Through  necessity  he  approached 
the  Holy  See,  and  promised  to  put  hi.-?  journey 
to  the  Holy  Land  in  execution ;  and,  as  a  proof 
of  his  submission,  he  placed  his  kingdom 
under  the  protection  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  bound  him.self  to  pay  it  a  considerable 
annual  tribute. 

The  pope,  fearful  lest  new  obstacles  to  his 
plans  should  rise  up,  consented  to  make  peace, 
and  pressed  the  departure  of  the  crusaders  in 
all  the  countries  of  Europe.  He  died  in  the 
interval,  and  had  not  the  satisfaction  lo  see 
his  policy  triumph.  His  body  was  buried  at 
St.  Maria  ]\htjora,  on  the  20th"of  jNIarch,  1227. 
Honorius  showed  himself,  in  the  course  of  his 
reign,  to  be  as  cruel  and  ambitious  as  his  in- 
,  famous  predecessor. 


GREGORY  THE  NINTH,  THE  ONE   HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTY- 
THIRD  POPE. 

[A.  b.  1227.] 

Opinion  of  Maimhurf;  about  Gregory — Enthronement  of  the  new  pope — War  against  the  Albi- 
gcnscs — Quarrel  between  the  emperor  and  the  povc — Frederick  is  excommunicated — He  avenges 
himself  on  Gregory — Ilis  departure  for  the  Iloly  Land — 2'he  pope  makes  irar  on  his  lieute- 
nants— His  return  to  Germany — He  is  again  ejccommunicatcd — Great  inundation  at  Roitic — 
Peace  between  the  emperor  and  pope — Gregory  is  driven  from  Rome  by  the  people — He  becomes 
reconciled  with  the  Romans — New  discords  between  the  altar  and  t)ic  throne — Frederick  the 
Second  is  excommunicated  the  fourth  time — The  pope  offers  the  imperial  crown  to  the  king  of 
France^  who  refuses  it — Convocation  of  a  council  for  a  crusade — St.  Louis  prohibits  the  pope 
from  levying  dimes  in  his  kingdom — Death  of  Gregory. 

Maimburo  afTirms  that  Gregory  was  well !  to  extremes  w  hich  were  frequently  veiy  pre- 
maile  in  his  person,  of  a  majeslic  carriage,  |  judicial  lo  his  interests.  Having  become 
and  especially  very  learned  in  the  canon  law  ponlifT,  he  abandoned  the  title  of  cardinal 
and  Holy  Scriptures.  He  adds,  however,  that  bishop  of  Ostia,  though  still  keeping  the  re- 
we  must  deplore  the  extreme  severity  and  venues  of  that  sec,  ami  gave  up  his  name  of 
violence  of  his  character,  which  urged  him   Hugolin  to  take  that  of  Gregory.    He  was  ori- 


468 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ginally  from  Anagni,  and  v/as  descended 
from  the  illustrious  family  of  the  counts  of 
Segni.  as  was  his  predecessor  Innocent  the 
Third. 

His  exaltation  was  made  with  unusual 
pomp ;  on  the  day  of  the  ceremony  he  went 
to  St.  Peter's  with  an  imposing  train  of  cardi- 
nals and  archbishops;  and  after  having  cele- 
brated divine  service,  he  went  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  pontifical  palace,  traversing  the 
streets  of  Rome  mounted  on  a  white  horse, 
richly  caparisoned  with  scarlet  housings,  all 
shining  with  gold  and  precious  stones.  Every 
where  on  his  passage  were  spread  flowers 
and  perfumes ;  the  houses  were  hung  with 
tapestry  resplendent  with  gold  and  silver;  at 
the  head  of  the  cortege  walked  young  girls 
singing  hymns  of  joy ;  then  came  the  monks 
in  double  file,  with  the  children  of  the  schools, 
all  carrying  palm  branches  or  bunches  of 
flowers ;  after  these  followed  the  officers  of 
the  magistracy  and  the  army  clothed  in  silk 
and  gold ;  and  finally,  the  president  of  the 
senate  and  the  prefect  of  Rome,  walked  by 
the  side  of  the  pope,  leading  his  horse  by  the 
bridle.  Behind  this  magnificerit  cortege,  which 
extended  from  the  great  palace  to  the  banks 
of  the  Tiber,  followed  by  an  innumerable 
crowd  of  priests  and  citizens,  Gregory  thus 
arrived  in  triumphal  the  palace  of  the  Lateran, 
where  he  was  submitted  to  the  usual  proofs. 

On  the  day  succeeding  his  installation,  the 
new  pontiff  wrote  to  all  the  bishops  of  Eu- 
rope to  accelerate  the  departure  of  the  cru- 
saders, under  the  penalty  of  incurring  eccle- 
siastical censures.  He  sought  at  the  same 
time  to  reanimate  the  persecutions  against 
the  unfortunate  Albigenses,  and  availing  him- 
self of  the  ascendency  which  he  exercised 
over  the  mind  of  Blanche  of  Castille,  the 
mother  of  St.  Louis,  who  had  been  appointed 
regent  of  the  kingdom  during  the  minority  of 
her  son,  he  induced  her  to  confide  the  com- 
mand of  her  troops  to  Imbert  of  Beaujeu,  one 
of  the  most  ardent  fanatics  of  the  day.  Under 
the  command  of  that  lord,  the  religious  war 
recommenced  as  terribly  as  in  the  time  of 
Simon  de  Montfort.  All  the  Albigenses  who 
fell  into  the  power  of  the  Catholics  were 
massacred  with  extreme  cruelty;  and  those 
who,  to  avoid  death,  surrendered,  were  piti- 
lessly condemned  to  the  funeral  pile  by  Ame- 
lin,  the  legate  of  the  pope.  "But,"  says 
Perrin,  "  the  more  the  persecution  increased, 
the  more  did  the  number  of  the  heretics 
multiply." 

Gregory,  though  much  occupied  with  the 
Albigenses,  was"  not  forgetful  of  Germany, 
and  he  ordered  the  emperor  to  depart  for  the 
Holy  Land,  in  fulfilment  of  the  vow  which  he 
had  taken  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  with 
the  daughter  of  the  king  of  Jerusalem.  As 
it  was  no  longer  possible  for  Frederick  to  put 
off  his  departure,  he  promised  to  obey  him, 
and  in  fact  fixed  on  a  general  rendezvous  for 
.his  troops  at  Brindes.  It  was  then  in  the  mid- 
dle of  summer ;  an  epidemic  soon  broke  out 
in  the  army,  and  in  a  few  days  a  large  number 
of  soldiers  were  carried  off  by  the  scourge. 


The  emperor  took  advantage  of  the  general 
panic  to  invent  a  new  trick  to  free  himself 
from  his  promise.  By  his  orders  a  priest  ap- 
peared in  the  camp  of  the  crusaders,  repre- 
senting himself  to  be  a  legate  from  the  pope 
and  instructed  by  the  holy  father  to  release 
them  from  their  vows,  and  authorise  them  to 
return  home.  This  trick  was  entirely  suc- 
cessful ;  on  that  very  day  the  army  disbanded, 
and  the  emperor  remained  with  his  own 
guards;  he,  however,  embarked  for  Palestine, 
to  fulfil,  as  he  said,  the  promise  made  to  the 
holy  father;  but  three  days  afterwards  he 
returned  to  the  port  of  Otranto,  alleging  as 
an  excuse,  that  he  had  discovered  the  impos- 
sibility of  his  supporting  the  fatigues  of  a 
voyage. 

Furious  at  the  emperor,  Gregory  was  no 
longer  careful  in  his  proceedings ;  he  w^ent  to 
the  cathedral  of  Anagni,  his  residence,  and 
there,  clothed  in  his  pontifical  ornaments, 
surrounded  by  the  cardinals,  bishops,  and 
other  prelates  of  his  suite,  he  thundered  forth 
a  sermon  on  this  text,  "We  must  remove  the 
scandal  from  Christendom;"  and  after  the 
sermon,  he  lanched  ecclesiastical  thunders 
against  the  emperor.  Frederick  replied  by  a 
manifesto  against  the  Holy  See,  m  which  this 
passage  occurs :  "  Learn,  people  of  Italy,  that 
the  Roman  church  not  only  swallows  up,  in  its 
orgies,  the  wealth  which  it  snatches  from  the 
superstition  of  the  faithful,  but  that  it  even 
despoils  sovereigns,  and  renders  them  tribu- 
tary. We  do  not  speak  of  the  simony,  exac- 
tions, and  usury  with  which  it  has  infected 
all  the  west ;  for  every  one  knows  that  the 
popes  are  insatiable  blood  suckers.  The 
priests  afiirm  that  the  church  is  our  mother, 
our  nurse ;  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  an  infamous 
step-mother,  which  devours  those  whom  its 
hypocritical  voice  calls  children.  It  sends  its 
legates  into  all  quarters  to  lanch  excommu- 
nications, to  order  massacres,  and  to  steal  the 
wealth  of  princes  and  people.  In  its  hands 
the  morality  of  Christ  has  become  a  terrible 
arm,  which  permits  it  to  murder  men  in  order 
to  ravish  from  them  their  treasures,  as  a  bri- 
gand would  do  upon  the  highway.  Under 
the  name  of  indulgences  it  impudently  sells 
the  right  to  commit  every  crime,  and  gives 
the  best  places  in  paradise  to  those  who  bring 
it  the  most  money." 

The  publication  of  this  manifesto  increased 
still  further  the  exasperation  of  the  pope  ;  he 
immediately  returned  to  Rome,  lanched  a 
second  e.xcommunication  against  Frederick, 
and  endeavoured  to  excite  a  rebellion  in 
Apulia.  For  this  purpose  he  addressed  the 
following  circular  to  the  bishops  of  that  coun- 
try :  "We  have  drawn  against  the  emperor," 
said  he,  "  the  medicinal  sword  of  St.  Peter, 
and  with  a  spirit  full  of  mildness  we  have 
lanched  our  thunders  against  that  proud  prince 
who  refused  to  fulfil  his  vows  regarding  the 
Holy  Land."  He  then  ordered  the  prelates 
to  place  all  the  cities  and  country  which  the 
emperor  traversed  under  interdict,  and  to  ex 
cite  the  inhabitants  to  assassinate  him.  On 
his  side,  Frederick,  in  order  to  resist  the  pen 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES, 


469 


tiff,  called  to  hi?  aid  the  Fiangipani,  and  other 
Roman  iortls,  who  were  enemies  to  the  Holy 
See.  He  bought  from  them  all  the  property 
which  they  possessed  at  Rome  in  houses  and 
lands;  he  then  restored  to  them  their  titles  to 
their  liefs,  on  condition  that  they  would  be- 
come his  allies,  and  would  aid  him  on  all  oc- 
casions against  the  church.  This  done,  the 
Frangipani  returned  to  Rome,  excited  the 
people  against  Gregory,  and  on  Easter  Mon- 
aay,  whilst  he  was  celebrating  mass  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  a  revolt  bioke  out  in  llie 
city  ;  the  pope  was  insulted  at  the  very  altar, 
pushed  out  of  the  church,  driven  from  the  city, 
and  forced  to  take  up  his  residence  at  Perouse. 

Some  months  afterwards,  the  emperor  was 
apprised  of  the  death  of  Noraddin,  the  sultan 
of  Damascus;  this  news  changed  all  his  policy; 
judging  the  momeut  favourable  for  passing 
over  into  Syria,  and  reconquering  the  throne 
of  Jerusalem,  to  which  he  had  rights  from  his 
marriage  with  the  daughter  of  John  de  Brieu- 
ne,  he  immediately  sent  five  hundred  knights 
into  Palestine,  whilst  he  himself  prepared  to 
embark  with  a  formidable  army.  The  holy 
father,  who  saw  with  chagrin  the  triumph  of 
his  enemy,  prohibited  him  from  crossing  the 
sea,  before  receiving  absolution  from  the  cen- 
sures of  the  church.  But  the  emperor  having 
testified  no  more  regard  for  its  prohibition  than 
he  had  for  its  injunction,  Gregory  e.xcommu- 
nicated  him  for  going  to  the  Holy  Land  as  he 
had  before  anathematised  him  for  his  refusal 
to  go.  Then  taking  advantage  of  the  absence 
of  Frederick,  the  holy  father  declared  war  on 
Rainald  of  Aversum,  duke  of  Spoleto,  who 
had  been  left  by  that  prince  in  the  govern- 
ment of  Sicily,  Apulia  and  Calabria.  He  sent 
an  army  against  him,  commanded  by  cardi- 
nal John  Colonna  and  John  of  Brienne,  the 
father-in-law  of  the  emperor,  who  had  taken  up 
arms  against  his  son-in-law  out  of  base  jeal- 
ousy, because  he  saw  him  on  the  point  of  re- 
seizing  a  kingdom  which  he  would  never  have 
abandoned,  if  he  had  entertained  a  thought  of 
ever  being  able  to  reconquer  it. 

The  papal  army  obtained  for  this  war  the 
same  dispensations  as  the  crusadeis,  and  the 
only  thing  which  distinguished  the  soldiery 
of  the  pope  from  the  soldiery  of  Christ,  was 
the  sign  they  bore  on  the  shoulder ;  the  one 
had  the  cross,  the  other  the  keys ;  as  to  the 
rest  their  conduct  was  alike.  As  they  had 
a  provision  of  plenary  indulgences,  they  stop- 
ped, neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  at  the  com- 
mission of  massacres,  rapes,  and  burnings,  and 
it  woidd  be  difficult  to  tell  who  e.vcelied  in 
cruelties  and  sacrilege:  for  the  Christians  of 
Apulia  were  treated  with  such  barbarities  by 
the  lecrates  of  the  pope,  that  it  appears  impos- 
sible for  the  intidels  to  have  sulfered  greater 
disasters  from  the  crusaders. 

Thomas  of  Acquin,  count  of  Acerra,  rendered 
an  account  to  th(!  emperor  of  the  invasion  by 
the  troops  of  the  iv)|)e,  in  the  following  terms  : 
"After  your  departure,  illustrious  prince,  Gre- 
gory assembled  a  numerous  army  by  the  aid 
of  John  of  Brienne,  and  of  some  other  lords; 
bis  legates  then  entered  your  territories,  say- 


ing, that  they  would  conquer  by  the  sword, 
since  they  had  not  been  able  to  break  you 
down  by  an  anathema.  Their  troops  have 
burned  the  villages,  pillaged  the  cultivators, 
violated  the  women,  devastated  the  fields,  and, 
without  respecting  churches  or  cemeteries, 
have  stolen  the  sacred  vessels  and  robbed 
the  tombs;  never  did  a  pope  act  so  abomi- 
nably. He  has  now  caused  all  the  ports  to 
be  guarded,  in  order  to  seize  your  person  if 
you  arrive  with  a  suite  too  weak  to  defend 
you  ;  he  is,  finally,  even  intriguing  in  the  Holy 
Land,  in  which  you  are  ;  and  he  has  made  a 
compact  with  the  templars  to  put  you  to  death 
by  the  poinard  of  an  a.ssassin.  IMay  God  keep 
you  from  the  pope  and  his  vicars!" 

This  letter  enlightened  Frederick  as  to  the 
dangers  which  he  incurred  in  the  camp  of  the 
crusaders,  and  he  hastened  to  enter  into  ne- 
gotiations with  Melee  Camel,  the  sultan  of 
Egypt,  to  conclude  a  treaty.  He  did  well : 
for  during  the  conferences  the  templars  and 
hospitallers  sought  to  betray  him,  and  had 
written  to  the  sultan  to  inform  him  that  Frede- 
rick was  about  to  make  a  pilgrimage  on  foot, 
and  almost  without  an  escort,  to  the  river 
Jordan,  on  the  third  day  succeeding  the  re- 
ception of  that  letter,  and  that  thus  the  IMus- 
sulmen  could,  without  a  blow,  take  him  a 
prisoner  or  put  him  to  death.  Fortunately, 
JNIelec  Camel  was  a  generous  enemy;  and 
after  having  heard  the  message,  he  informed 
the  emperor.  The  latter,  judging  that  it  was 
not  prudent  to  allow  his  indignation  to  ap- 
pear, feigned  entire  ignorance,  promptly  con- 
cluded his  arrangements  with  the  sultan,  and 
embarked  for  Italy.  His  arrival  changed  the 
face  of  affairs:  the  papal  troops  were  com- 
pelled to  retreat,  and  the  Sicilian  army,  in  its 
turn,  acted  on  the  offensive. 

But  Gregory  was  not  the  man  readily  to 
abandon  his  aim;  and  as  money  was  wanting 
to  him  for  the  continuance  of  the  war.  he 
gave  ordeis  to  squeeze  all  Christian  coun- 
tries. England  was  taxed  with  a  tenth  part 
of  the  moveable  goods  of  the  kingdom.  -  All 
the  children  of  the  church  must  come  to  our 
aid,"  wrote  the  holy  father  to  his  legates  ;  '•  for 
if  we  fail  in  our  present  contest  with  the 
empire,  all  the  clergy  will  perish  with  their 
chief." 

This  extraordinary  tithe  was  levied  with 
the  approval  of  the  king;  the  legates  acted 
with  such  rapacity,  that  they  included  in 
moveable  goods,  even  the  crops  which  ware 
yet  on  the  ground  ;  and,  as  the  holy  father 
was  unwilling  to  wait  for  the  realization  of 
this  impost,  they  sold  its  collection  to  the  bi- 
shops, at  a  low  price,  in  order  to  receive  the 
money  at  once  ;  or  in  tlefault  of  money,  cha- 
lices, reliquaries,  and  the  other  sacred  vases 
of  their  churches.  After  England,  the  pope 
rairsacked  Italy,  France,  Germany.  Spain, 
Portugal,  and  even  Deirmark  and  Sweden. 
With  this  money,  drawtr  from  the  credulity 
of  the  faithful,  he  levied  troops,  and  es.sayed 
to  retake  the  country ;  but  the  new  recruits 
were  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  emperor  con- 
liitued  to  advance  on  Rome,  where  his  party 
40 


470 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


was  all-powerful,  thanks  to  the  Frangipani, 
who  had  remained  masters  of  the  forts  built 
since  the  expulsion  of  the  pontifT. 

Gregory,  recognising  the  impossibility  of 
subjugating  Fiederick  by  the  sword,  tried 
ecciesiaslical  thunders,  and  fulminated  the 
following  anathema.  "We  release  all  the 
subjects  of  Frederick  the  excommunicated, 
from  their  oaths  of  fidelity,  especially  those 
of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily;  because  Christians 
should  not  regard  the  sanctity  of  an  oath 
towards  him  who  is  the  enemy  of  God,  and 
who  tramples  under  feet  the  decrees  of  the 
church."  Still  the  spiritual  arms  were  im- 
potent to  arrest  the  march  of  the  emperor, 
and  Rome  only  awaited  his  arrival  to  open 
her  gates  to  him,  when  a  terrible  event 
changed  the  disposition  of  their  minds. 

In  a  single  riight,  at  the  end  of  a  storm, 
the  Tiber  left  its  bed,  and  its  waters  covered 
the  city  even  to  the  tops  of  the  houses  ;  a 
prodigious  number  of  the  inhabitant.s  were 
drowned :  others  were  crushed  beneath  the 
edifices  which  fell  down ;  and,  finally,  others 
deprived  of  all  succour,  died  of  famine;  and 
to  heighten  the  disasters,  when  the  waters 
had  by  degrees  regained  their  bed  there  re- 
mained in  the  streets  and  cellars  a  great  tilth, 
which,  mingling  with  the  dead  bodies  in  a 
state  of  putrefaction,  engendered  an  epidemic 
which  decimated  the  population. 

The  partizans  of  Gregory  hastened  to  dwell 
on  this  public  calamity,  by  representing  it  as 
a  heavenly  punishment ;  and  they  determined 
the  citizens  to  send  a  deputation  to  Perouse 
to  offer  to  restore  the  pope  to  the  palace  of 
the  Lateran  ;  it  was  accepted  promptly,  and 
Frederick,  who  knew  the  super.stitious  spirit 
of  the  Romans,  dared  not  go  further  and  even 
sought  to  enter  into  an  arrangement  with  the 
holy  father.  His  envoys  were  at  first  repulsed 
by  the  sacred  college  :  presents  then  produced 
their  usual  effect,  and  it  was  decided  to  enter 
into  conferences  with  them. 

The  following  were  the  conditions  of  the 
treaty  proposed  by  the  pope : — "  Frederick 
shall  permit  that,  for  the  future,  in  the  king- 
dom of  Sicily,  the  elections,  postulations,  and 
confirmations  of  churches  and  monasteries 
shall  be  made  in  accordance  with  the  decre- 
tals of  the  general  council ;  he  shall  indemnify 
the  templars  and  hospitallers  for  the  damages 
which  they  have  sustained  in  defence  of  the 
church,  during  the  divisions;  he  shall  pay  all 
the  expenses  incurred  in  this  war ;  and,  finally, 
he  shall  give  the  Holy  See  sufficient  security 
to  guarantee  the  execution  of  the  present  con- 
vention."— Frederick  ratified  all  the  clauses 
of  this  treatj-,  and,  in  token  of  submission, 
went  to  Anagni,  after  which  the  two  allies 
dined  together,  and  renewed  the  oath  to  main- 
tain the  peace  which  they  had  signed. 

But  each  sought  to  deceive  his  enemy, 
having  decided  to  seize  the  favourable  mo- 
ment to  overthrow  the  other.  The  emperor 
continued  his  intrigues  at  Rome,  and  the  pope 
was  soon  driven  a  second  time  from  the  holy 
city,  and  compelled  to  take  refuge  at  Nice ; 
on  his  side  the  pope  had  sent  secret  emissa- 


ries to  Henry  king  of  Germany,  the  oldest  son 
of  Frederick,  to  urge  the  young  prince  to  re- 
volt against  his  father.  He  had  also,  under 
pretence  of  pacifying  the  cities  of  Lombardy, 
sent  into  that  province  a  celebrated  preacher 
named  John  of  Vincenza,  to  preach  to  the 
people  union  against  the  empire  in  case  the 
emperor  should  wish  to  oppress  them.  Fi- 
nally, for  the  same  end,  Gregory  had  pub- 
lished a  collection  of  decretals,  forming  a 
species  of  code,  in  which  all  the  decisions  of 
the  court  of  Rome,  upon  causes  in  which  the 
pope  was  to  judge  as  an  arbitrary  sovereign, 
were  found  classified.  This  collection  was 
afterwards  called  the  Book  of  the  Decretals  of 
Pope  Gregory  the  Ninth,  and  aided  the  popes 
in  attributing  to  themselves  the  absolute  go- 
vernment of  benefices. 

Such  was  the  situation  of  affairs  when  the 
new  revolt  broke  out  against  Gregory.  He  im- 
mediately wrote  to  Frederick  to  demand  his 
aid,  feigning  ignorance  of  the  part  which  he 
had  taken  in  the  matter.  As  the  prince,  in 
his  reply,  did  not  even  take  the  pains  to  con- 
ceal the  joy  which  he  felt  at  the  expulsion  of 
the  holy  father,  the  latter  made  dispositions 
to  take  his  revenge,  and  under  pretext  of  a 
war  against  the  Romans,  sent  legates  into  all 
Christian  kingdoms  to  obtain  a  tenth  of  their 
revenues.  The  embassadors  of  the  pope  were 
the  bearers  of  the  following  bull :  "In  the  war 
which  we  maintain  against  the  Romans,  we  act 
merely,  my  brethren,  for  the  interests  of  the 
whole  church,  we  consequently  order  you  tc 
send  us  the  tenth  of  the  produce  of  your 
goods,  and  a  proper  succour  of  men-at-arms: 
that  we  may  be  enabled  to  crush  our  adver- 
saries, so  that  for  the  future  they  shall  not 
dare  to  rise  against  us."  The  sovereigns  of 
France,  Castile,  Arragon,  Navarre,  Portugal, 
Barcelona,  Roussillon,  Germany  and  Austria, 
hastened  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  pontiff, 
to  prevent  their  being  excommunicated. 
These  reinforcements  of  men  were  directed 
not  on  Rome,  but  Milan,  to  aid  the  Lombards 
who  were  in  open  revolt,  and  who  recognised 
king  Henry  as  their  lawful  sovereign. 

In  this  extremity,  Frederick  endeavoured 
to  reconcile  himself  with  the  pope  anew,  and 
offered  conditions'  so  advantageous  to  the 
Holy  See,  that  Gregory  immediately  aban- 
doned the  unfortunate  prince  whom  he  had 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  revolt.  Henry,  re- 
duced to  his  own  forces,  could  do  nothing  but 
submit;  he  laid  down  his  arms'and  came  to 
implore  the  clemency  of  his  father.  The  em- 
peror, justly  irritated  against  him.  confined 
him  in  a  strong  fortress,  where  he  died  some 
years  afterwards. 

When  peace  was  entirely  re-established  in 
his  kingdom,  Frederick  again  dreamed  of 
taking  vengeance  on  the  pope,  and  sent  into 
Sardinia  Henry,  one  of  his  bastards,  with  a 
formidable  army  to  conquer  it;  after  which 
he  declared  him  king  of  it  to  the  prejudice  of 
the  rights  of  the  Holy  See,  which  for  ages 
claimed  the  possession  of  that  island.  Gre- 
gory, furious  at  the  success  of  his  enemy,  im- 
mediately assembled  his  cardinals  in  council, 


HISTORY   OF   THE   POPES. 


471 


and  fulminated  this  new  sentence  of  excom- 
munication : — 

"  By  the  authority  of  the  Fathen  Son  and 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  of  the  apostles  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul,^\ve  anathemati*?  Frederick  who 
calls  himself  emperor,  as  sacrilegious  and  a 
heretic.  We  excommunicate  him  becau.se 
he  has  excited  seditions  in  Rome  against  the 
church,  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  us 
from  the  apostolic  throne,  and  of  upsetting 
the  sacred  college  of  our  cardinals.  We  ana- 
thematise him,  because  he  calls  us  Anti-Christ, 
Balaam,  and  Prince  of  Darkness;  becau.se  he 
has  hindered  our  legate  from  persecuting  the 
Albigenses;  because  he  has  seized  upon  the 
territory  of  the  church,  and  especially  Sardi- 
nia;  and  because  he  refuses  to  return  to  the 
Holy  Land.  We  declare  all  his  subjects  ab- 
solveil  from  the  oaths  they  have  taken  to  him, 
and  we  prohibit  them,  under  penalty  of  ex- 
communication, from  obeying  him  until  he 
shall  have  come  to  implore  our  mercy."' 

Frederick  was  at  Padua  when  he  received 
the  bull  of  anathema  fulminated  against  him, 
and  in  his  rage  he  replied  with  a  terrible 
manifesto.  Thus  recommenced  the  war  be- 
tween the  pope  and  the  emperor.  Frederick 
drove  from  Sicily  all  the  preaching  friars;  he 
levied  subsidies  upon  all  ecclesiastics  without 
distinction,  and  prohibited  his  subjects  from 
going  to  Rome  without  especial  authority. 
On  his  side  the  pope  called  to  his  aid  the  cru- 
saders, who  were  ready  to  embark  for  Pales- 
tine, seized  upon  pious  legacies  and  alms 
destined  for  their  wants,  and  as  he  was  not 
yet  strong  enough  to  attack  the  emperor,  he 
sent  legates  to  the  court  of  France  to  solicit 
money  and  troops. 

St.  Louis  permitted  the  embassadors  of  the 
Holy  See  to  convoke  an  assembly  of  the  clergy 
and  nobility  at  Senlis,  and  they  there  obtained 
permission  to  seize  a  twentieth  of  the  reve- 
nues of  the  kingdom  to  succour  Rome.  Grego- 
ry was  so  well  pleased  with  the  conduct  of 
the  French,  who  for  the  third  time,  and  at 
periods  so  approximate,  had  granted  to  him 
enormous  subsidies,  that  he  offeretl  the  impe- 
rial crown  to  Robert,  count  of  Artois,  the 
brother  of  the  king.  St.  Louis  rejected  this 
odious  proposal.  '•  How  has  the  pope  dared 
to  depose  so  great  a  prince  ?"  he  said  to  the 
legate.  "  If  Frederick  has  merited  the  cen- 
sures of  the  church,  he  ought  above  all  to  be 
judged  in  a  general  council,  and  not  by  his 
enemies.  For  our  part,  we  regard  him  as  in- 
nocent and  as  unjustly  anathematised ;  we 
know  that  he  has  combated  bravely  in  the 
Holy  Land,  and  that  he  was  exposed  to  all  the 
dangers  of  war  whilst  the  pope  was  seeking 
treacherously  to  deprive  him  of  his  kingdom 
and  even  to  cause  him  to  bi;  assassinated. 

'•  We  are  unwilling,  then,  to  imitate  the  con- 
duct of  Gregory,  and  to  combat  against  this 
prince  to  deprive  him  of  his  crown  ;  we  know 
that  the  holy  father  is  not  desirous  of  Christian 
blood  when  it  Hows  for  his  temporal  interests. 
Besides,  if  we  were  weak  enough  to  subserve 
his  fury  what  would  it  avail  us?  After  the 
victory  for  which  he  would  be  indebted  to  us. 


he  would  turn  against  us  and  trample  us  under 
loot,  as  his  predecessors  have  so  oiten  done  to 
the  kings  of  France  or  emperors  of  Germany. 
You  have  asked  for  money  from  us;  we  have 
granted  it  to  you,  but  we  refuse  to  give  you 
the  soldiers  you  ask  lor  to  conquer  a  crown 
you  are  not  permitted  to  dispose  of.'' 

Gregory  then  wished  to  assemble  a  general 
council  in  order  solemnly  to  depose  the  em- 
peror; and  as  he  feared  lest  Frederick  would 
throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  assembling 
if  he  penetrated  the  true  object,  he  entered 
into  negotiations  with  him  and  gave  out  that 
the  synod  was  to  fix  the  basis  of  a  delinite 
peace  between  the  altar  and  the  throne.  At 
the  same  time  his  legates  spread  themselves 
through  France  and  England  to  distribute 
the  letters  of  convocation,  and  to  impress  the 
bishops  of  these  provinces  favourably  to  him. 

But  Frederick  was  not  the  dupe  of  this  ruse, 
and  he  wrote  to  the  king  of  France,  "You 
have  already,  prince,  relused  to  become  the 
instrument  of  the  fury  of  Gregory,  and  to  de- 
clare against  us;  the  implacable  pontiH'  has 
not,  however,  renounced  the  hope  of  ranging 
you  on  his  side,  and  he  essays  a  new  trick 
to  surprise  your  piety.  No,  the  council  which 
he  wishes  to  assemble  is  not  to  be  the  meilia- 
tor  of  peace ;  it  is,  on  the  contrary  to  be  sub- 
servient to  his  ambition  and  to  overthrow  our 
empire.  We  declare  to  you  then,  to  you, 
illustrious  prince,  whose  interests  are  the  siime 
as  our  own.  that  as  long  as  war  shall  exist  be- 
tween the  empire  and  the  Holy  See  we  will 
not  authorise  the  convocation  of  a  council,  be- 
cause we  consitler  it  unbeconiinii'  in  a  kiijg  to 
submit  to  the  decision  of  priests  a  case  which 
has  such  important  bearings  on  our  secular 
power.  We  accordingly  forewarn  you  that 
we  will  pursue  to  extremity  those  of  your  pre- 
lates who  shall  go  to  this  assembly.  We  also 
inform  you  that  the  enormous  sums  which 
you  have  pemiitted  to  be  raised  in  your  es- 
tates are  actually  expended  for  the  pay  of  the 
soldiers  destined  to  make  war  on  us  ;  and  that 
they  are  preparing  to  make  new  demands  on 
you  for  money." 

In  fact,  the  pope,  seconded  by  his  legates, 
had  made  a  fourth  levy  of  money  in  all  the 
monasteries  of  France,  and  he  \^  aited  for  these 
new  supplies  to  reinforce  his  army  antl  attack 
the  emperor.  St.  Louis,  apprised  of  this  by 
Frederick,  stopped  this  money,  already  on  its 
way  towards  Italy,  and  appropriated  it  to  him- 
.self  for  the  wants  of  his  kingilorn. 

At  the  same  time,  the  emperor  surrounded 
all  the  sea-ports,  and  made  prisoners  of  the 
cardinals  and  bishops  who  were  going  to  the 
council.  The  war  was  pursued  on  both  sides 
with  e(]ual  vigour;  at  length  the  cardinal  Co- 
lonna,  the  best  general  of  the  pope,  having  en- 
tered the  .service  of  Frederick,  the  party  of  the 
(Jhibelines  had  the  advantage;  Beneventum, 
Faenza,  Spoleto,  Assi.se,  ami  a  great  num- 
ber of  other  cities  fell  into  the  power  of  that 
prince,  and  his  troops  were  soon  enabled  to 
make  incursions  beneath  the  very  walls  of 
Rome. 
Notwithstanding  these  reverses,  the  stubborn 


4t: 


HISTORY  OF  THE   POPES, 


Gregory  obstinately  refused  to  make  peace 
with  the  empire,  as  a  letter  addressed  to  the 
king  of  France,  by  Frederick,  testifies.  "We 
learii,"  wrote  the  prince,  "that  the  Tartars 
have  invaded  Hungary,  and  threaten  to  blot  out 
the  empire  and  the  church  j  but  ardent  as  is 
our  desire  to  oppose  the  progress  of  this  new 
invasion,  we  are  constrained  above  all  else  to 
contend  with  the  pope,  our  implacable  enemy. 
It  is  on  this  account  we  are  marching  towards 
Rome;  and  we  are  about  to  besiege  it,  since 
we  cannot  obtain  peace." 

In  the  month  of  August,  Frederick,  having 
taken  Tivoli,  and  the  fortified  castles  of  the 
monastery  of  Far.sa  by  assault,  established  his 
camp  at  the  grotto  Ferra,  from  whence  he 
ravaged  the  campagna  of  Rome. 

Gregory  continued  to  maintain  himself  in 
the  holy  city,  although  the  inhabitants  were 
divided  into  two  powerful  factions,  the  Guelphs 
and  the  Ghibelines,  who  daily  came  to  blows, 
and  according  as  one  or  the  other  were  victo- 
rious, hoisted  the  imperial  standard  or  the 
pontifical  banner.  In  the  midst  of  these  al- 
ternatives of  fear  and  hope,  Gregory  fell  sick, 
and  died  on  the  20th  of  August,  1241,  after 
having  filled  Italy  with  disasters  during  a 
reign  of  fourteen  years.  This  implacable  old 
man  was  almost  an  hundred  years  old.  He  was 
buried  in  the  church  of  St.  John  of  the  Lateran. 

This  embittered  strife  between  the  popes 
and  the  emperors  is  a  very  remarkable  fact 


in  the  history  of  the  church.  Since  the  pon- 
tificate of  Gregory  the  Seventh,  the.  Holy  See, 
which  derived  all  its  power  from  the  emperors 
of  the  West,  declares  itself  their  implacable 
enemy.  The  court  of  Rome  no  longer  defends 
its  rights  by  invoking  charters  granted  by 
princes  ;  it  is  from  God  alone  that  it  pretends 
to  hold  its  temporal  as  well  as  its  spiritual 
power ;  and  this  principle  of  theocracy  once 
established,  the  popes  deduce  from  it  frightful 
consequences;  they  declare  themselves  the 
masters  and  rulers  of  the  entire  world ;  they 
call  themselves  infallible ;  they  attribute  to 
themselves  the  same  prerogatives  as  the  di- 
vinity ;  they  proudly  call  themselves  the  vi- 
cars of  Christ,  the  representatives  of  God  on 
earth !  ! 

Thusjhey  dispose  of  thrones  and  empires, 
oveithrovv  the  one,  reconstruct  the  other,  and 
according  to  the  caprices  of  their  imagination 
or  the  interests  of  their  policy,  they  urge  na- 
tions into  interminable  wars.  Men  are  for 
them  machines  which  they  use  to  draw^  gold 
from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  instruments 
which  they  employ  to  raise  statues  and  palaces 
for  them.  Finally,  these  hypocritical  pontiffs 
in  the  name  of  a  God  of  humility,  elevate 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter  above  the  throne  of 
kings.  In  the  name  of  a  God  of  charity,  de- 
spoil the  unfortunate  people.  In  the  name  of 
a  God  of  mercy,  cause  the  unfortunate  victims 
of  their  fanaticism  to  expire  in  tortures. 


CELESTIN  THE  FOURTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTY- 
FOURTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1241.] 

Division  in  the  sacred  college — The  cardinals  nominate  tico  popes — Both  compelled  to  abdicate — 
Election  of  Celestin  the  Fourth — His  moderation — His  plans  of  reform — He  is  poisoned  by 
the  priests. 


At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Gregory,  there 
Avere  but  ten  cardinals  at  Rome.  These  wrote 
to  Frederick  to  beseech  him  to  set  at  liberty  the 
prelates  whom  he  retained  in  his  camp,  in  order 
that  the  sacred  college  might  be  enabled  to  as- 
semble and  proceed  to  the  election  of  a  new 
pontiff.  The  prince  acceded  to  their  request, 
and  permitted  his  prisoners  to  go  to  Rome  to 
meet  the  conclave,  on  condition  that  they 
would  choosethe  cardinal  Otho,  one  of  his  crea- 
tures. He  granted  besides  to  the  absent  cardi- 
nals safe  conduct  to  re-enter  the  holy  city. — 
But  so  great  a  confluence  of  electors  was  not 
counted  upon  by  the  prelates  who  were  assem- 
bled. As  each  of  them  had  already  made  his 
terms  when  he  sold  his  vote,  they  feared  they 
could  not  control  the  majority  of  the  assembly, 
because  too  numerous;  and  they  hastened  to 
terminate  the  election  before  the  arrival  of 
their  colleag-ues. 

Geoffrey,  bishop  of  Sabine,  had  five  votes, 
dnd  the  other  three  were  given  for  Remain, 


bishop  of  Porto.  At  the  defeat  of  his  protege, 
the  emperor  declared  that  he  would  approve 
of  the  nomination  of  Geoffrey,  who  was  gene- 
rally esteemed  for  his  virtues;  but  he  pro- 
nounced with  energy  against  that  of  Remain, 
the  same  prelate  who  had  figured  in  the  massa- 
cre of  the  Albigenses,  and  who  had  afterwards 
e.xcited  violent  disputes  against  the  university 
of  Paris  by  means  of  the  assistance  of  Queen 
Blanche,  his  mistress.  Moreover,  the  two  elec- 
tions were  null  in  themselves,  neither  of  the 
prelates  having  received  two  thirds  of  the  votes 
which  the  constitution  of  Alexander  the  Third 
requ  ired .  They  were  both  accordmgly  obliged 
to  abdicate.  On  the  ne.xt  day  they  proceeded 
to  a  new  election.  On  this  occasion  such  a 
quarrel  broke  out  in  the  conclave,  that  from 
words  they  would  have  come  to  blows  but 
for  the  intervention  of  the  senate  and  the  pre- 
fect;  finally,  in  this  strife,  Geoff'rey  gained 
one  vote,  and  was  solemnly  proclaimed  chief 
of  the  church. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


473 


The  new  pontiff  was  originally  from  Milan. 
He  had  first  been  a  canon,  and  chancellor  of 
the  church  of  that  city  \  then  he  had  taken 
the  monastic  habit  in  the  order  of  the  Citeaux. 
Afterwards,  Honorius  the  Third  had  ordained 
him  a  cardinal  priest  \  and  finally,  during  the 
pontificate  of  Gregory,  he  had  been  promoted 
to  the  bishopric  of  Sabine.     After  having  un- 


dergone the  usual  proofs,  he  was  enthroned 
by  the  name  of  Celestin  the  Fourth. 

This  good  pope  endeavoured  to  reform  the 
infamous  morals  of  his  clergy.  Unfortunately 
he  was  not  prudent  enough  to  discard  from 
his  person  the  courtiers  of  the  preceding 
reign  ;  and  eighteen  days  after  his  election,  he 
died  of  poison,  not  having  been  consecrated. 


INNOCENT  THE  FOURTH,  THE  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  EIGHTY- 
FIFTH  POPE. 

[A.  D.  1241.] 

Vacancy  in  the  Holy  Sec — Information  against  the  assassins  af  Celestin — Flight  of  the  cardinals 
— Frederick  orders  the  Romans  to  choose  a  new  pope — Exaltation  of  Innocent  the  Fourth — 
Negotiations  for  peace — Treaty  between  Frederick  and  the  pope — Innocent  betrays  the  emperor 
and  fies  from  Rome — His  Journey  into  France — Council  of  Lyons — The  emperor  is  solemnly 
deposed — Henry  the  Second,  son  of  Frederick,  is  chosen  king  of  Germany  at  the  instigation  of 
the  pope — Civil  wars  excited  by  Innocent — Letter  from  the  sultan  of  Egypt — Innocent  excom- 
municates the  kin^  of  Arragon  and  Portugal — The  English  revolt  against  the  legate  of  the 
court  of  Rome — The  pope  sells  his  protection  to  the  Jews,  and  persecutes  the  Christians  who 
refuse  to  pay  the  dimes — Example  of  a  confessor''s  knavery — Neiv  crusades — St.  Louis  de- 
parts for  the  Holy  Land — Death  of  Frederick — return  of  the  pope  into  Italy — Conrad,  the 
third  son  of  Frederick,  takes  the  title  of  emperor — Complaints  of  Bishop  Robert  Grosshead 
against  the  pope — Absolute  sicay  of  the  Holy  See  over  Italy — Death  of  Innocent  the  Fourth — 
Reflections  on  the  odious  character  of  the  pontiff. 


The  poisoning  of  Celestin  the  Fourth 
plunged  Rome  into  consternation  and  alarm. 
The  people,  who  had  placed  all  their  hopes 
on  the  life  of  this  pontiff,  loudly  demanded 
the  punishment  of  the  guilty,  and  threatened 
those  whom  the  public  voice  designated  as 
the  assassins,  with  a  terrible  vengeance.  A 
rigid  examination,  in  fact,  was  commenced, 
and  it  led  to  such  strange  revelations  that  the 
magistrates  were  compelled  to  stop  their  in- 
quiries, the  murderers  being  cardinals  and 
archbishops.  These,  finding  themselves  dis- 
covered, and  fearful  of  a  just  punishment, 
secretly  escaped  from  the  city,  abandoning  to 
their  colleagues  the  care  of  choosing  a  new 
pope.  There  then  remained  in  the  sacred 
college  but  six  cardinals,  all  ambitious  of  the 
papacy,  and  each  of  them  unwilling  to  make 
a  concession  to  his  competitors;  thus,  with 
such  pretensions,  it  became  impossible  to 
nominate  a  pontiff. 

Frederick,  tired  of  waiting  for  the  termina- 
tion of  their  quarrels,  threatened  to  hang  them 
all  if  they  prolonged  the  scandal  of  iheir  ri- 
valry any  more.  '•  Is  it  not  shameful,"  he 
wrote  to  them,  "  that  the  faithful  can  justly 
say,  it  is  not  Christ  who  is  among  you,  but 
Satan  himself?'' — St.  Louis,  on  his  side,  had 
also  addressed  .several  letters  to  them,  exhort- 
ing them  to  put  an  end  promptly  to  the  long 
vacancy  of  the  Holy  See. 

The  emperor,  finally  discovering  that  they 
regarded  neither  entreaties  nor  threats,  quitted 
Apulia,  whither  he  had  returned  after  the 
death  of  Gregory,  re-entered  the  land  of  La- 

VoL.  I.  3  K 


hour  in  the  month  of  March,  1243,  and  led 
his  army  beneath  the  walls  of  Rome.  The 
city  was  ,so  closely  blockaded,  that  provisions 
could  no  longer  enter  it  by  land  or  water;  the 
magistrates  then  sent  a  deputation  to  Frede- 
rick to  represent  to  him  that  it  was  unjust  to 
punish  them  for  a  fault  of  which  the  cardi- 
nals alone  were  ginlty,  since  the  citizens  were 
disposed  to  drive  from  the  city  the  authors 
of  all  the  disorders — which  was  done  on  the 
very  same  day. 

Frederick  yielded  to  these  representations, 
raised  the  siege  and  placed  the  members  of 
the  sacred  college  under  the  ban  of  the  em- 
pire. By  his  orders,  all  the  domains  of 
the  Guelphs  were  ravaged,  not  only  their 
lands  and  castles,  but  even  the  monasteries, 
churches,  and  convents  of  the  nuns.  Those 
who  held  out  for  the  cardinals  were  pitiles.sly 
massacred ;  the  city  of  Albano  especially, 
which  had  opened  its  gates  to  them,  v.as 
treated  with  the  greatest  cruelty.  These 
latter,  finally,  finding  themselves  driven  from 
their  domains,  despoiled  of  their  dignities, 
and  pursued  by  indefatigable  enemies,  de- 
termined to  name  a  pope.  It  is  said,  more- 
over, that  that  which  alarmed  them  the  most, 
was  the  news  that  the  French  were  preparing 
to  erect  an  independent  patriarchate  to  govern 
the  caJlic  church. 

The  conclave  assembled  anew  in  the  city 
of  Anagni  on  the  24th  of  June,  1243,  and 
proclaimed  as  sovereign  pontiff,  Sinibald  of 
Fie.sca,  of  the  family  of  the  counts  of  Lavagne, 
and  a  cardinal  priest  of  the  order  of  St.  Law- 
40* 


474 


HISTORY    OF   THE    POPES, 


rence.  He  was  enthroned  by  the  name  of 
Innocent  the  Fourth,  submitted  to  the  usual 
tests,  and  consecrated  some  days  after  his 
promotion. 

He  had  been  the  intimate  friend  of  the 
emperor,  therefore  the  ministers  of  Frederick 
congratulated  him  on  an  election  which  could 
not  fail  to  be  advantageous  to  the  empire. 
But  the  prince,  who  knew  the  ambitious 
character  of  the  new  pope,  interrupted  them 
by  saying:  "Cease  your  congratulations,  for 
this  change  of  fortune  is  about  to  take  from 
me  the  friendship  of  the  cardinal  and  bring 
on  me  the  hatred  of  the  Holy  See."  We 
shall  see,  in  the  end,  Innocent  the  Fourth, 
pursue  his  old  friend  with  even  more  fury 
than  his  predecessor  Gregory.  Notwith- 
standing his  sinister  forebodings,  the  emperor 
caused  masses  to  be  celebrated  throughout  all 
his  kingdom  to  render  thanks  to  God  for  the 
election  of  a  sovereign  pontiff;  and  some 
days  after,  having  returned  into  Sicily,  he  sent 
a  solemn  embassy  to  compliment  Innocent, 
and  offer  him  the  aid  of  his  arms,  in  order  to 
assure  the  maintainance  of  the  dignity  and 
liberty  of  the  church.  . 

The  holy  father  hstened  kindly  to  the  embas- 
sadors, and  sent  them  back  with  three  nuncios, 
Peter  of  Colmieu,  the  metropolitan  of  Rouen, 
William,  the  former  bishop  of  Modena,  and 
William,  the  abbot  of  St.  Fagon,  in  Gallicia,  to 
treat  of  the  conditions  of  peace  with  Frederick. 
The  instructions  given  to  his  envoys  were,  that 
they  should  demand  that  he  should  immedi- 
ately set  at  liberty  all  the  ecclesiastics  who 
had  been  taken  by  the  galleys  of  the  Genoese, 
but  without  giving  any  satisfaction  in  ex- 
change ;  and  that  after  having  heard  all  the 
proposals  of  Frederick,  they  should  reply,  that 
all  questions  in  litigation  between  the  church 
and  the  empire  could  only  be  judged  of  by  a 
general  council  of  kings,  princes,  and  prelates. 
This  first  negotiation  was  without  any  result, 
on  account  of  the  obstinacy  of  the  pope,  who 
rejected  the  just  claims  of  the  emperor  on 
the  Holy  See. 

To  wards. the  end  of  the  month  of  October, 
Innocent  left  the  city  of  Anagni,  and  came  to 
Rome,  where  every  thing  was  prepared  for 
his  reception.  He  found  there  the  young- 
Raymond,  count  of  Toulouse,  who  had  come 
to  solicit  his  absolution  ;  the  holy  father,  who 
was  aware  of  the  diplomatic  abilities  of  the 
count,  resolved  to  employ  him  for  the  interests 
of  the  Roman  church ;  he  granted  him  abso- 
lution from  all  the  anathemas  which  he  had 
incurred,  and  induced  Frederick  to  appoint 
him  one  of  the  imperial  commissioners  whO; 
with  Peter  of  Vignes,  and  Thadeus  of  Sweden, 
were  to  arrange  the  basis  of  a  treaty.  On  his 
side,  the  pope  appointed  the  bishop  of  Ostia 
and  three  other  cardinals,  Stephen,  Giles,  and 
Otho,  to  defend  the  privileges  of  the  Holy  See. 

With  such  commissioners,  it  was  easy  for 
the  holy- father  to  have  all  the  clauses  which 
he  dictated  approved.  Thus  there  was  a 
speedy  arrangement.  The  following  were  the 
conditions  of  the  treaty :  —  Frederick  was 
to  restore  the  territories  which  he  had  taken 


from  the  Holy  See,  and  to  recognise  by  a  pub- 
lic confession  that  it  was  not  from  contempt 
that  he  had  refused  to  submit  to  the  sentences 
pronounced  against  him  by  Gregory  the  Ninth, 
but  through  the  inspiration  of  the  devil :  he 
was  to  proclaim  that  the  pope,  even  though 
the  greatest  of  criminals,  alone  possessed  su- 
preme power  over  all  Christians,  whatever 
might  be  their  rank  :  and,  finally,  the  prince 
was  bound  to  set  at  liberty  all  those  who  had 
risen  against  him  during  his  excommunication, 
and  to  found  churches,  hospitals,  and  monas- 
teries, to  expiate  his  crime  of  rebellion  against 
the  church.  All  these  articles  were  sworn 
to  by  the  commissioners  of  the  king,  amidst 
the  applause  of  the  cardinals  and  pope  ;  but 
when  Frederick  had  been  informed  of  the 
treason  of  his  delegates,  he  sharply  refused  to 
execute  the  treaty. 

Innocent,  not  daring  to  break  with  the  em- 
peror, whose  anger  he  dreaded,  proposed  an 
interview  with  him  at  Sutri.  The  prince  re- 
fused to  go  there  before  having  received  his 
letters  of  absolution,  and  declared  that  it  was 
at  Rome  itself  he  w'ould  cause  his  rights  to  be 
recognised.  This  threat,  and  the  approach  of 
the  imperial  troops,  alarmed  the  holy  father — 
secret  orders  were  expedited  to  Genoa,  to 
make  dispositions  of  the  galleys ;  and  when 
all  was  ready,  by  night,  without  admitting  any 
one  into  his  confidence,  to  avoid  being  stopped 
by  the  Ghibelines,  he  laid  aside  the  insignia 
of  his  dignity,  armed  himself  lightly,  mounted 
a  strong  horse,  and,  accompanied  by  a  single 
domestic,  took  the  road  to  Civita  Vecchia. — 
He  urged  his  flight  so  rapidly,  that  he  had 
traversed  eleven  leagues  by  daybreak ;  he 
then  caused  his  domestic  to  return,  to  inform 
Peter  of  Capua,  and  seven  cardinals  of  his 
party  of  his  flight,  that  they  might  join  him  at 
Civita  Vecchia,  where  twenty-three  galleys, 
each  manned  by  sixty  well-armed  men,  and 
one  hundred  and  twenty  rowers  awaited  them. 
These  vessels  had  come  under  the  leading  of 
the  admiral  of  the  republic  of  Genoa,  and  the 
relatives  of  the  pope.  Innocent  embarked 
on  the  same  night  with  the  cardinals  and  some 
bishops,  and  arrived  on  the  5th  of  July,  1244, 
at  Genoa,  his  country.  On  his  disembarca- 
tion,  he  was  harangued  by  the  principal  per- 
sons of  the  republic,  and  borne  in  triumph  by 
the  clergy  to  the  cathedral,  amidst  the  accla- 
mations of  the  people. 

Frederick,  informed  by  his  spies  that  the 
pontiff  meditated  a  second  flight  out  of  Italy, 
blockaded  all  the  routes  by  sea  and  land, 
to  make  him  a  prisoner.  Innocent  had  al- 
ready asked  from  the  king  of  France  permis- 
sion to  establish  himself  al  Rhcims,  the  see  of 
which  was  vacant,  and  the  latter  had  replied, 
that  the  barons  of  the  kingdom,  jealous  of  the 
liberties  of  the  Gallic  church,  were  unwilling 
to  permit  the  pope  to  fix  his  residence  in 
France.  Like  refusals  had  been  received  to 
the  overtures  which  had  been  made  in  Spain, 
England,  and  several  other  kingdoms;  "for," 
says  Mathew  Paris,  "  they  knew  too  well  the 
avidity  and  despotism  of  the  Roman  court  to 
wish  for  the  presence  of  the  holy  father ;  the 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES 


475 


people  were  beginning  to  comprehend  that 
religion  was  only  a  pretext  made  use  of  by 
the  legates  to  pillage  them ;  and  they  had 
learned  from  recent  examples  that  popes  and 
their  cardinals,  like  swarms  of  grasshoppers, 
left  behind  them  but  ruin  and  desolation." 

Disgracefully  repulsed  on  all  sides,  and 
not  daring  to  remain  m  Italy,  Innocent  deter- 
mined to  go  to  Lyons,  a  neutral  city  belong- 
ing to  an  archbishop.  He  had  scarcely  arrived 
when  he  expedited  circular  letters  for  the  con- 
vocation of  a  general  council.  —  His  aim,  he 
said,  was  to  raise  up  the  church  which  had 
bowed  its  forehead  before  an  horrible  tempest, 
to  conrpier  the  Holy  Land,  re-establi.sh  the 
empire  of  Romania,  repulse  the  Tartars  and 
other  infidels,  and,  finally,  constrain  the  em- 
peror to  humble  himself  before  St.  Peter. 

According  to  the  usage  of  his  predecessors, 
the  pope,  regardless  of  the  rights  of  the  vener- 
able archbishop  who  had  received  him,  seized 
on  his  palace,  his  goods,  and  all  his  authority; 
he  disposed  of  cures,  prebends,  and  benefices, 
and  sold  them  to  strangers,  or  gave  them  to 
persons  of  his  train.  At  length  the  Lyonese 
canons,  indignant  at  the  conduct  of  Innocent, 
revolted  against  him,  and  protested  with  oaths, 
that  if  the  Italian  priests  showed  themselves 
in  their  churches,  they  would  cast  them  into 
the  Rhone ;  the  people  took  part  with  them, 
and  a  chamberlain  of  the  pope  having  dared 
to  strike  with  his  wand  a  citizen  who  asked 
an  audience  of  the  pope,  the  latter  drew  liis 
sword  and  cut  off  his  hand. 

Curiosity  or  fanaticism,  however,  drawing 
to  Lyons  bishops  and  French  lords,  the  council 
took  place,  and  behold,  according  to  Malhew 
Paris,  what  were  the  events  which  passed  in 
the  assembly.  "  The  emperor  Frederick," 
says  the  historian,  '•  sent  embassadors  to  de- 
fend his  rights.  They  held,  previously,  a 
council  to  hear  Thadeus  of  Sweden,  who,  in 
the  name  of  the  prince,  his  master,  offered  to 
re-establish  concord  between  the  empire  and 
the  church;  to  bring  back  to  the  obedience 
of  the  Holy  See  the  states  of  Romania ;  to 
oppose  the  Tartars.  Chorasmians,  Saracens, 
and  other  enemies  of  the  court  of  Rome  ;  to 
go  in  person  to  deliver  the  Holy  Land,  and, 
finally,  to  restore  to  St.  Peter  that  which  he 
had  taken  from  liim,  and  do  penance  for  the 
sins  which  he  had  committed."  Innocent, 
who  a.ssisted  at  the  conference,  exclaimed, 
"Oh,  these  great  promises!  We  see,  my 
lord  Thadeus,  that  your  master  fears  the  blow 
which  threatens  him.  If  I  accepted  hisoffer.s, 
and  he  should  then  break  his  oaths,  what 
would  be  the  security  ?  Who  would  force 
him  to  keep  his  engagements'?"  Thadeus 
replied,  "  The  kings  of  France  and  England, 
most  holy  father."  Innocent  immediately  re- 
joined, '-We  refuse  them;  for  if  the  emperor 
failed  in  his  word,  we  should  be  compelled  to 
turn  to  these  princes  and  chastise  them  like 
him,  which  would  excite  against  the  church 
the  three  most  redoubtable  sovereigns  of  the 
West.  No :  we  will  not  thus  depart  from  the 
line  of  our  policy,  which  is  to  reduce  kings 
and  people  by  making  them  combat  each 


other."  ''Who  are  the  people,"  adds  the 
chronicler,  "  who  can  read  these  terrible  pages 
of  the  history  of  the  popes,  without  raging  with 
indignation?  How  long  will  kings,  princes, 
and  people  consent  to  obey  as  slaves  the  court 
of  Rome,  and  to  bow  before  an  insolent  priest, 
who  arrogates  to  himself  the  right  to  chastise 
them?" 

At  the  close  of  the  first  session  of  the  synod, 
Innocent  pronounced  the  .sentence  of  excom- 
munication and  deposition  against  Frederick, 
declaring  the  empire  vacant,  and  ordering  the 
electors  to  choose  a  new  emperor.  Philip 
Fontaine,  bishop  of  Ferrara,  was  sent  imme- 
diately into  Germany  with  orders  to  cause 
Henry,  landgrave  of  Thuringia  and  Hesse,  to  be 
chosen  king  of  the  Romans  and  the  metropo- 
litan of  ^layence,  who  had  taken  part  in  all 
these  intrigues,  was  charged  to  preach  a  cru- 
sade against  Frederick.  Not  content  with 
creating  confusion  in  the  empire  by  means  of 
his  intrigues,  the  pope  took  assassins  into  his 
pay,  and  organised  a  vast  conspiracy,  into 
which  he  induced  the  relatives,  friends,  and 
even  famihars  of  the  emperor  to  take  part. 
But  the  plot  was  discovered,  and  all  the  con- 
spirators payed  for  the  treason  of  the  pope 
with  their  heads. 

"Then,"  says  Jurien,  "the  empire  was 
covered  by  armed  men,  who  ravaged  by  turns 
the  rnost  beautiful  provinces.  In  Germany, 
Conrad  combated  for  his  father;  in  Italy 
Frederick  disputed  with  his  enemies  for  his 
crown  and  life.  We  see  nothing  but  leagues, 
revolts,  factions,  sieges  and  battles ;  every- 
where pillage,  incendiarism  and  massacres 
reigned.  The  landgrave  Henry,  he  whom 
the  pope  had  proclaimed  king,  having  been 
killed  in  a  skirmish.  Innocent  proclaimed  in 
his  place,  William,  Count  of  Holland,  who, 
in  his  turn,  was  forced  to  fiy  before  the  arms 
of  young  Coinad.  During  an  entire  year  the 
war  continued  with  the  same  fury,  and  Chris- 
tian blood  was  shed  by  torrents  in  the  name 
of  an  execrable  pope." 

Innocent,  who  wished  to  raise  the  whole 
world  against  Frederick,  so  implacable  was 
his  hatred,  was  infamous  enough,  vicar  of 
Christ,  to  write  to  the  sultan  iMelec  Saleh,  to 
induce  him  to  make  a  descent  on  Italy,  thus 
violating  the  faith  sworn  to  the  emperor.  The 
IMussulman  replied  to  him,  "  We  have  re- 
ceived your  letters  and  given  audience  to 
your  envoy.  He  has  spoken  to  us  of  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  we  know  better  than  you  appear 
to,  anti  whom  we  honour  more  than  you  do. 
We  refuse  your  request. — Safety." 

During  this  same  year,  the  pope,  furious  at 
seeing  all  his  efl'orts  fail,  wished  to  try  his 
power  over  princes  less  redoubtable  than  the 
emperor;  he  excommunicated  James,  king  of 
Arragon,  to  punish  him  for  having  cut  out  the 
tongue  of  the  bishop  of  Gironne,  who  had 
sold  to  his  enemies  secrets  of  state.  Upon 
the  accusation  of  the  prelates  of  Portugal,  he 
also  anathematised  King  Sancho  the  Second. 
The  interdict  was  pronounced  against  his 
states,  the  sovereign  was  deposed  and  the  re- 
gency given  to  comit  Alphouso  the  father  of 


476 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


the  prince.  These  two  communications  gave 
rise  to  civil  wars  in  Spain,  and  during  several 
years  the  Arragonese  and  Portugese  covered 
their  countries  with  massacres  and  incen- 
diarisms. 

The  ecclesiastical  thunders  were  not  so  suc- 
cessful in  England,  and  the  legates  of  the  Holy 
See,  though  armed  with  anathemas,  were 
driven  disgracefully  from  Great  Britain,  and 

f)rohibited  from  re-entering  the  kingdom,  and 
evying  new  tenths  upon  the  people.  Inno- 
cent the  Fourth,  informed  that  a  monarch 
dared  to  protect  his  subjects  against  the  ra- 
pacity of  his  legates,  immediately  lanched  a 
bull  of  excommunication  against  him,  but  he 
fountl  no  one  who  consented  to  publish  it,  and 
the  holy  wrath  served  but  to  unmask  his 
hypocrisy. 

In  the  midst,  however,  of  all  his  crimes,  we 
should  give  him  credit  for  the  protection 
which  he  extended  to  the  Jews  of  Germany, 
who  were  crushed  beneath  the  tyranny  of 
bishops  and  archbishops.  Thanks  to  him,  the 
unfortunate  Israelites  could  breathe  in  peace, 
v/ithout  fear  of  being  pillaged,  robbed,  and 
massacred  by  Catholics.  It  is  true,  that  they 
paid  dearly  for  the  friendship  of  the  pope,  and 
that  several  among  them,  from  being  rich 
were  reduced  to  misery. 

During  the  sojourn  of  Innocent  at  Lyons, 
chance  brought  to  that  city  a  knight  of  the 
emperor,  who  had  retired  from  his  service 
m  consequence  of  some  discontent.  As  he 
lodged  in  the  same  hotel  as  Walter  d'Ocre, 
doctor  and  counsellor  of  the  prince,  the  two 
Germans  soon  made  acquaintance,  and  be- 
came friends.  The  pope,  informed  by  his 
spies  that  two  partizans  of  the  emperor  in- 
habited the  same  hotel,  soon  originated  a 
great  piece  of  scandal,  and  sent  emissaries 
through  the  city  to  report  that  Frederick  de- 
sired to  assassinate  him.  As  absurd  as  was 
this  accusation,  the  two  Germans,  fearing  to 
be  submitted  to  the  torture,  hastened  to  quit 
Lyons  to  regain  Germany.  Innocent  did  not 
discontinue  the  investigations;  and  as  the  hotel 
keeper,  named  Renaud,  fell  seriously  ill,  he 
gave  him,  as  a  confessor,  in  his  last  moments, 
an  Italian  priest,  who,  on  the  succeeding  day, 
deposed  before  an  assembly  of  the  chapter  of 
the  cathedral,  that  the  dying  man  had  reveal- 
ed to  him  the  infamous  plot  of  the  agents  of 
Frederick.  This  odious  falsehood  was  pub- 
lished through  all  Europe;  and,  to  give  it  more 
credence,  the  pope  feigned  that  he  dared  not 
leave  his  palace,  keeping  about  his  person  a 
guard  of  fifty  armed  men,  who  accompanied 
him  even  to  the  altar  whenever  he  celebrated 
divine  service.  He  did  not,  however,  obtain 
from  this  new  trick  any  of  the  advantages  that 
he  hoped  for.  He  then  fell  back  upon  preach- 
ing crusades,  which  were  inexhaustible  sources 
of  profit  for  the  popes ;  his  legates  traversed 
all  Christian  countries,  and  came  as  far  as 
Norway,  from  whence  they  brought  back  fif- 
teen thousand  sterling  marks,  besides  large 
presents,  and  a  donation  as  a  perpetual  rent 
of  five  marks  of  silver  for  each  diocese 
of  that  country;   other  kingdoms  produced 


the  holy  father  in  the  same  proportions  aa 
Norwa)'. 

France,  according  to  custom,  distinguished 
herself  by  her  religious  enthusiasm;  although 
exacted  three  times  during  the  pontificate  of 
Gregory  the  Ninth,  it  was  she  who  furnished 
the  most  money  to  the  pope  :  she  alone  then 
consented  to  make  a  new  expedition  into  Pa- 
lestine for  the  remission  of  the  sins  of  St. 
Louis.  That  stupid  and  devotee  king  assem- 
bled a  numerous  army  of  crusaders,  and  de- 
parted on  the  12th  of  June,  1248,  for  the  Holy 
Land.  At  first  he  gained  some  advantages 
over  the  infidel,  and  seized  upon  Damietta, 
but  the  Saracens  soon  took  their  revenge  ;  the 
French  army  was  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  king 
himself  fell  into  their  power.  This  new 
disaster  lost  the  kingdom  all  its  valiant  youth, 
and  the  remainder  of  its  gold,  which  it  had 
to  give  for  the  ransom  of  its  imbecile  mo- 
narch. 

Thus  terminated  the  first  crusade  of  St. 
Louis.  The  priests  did  not  fail  to  attribute 
the  reverses  of  the  crusaders  to  their  sins  and 
their  abominations,  in  order  to  e.xplain  the 
false  prophecies  which  had  announced  great 
victories.  These  accusations  were  well  found- 
ed :  for,  according  to  contemporary  historians, 
the  French  lords  abandoned  themselves  to  so 
many  excesses,  that  they  appeared  to  be  rather 
the  defenders  of  Satan  than  the  servants  of 
Christ.  Behold  how  the  Sieur  de  Joinville, 
one  of  the  actors  in  this  crusade,  expresses 
himself: — "The  barons,  knights,  and  other 
nobles,  who  were  in  the  camp  of  St.  Louis, 
and  who  should  have  wisely  kept  the  money 
which  they  had  for  their  future  v\'ants,  spent 
it  foolishly  in  banquets  and  festivities.  Thus, 
when  their  ruin  was  commenced,  the}'  were 
obliged,  in  order  to  live,  to  rob  the  soldiers. 
Misery  soon  led  to  demoralization — no  woman 
nor  girl  could  enter  the  camp  without  being 
violated  on  the  plain,  and  led  into  the  lupa- 
nars  which  were  kept  around  the  royal  pavi- 
lion ;  finally,  those  who  would  wish  to  relate 
all  the  abominations  with  young  pages,  nay, 
even  of  the  sins  against  nature,  would  risk 
their  salvation  from  the  terms  they  would  be 
compelled  to  use." 

Brocardus  Argentoratensis,  one  of  the  monks 
who  had  followed  the  army,  gives  a  singular 
explanation  of  these  disorders.  "  In  the  Holy 
Land,"  says  this  chronicler,  "are  men  of  all 
nations,  and  each  lives  according  to  the  cus- 
toms of  his  country,  with  a  license  which  is 
unequalled;  and  to  tell  the  truth,  the  Chris- 
tians are  the  most  corrupt  of  all — for  the  fol- 
lowing reason  :  in  France,  Spain,  Germany, 
and  Italy,  when  a  wretch  has  committed  all 
kinds  of  crimes,  and  wishes  to  escape  from 
the  justice  of  the  prince,  he  goes  to  Palestine, 
where,  thanks  to  the  indulgences,  all  his  sins 
are  remitted  him.  When  he  arrives  there, 
the  theatre  of  his  crimes  is  changed,  but  not 
his  heart;  he  violates,  pillages,  murders,  as 
before  his  departure  for  the  promised  land. 
Cursed  be  through  eternity  the  popes  who  in- 
vented the  crusades." 

Whilst  St.  Louis,  a  victim  to  the  councils  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  POPES. 


477 


the  pontiff,  was  a  captive  among  the  Saracens, 
Innocent  was  pursuing  Frederick  with  his 
hatred,  and  was  snbsiitising  assassins.  He 
had  gained  over  Peter  de  Vignes,  ordinary 
physician  to  the  prince,  who  was  at  the  same 
time  his  counsellor  and  confidant.  The  em- 
peror having  fallen  sick,  in  consequence  of  the 
fatigues  and  chagrin  which  he  had  undergone 
in  the  late  wars,  Peter  de  Vignes  was  assisted 
by  a  physician  sent  from  Lyons,  and  presented 
a  poisoned  beverage  to  the  monarch.  Frede- 
rick had  fortunately  been  apprised  of  this  trea- 
son, when  the  assassins  had  placed  the  cup 
in  his  hands,  he  feigned  to  feel  an  insur- 
mountable disgust  for  the  drink  which  it  con- 
tained, and  gave  it  to  the  Italian  physician, 
beseeching  him  to  taste  it  himiself.  The  latter. 
finding  himself  taken  in  his  own  snare,  dared 
not  refuse,  and  carried  the  cup  to  his  lips;  at 
the  same  time  he  made  a  false  step,  and  thiew 
it  down  on  the  ground.  The  guards  imme- 
diately entered.  Henry  caused  them  to  take 
up  the  liquor  in  a  sponge,  and  ordered  the 
condemned  to  drink  it  in  his  presence.  Three 
of  these  unfortunate  ones  died  in  horrid  con- 
vulsions. The  emperor  caused  the  Lyonese 
physician  to  be  strangled  immediately,  and 
condemned  Peter  de  Vignes  to  have  his  eyes 
torn  out,  and  be  given  up  to  the  Pisans,  his 
personal  enemies,  to  be  tortured.  At  the  mo- 
ment at  which  the  punishment  was  com- 
mencing, the  patient  beat  out  his  brains  against 
a  column  to  which  he  had  been  fastened. 
Frederick  had  scarcely  escaped  from  this 

Eeril  when  he  received  the  news  that  Henry, 
ing  of  Sardinia,  one  of  his  natural  sons,  had 
been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Bolognese,  and 
that  another  of  his  children  was  dead  in 
Apulia.  So  many  disasters  overwhelmed  the 
unfortunate  prince,  and  as  he  found  himself 
attacked  by  a  disease  called  the  sacred  fire, 
he  decided  to  offer  peace  to  the  Holy  See  on 
advantageous  conditions.  Innocent  rejected  all 
his  proposals;  he  did  not  even  wish  to  receive 
his  envoys,  and  persisted  in  declaring  him  de- 
prived ot  the  empire.  Frederick  languished 
still  for  a  year,  consumed  by  the  fever,  and 
died  on  the  4th  of  December,  1250,  leaving 
his  kingdom  to  his  son  Cotn-ad. 

The  pope,  who  was  still  in  Lyons,  imme- 
diately wrote  to  Germany  and  Sicily  to  kindle 
civil  war  in  those  kingdoms,  and  to  cause  them 
to  recognise  as  emperor,  William,  count  of  Hol- 
land, to  whom  he  had  already  given  the  title 
of  king  of  the  Romans.  This  prince,  notwith- 
standing the  protection  of  the  holy  father,  was 
constrained  to  retire  before  the  victorious  arms 
of  the  young  Conrad,  and  to  renounce  his  vain 
title.  On  his  desisting,  the  pope  then  offered 
the  imperial  crown  to  the  count  of  Gueldres, 
the  duke  of  Brabant,  and  the  earl  of  Cornwal. 
These  three  princes  refu.sed  it.  Finally,  he 
offered  it  to  the  king  of  Not  way,  who  declared 
that  he  did  not  wish  a  dignity  so  easily  ob- 
tained that  even  the  popes  could  dispose  of  it. 
Notwithstanding  these  different  checks,  the 
faction  of  the  Guelphsobtaineil  the  supremacy 
in  Italy,  and  Innocent  made  his  dispositions 
to  return  to  Rome.    Before,  however,  quitting 


France,  he  reiterated  the  e.vcommunication 
against  the  memory  of  Frederick,  and  anathe- 
matised the  young  Conrad,  to  punish  him  for 
having  seized  on  the  insignia  of  the  empire 
without  his  authority.  He  then  went  to  Ge- 
noa, from  thence  to  Milan,  and  traversing 
Lombardy  rapidly,  he  esiablislied  his  court  at 
Perouse  to  gain  time  to  assemble  the  forces 
of  his  party. 

,  Conrad,  on  his  side,  had  also  profited  by  the 
time;  with  the  assistance  of  the  Venetians, 
who  had  furni.shed  him  with  a  fleet,  he  had 
embarked  at  Pescara  and  gained  a  brilliant 
victory  over  the  couiits  of  Aquina  and  Sora, 
two  GueJphs,  who  wished  to  oppose  his  en- 
trance into  Sicily.  This  defeat,  far  from  dis- 
couraging the  pontiff,  only  rendered  his  hatred 
the  more  violent ;  and  nut  being  able  to  levy 
nor  subsidise  troops,  he  sent  his  missionaries 
into  Brabant,  Flanders,  and  France,  to  preach 
a  crusadg  against  the  emperor  Conrad,  pro- 
mising to  those  who  would  undertake  it,  in- 
dulgences more  extensive  than  those  granted 
to  the  crusaders  of  the  Holy  Land  ;  since  these 
latter  only  gained  pardon  for  their  sins,  whilst 
the  others  would  obtain  for  themselves,  their 
children,  and  their  families,  the  right  of  com- 
mitting all  crimes  with  impunity. 

But  the  French,  at  length  worn  out  by  these 
incessant  demands  for  men  and  money  made, 
— so  often  against  the  infidels,  so  often  against 
the  emperor  Frederick,  so  often  against  his 
son  Conrad,  drove  the  missionaries  out  of  all 
the  cities  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  regent  was 
compelled  to  assemble  the  states  to  take  the 
advice  of  her  subjects.  The  deputies  com- 
plained loudly  of  the  pope,  and  accused  him 
of  being  the  cause  of  all  the  disasters  which 
overwhelmed  Europe  ;  they  blamed  severely 
the  policy  of  the  Holy  See,  which  not  only- 
urged  on  the  English.  Germans,  and  French 
into  wars  of  extermination  in  Syria,  but  which 
even  essayed  to  hurl  one  part  of  the  West  on 
Italy  to  aggrandise  his  pov.er.  Finally,  they 
constrained  Queen  Blanche  to  make  a  decree 
which  authorised  the  confiscation  of  the  pro- 
perty of  the  fanatics  who  were  willing  to  em- 
bark in  a  crusade  against  the  emperor  Con- 
rad ;  the  lords  did  the  same  towards  the 
vassals  who  held  uniler  them,  and  this  step 
caused  the  crusade  of  Italy  to  fall  through. 

Repulsed  in  France,  the  pope  fell  back  on 
Englanil,and  wrote  to  the  bishop  of  Lincoln,  a 
venerable  prelate,  esteemed  by  all  on  account 
of  his  wisdom  and  the  purity  of  his  morals,  to 
ask  for  succours  from  him.  The  latter  refused 
to  obey  the  injunctions  of  the  court  of  Rome, 
antl  sent  a  circular  to  all  the  ecclesiastics  of  Eng- 
land to  urge  them  to  resistance.  "  The  pontiff," 
he  wrote  to  them,  "  is  not  ashamed  to  annul 
the  wise  con.stitutions  of  his  predecessors;  he 
desires  to  govern  us  as  a  despot,  and  to  dispose 
at  his  will  of  our  fortunes  and  our  lives ;  before 
him,  many  popes  have  afilicted  the  church: 
Innocent  surpasses  them  all  in  wickedness. 
I  He  has  covered  Christian  kingdoms  with  usu- 
rious monk.*,  a  thousand  times  hanier  than 
the  Jews ;  he  has  ordained  minor  brothers 
I  and  preaching  friars  called  in  at  the  last  mo- 


478 


HISTORY    OF    THE    POPES. 


ments  of  the  faithful  to  frighten  them,  in  or- 
der to  extort  from  them  testaments  in  favour 
of  the  Holy  See;  under  pretext  of  crusades 
he  encourages  the  odious  traffic  in  indul- 
gences so  well,  that  now  they  sell  absolution  to 
the  laity,  as  in  former  times  they  sold  animals 
in  the  temple;  and  his  agents  measure  out  sal- 
vation by  the  amount  of  money  given  them. 

"He  sells  churches,  prebends,  benefices  to 
strangers,  ignorant  and  unlettered  priests,  and 
these  intruders,  on  arriving  in  their  new  cures 
can  neither  preach,  nor  receive  confessions, 
nor  even  succour  the  poor,  because  they  do 
not  understand  the  language  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. He  has  introduced  the  custom  of  buy- 
ing bishoprics,  without  having  received  orders 
and  only  to  get  the  revenues.  Finally,  he  has 
filled  the  world  with  so  many  scandals  and 
abominations,  that  we  cannot  enumerate  all 
his  robberies,  adulteries,  assassinations — and 
as  we  cannot  deliver  Christendom  from  this 
prop  of  Satan,  at  least  let  us  protect  Great 
Britain  against  the  encroachments  of  this 
enemy  of  humanity." 

Notwithstanding  the  example  set  by  Eng- 
land and  France,  the  Italians,  excited  by  the 
preaching  of  the  monks,  tooTc  up  arms  in 
favour  of  the  Holy  See ;  the  Ghibelines  once 
victorious,  gradually  lost  all  their  conquests, 
and  that  which  heightened  their  disasters 
was  the  death  of  Conrad,  who  was  poisoned 
by  his  natural  brother  Mainfroy,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  pope.  Before  yielding  his  last 
breath,  the  emperor  perceived  that  the  part}- 
of  the  court  of  Rome  would  be  for  a  long  time 
triumphant,  and  as  he  could  not  but  fear  for 
the  life  of  his  son,  the  young  Conradin,  who 
was  only  three  years  old,  he  wished  to  make 
a  protector  of  his  enemy,  by  giving  to  the 
pope  the  enjoyment  of  the  revenues  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sicily. 

Innocent  accepted  the  tutelage  which  Con- 
rad had  bequeathed  to  him,  and  he  declared 
that  he  would  preserve  for  the  young  prince 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  the  dutchy  of 
Suabia,  and  all  his  rights  over  the  kingdom 
of  Sicily,  or  his  other  states.  He  then  received 
an  oath  of  fidelity  from  the  subjects  of  Conra- 
din, permitting  them  always  to  add,  "saving 


the  rights  of  the  young  prince."  As  to  the 
assassin  Mainfroy,  who  had  so  well  served 
him,  he  caused  it  to  be  signified  to  him  as 
well  as  to  the  marquis  of  Honebruc,  and  the 
other  lords  of  their  party,  that  they  must  leave 
the  Roman  church  sovereign  mistress  of  the 
kingdom  of  Sicily  and  its  dependencies,  grant- 
ing them  time  to  make  their  submission  until 
the  nativity  of  the  Virgin  ;  which  time  i)assed, 
he  threatened  them  with  excommunication, 
and  the  privation  of  their  dignities  and  for- 
tunes, w-hich  was  done  as  he  had  threatened 
them.  After  this,  he  sent  his  nephew,  Wil- 
liam of  Fiesca,  into  Sicily  in  the  capacity  of 
legate,  and  supported  him  with  a  numerous 
army,  to  govern  the  kingdom.  He  peimitted 
him  to  seize  on  the  revenues  of  the  vacant 
sees,  or  prebends,  and  gave  him  full  power  to 
impose  collections,  to  coin  new  money,  and  to 
confiscate  the  property  of  those  who  had  sup- 
ported the  party  of  Frederick,  in  the  last  wars, 
to  sell  the  domains  of  the  crown,  and,  finally, 
to  lay  hands  on  all  the  deposits  of  money  and 
arms  he  might  find  in  the  kingdom. 

Mainfroy,  deceived  in  his  ambition,  at  first 
thought  of  avenging  himself  on  Innocent,  and 
kept  a  part  of  Apulia  and  Calabria  in  revolt ; 
but  having  then  considered  every  thing  he 
could  draw  from  his  position,  resolved  to  make 
his  submission  to  the  Holy  See.  He  accord- 
ingly proposed  to  the  pope  to  place  him  in 
possession  of  Apulia,  Calabria,  and  a  great  part 
of  Sicily,  if,  in  return,  he  would  appoint  him 
tutor  to  Conradin,  and  give  him  the  principa- 
lity of  Tarentum,  the  countships  of  Gravine 
and  Tricaricjue,  and  declare  him  his  vicar 
over  the  unsubjugated  parts  of  the  kingdom 
of  Sicily.  Innocent,  who  saw  himself  freed 
at  a  blow  from  his  most  formidable  enemy, 
consented  to  all,  and  delivered  up  the  son  to 
the  assassin  of  the  father.  He  then  resolved 
to  visit  his  new  states,  and  came  to  Ceperano, 
where  Mainfroy  awaited  him  to  sign  the  con- 
ditions of  the  treaty.  From  Ceperano,  the 
pontiff  went  to  Capua  and  Naples;  but  God 
had  marked  the  terra  of  his  triumphal  march; 
he  was  attacked  in  that  city  by  a  grievous 
malady,  which  carried  him  off  on  the  7th  of 
December,  1254. 


END   OF   VOL.    1. 


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The  public  and  private  history  of  the 

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